Posts from January 2025

In an 1894 letter to her newlywed cousin, St. Therese of Lisieux wrote: “I am asking our Lord to be as generous to you as He was to the bridal pair at Cana. May He invariably change the water into wine! I mean, may He prolong His gift of happiness, and as far as possible sweeten the bitter trials you will meet on your way. Trials! Fancy introducing that word into my letter—how could I?—at a moment when I realize that life for…

Have you ever been given a gift and not opened it? Or, have you ever been given a gift and partially opened it? Years ago, I remember watching the movie, Agnes of God, in which a prosecuting attorney (and lapsed Catholic) was interviewing the mother superior of a convent regarding a potential crime she believed had been committed there. As their relationship deepened, the two found themselves beneath a gazebo on the convent grounds. On a cold, crisp Canadian morning, weather…

The importance of the Solemnity of the Epiphany is all in the contemplation of the mystery, hidden for millennia from past generations, and revealed in the fulness of time in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God in human flesh. It is the desire of God the Father to save every one of his children and, at the end, to welcome all of them into his heavenly home, to share in his endless joy. The fulfillment of this grandiose…