Feel like a ‘throwaway’? Consider the peach tree

On the edge of my property a lone peach tree grows between the woods and the gravel drive. Years ago, someone probably finished eating a peach and carelessly tossed the pit out of their car window. With the dense undergrowth, the pit overcame insurmountable odds to sprout into a sapling and grow into a small tree.

Bishop Robert Barron: Society’s highest values came from Christianity

Tom Holland’s magnificent book “Dominion” develops in detail what amounts to a very simple proposition – namely, that Christianity is responsible for many of the central values we take for granted and assume to be universal. In point of fact, he says, our insistence on the dignity of the individual, fundamental human rights, the principle of equality and, perhaps above all, that the poor, the marginalized and the victimized ought to be specially cherished, flows from basic Christian convictions.

The Resurrection is the reason

Nearly 40 years ago, on a Tuesday, my sister Erin ran into the house with the excitement and enthusiasm that only a 7-year-old girl with a story to tell could muster. Immediately, she began to tell my mother about the wonderful adventure that she and her older brother had been having outside. Now she described in great detail the clouds and the birds and the sunshine and the neighbors who walked by all as we were engaged in the challenging project of getting a kite to fly on a Tuesday afternoon.

Effie Caldarola: We ask for a sign when it’s better to be one

As a small child, I was a bit of a religious nerd. I’m not sure why, but I was the oldest child, the only daughter, and our little Catholic mission parish in farm country was central to our lives. From a young age, faith intrigued me.

Kathryn Evans Heim: We become what we behold

There are so many things clamoring for our attention these days, in all different kinds of ways. We are assaulted by advertisements, which are practically unavoidable on every video we watch, on billboards, on the radio and on our social media feeds.

Deacon Enedino Aquino: Are we making progress this Lent?

We began the season of Lent this past Feb. 14, precisely on Valentine’s Day, a day of love and friendship. What better time to begin this season with the true love of Jesus in His self-giving for us!

Jaymie Stuart Wolfe: This Lent, embrace the call to forgive

In Roman Catholic parishes, the rituals of Lent begin with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. But many Eastern Christians – both Catholic and Orthodox – set the tone for the penitential season of Lent by observing another tradition: Forgiveness Sunday.

Dr. Tod Worner: Amid so much noise, we crave silence

Shhhh.
Do you hear that?
That’s right – Nothing.
Silence.