Issuu

Living Christ’s Dream of Unity

Building Hope in a Divisive World

We are guided by the light and need not fear the struggle or the truth that emerges from the struggle. The work is not finished, and God is not finished with us.

ARE YOU LABELING INSTEAD OF LISTENING?

◆ THE MYSTERY OF JOY

Joy: we look for it, long for it and spend our lives chasing it. Yet do we really know what it is? Is it a feeling, a state of mind, or a reward for success? Do we know where to nd it?

“Joy”, says Kree , “is a mystery. It is bigger than we are.” Joy’s secret, however, is that it cannot be reached or found, but only given. True joy is God Himself, who, giving Himself, takes us outside of ourselves. is lucid, witty re ection on the true nature of joy convinces us that joy is very near at hand. Drawing from the wisdom of C. S. Lewis and St. omas Aquinas, Kree walks us through the long, beautiful task of surrendering to deep joy, the chief work of any life worth living. MJOYP Sewn So cover, $18.95

“Many writers have the gi of irony, humor, or logic, or common sense. Very few combine all these gi s in one talent and put it at the service of truth. Kree is simply the best, the most engaging, Christian apologist at work today.”

Francis X. Maier, Author, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church

Also by Peter Kree

◆ WHY DOES EVERYTHING COME IN THREES?

In this accessible, delightful book Kree re ects on the reality of the presence of the Holy Trinity in creation. The fact that so many things come in threes gives powerful evidence of the reality of the Trinitarian structure embedded in the universe.

WECTP Sewn So cover, $16.95

◆ FROM CALVINIST TO CATHOLIC

With over 100 books to his name, Peter Kree is the most proli c Catholic author today who has greatly in uenced countless Christians worldwide. But who, exactly, is the man behind all the books? In this new autobiography, Kree lets readers into his own story, including the encounters, people, and ideas that led him to the Catholic Church.

Bearing his signature insight and wit, Kree takes readers through his childhood when his family attended a Dutch Reformed church and anti-Catholicism was a given, to Calvin College where he studied philosophy and found himself on the road to Rome. en on to Fordham and Yale, where he nally swam the Tiber —with his future wife as godmother. Replete with delightful anecdotes and Kree ’s wry sense of humor, this is a compelling look at one of the great Catholic apologists of our time: a philosopher, a man of letters, and above all a man of faith.

FCCH Sewn Hardcover, $21.95

“Kree is a master of profundity and succinctness, with an uncanny ability to plumb the philosophical depths without ever losing the clarity required to illumine those depths to the average reader.”

—Joseph

Pearce, Author, Classic Literature Made Simple

◆ PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

Spiritual Direction from St. omas Aquinas

In this 800th anniversary of the birth of St. omas, be inspired by this brilliant combination of the wonderful insights of Peter Kree on the writings of the “Angelic Doctor”.

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September-October 2025

LIVING THE CATECHISM

Essentials for learning and practicing the Catechism of the Catholic Church

LIGUORI PUBLICATIONS STAFF

THE CATHOLIC OBSERVER

Your independent source of news and views on the Catholic Church

GARY GATELY

MEDITATION

Who Do People Say That I Am?

A question from Jesus is at the core of our creation and our journey to heaven

HONORABLE THOMAS LACROSS

FICTION

Home Movie

A daughter seeks answers to lingering family questions and discovers herself in the search

LEIGH ANN ROMAN

KEVIN ZUBEL, CS s R

Toward a Healed Society

All aboard a journey to entrust our differences to God, who makes us one GREG GHERING

KINDNESS CALENDAR

September-October 2025

Useful suggestions to help you grow and live out your faith

LIGUORI PUBLICATIONS STAFF

Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis

Two young men who lived a century apart, canonized together on September 7, 2025

September–October Columnists

Scott Czarnopys (“Face to Face”) is married to his beautiful wife, Arley, and has two children, Haven and Daxton. He is an elementaryschool principal serving in his fourteenth year at Saint Patrick School, a thriving semi-rural Catholic school in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan.

Fr. Peter D. Hill, CSsR (“Plain Talk”), is a Redemptorist missionary who has served as parish priest of Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago; director of Holy Redeemer Retreat House, Dominica; and formation co-director at North American Redemptorist Formation House in San Antonio, Texas.

Fr. Michael McAndrew, CSsR (“Padre Migrante”), has served for thirtyplus years in Redemptorist Hispanic ministry initiatives, youth ministry, bilingual parish missions, and farmworker ministry. He works with the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network, directed a Campesino ministry, and recently published a book with Liguori Publications: Walk With My People: A Life in Migration Ministry (828720).

Br. Raymond Pierce, CSsR (“The Lighter Side”), is a native of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. His ministry is storytelling via email. Every week, he sends “Morning Smiles” emails of humor and personal stories to nearly 1,000 senior citizens.

Fr. Thomas M. Santa, CSsR (“A Word from the Publisher”), was named president and publisher of Liguori Publications in January 2024, his second assignment as the company’s leader. Professed as a Redemptorist in 1973, his ministries have included retreat work and writing reflections for the Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter.

Tim and Julie Smith (“Kitchen Table Gospel”) have been professional music ministers in the Phoenix area for more than thirty-five years. They have written and recorded dozens of music collections, including liturgical music, theater music, children’s music, and bilingual music, and their songs have been published in multiple hymnals.

Adam Tran-Chung (“Social Media Perspectives”) is a student of the Redemptorists and is studying philosophy at St. John’s University in New York City. He is an accomplished concert pianist and organist and enjoys composing liturgical music. He is interested in exploring how social media can be used as a tool for evangelization.

Vinita Hampton Wright (“Redemptive Living”) worked in religious book publishing for more than three decades. She is retired and continues to write, edit, and present retreats and workshops on creativity, writing, and prayer. She works as a spiritual director in Northwest Arkansas.

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There is darkness in this world, but Jesus loved the world in all its brokenness, and he shows each of us how to do the same.

PHILIP ST. ROMAIN

Liguorian is named after our founder and patron saint, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787), Doctor of the Church, bishop, patron of confessors, moral theologian, prolific writer, pastoral theologian par excellence, and founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. It is in his spirit and inspired by the charism he shared with us, “With him there is plentiful redemption for all,” that this magazine and all pastoral educational products of Liguori Publications proudly claim we always strive to be Catholic, Pastoral, Trusted. To learn more about the Redemptorists, visit Redemptorists.com

The Grateful Heart

As a practicing spiritual director, I often invite the people with whom I speak to become more aware of gratitude in their lives. I tell them that instead of identifying what is not working for them, or fixating on people who do not appreciate them, or ruminating over how they have been repeatedly wronged, they might choose to change their perspective. This does not mean they should deny reality or accept toxic living situations, for example, but it does mean they should consciously choose to pay attention to the people, events, and experiences in life for which they are grateful and not let such moments pass unnoticed.

Science informs us that practicing gratitude can profoundly change a person psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. The psychological effects of a regular and deliberate practice of gratitude shift one’s attention from what is lacking or negative to what is present and good. Studies in positive psychology show that practicing gratitude increases overall happiness and life satisfaction, decreases symptoms of depression and anxiety, and fosters a more optimistic outlook.

The regular practice of gratitude also promotes emotional transformation, helping people become more resilient in the face of adversity; less prone to envy, resentment, and regret; and more appreciative of small, everyday blessings. Grateful people tend to be more empathetic and forgiving, have stronger relationships, and express appreciation more readily, improving communication and connection.

From a spiritual perspective, gratitude encourages humility before God and others, cultivates a sense of wonder and reverence, and deepens prayer life by focusing on thanksgiving, not just prayers of petition and intercession.

A Word from the Publisher

FR. THOMAS M. SANTA, CSsR

Science informs us that practicing gratitude can profoundly change a person psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically.

Gratefulness is not just a feeling; it is a habit—a spiritual discipline—that rewires how one sees the world and responds to it. Over time, it can make a person more joyful, grounded, and compassionate.

The gratefulness of the heart at prayer is a deeply transformative disposition that shapes how one relates to God, oneself, and the world. In Christian spirituality, especially within Catholic tradition, it is considered a vital posture of the soul, rooted in humility and love.

Back in the early 1970s and ’80s, an often-recommended book for spiritual reading was Prayer of the Heart by Fr. George Maloney, SJ. This classic work on the Christian contemplative tradition encouraged readers to recognize that gratefulness of the heart is more than saying “thank you”—it is a profound inner awareness and response to the goodness of God. It springs from recognizing life, salvation, and every blessing as unearned gifts from a loving Creator. This awareness leads to awe of God’s mercy and creation, trust in God’s providence—even amid suffering—and joy in communion with God.

