More than fifteen centuries before the birth of Jesus, Moses led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.  As they camped near the Jordan River across from Jericho, the Moabite king, an enemy of the Israelites, summoned a pagan prophet named Baalam and told him to curse the Israelites.  But instead, God […]Read more

This ancient greeting, still in use today in many cultures, was infused with new life on the evening of Easter on the lips of the risen Jesus. “Peace be with you” ( Jn 20:19, 21) is his Word that does not merely desire peace, but truly brings about a lasting transformation in those who receive […]Read more

St. Joseph gives us a wonderful example on how to live Advent in preparing for Christmas. God chose him to be Mary’s virginal husband and to safeguard her perpetual virginity with his life. He sensed that Mary’s physical virginity represented something more, a spiritual virginity, a sinlessness that entailed Conception, that God kept a perfect […]Read more

As the Church draws closer to the celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, Pope Leo XIV has offered young people a clear and practical invitation for the Christmas season: make peace with someone close to you. Meeting with young members and leaders of Italian Catholic Action, the Holy Father emphasized that authentic peace begins in the […]Read more

Four days ago we celebrated a feast in honor of the Patroness of the United States.  Today we honor the Patroness of the Americas, all the countries of the Western Hemisphere, Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She was responsible for the greatest conversion of all time.  During the ten years after Mary appeared four times to […]Read more

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Leo XIV invited the Church to contemplate the beauty of Mary’s faith, and to renew our own willingness to welcome Christ. Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, the Holy Father reflected on Mary’s unique grace, her freedom to respond, and the […]Read more

In 1519 the first European, a Spanish explorer, saw the Mississippi River, the name of which comes from the language of a Native tribe and means “Great River.”  But in 1673, another European explorer, the Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette came upon the river and named it “River of the Immaculate Conception.” The Immaculate Conception was […]Read more