The Holy Father also spoke of other young saints throughout history, including St. Francis of Assisi, who saw it was wise to prefer the love of God and others over riches. “Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said. “Dear friends, Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces,” he added.

The Rosary is a beautiful prayer, but due to one reason or another many people never get to discover this beauty. It can feel like we’re supposed to be doing so many things simultaneously – saying each Our Father and Hail Mary with due reverence, praying for our particular intentions, all the while trying to create vivid mental images of Christ and Our Lady in our mind’s eye. If we fail in this endeavor, it’s tempting to feel dejected and as though we’ve been through some pointless mechanical exercise.

Today, let us pray for Saint Francis’ intercession, that like him, we may recognize the inseparable bond between ourselves and all of humanity, especially the poor, and the bond between ourselves and all of creation. May our attitudes and choices reflect this recognition and offer worthy praise to our Lord and Creator!

«Fratelli tutti», With these words, Saint Francis of Assisi addressed his brothers and sisters and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel. Of the counsels Francis offered, I would like to select the one in which he calls for a love that transcends the barriers of geography and distance, and declares blessed all those who love their brother “as much when he is far away from him as when he is with him”. In his simple and direct way, Saint Francis expressed the essence of a fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives. (FT 1)

Discernment is much more than mere decision making; it is, first of all, a habit, a way of seeing that can permeate our whole life. As is made clear in John 9, it is the movement from seeing things merely from a human perspective to seeing from a spiritual vantage point, continually looking for evidence of the work of God in order to join him in it.

In a world increasingly divided by ideology, conflict, and uncertainty, the election of Pope Leo XIV has breathed new life into the Church’s mission and message. As the 268th successor of Saint Peter, Pope Leo XIV steps into the shoes of the fisherman not merely as a custodian of tradition, but as a bridge-builder—reminding the faithful that the Gospel is ever ancient and ever new.

Our strongest weapon is not physical but spiritual, in the form of prayer. As we go along this crisis, this is the best time to revitalize ourselves with Mama Mary in the prayer “Hail Mary.”

Carlo Acutis was a devoted Catholic teenager who used his interest and skills in technology to share the Gospel. Carlo was beatified in 2020 and is on the path to sainthood. His life story and his legacy are an inspiration for today’s young disciples. This article shares a biography of Blessed Carlo and offers lessons and an activity for Catholic kids. 

Even if you’ve been giving something up for Lent for many years, it’s easy to find yourself strugglingas time goes by. When that leads to breaking your Lenten promise, you might feel discouraged or thatyou’ve failed in your relationship with God. What should you do?

God’s greatest gift to humanity is the ability to be joined to Him intimately, in a way that no other form of creation can. All of God’s creation reflects His goodness in some way, but only humans can share in God Himself. Take a moment to consider this; on a somewhat simple level, we are able to share in His joy, suffering, and longing. We are told in Exodus 14that God “is a jealous God,” and we can share in that too. On a deeper level, however, we can literally and physically unite ourselves with God in the flesh when we consume the Holy Eucharist. No other work of creation can do that.

Happy New Year! With the start of a new calendar year and the entrance of a new liturgical year this past month, there is so much to reflect on and look forward to. Some of our highlights from this past year includes…

Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể Rất Thương Mến,

Nhìn lại trong suốt năm qua, chúng ta cùng nhau cảm ơn Anh Cả Giêsu, đã luôn dìu dắt và gìn giữ chúng ta trong tình yêu và ân sủng của Ngài.

Mother Angelica once said that she wished many years in purgatory to those biographers’ who sugarcoat the lives of the saints. Often, when we read about the saints, we hear only about their joys and spiritual feats. We read about their daring adventures to convert souls in distant lands, their lengthy hours of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and their courage to face death with peace and joy. The list goes on.

Consecrated life is a call from God. For many individuals, it happens unexpectedly; only in hindsight does one realize that one was chosen. Some experience a personal, profound and unforgettable loving call from Christ and are gripped by God forever! That's exactly what happened to me. 

Preparing for Hurricane Irma has given me a fresh perspective on what matters most. With each alert, evacuation notice, and email telling me that work would be canceled for “x” amount of days, my panic level rose. The uncertainty of the storm’s path falling on my city and then my family’s city kept us all in constant contact reviewing our emergency plans. 

I sometimes joke that, 30 years ago, I bet my life and my career on higher education, the Roman Catholic Church, and the American form of constitutional government — three unshakable, bedrock institutions. It's true, of course. It's not much of a joke. But across the last several years it has come to seem funny that I could have thought those three were a good bet.

Most people, when talking to me about the sacraments, will bring up Baptism andEucharist. If I converse with them long enough, they may also mention Penance andMatrimony, perhaps Confirmation. But Holy Orders or Anointing of the Sick seem to be way down on the list in many people’s minds if mentioned at all.

Pope Francis again denounced “the globalization of indifference” and said “a painful truth” is that “our world is daily more and more elitist, more cruel towards the excluded,” as he celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Square on the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 29.

So you’re probably going to become a nun, right?” my best college girlfriend said casually as we chatted about my post-grad-school plans.“

I don’t know for sure,” I replied, “but it’s a distinct possibility.” The question surprised me both because it was so nonchalant and because it had come from a woman with a fairly comprehensive view of who I am. She has seen the good, the bad and the un-nunly.

At the end of his general audience in St. Peter's Square on March 8, International Women's Day, Pope Francis led a round of applause for women.

He thanked the world's women "for their commitment to building a more humane society" through their ability to see and understand the world "with a creative gaze and tender heart."

"It is right for them to be able to express these skills in every sphere, not just within the family," he wrote in the preface to a book, "More Women's Leadership for a Better World: Caring as the Engine for Our Common Home."