In this issue of Liguorian, we are reminded that our present lived experience of polarization needs a real tonic. Does anyone believe that we can continue to live and

GEMINI

grow as the people of God when we are so seemingly divided against one another? Is it necessary to fight about everything? Is it necessary to win every argument? Our authors approach this subject from a variety of perspectives, and I am grateful for their efforts. Each article demonstrates a real commitment to trying to understand what we are challenged with, inviting us to a different perspective and a more grace-filled way of living.

Hopefully, all Liguorian readers can commit to the spiritual practice and discipline of gratefulness. At the conclusion of each day, perhaps before you go to bed at night, identify three people, events, or experiences for which you are grateful. Just spend a moment holding each of these memories in your heart and let the grace of God bless them as you, too, are blessed. I think our world will be a much better place when we engage in this spiritual practice. It will help change our focus and turn down the noise of our differences. A

Gratefulness is not just a feeling; it is a habit—a spiritual discipline— that rewires how one sees the world and responds to it.

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Dear Liguorian Editor,

I was deeply touched by the story published in your May-June Liguorian about the life of and the miracles performed by St. Carlo Acutis (“From Coding to Canonization: The Life of Carlo Acutis”). In my lifetime, I have not read or seen the image of a young saint being canonized after performing such miracles. The thorough illustration of his life leaves me with a deeper belief in our Catholic faith because it exemplifies the existence of human beings with very deep faith in God who follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. The images portrayed in your magazine of a handsome young teenager, now St. Carlo Acutis, will be remembered forever.

Dear Liguorian Editor,

Hector E. (via email)

I recently subscribed to Liguorian. My family used to get it when I was a kid. So happy it’s still being published. I like Liguori’s publications. I prayed with your new translation of Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus this afternoon during adoration.

Ron B. (via Facebook)

Dear Liguorian Editor,

Years ago, I received Liguorian regularly, in the 1960s and ’70s. My daughter asked for a copy, and I was thrilled to have her ask. I just started receiving the magazine again after many years. I need to read your inspiring Liguori Publications.

Prayers ,

Leorah

M. (posted letter)

“Polarization has become society’s default mode—where instead of seeking unity as a core principle, we swing from one extreme to another.… When an ideology rules my life, I can no longer dialogue or engage with others because I’ve already decided how things must be.”

—Pope Leo XIV

Dear Liguorian Editor, Thank you for the articles about making a pilgrimage and the four Redemptorist shrines (July-August 2025). They were all interesting, especially the one dedicated to the Ukrainian Bishop (“Bishop Velychkovsky National Martyr’s Shrine”). What a hard life! I’m more of an “armchair pilgrim” now, so I’m especially grateful for articles like these. Thank you.

Marlene B. (via email)

Saint Carlo Acutis

Shrine mosaic of St. John Neumann

Chapel in Blessed Vasyl Shrine

OPope Leo XIV Celebrates Marriage and Families

n a sun-drenched June day in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful message to tens of thousands of mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and toddlers and teenagers who journeyed to Rome from about 130 countries. “Let us not forget: families are the cradle of the future of humanity,” the pontiff said in his homily at a Mass for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly.

“Today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love and to defeat, thanks to its unifying and reconciling power, the forces that break down relationships and societies,” Pope Leo said.

“Dear friends, we received life before we ever desired it.… As soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived. Someone else saved us by caring for us in body and spirit. All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care.”

Leo urged parents to view the marriage covenant not as simply an ideal, but as “the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful, and fruitful.” That love, he said, “makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.”

Alluding to abortion, which the Catholic Church condemns as a grave sin, the Holy Father said, “Human kindness is sometimes betrayed—as, for example,

whenever freedom is invoked not to give life, but to take it away; not to help, but to hurt.” But he added that “even in the face of the evil that opposes and takes life, Jesus continues to pray to the Father for us. His prayer acts as a balm for our wounds; it speaks to us of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

The first US-born pope also called on parents “to be examples of integrity to your children, acting as you want them to act, educating them in freedom through obedience, always seeing the good in them and finding ways to nurture it.”

Pope Leo encouraged children to thank their parents every day “for the gift of life and for all that comes with it,” which he called “the first way to honor your father and your mother.” Grandparents and elderly people, Leo said, should “watch over [their] loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age.”

Halfway through the 2025 jubilee year, more than 10 million pilgrims have visited Rome. And the Vatican predicts that a total of 30 million pilgrims will journey to the Eternal City during the year of jubilee, which ends on January 6, 2026.

For more than seven centuries, the Catholic Church has celebrated the rich tradition of the jubilee year, which normally comes every quarter-century as a time of pilgrimage, repentance, forgiveness, and redemption of sinners through Christ’s mercy. A

Pope Leo XIV blesses a baby in Saint Peter’s Square before the June 1 Mass culminating the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly. VATICAN MEDIA

Pope Leo incenses a statue of the Virgin Mary at the start of the Mass for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly. VATICAN MEDIA

Lessons from Saint Gerard

In today’s world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the division around us. People are arguing on social media, families are split over politics, and we are even divided in our Church. We might wonder how we can be people of peace and unity when everything feels so tense.

One surprising answer comes from a quiet, humble saint who never wrote a book or delivered remarkable academic lectures but lived a life full of love, gentleness, and deep faith. Saint Gerard Majella’s example can help us find our way in a divided world.

Saint Gerard was born in Muro, Italy, in 1726. He was sickly and poor, and his father died when he was just twelve. Life was not easy, but Gerard had a deep love for God from an early age. He became a Redemptorist Brother (not a priest) and served with joy and humility. He took care of the housework, helped the poor, and quietly guided many people back to God.

Saint Gerard was remarkable because he stayed gentle and faithful no matter what was happening around him. He teaches us to choose the way of Jesus: love, forgiveness, patience, and truth, regardless of circumstances. The following story illustrates this clearly:

A woman once falsely accused Gerard of a serious wrongdoing. Many turned against him, and even his superiors believed the lies. Gerard didn’t argue or try to defend himself. He stayed silent, trusting God to reveal the truth in time. Eventually, the truth came out, and his name was cleared.

In our world, where people are quick to accuse, prove others wrong, or fight back with anger, Gerard shows us another way of being: the way of humility and trust. He teaches us that sometimes the best response to conflict is not to shout louder, but to stay rooted in Christ, do what is right, and let God do the rest. So, how can we follow St. Gerard’s example in a time of polarization?

FR. PETER D. HILL, CSsR

• Be gentle, not harsh. Gerard spoke kindly to everyone, even those who mistreated him. We can learn to disagree without becoming mean or rude.

• Listen more and talk less. Gerard listened with his heart. He didn’t need to win every argument. Maybe we can listen a little more, especially to those with whom we disagree.

• Put love first. Gerard never let fear or anger guide his actions. He acted out of love—always. In our families, neighborhoods, parishes, workplaces, and social media accounts, we can ask: What would love do here?

• Stay faithful. Gerard spent hours in daily prayer, and that gave him peace. If we want to bring peace and unity into a divided world, we need to start with prayer, talking to God and letting his peace fill us first.

Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us. A

St. Gerard is a model of trust in God.

PORTRAIT OF GERARD MAJELLA. UNKNOWN ARTIST. LATE 19TH CENTURY. WIKIMEDIA

Polarization

Are You Labeling Instead of Listening?

HOW DO WE RESPOND WHEN IT SEEMS AS IF THE WORLD IS ENGAGED IN SUSTAINED CONFLICT?

FR. THOMAS M. SANTA, CSsR

Commentators, influencers, and others who interpret the human experience suggest that the worldwide community is engaged in sustained conflict. Just a few minutes on social media reveal that a knock-down, drag-out fight over ideas and meaning is part of our everyday lives. Whether the issue involves politics, immigration, school-board decisions, how people worship, or gender identity, the energy and agitation are so intense that it is difficult to imagine what the landscape might look like when the smoke clears.

Few people seem able to rise above the fray, and we find ourselves drawn into conflict that forces us toward one extreme direction or the other, further distancing us from the pursuit of common ground and common purpose. This process of “taking sides” is polarization: a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.

People might experience polarization as a struggle between conservative and liberal, traditional and progressive, or old-fashioned and modern. Too often, taking an extreme stance within any system of thought is not thoroughly considered as passion overrides rationality, the

ability to compromise, and the desire to get along peaceably. From either end of the spectrum, the middle ground may be difficult to imagine or even hope for. Too often, we are tempted to think of these differences as the age-old struggle between good and evil.

The Struggle to Understand Something New

Perhaps it would be easier to diagnose and heal this painful time in human history if the conflict were simply good versus evil. But what if the core of the conflict is something more complex—something in which polarization is not the problem but is instead a symptom of deeper issues that are part of an emerging

truth? If the real issue is a struggle to understand something new and untested, then the labels we use (“pro-life,” “tree-hugger,” “woke,” “warmonger,” and so on) and how we speak about ourselves and each other are unavoidably compromised because they are misunderstood. The result is not progress or the hoped-for return to common ground and purpose but is instead the recognition of a gaping wound in the human community—a wound that cries out for loving attention and action, not winners and losers.

