Over one hundred years ago, Pope Benedict XV added this title to the Litany in 1915, during World War I, and it finally came into use in May of 1917, the same month the Blessed Mother appeared for the first time at Fatima.  World War I was a terrible, terrible war, a colossal failure of […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

  Saint John Paul II added this title to the Litany in 1995, the Year of the Family, in the hope that Our Lady would protect families from the constant and merciless attacks of an aggressively secular culture. Whenever I visit someone’s home I can’t help looking for images of the Blessed Mother – a […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

So what’s the big deal about the rosary? Isn’t it a vain and repetitious prayer? Isn’t it rather simplistic? Couldn’t just anyone say it? It’s rather unoriginal, isn’t it? And yet…. Saint John Paul the Great prayed it frequently, and he was a brilliant man. Louis Pasteur prayed it, and he too was a brilliant […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

El Greco; Botticelli; Murillo; Poussin; Raphael… All the masters have tried their hand at the Assumption of the Blessed Mother into heaven. For those who love Our Blessed Mother, it thrills the heart and fires the imagination just to envision this event. Each year we celebrate this Solemnity on August 15: a great festival in […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

“Conceived without original sin” refers to one of the four Marian Dogmas, known as the Immaculate Conception, defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854, when he said: We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

  How many saints are there in heaven? I don’t know, but I hope a lot. And Mary is Queen of all of them. She is the greatest of all the saints. There’s a parish in my neighborhood called Queen of All Saints, and it’s famous for its lovely Gothic-style basilica and vibrant parish community. […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

From the Book of Revelation we read, “They are Virgins and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). In the first Eucharistic prayer at Mass, also known as the Roman Canon, we remember Saints Cecelia, Agatha, Lucy, Anastasia and Agnes.  Perhaps one day we will also remember Blessed Anna […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

And who were the Confessors? They were and are the Christians who gave public witness to Christ even at the cost of difficulty, persecution, torture, and incarceration, but not actually a martyr. Many married people who persevere in their vows are confessors. But a ‘confessor’ is also a priest who dedicates much of his time […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

Here are the martyrs that come to my mind: The Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by St. Mother Theresa, in Yemen, March 14, 2016. The 21 Egyptian Coptic Martyrs killed by ISIS on the coast of Libya in 2015. The Coptic Martyrs of Cairo, 2011. The Martyrs of Baghdad, 2010. The Martyrs of Pakistan, […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

I don’t think there’s ever been a time when it was easy to be an apostle.  After all, ten of the first twelve died martyrs.  By our baptism, all of us are called to be apostles: to speak the truth and preach the Good News, in season and out of season.  We admire the courage […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

Do you remember that day when Jesus led Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and when they reached the top Jesus was suddenly transfigured into a shining and glorious vision flanked by the great prophets Moses and Elijah? Peter was stunned by the majesty and glory of the moment – it was a […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more

There were patriarchs in the Old Testament (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and there are patriarchs today, as head of a Church, and as the head of a family. Precisely in an age when the secular culture calls into question the role of the father and the role of the mother – calls into question the […]Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: ... Read more