Francis of Assisi sought to serve God in all matters. To do so required action, not just words. More »

Lent of the year 387 was an anxious season for the Christians of Antioch. They lived in one of the largest, wealthiest, and most magnificent cities in the Roman Empire, and their numbers had multiplied since Peter and Paul's missionary work there. Their main church was one of the city's most beautiful buildings. More »

Theme: Good work is necessary for our personal and community sustenance. Our most effective work flows from an inner receptivity and rest in the creative, redeeming presence and energy of God working through us. More »

It was an adolescent prank—pears stolen from a neighbor's tree. But as Augustine looked back on the incident many years later, it seemed reprehensible to him. He had no need of the pears; they were thrown to the pigs. It was the thrill of committing theft with his friends that he had sought. "My feasting was only on the wickedness which I took pleasure in enjoying" (Confessions, Book II, 12). More »

Contradictions, sickness, scruples, spiritual aridity, and all the inner and outward torments are the chisel with which God carves his statues for paradise. —St. Alphonsus Liguori More »

February 1208. A young Italian goes to Mass in the little church of St. Mary of the Angels, on the plain below the Umbrian town of Assisi. It is the feast day of St. Matthias, and the gospel reading is of Jesus sending out his disciples: "As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff. . . ." (Matthew 10:7, 9-10). More »

It may seem like just a single moment in your life, but right now, every moment, a river is coursing. We can usually only see it in retrospect. We realize that as we were making a certain decision, this factor from the past was pushing us one way, another factor was shading our thinking in another way, hopes for a particular future were inspiring us, and in the midst of it all, coincidence, happenstance, and any number of other factors were also at work. All kinds of things are going on, including, perhaps, a plan, greater and deeper than we could have realized then or even grasp now. More »

On August 2, 1942, the German S.S. stormed a Carmelite convent in Echt, Holland, and demanded that one of its nuns, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, be handed over immediately, along with her sister Rosa. The convent was thrown into confusion: The prioress begged for more time, sisters threw together some belongings for the two women, and alarmed neighbors gathered outside. Only Sr. Teresa maintained her composure. “Come, Rosa,” she said calmly. “We are going for our people.” More »