While the issues that separate us and inflict suffering upon us are challenging, they invite us to dive deeper into the grace-filled narrative of how we see and understand ourselves as human beings. Settling for

Deeper Questions

Some of the realities we experience necessitate a deeper look.

How much authority does the individual person possess? What part of the human experience necessitates dialogue with, consensus with, permission from, or obedience to another? Is it enough to be true to yourself and accept the consequences?

Are we living in a post-Christian society? What might replace the Christian perspective, ethical code, and understanding of the world/universe?

What does human sexuality mean? Does it refer to the pronouns a person uses? Is human sexuality procreational, relational, and/ or recreational? What role does gender play in human relationships?

For vowed and consecrated religious men and women: What is the value of celibacy? How is chastity to be understood?

Does the Christian story, which is representative of a specific, historical, authentic human experience, remain pertinent to society? Is there a way to tell this story and announce the Good News that would invite more people today to respond in faith?

quick labels is incomplete and unsatisfying. If we truly desire to know what is essential to the issues being discussed, and to the people discussing them, we need to understand the complexity and nuances of each issue. It is important for us to focus on the context and real experiences of the issue, which provide a deeper explanation and appreciation for each perception and opinion expressed.

Will we accept the invitation to understand all sides of a question? Will we embrace those areas in which we agree and work together to find solutions where we do not? Or will we settle for the labels, for partial understanding, for an angry and definitive “I’m right, and you’re wrong”?

No label can represent the goodness of which the human person is capable. To use the words of Scripture, these labels are an “abomination” (Proverbs 6:16) because they lead us further away from life and love, into darkness rather than light. We become more alienated from the core of the human condition, which is in-

We are guided by the light and need not fear the struggle or the truth that emerges from the struggle. The work is not finished, and God is not finished with us.

tended by the Creator to be a reflection of the divine, triune God and a community of love.

When human beings reject love, joy, peace, hope, kindness, truth, and compassion, they embrace shortcuts; they are unwilling to do the real work of experiencing the fullness of the human condition. It is the story of Genesis repeating itself—the original sin. We fool ourselves into thinking we have a shortcut to our final destination; in doing so, we deprive ourselves of the entire journey and the fundamental joy of the ultimate human experience that develops along the way: genuine relationships, both with each other and with God.

Only Part of the Story

When we find ourselves polarized, mired deep in our own opinions and judgments, no matter how “right” we may be, we have chosen the path of refusing to listen. When we refuse to listen compassionately and generously, not only to the arguments and the questions but also to the deeper truth people may reveal when they feel heard, we miss the opportunity to live more fully and to flourish into the people we were created to be.

The issues that animate polariz-

ing positions and inflame the passions of the human community are only partial representations of the truth. When we defend a label—a generalization of human behavior—we embrace a fundamental mistake, an error in judgment and understanding. Labels are only part of the story; they are not the complete truth. If we indulge in a passionate response without permitting ourselves the time to listen, we can only hope to understand part of the truth—sometimes a very small part indeed—and we deprive ourselves, and the community, of the fullness waiting to be revealed.

Truth Unfolds in the Process of Revelation

We experience the human adventure in the process of revelation: a perpetual unfolding of making known the unknown. When we embrace revelation, or “emerging truth,” we acknowledge that we do not know all the answers—or even all the questions. There is abundantly more mystery than certainty in the universe. A person who is wholeheartedly convinced of his or her own perceptions and comfortable in his or her opinions stands in contradiction to this reality. Such extreme confidence is the ultimate arrogance; it is settling for less, not more. From a Christian perspective, it is blindness of the worst possible kind. It is death, not resurrection. It is the practiced refusal to “look beyond the bread you eat; see your Savior and your Lord” (“Look Beyond,” song by Darryl Ducote).

What happens to our personal conviction and certainty when we engage in listening? How do we ef-

fectively embrace empathy, generosity, and faith while rejecting resentment, superiority, and ego? We do not have to go very far to find opportunities to practice our shared humanity and listen to our human story as it unfolds.

In our polarized world, where people are fundamentally distracted from truly engaging in deep and meaningful discussion and from respectfully seeking the whole truth, that truth is emerging whether we pay attention or not. The labels and partial truths capturing our attention and depleting our energy consistently come up short. Those who take a break from petty bickering may perceive that something larger is going on and that we are in a period of great change, manifested for a time as struggle and chaos.

Humanity is experiencing a significant realignment in everyday living. Only 18 percent of United States citizens remain rooted in agriculture, while 82 percent are now anchored in cities. Fewer than half of children today are growing up in traditional nuclear families. The religious expressions of the past are being pushed aside—not so much dying out, but certainly losing their primacy.

Searching for Answers

Although some people are misguided in their diagnosis of emerging issues, perfunctorily dismissing it as “wokeness,” a period of genuine angst is palatable. Humanity is searching for the answers to at least three questions that we must address in order to embrace a new age and experience:

1. Where is the authority?

2. What does it mean to be a conscious, self-aware human being?

3. How can we live together?

Everyone is struggling to “figure it out.” Some are aware of this struggle, but many are not likely thinking about it too much. The issues taking up our time and energy

are directly rooted in these core questions. It is no wonder there is polarization. Many people are ill equipped to participate respectfully and lovingly in crucial conversations. Leaders fail to encourage and guide these conversations, instead attempting to persuade people of their “rightness” by tightening the rules, demanding obedience, and embracing labels they hope will keep them in power.

It is frustrating to encounter good, well-meaning men and women who have given up their search for answers to these essential questions. These are people who could be using their talents to question and investigate, but they instead settle for a reality that distracts and confuses. Isn’t it important to question? To struggle? To be uncomfortable? To do the hard but necessary work of becoming a fully engaged human being?

Calling each other names, accepting the marginalization of some people so that our truth may dominate, and being comfortable with “winners” and “losers” are not the best representation of what it means to be human. We should all be concerned for those who are caught up in the struggle of answering these crucial questions and discarded as collateral damage in the process. Yet, despite the chaos and confusion, there is good news: we are not in the dark. We are guided by the light. Humanity need not fear the struggle or the truth that emerges from the struggle. The work is not finished, and God is not finished with us.

Fr. Thomas M. Santa, CSsR, is the president and publisher of Liguori Publications, his second assignment as the company’s leader. Professed as a Redemptorist in 1973, his ministries have included retreat work and writing reflections for the Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter.

An Examen

Do I ever label or make quick judgments about certain people? The young or the old? The poor or the wealthy? People of different races, religions, or nationalities? Those in certain occupations?

Do I ever feel judged or labeled?

Do I fully examine my opinions? Do I seek to understand the opinions of others?

Have I experienced the end of a relationship because of political or religious differences?

Have I ever spoken honestly and at length with someone who holds different opinions about politics, religion, sexuality, or other substantive issues? Did I try to understand where they were coming from?

Did I feel understood? Did I enjoy the encounter?

Is it important to me to understand others and to be understood?

Catholic Update: Available from Liguori Publications

Polarization: Stop Labeling—Start

Listening

Flashpoint: Thoughtful Reflections and Wisdom about Trending Topics

Fr. Thomas M. Santa, CSsR Product code: C2409A

Bulk quantity discounts available! To order visit Liguori.org or call 800-325-9521.

Living the Serenity Prayer During Divisive Times

A WELL-KNOWN PRAYER CENTERED IN GOD OFFERS STRESS RELIEF

Iwas a young man during the intense social movements of the 1960s and ’70s. Those were trying times for many, with families and communities deeply divided over topics like the Vietnam War, civil rights, and women’s rights. There were marches, protests, and demonstrations—not always peaceful.

Today seems much the same, only worse in some ways. We still have intense discussions about war, politics, human rights, and many other topics, but now we also have social media, which can exacerbate problems. For example, many people consult only social media resources that reinforce their own biases, and they communicate online only with others who agree with their positions. These “echo chambers” drown out disagreements and frustrate healthy dialogue. So, divisions like those that were evident in families, churches, and

other organizations during the 1960s and ’70s are present again, but with more intensity, it seems. What can we do?

An old adage has it that “If we’re not sure how to make things better, we can at least try not to make them worse.” That’s where the Serenity Prayer comes in. It provides an excellent road map for helping us sort through the issues at hand while remaining centered in God during stressful, divisive times. It even nudges us to become open to new opportunities for joy and blessings.

The Serenity Prayer is attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, a twentieth-century Protestant theologian who taught for thirty years at Union Theological Seminary in New York. The first three lines of the prayer are very well known, often featured on wall plaques and prayed by TwelveStep recovery groups worldwide:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

There is much wisdom in just those first few lines. The prayer continues:

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that you will make all things right

If I surrender to your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with you forever in the next.

