One of the secrets of the spirit is to recognize the bond of love that exists because God has reached out to us, has loved us so much that he asked his Son to die for us. Once we have a sense of how inexhaustible, how great, how limitless that love is, then we can open ourselves up, then we can truly invite the Holy Spirit into our lives.

How can God die?I once asked a theologian friend to explain to me how it is possible that God, the Creator of the Universe, could die and still keep the world in existence. My friend told me it was possible because Jesus, a divine Person, is true God and true man. The Son of God died a human death, but the divinity itself did not die. Of course that is true, and I felt satisfied for a time. But this paradoxical moment of the God-man dying on the cross—so pregnant with meaning and mystery&m...

The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.The concept is tricky: our God is three, but is also one. I remember as a child when my mother explained the classic water-ice-steam analogy to me, describing something with essentially the same properties but that takes different forms. It didn’t exactly clarify things for me; I was left vaguely wondering if God manifested himself differently at different temperatures—in the desert, say, or in Antarctica.B...

Darkness begins to fall upon the earth as Mary Magdalene looks up into the face of Jesus hanging from the cross…struggling for breath…shuddering under the pain of the nails in hand and feet.This Jesus who had freed her, saved her, shown her mercy…She could no longer wash his feet with her tears or anoint his head with oil…She was about to lose the Light that had taken away her darkness. She watched his eyes, hoping for one last sign that he knew she was there…f...

There may have been no more exciting—and frightening!—time to be alive in Europe than on the eve of the invention of the printing press, with the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation already blowing winds of change through the Church. Perhaps it is precisely because of those winds howling outside that the young Thomas à Kempis (his name simply means Thomas from Kempis) wanted above all a quiet life. He was determined, it is said, that nothing would happen to him in his life...

The “Save the Dates” and wedding invitations have probably started arriving in your mailbox. A sure sign that wedding season is about to begin! However, it isn’t all delicate envelopes and elegant fonts. It takes an especially careful attention to detail to get this precious mail to your doorstep. For the engaged couple, bridesmaid, groomsman, or other wedding planner type, knowing how to assemble these details and ensure they make it to the right place at the right time t...

Do you want to be happy? It seems an absurd question; everyone wants to be happy, right? But many people see happiness as a bluebird that comes and lights upon them and bestows joy without any effort on the person’s part. And yet it’s been the observation of many saints over the centuries that if you want to be happy, you have a big say in making it happen. And if you feel terribly unhappy, then that has something to do with you, too. Not with your actions, but with the sta...

Well, the truth is that we don’t know!Eggs are regarded as a symbol of resurrection because they hold the seed of life within. The Egyptians and Greeks used to decorate eggs with different colors, and then eat them as part of their spring celebrations. Another ancient festival that used eggs is the Jewish Passover (also celebrated in the spring), during which it was customary to offer a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water as a sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem. Persians used to paint e...

In 432, Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, arrived on the Emerald Isle to begin his work of evangelizing the Irish. Upon his arrival, he discovered that his competition for the souls of the people would come from the pagan druid religion and their priests. St. Patrick's struggle with the existing pagan priests truly began with one rebellious and bold act that reverberates throughout history. During the Druid springtime fire festival known as Beltane, there was a ritual where the pag...

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25-26)Nine-year-old Zoe was crying with her brothers and sisters around their dying mothe...