With November, we enter the season of last things. Those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere are watching the last leaf fall, the last bird fly south for the winter. It is a month that is a special time to reflect on what spiritual writers have traditionally called “the four last things”—death and judgment, heaven and hell. More »

If there is someone to whom these Scripture verses would apply more than most, it would have to be Mattie J.T. Stepanek, the best-selling poet who died last year at the age of thirteen. Few people have lived a more fragile existence than Mattie. For every moment of his short life, he was beset by a crippling disease. And yet Mattie realized that he had a great treasure to be shared with everyone: his tremendous faith and courage, and the wisdom that he expressed through the beautiful gift of his writing. More »

Our curiosity about the authors of the New Testament always seems to outrun the sparse information that survived the church’s early years of dispersion and persecution. Nevertheless, we do have this brief description of the man behind the Third Gospel in an anonymous manuscript dating back to about 160 a.d. More »

At the core of Thérèse’s spirituality was her awareness of Jesus’ invitation to intimacy with him in which heart speaks to heart. More »

The French officer was in trouble. Just twenty-three, second lieutenant Christian de Chergé had been drafted while halfway through his seminary studies. More »

Too soon Simeon's words found their mark and Mary's heart was sharply pierced with pain. Driven out into the dark by the angel's warning, the young family slipped away from Bethlehem, More »

Lent of the year 387 was an anxious season for the Christians of Antioch. More »

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was widely regarded as a saint in her own lifetime. A symbol of goodness for people everywhere, she was also the recipient of countless awards, including the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace. More »