I’ve written a book, Reflecting on the Serenity Prayer (Liguori Publications, 1997), which goes into each line of the prayer in some depth. In this article, I will focus on how the guidance presented in this prayer can help you live fully during a time of division.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

We are never at peace when we are trying to change the unchangeable. What might that be for you? Make a list of situations that bother you, then be willing to let go of anything over which you have little influence. Serenity comes to those who turn everything over to God’s care. Also, how can you be more open to God as the source of your peace? For many, it is through faith and prayer. Discover what helps you find peace in God, and undertake that practice during this time. Resolve to do so.

Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

This is the step of discernment. Sometimes, you may try to change things but discover you cannot. Then, you must take a step back and adjust your attitude. However, you may discover that if you do not try to do something write a letter, make a phone call, etc.—then you feel as if you’re copping out or playing the victim, and you can’t find real serenity. What’s your part? Other people’s? God’s?

The fruit of this struggle is a wisdom that deepens and supports serenity. You can always choose not to disturb yourself with things you ultimately cannot change as long as you are doing all you can and leaving the rest—including the consequences of your actions—in God’s care.

Living one day at a time.

In Matthew 6:34, Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” What efforts do you need to put forth today? What can wait until tomorrow? You can only do what you can do, so learn to let go of what you cannot do today. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make plans for tomorrow, only that you should wait until tomorrow to do what must be done then. To do otherwise is to introduce stress, worry, and anxiety into your life. And remember that daily living means honoring your basic needs to nourish your body, exercise, sleep, work, and play.

Enjoying one moment at a time.

This part of the Serenity Prayer refocuses your attention toward what is good and worthy of celebration. Every moment is a gift to encounter in loving openness,

realizing that God is always here, now, and loving all of us. When you miss the present moment because you are anxious, angry, or discouraged, you miss being in that moment with God. One way of being open and present to God is by telling him how you feel. It is also good to practice gratitude for the simple things and take time to enjoy them—a lovely sunrise, a good meal, flowers and birds, your family. Making a gratitude list can help you be intentional about practicing gratitude throughout each day. “Rejoicing in the L ord is your strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10). Be open to this joy.

Accepting hardship as a pathway to

peace.

“Accepting”—there’s that word again. If you are practicing acceptance daily and living in the present moment, then even hardship can become a context for peace. Why? In Romans 5:3-4, St. Paul notes that we can “even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope.”

People usually try to avoid hardship, but if we realize that we can find God there, too, and that hardship offers an opportunity for deep and powerful growth, then our fear of affliction and dark times diminishes. You can become stronger within yourself by persevering in the effort to be loving and grateful during times of hardship. What have you learned during such times in your life? How has God invited you to grow in hardship?

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

There’s no denying that this world is sinful, broken, and unjust. But it’s the only world we have. You can do your small part to change things, knowing that Jesus did the same, opening a way for us to journey with him through this life. There is darkness in this world, but Jesus loved the world in all its brokenness, and he shows each of us how to do the same. How do you see Jesus accepting this world as it is?

Trusting that you (God) will make all things right if I surrender to your will.

God’s will, as Jesus reveals, and as the saints and mystics confirm, is about truth and love. The will of God is for us to do the loving thing. God’s will is love not only in an emotional sense but also in truth. This can be difficult, because it means God calls you to be loving even when you don’t feel like it—when, in fact, you feel the opposite. The Holy Spirit points the way, prompting you to act in a manner that promotes love, such as reaching out to someone or honestly facing your feelings. When you say “yes” with your will—that is, when you decide to

do what is right—you open the door to love, and serenity is not far behind. The decision to act lovingly is a kind of surrender—even a sacrifice—that opens you more and more to God. What kind of surrender-decisions are you being invited to make these days? Pray for the grace to surrender with love.

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with you (God) forever in the next.

This part of the prayer puts everything in perspective. As Hebrews 13:14 makes clear, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come.” No lasting city! You are here on earth for only a few years, but your life with God goes on forever. You can be “reasonably happy in this life,” as the Serenity Prayer notes, if you practice the principles related in the prayer—faith, acceptance, trust, surrender, taking responsibility for your part, discernment, openness to the present moment in gratitude, exercising the willingness to love.

This “reasonable happiness” is not dependent on external circumstances so much as on your attitude toward the present situation. Dark and divisive times can press in on you, but if you call upon God and work

diligently to live fully and lovingly through them, you can experience serenity and some degree of happiness. Let us all embrace the lessons that are given to us and learn from them, even though sometimes they might seem extreme.

What gives you the hope and strength to live lovingly and courageously? What part of the Serenity Prayer is the most difficult challenge for you to live? Take some time to consider how you might live life more peacefully and joyously. Ask God for the grace to do so. A

Philip St. Romain is the author of more than twenty books on Christian prayer, spirituality, and theology. He holds a Master of Science in zoology and a Doctor of Ministry in spiritual direction. For the past twenty-eight years, he has served as a spiritual director and retreat presenter at the Heartland Center for Spirituality in Great Bend, Kansas, with an additional seven years of service at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita, Kansas. He is married and the father of three grown children, with eight grandchildren. For more information about Philip, see shalomplace.com and philstromain.com.

There’s no denying that this world is sinful, broken, and unjust. But it’s the only world we have.

Living Christ’s Dream of Unity

BUILDING HOPE IN A DIVISIVE WORLD

FR. KEVIN ZUBEL, CS S R

Iwas twenty-three years old when I first raised my voice during an argument with my parents. But before I pretend to be the “perfect son,” let me clarify. Throughout my childhood and early teenage years, I exhibited all the classic symptoms of “middle-child syndrome,” calling out my parents’ perceived slights and favoritism toward my brother and sister. But around the age when my dad taught me how to shave, those behaviors began to fade.

When was the last time you enjoyed a friendly debate with someone who has a strongly opposing viewpoint?

I stumbled into adulthood focused more on savoring my growing independence, leaving me little time to worry about my parents’ thoughts on current events. Like generations before me, my point of departure on political questions was rooted firmly in my parents’ worldview. My college years sailed by with a few hiccups over financial matters and credit cards—including a memorable episode in which my dad grilled me over how a $1.35 ice-cream cone was an “emergency expense”—but we were still of one mind on cultural and sociopolitical matters.

However, on that winter Sunday afternoon in 2003, I stood at the

kitchen table, shaking with emotion as I slammed my hand down to emphasize a point. President George W. Bush and his administration were advocating the case for an invasion of Iraq, and then-Pope John Paul II vehemently expressed his opposition in an address to the diplomatic corps, declaring, “No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity.” Thinking that my parents and I would share the same opinion, I was shocked to learn that we had reached widely different conclusions.

Recalling my outburst, I still wonder how so small a spark could ignite that level of passion. Did

subconscious pent-up rage within me fuel the fire? Had the stress of my new career overtaken my selfcontrol? Rather than relying on my three credit hours of undergraduate psychology to investigate answers, I believe a more profound reflection, viewed through the lens of my love and respect for my parents, offers stronger insights into ways that people can navigate the political, spiritual, and cultural divisions that harm even our closest relationships. Thankfully, if we follow the example of the first Christian disciples, we’ll see that solutions for bringing us back together are readily available if we are willing to take the first step.

THE EXHORTATION TO THE APOSTLES, JAMES TISSOT / WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Division Past and Present

Political or cultural divisions within families are not a new or unfamiliar phenomenon. Brothers faced each other on different sides of the Civil War, often only a few yards apart. About a hundred years later, Jack Weinberg, an activist in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, declared, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty”—an age group that presumably included his young audience’s parents. The 1970s TV show All in the Family allowed American audiences to laugh at themselves as they enjoyed the constant ideological sparring between Archie Bunker and his sonin-law, “Meathead.” Generations of comedians and sitcoms have earned cheap laughs by portraying the trope of uncomfortable debates during Thanksgiving dinners.

Why, then, does today feel different? Ask yourself, When was the last time I enjoyed a friendly debate with someone who has a strongly opposing viewpoint? Can you recall the last

time you changed your mind about a religious, political, or social topic? Technology and media allow us to join virtual communities of likeminded people and go through life without directly working through issues in real time. Rather than having those spirited conversations at Thanksgiving dinners, we find that everyone either agrees or remains silent. In fact, over the past twenty years, young people have formed “chosen families,” in which they gather individuals who share their worldview and provide an alternative to their relatives, whom they write off as unenlightened or judgmental. Increasingly, we are allowing ideological differences to create chasms in our family relationships and friendships.

A Church Divided

Sadly, our Church finds itself divided at our own table of thanksgiving: the altar. In my ministry, I witnessed in real time how social media disrupt-

ed the bonds of Church unity in 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all the faithful participated in virtual Masses offered over social media platforms for weeks. At that time, I had served for less than a month as chaplain to a diocesan Hispanic apostolate and thus had not yet formed strong bonds with the community. Given the choice between a low-production online Mass celebrated in my broken Spanish and a glitzy production from a fiery priest from their home countries, many of our parishioners naturally chose the latter.

Soon, those online preachers, many of whom used YouTube, discovered that more views resulted in increased earnings through the platform. Struggling to maintain their ministries during the pandemic, these priests found a lucrative way to fill the financial gaps. To draw more viewers, some heightened the drama or provocation of their preaching. Soon, I was receiving calls from parishioners who were confused by

Solutions for bringing us back together are readily available if we follow the example of the first Christian disciples.

novel teachings that strayed far from Catholic tradition and skirted the edges of heresy. One priest claimed to know someone who could hear the voices of souls in purgatory! Most damaging to Church unity, however, was the insistence of these priests that their audience could not trust anyone, including bishops, who contradicted their messages.

My experience with the faithful who had been confused and frightened by these priests who were competing for attention opened my eyes to why our divisive era differs significantly from the spirited debates we knew in the past. To capture our attention and lull us into complete obedience to their messages, online influencers speak to our existing anxieties and form us into invisible communities of like-minded people. We’re given talking points to mimic instead of perspectives meant to expand our understanding of a topic or issue. No longer encouraged to fine-tune our perspectives through thoughtful conversation, we’re conditioned to ridicule and dismiss those who think differently or, even worse, see our viewpoints as a threat.

This feedback loop enslaves us to a zero-sum worldview that makes peace and reconciliation effectively impossible. It feeds on a primal instinct that Jesus of Nazareth sought to eliminate in the souls of his disciples. When the people of a Samaritan village refused to welcome Jesus and his message, James and John asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” (Luke 9:54). This attitude earned them a strong rebuke from Jesus, who seeks conversion and reconciliation rather than revenge. Christ, the Light of the Nations, seeks to gather up those who have scattered. As Catholics, this became our mission, too, at our baptism. Thus, we have a responsibility to free ourselves from captivity to the algorithms and media influencers who profit from disunity and conspiracies and entertain us by humiliating or degrading others.

Steps Toward Healing

How can we take the first step toward healing the divisions among our neighbors, friends, and family? Returning to my parents’ kitchen table that Sunday in 2003, I could recognize the importance of self-reflection and examining my conscience as the foundation for conversion and growth. My anger in that moment was not directed toward my shocked parents. Rather, I was filled with emotion because I was taking my first step away from the safety and security of home toward the uncertainties of independence.

our underlying anxieties and fears. There were times to have spirited conversations, and there were times to let things be.

Christ, the Light of the Nations, seeks to gather up those who have scattered.

Similarly, the anxiety and uncertainty of the pandemic created fertile soil for the frightening teachings of eccentric online preachers to take root in the hearts of my parishioners. Few things are more intoxicating than someone who speaks boldly and confidently in a time of confusion. Christians are called to recognize in all times and seasons that in Christ alone do we have faith and confidence.

Those of us blessed to grow up in happy and healthy environments don’t want our homes ever to change. We don’t want our parents to age or to remove even one knick-knack from our childhood bedrooms. Although I moved away from home at eighteen, it wasn’t until this argument that I realized I had also relocated to a new worldview and that my parents and I would follow different paths at times. This is a bittersweet but necessary moment in the life of every son and daughter.

Accepting this reality, I began to realize that my parents didn’t have different opinions from mine because they were out of touch or ill informed. We simply saw the world in different ways because our life experiences had formed different lenses through which we viewed current events.

Over the years, my parents and I drifted further apart in our worldviews without ever losing love and respect for each other. We learned never to use political or social arguments as a proxy battlefield for

Suppose the first movement toward bringing us back together is honesty about our own vulnerabilities in a time when we may find cheap comfort in ideological echo chambers. In that case, the next step requires returning to Christ and following his message of unity.

The night before his crucifixion, Jesus had us in mind as he prayed to the Father that we “may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21). In the first years of Christianity, in the incident at Antioch, where Paul confronted Peter over whether the baptized must first practice the tenets of the Mosaic Law, we witness how a moment that could have divided the Church in its infancy was resolved through an appeal to Christ’s greater mission of unity. (See Galatians 2:11–16.) This gives us a road map toward healing division in our Church—not through exclusion and conformity, but through harmonizing differences as gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We can accomplish this through

GEMINI

a task that perhaps sounds simple but has become a challenge in modern times. Our path to unity amidst diversity of thought becomes possible only when our understanding of truth prioritizes personal stories and witness over the junkfood entertainment of our favorite media personalities and “talking heads.” Put simply, we must trust human intelligence over artificial intelligence. Let’s turn off the TV, put down our phones, and engage our friends, families, and neighbors in open conversation. Accepting that we may be wrong or may have an incomplete view about an issue doesn’t signal weakness; rather, it signals true strength of character and openness to the Spirit. Just ask St. Peter, who admitted that St. Paul’s firsthand witness of conversions among the Gentiles painted a fuller picture of how Christ’s mission could take hold in hearts made ready to receive the gospel.

than we can imagine but also that there is more that unites us than divides us at our core. Just like those YouTube priests, our favorite political commentators capture our attention and soothe our anxieties by telling us that we have nothing to learn from others and that we can dismiss others as traitorous, uneducated, or heretical. In reality, we can understand the truth only when we hear others’ stories, allowing their experience to convert a shadowy world of black and white into a world vibrant with color and depth. The miracle at Pentecost wasn’t that people of different tongues all suddenly could speak the same language, but that everyone could proclaim their love of God in their own way, and everyone was understood.

own. It reminds us that true unity does not demand uniformity; instead, it thrives in the richness of a diversity that reflects the multifaceted image of God.

In practice, this means entering conversations with humility, ready to listen rather than to dominate. It means approaching disagreements not as battles to be won, but as opportunities to learn and grow. It means recognizing that the people we encounter—whether in our families or communities or even online— carry their own stories, shaped by joys and sorrows, triumphs and struggles, just as we do.

When we privilege personal stories and witness over propaganda and hyperbole, we discover not only that the world is more complicated

The call to prioritize personal stories and witness over manufactured narratives extends far beyond the realm of faith. It empowers us to reconsider how we engage with the world, how we form our opinions, and how we interact with those whose perspectives differ from our

As Catholics, this journey is rooted in our shared mission to be agents of reconciliation and bearers of Christ’s peace. Through prayer, reflection, and dialogue, we can begin to heal the fractures that divide us and work toward a community that embodies Christ’s love and compassion.

Let’s take these first steps together, mindful of the example set by Jesus and his disciples. By celebrating our differences as gifts and committing ourselves to the hard but holy work of reconciliation, we can embrace Christ’s dream for the Church—where unity is not a product of conformity, but a testament to the transformative power of love. A

Fr. Kevin Zubel, CSsR, serves as Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists Denver Province. After seven years of working in public accounting for the Austin, Texas, office of a global firm, he joined the Redemptorists in 2009 and professed first vows in 2012. Following his ordination in 2017, Fr. Kevin served briefly in New Orleans before ministering primarily among the Hispanic communities of the Mississippi Delta region and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

CATOLICA

THE LAST SUPPER , LEONARDO DA VINCI / WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

“Catholic writer Fiorella De Maria

Fr. Gabriel, a Benedictine in post-WWII England, is an unlikely amateur detective. Socially awkward but quick to sense trouble, and its causes, he stays on the case when the police have moved on.

FATHER GABRiEL MYSTERiES

FATHER GABRiEL MYSTERiES MAY DAY!

his 6th volume explores the murky world of wartime treason, pro teering, and betrayal. Springtime has the Abbey preparing for the May Day weekend, and the Boy Scouts annual camp. When a Scout is sent home in disgrace, Fr. Gabriel accompanies him home, a scene of a violent crime. His father Charles is dead, apparently from a botched burglary. Suspecting more to the crime, Gabriel learns that he was married to a ery French resistance ghter, Brigitte, whose life – and courageous death in wartime France – had a dramatic e ect upon her surviving family. Gabriel’s investigation leads him into the brutal world of Nazi-occupied France, where resistance ghters like Brigitte were betrayed by their most trusted friends. Could Brigitte’s betrayer and Charles’ killer be the same person? And might the shadowy gure menacing Gabriel be the murderer he is trying to hunt down? MDFGP . . . Sewn So cover, $17.95

‘‘De Maria's clear and con dent writing produces a 'can't put it down' e ect.”

— Michael Richard, Author, Tobit's Dog

‘‘ It's amazing that stories this much fun could be this good for the soul!”

Augustine Wetta, O.S.B, Author, Humility Rules

Toward a Healed Society

ALL ABOARD A JOURNEY TO ENTRUST OUR DIFFERENCES TO GOD, WHO MAKES US ONE

GREG GHERING

Aboard a flight, I look out the window. The city we departed from still stretches to the horizon in all directions. It’s surprising, because we’ve been cruising at 30,000 feet and have lost track of time. What’s more, almost all the buildings look uninhabited. Every now and then, we can make out a tiny dot of light coming from a lived-in home, but these are few and far between. Most surprising of all is that the people in the city have chosen this bleak life and, so far, have rejected the opportunity to leave it behind.

C.S. Lewis paints this picture at the beginning of his book The Great Divorce. This “grey town,” as he describes it, is sprawled everywhere because its citizens couldn’t bear to share life with others. Choosing constant conflict in every interaction, they gave up interacting and isolated themselves, spreading farther and farther apart. Though Lewis wasn’t writing about polarization specifically, thinking about polarization reminds me of this image of the grey town.

While polarization involves a group dynamic—the “in” crowd and the others—it also has a dimension of isolation. The “true believers” flock to either end of an ideological spectrum (sometimes because they’re looking for belonging), but individuals who don’t can feel left behind. Social media and the news bring them a barrage of messages suggesting that they’re the only ones who haven’t picked a side, and with that can come a desire to disengage.

Just because we don’t place ourselves at an extreme end of the ideological spectrum doesn’t mean we have to resign ourselves to isolation.

A January 2024 essay titled “Tuning Out: Americans on the Edge of Politics,” the Pew Research Center reports on thoughts shared in a survey on disengagement from politics; for example:

• “It can really affect your mental health. You start getting into heated conversations, going back and forth with somebody over something you really can’t control. There’s just no point in that.”

• “When I was younger, we got to hear more about what the politicians stood for, and now all we get to hear from one side is how horrible the other one is.”

• “I hate the fact that we’re forced to pick between the lesser of two evils when voting. No, I don’t want either of them. Next.”

In a December 2020 essay (“Voters Say Those on the Other Side ‘Don’t Get’ Them”), Pew reported on another survey, which revealed that today’s political climate carries a prevailing feeling of being misunderstood. Surveying Americans after the 2020 presidential election, Pew found that among people who voted for either major candidate, only 2 percent felt that those who voted for the opposing candidate understood them “very well.” At the same time, I wonder how many people believed that they themselves understood the voters on the other side.

Perhaps the grey town is starting to look a little familiar. But, remember: we can choose to leave it behind.

For my part, I have a feeling of being without a “home” in today’s

polarized atmosphere. Maybe you do, too. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, because God created us for community. But it seems more and more common for the loudest voices to say that belonging comes at a price of unquestioningly assenting to the “party lines.”

That price is too high. Yet, it is demanded—in some cases, even by family members and friends. However, just because we don’t place ourselves at an extreme end of the ideological spectrum doesn’t mean we have to resign ourselves to isolation. We can resist the pull of polarization and find others who are also dissatisfied with the extremes; others who embrace common ground while respecting differences (and maybe even celebrating them). We can and should reach out to people at the extremes to seek connection even

if we potentially may be rejected. Moreover, we should ask ourselves how we have contributed to polarization and how we might help to heal its effects. The following questions are a good place to start:

• Where do I fail to respect differences and demand sameness?

• Where do I blame others for a rift while overlooking my role in creating or trying to repair it?

• Do I look for a sense of belonging with people or with God?

As Christians, we must look to our faith, which offers crucial wisdom for navigating today’s polarized landscape. For one thing, we shouldn’t be surprised by it. There’s a description of our tendency toward polarization in Scripture, when Christ says that even he will be a cause for division. (See Luke 12:51–53.) Yet, we know he desires us to be one. He prays for just that, multiple times, in his high-priestly prayer in John 17. (See John 17:11, 20–23.) So, while we might expect division, we do not need to give in to it; rather, we

must participate in Jesus’ work toward our unity.

What should it look like as we work with the Lord toward unity? He cautions against deciding who belongs and who does not. When the disciples worry about someone driving out demons in Jesus’ name without their authorization, Jesus reminds them that “whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). Romans 14, especially verse 10, also warns us: “Why then do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.” And elsewhere in his writings, St. Paul encourages an appreciation for differences, teaching us how the distinction among the parts of the body is integral to the whole. (See 1 Corinthians 12:12–26.)

Living these concepts is often not easy and can, at times, be tense. We encounter conflicts in beliefs—sometimes between our beliefs and those of others, and sometimes among our own beliefs. In some of these situations, there’s a mystery to explore. This is familiar to us Christians, though, as we profess that Christ is fully divine and fully human, and thinking about this mystery allows

As Christians, we must look to our faith, which offers crucial wisdom for navigating today’s polarized landscape.

CATOLICA

us to discover what God reveals through these two seemingly contradictory truths. Do we also sit in the mystery, the unknown, in our human relationships?

In other situations, beliefs can clash because of a divergence from the truth somewhere along the way. Are we capable of confidently yet respectfully making the case for our beliefs? Are we ready for the possibility that we’ve been wrong, and can we admit it if we are? Where disagreement persists, can we accept it for the sake of a relationship?

In looking for ways to help heal a polarized society, we can also feel tension when our efforts are limited. Many situations require others to be involved, too. We cannot take blame for things that are not our fault. We cannot force others to forgive or apologize. Can we continue to reach out, even with tired arms?

Back to our flight over the grey town. Unlike the characters in Lewis’ book, we’re choosing to leave that landscape behind. We’re journeying toward a healed society: a community where we’re refusing to disengage and where we entrust our differences to the Father, who can make us one. A

Greg Ghering creates videos, photos, and podcasts for a variety of clients. His communications career also includes experience in radio, television, and marketing. Greg and his wife have one child and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A Call to Peace and Service

After white smoke appeared over the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV addressed the world: “La pace sia con tutti voi!” (“Peace be with you all!”) He addressed a polarized world, a world at war in many nations, and a divided Church. His greeting reminds us of Jesus’ first words to his disciples after the resurrection: “Peace be with you.” The new pope added the word “all.”

Adding the word “all” was not necessary, but it reminds us that our faith is inclusive. Pope Francis said, “No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.” Pope Leo XIV calls attention to the divisions seen in families, in communities, in nations, and within the Church. “Peace be with you all!” is a blessing and a call to unity.

In his message for World Day of Migration 1996, to clarify the Church’s concern for migrants, Pope Saint John Paul II wrote, “When an understanding of the problem is conditioned by prejudice and xenophobic attitudes, the Church must not fail to speak up for brotherhood and to accompany it with acts testifying to the primacy of charity.… In the Church, no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere.”

Today, there is a crisis regarding how people and nations respond to migrants and immigrants. Global migration is not a border crisis. It is the crisis of not recognizing Christ in the migrants. Pope Leo XIV declared, “Together, we must look for ways to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue, a Church ever open to welcoming…all those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue, and our love.”

FR. MIKE MCANDREW, CSsR

“In the Church, no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere.”

The call to be missionary is not about law. It is about uniting ourselves with the will of God. It is about treating the other as a child of God—a brother or a sister. A moral life is not about conforming oneself to human law, but to the law of Christ. It is recognizing Jesus in the hungry, the poor, the stranger, the prisoner, the sick, and the sinner. (See Matthew 25:31–46.) It is in forgiving one’s brother or sister not seven times, but seventy times seven times. (See Matthew 18:20–21.) It is living according to the new commandment given by Jesus at the Last Supper: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

Pope Leo XIV says we must look for ways to be a missionary Church. He led by example as a missionary in Peru over the span of twenty years. He listened, he walked with his people, he became one with his people. He addressed his beloved people in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in Spanish, thanking them for accompanying him and for sharing their faith and generosity.

At his Mass of Inauguration, Pope Leo XIV called on the Church to be “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”

Peace be with you all. A

Padre Migrante

Living the Catechism

Essentials for Learning and Practicing the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Since our knowledge of God is limited, our language about him is equally so. We can name God only by taking creatures as our starting point, and in accordance with our limited human ways of knowing and thinking (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 40 ).

When we speak of God, we engage in a holy act. Yet, each name we use— Creator, Father, Almighty, Love, Lord —is both true and inadequate. The names reveal something, but never everything. This is the tension at the heart of theology: God must be named yet cannot be fully named.

We name God to worship, to teach, and to pray. Scripture itself gives us names: I am who I am (Exodus 3:14), El Shaddai, Abba, Jesus Christ. These names are not arbitrary; they come from divine revelation and human encounter with the living God.

Every word we use is shaped by human experience. God is not simply a more powerful version of us. God is infinite, eternal, and utterly beyond all created categories. Thus, our language can never capture God’s essence. As St. Augustine said, " Si comprehendis, non est Deus” (“If you understand, it is not God”) (Sermon 117).

Meditating on the inadequacy of our ability to name God and, as a result, never truly understanding the fullness of divinity is not discouraging. It is best understood as an “invitation to mystery.” The closer one comes to the mystery of God, the more appropriate silence becomes. Mystics like Meister Eckhart and Saint Gregory of Nyssa emphasize that God is best encountered in unknowing and wordless awe.

It is in mystery, particularly in the mystery of authentic encounter with God within the deepest parts of ourselves, that we best understand what it means to believe. Belief is not the same experience as explanation. Belief is not the often-longed-for experience of certitude and clarity. Belief is, as Bishop Barron teaches in What Christians Believe, “a deeper dimension of reality that accepts and receives.” a

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1994 United States Catholic Conference, Inc.— Libreria Editrice Vaticana; English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica © 1997 United States Catholic Conference, Inc.— Libreria Editrice Vaticana

God is infinite, eternal, and utterly beyond all created categories.

Understand by Listening

In my years of working in education, I have experienced many highly emotional situations involving parents and their children. I have learned a few strategies for turning these emotionally charged encounters into productive conversations, and these strategies may apply to everyday life far outside my principal’s-office walls.

A couple years ago, I was intrigued by something I heard in a conversation between music producer Rick Rubin and podcast host Lex Fridman. Rubin said that when we meet someone, we should wash away any thoughts we’re having about that person and actually listen to him or her— listen , without trying to get our own point across. His words summarized what I have learned and applied over the years.

Many parents approach me with well-thought-out lists of rehearsed bullet points and hoped-for outcomes. Often, they are simply repeating what they’ve heard elsewhere, without fully developing the rationale behind their sometimesharsh statements. My approach, as described by Rick Rubin, is to go into the meeting completely blank, with no preconceived judgments or outcomes, and to listen patiently to all the parents’ points, especially when they are full of emotion. I let them express their frustration, even if they are yelling at me, accusing me, or attacking my character. After they finish saying all they wanted to say, I thank them for taking the time to sit down with me, and I invite them to further conversation.

This isn’t a fifteen-minute discussion. It usually takes well over an hour to cut through someone’s agenda and reach productive conversation. The initial concerns people bring to these encounters are often just at the surface of deeper frustrations. I must remind myself that I’m not out to determine who “wins” or who can one-up the other, even if that’s how the parents initially approached me. I’m simply there to understand them and perhaps to ask questions to make sure I grasp their point of view.

SCOTT CZARNOPYS

People calm down when they recognize that I am truly hearing them, even if I don’t share their viewpoint. At this point, I can respectfully offer my own perspective, emphasizing that I’m sharing my thoughts through the lens of my professional and life experiences. As a result, all parties can begin to respect each other, no matter how far apart we are on the actual issue at hand. When we create space for calm, honest conversation, we often get to see people who simply want to be valued and listened to. It ultimately comes down to dignity and respect. We don’t have to agree to respect one another. We simply need to take the time to truly see the person behind the position. It turns out that the best anti-polarization tactic may be listening. A

We don’t have to agree to respect one another.

FIZKES / SHUTTERSTOCK

The Catholic Observer

YOUR INDEPENDENT SOURCE OF NEWS AND VIEWS ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Leo XIV Delivers Message of Hope to Chicago Ballpark Celebration

Pope Leo XIV delivered a message of peace, harmony, hope, and the healing power of God’s love and grace on Saturday, June 15, at the home of his beloved Chicago White Sox—via a seven-and-a-half-minute video recorded at the Vatican. The pontiff appeared on three jumbo screens in the outfield at Rate Field, delighting the crowd of more than 30,000 who scored the hottest tickets in town.

The crowd erupted in applause when the sixtynine-year-old Leo appeared on the screens. “Dear friends,” he said, “it’s a pleasure for me to greet all of you gathered together at White Sox Park on this great celebration as a community of faith in the Archdiocese of Chicago.”

In a world ravaged by war and division, the Holy Father repeated what has become a familiar refrain since his May 8 election, telling those in the ballpark and many more watching online that they can become “beacons of hope” who foster “peace and unity throughout our world.”

Gary Gately is the founder and editor of The Catholic Observer, a subscription-based newsletter. Gately, a lifelong Catholic, is an award-winning journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The National Catholic Reporter, America: The Jesuit Review, Newsweek, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, the Center for Public Integrity, CNBC.com, and United Press International. Please email news tips or suggestions to Garymichaelgately@gmail.com.

Leo spoke directly to young people several times, telling them, “The world looks to you as you look around yourselves…we want you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony among all peoples.”

He also acknowledged that many young people have endured isolation, loneliness, anxiety, or depression: “Sometimes, it may be that the context of your life has not given you the opportunity to live the faith, to live as participants in a faith community.… God is reaching out to you, calling you.”

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Jumbo screens at Chicago’s Rate Field show the Pope sporting a White Sox cap at the Vatican. PHOTO: VATICAN MEDIA

The Catholic

Pope Leo Urges “Responsibility and Reason” as Israel–Iran Conflict Escalates

Pope Leo XIV urged Israel and Iran to act with “responsibility and reason” and seek peace through dialogue as the two archrivals unleashed renewed attacks on each other, raising fears of a wider conflict that could draw in the United States and other global powers.

“The situation in Iran and Israel has seriously deteriorated,” Pope Leo said during an audience in Saint Peter’s Basilica. “At such a delicate moment, I would like to renew my strong appeal to responsibility and reason.”

Speaking from a prepared text, the first US-born pope said that all countries have a duty “to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all.”

Leo specifically referred to “the commitment to build a world that is safer and free from the nuclear threat,” which he said must be pursued not through force but “respectful encounter and sincere dialogue, in order to build lasting peace, founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good.”

“No one should ever threaten the existence of the other,” the pontiff said at the end of a jubilee year audience. “It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all.”

Israel said it launched “preemptive” strikes on Iran, targeting Tehran’s nuclear sites and military leadership. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon, posing a threat to Israel’s “very survival.” But Iran, which has repeatedly threatened to annihilate Israel, insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful.

Iran has supplied Islamist militant group Hamas with rockets, weapons technology, and training. The Israel–Hamas war erupted after Hamas’ October 7, 2024, cross-border attack killed about 1,200 Israelis, and militants seized about 250 hostages. To read this story in its entirety, go to thecatholicobserver.substack.com.

New York Bishops Urge Governor Not to Sign “Dangerous” AssistedSuicide Bill

New York state’s Catholic bishops have strongly urged Governor Kathy Hochul not to sign a “dangerous” medically assisted suicide bill. They warn that it would lead to people who are elderly, disabled, or impoverished and those in medically underserved communities being pressured to end their lives.

Under the bill, which received final approval from the state Senate on June 9, those with an incurable illness and a prognosis of six months or less to live could be prescribed life-ending medications if they request them and receive approval from two physicians.

Supporters argue that the measure would enable terminally ill people to die with dignity on their own terms. “It’s not about hastening death but ending suffering,” said state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who cosponsored the bill.

But Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops in public policy matters, told Liguorian: “Assisted suicide is often framed as ‘compassionate’ or ‘death with dignity,’ implying somehow that a natural death is somehow undignified—what an offensive concept. There is nothing compassionate about this.”

Poust pointed to Canada, which approved medically assisted suicide in 2016 and has since expanded it to allow those with “chronic illnesses,” such as arthritis, to end their lives. By 2023, physician-assisted suicide accounted for one in twenty deaths in Canada. On January 1, 2027, the Canadian law will be further expanded to include those suffering from mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety.

“As assisted suicide becomes prevalent, we believe it will go from being an option to an expectation to a requirement,” Poust said. He also said the prospect of deep cuts in federal Medicaid spending would leave poor and disabled patients especially vulnerable.

If the bill becomes law, Poust said, “It is not a big leap to see how sick patients occupying hospital beds with low reimbursement rates might be pressured or coerced, whether directly or subtly, to take the cheaper way out so as not to be a ‘burden.’”

He called on Hochul, a Democrat who is Catholic, to expand palliative and hospice care, mental health services, and family caregiver support.

To read this story in its entirety, go to thecatholicobserver.substack.com.

Beautiful Harmony

Julie is a harpist, and Tim is an accordion player, so feel free to insert an appropriately disparaging joke here, such as, “Welcome to heaven, here’s your harp; welcome to hell, here’s your accordion.” And yet, we have discovered how to appreciate and enjoy each other’s taste in music. In both of our families, we were formed by a variety of musical styles and genres: from Broadway to barbershop, from pop to polka, from classical to country. Tim’s dad was a folk musician in the late ’60s, and he often said that music was the glue that brings people together. Growing up, we learned not to “canonize” or “demonize” any style of music or any instrument.

Catholics have prayed with music from different eras that has been played on a variety of instruments and composed by people from different cultures. While official Church documents have praised certain styles of music (chant) and certain instruments (the pipe organ), there is ample instruction calling for a “both/and” approach. From Sacrosanctum Concilium: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music…are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations” (SC 116).

I enjoy the range and depth of sound from a beautiful pipe organ, but have you ever heard African liturgical music accompanied only by percussion? Dare we say one is more reverent than the other? And yet, there are those who want to elevate “their” style of music (polyphony, chant, organ, guitar, hymnody, folk, praise and worship, etc.) and make it the only standard, at least in the parish they serve. This attitude too often leads to division.

Kitchen Table Gospel

TIM

AND

JULIE SMITH

We have worked as professional church musicians and educators for nearly forty years. In the parish we serve in Sedona, Arizona, we try to offer a little of every style of music at every Mass. While this pastoral approach of selecting and performing a wide range of styles and genres for Mass can be challenging, we do so with the hope of uniting, rather than dividing, our communal prayer experience.

Pope Leo XIV, in his homily at his inaugural Mass, vowed to work for peace and unity in a polarized world and a polarized Church: “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference…. We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people.”

Maybe one day we will all enjoy not only Isaiah’s beatific vision in which all animals live together peacefully (See Isaiah 11:6–7.) but also harmony between the accordion and the harp and a duet with the drums and the pipe organ. Then, as the psalmist sings, we will “serve the L ord with gladness; come before him with joyful song” (Psalm 100:2). A

From the traditional to the unexpected, there are many ways to create joyful song for God.

DANIEL ZABINSKI / PEXELS

“He Is Risen” Illuminated Masterpiece

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AROUND THE TABLE

New from Liguori Publications!

Saintly Bites for Children: Mixing Faith, Fun & Family Time in the Kitchen by

Shelby Siegfried; illustrations by Ted Schluenderfritz.

Includes 66 recipes, each with a bite-sized story of a saint.

Product Code: 828744 / Hardcover / 7.25 x 9.25 / 160 pages / $29.99

To order this new cookbook designed for children and their adult helpers, visit Liguori.org or call 800-325-9521. Available November 2025.

Saint Carlo Acutis

The Digital Disciple 1991–2006

Feast day: October 12

Patron of the internet

In many ways, Carlo Acutis was just like any other boy—he loved playing soccer, hanging out with friends, playing video games, and eating pizza. But there was something extra-special about Carlo: he had a deep love for Jesus and a natural talent for computers.

Carlo was born in 1991 in London and grew up in Italy. Even as a young child, Carlo went to Mass daily and prayed the rosary. His faith was the most important thing in his life. He believed that the internet could be used to share God’s love with others. Carlo taught himself computer programming from an early age and created websites with a spiritual focus, including his widely praised database of miracles from around the world. He wanted everyone to know how amazing the Eucharist is and how much Jesus loves us. Carlo’s love for the Eucharist also inspired his parents, relatives, friends, and others to attend daily Mass.

Carlo was also known for his kindness. He would stand up for kids who were bullied and help his friends with their homework. He was always ready to lend a hand to anyone in need. Carlo once said, “All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.” He encouraged everyone to be their true selves and use their unique gifts for good.

Carlo got very sick with leukemia when he was only fifteen years old. Even though he was in pain, he offered his suffering for the pope and the Church. Carlo died in 2006, but his legacy lives on. He is an inspiration to young people everywhere, showing us that we are all called to be saints!

To honor Saint Carlo Acutis, enjoy making this Pronto Pizza. Carlo loved pizza, and this easy dough recipe will help you make delicious homemade pizzas to share with family and friends. As you knead the dough, remember Carlo’s love for Jesus and his dedication to using his talents to spread God’s love.

Saint Carlo Acutis, pray for us!

Pronto Pizza

(Serves 8)

Ingredients

1 (.25-ounce) package or 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons honey or 1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup water, heated to 110°F

2½ to 3¼ cups bread flour or all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Pizza toppings of your choice

Tools Checklist

Large bowl

Wooden spoon

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Rolling pin

Pizza pan

Pizza stone, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. If using a pizza stone, put it in the oven to preheat.

2. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey (or sugar) in the warm water. Let it stand for a few minutes, until the yeast becomes frothy.

3. Add the flour, olive oil, and salt, then stir with a wooden spoon or mix by hand until a fairly firm yet workable dough forms and is no longer sticky. If it is too sticky, mix in more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. If it is too dry, mix in more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired texture.

4. For a thick crust, roll the dough into a ball; for a thin crust, roll the dough into two balls of equal size. For extra-thin crust or individual-sized pizzas, roll the dough into four balls of equal size.

5. Let the dough rest for 3 to 5 minutes while you gather your pizza toppings.

6. Roll out the dough to your desired thickness and shape. Then, place the dough on a pizza stone dusted with cornmeal, a pizza pan, or a baking sheet lightly coated with olive oil. Pre-bake the crust until the top is light golden, about 5 minutes.

7. Remove the dough from the oven, top with your favorite pizza toppings, and bake until the crust is just browned and the toppings are bubbly, about 8 to 10 minutes. (Baking time will vary, depending on the thickness of the crust and the amount/type of toppings.)

Note: If you don’t plan to use the dough right away, coat it with olive oil, put it in a zip-top bag, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Treat Yourself to Silence

“Maybe just one more scroll.” Perhaps, for many of us, this is an all-toofamiliar phrase—a seemingly harmless decision that somehow turns looking at a single social media post into thirty more minutes of swiping, watching, and liking. Whether it’s Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, digital platforms are designed to hold our attention for as long as possible. But, as Catholics, we must ask ourselves: What is this doing to our souls?

We know that the noise of social media is constant. Our daily routines are interrupted by persistent notifications from our favorite influencers or recommendations about new trends or products. Our social media feeds flood our minds with curated images and endless opinions. On the surface, it seems like harmless—maybe even educational—entertainment. But, over time, we might feel the loss of interior silence. Without silence, we risk losing the space where God speaks to us. God did not come to Elijah in the violent wind or earthquake or fire, but in a “light silent sound” (1 Kings 19:12). Today, that gentle voice can become increasingly difficult to hear—not because God has stopped speaking to us, but because we fill ourselves with so much noise that we obscure God’s voice.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that silence is not emptiness; rather, it is the fullness of the presence of God. Without silence, we cannot truly pray; without prayer, we lose our anchor. When we cannot put aside our phones, we allow social media to chip away at the sacred stillness and distract us from the divine presence that constantly surrounds us.

Our faith, however, gives us the antidotes to this need for more media: discernment and discipline. We must first recognize the subtle ways in which social media consumes too much of our attention and time. Are we using social media to connect with others or to numb ourselves to reality? Is our use of social media bringing us closer to God, or is it pulling us toward distraction?

How can we create habits of silence? We need to set boundaries; for example, no phones for the first thirty minutes of the day. Imagine this: rather than opening Facebook or Instagram or your emails first thing in the morning, open your Bible to a random page and pick out a passage to read. Instead of ending the day scrolling through TikTok, end it with a meditation and examination of your day. However you decide to do it, it is important to set aside dedicated time each day for device-free meditation. Those moments of prayer, journaling, and spiritual reading enable you to be in the presence of God.

Turn away from the noise and let God speak to you. Maybe that moment of silence is exactly where God has been waiting for you all along. A

When we cannot put aside our phones, we miss the divine presence that surrounds us.

KAMPUS / PEXELS

Who Do People Say That I Am?

HONORABLE THOMAS LACROSS

“Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They said in reply, ‘John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.’ And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter said to him in reply, ‘You are the Messiah.’”

Mark 8:27–29

“Who do people say that I am?” In asking this question, was Jesus setting the stage for Peter’s great pronouncement of the truth? Or was it the normal curiosity of a person gaining in popularity and naturally wondering if his message was resonating with the people?

In so many words, “Who do people say that I am?” is a question asked by politicians running for office. They want to know not only what the voting public thinks of them but also the likelihood that people will vote for them. If their campaigns can afford it, they may hire pollsters to assess the candidates’ standings and whether their messages appeal to their constituents. Likewise, a political party or political action committee (PAC) may retain pollsters to assess whether the organization should endorse certain candidates—or, after endorsing them, evaluate how their “investment” is doing.

Indeed, professions in polling have emerged over the years, with graduate degrees offered in political science; in fact, an entire industry has emerged as well. Billions of dollars are spent at the local, state, and federal levels attempting to gauge the degree of support

for specific issues and candidates. This doesn’t include the fact that political campaigns spend billions more annually on marketing efforts for their candidates. The results of detailed market analyses sharpen the campaign ads we see. Every mode of communication, from the written word and telephone calls to television and the internet, is swamped with political advertising ad nauseam. And these billions of dollars shelled out on campaigns and ads are spent before one vote is cast. Hence, our votes count!

In his question, Jesus was not searching for an individual’s opinion of him. Rather, he was asking his “pollsters” who the people said he was.

He wanted to know what the public thought of him. How were people’s hearts and minds being formed? Based on the disciples’ responses, it sounded as if the people were on the right track. They did not think he was a Zealot or another Spartacus or some other kind of political or military leader who had come to free them from Roman authority. Rather, they saw him as a religious leader, like John the Baptist or Elijah. He was clearly sent by God to them, the chosen people.

To what end? The people wondered, What is his message and purpose? He was saying and doing remarkable things. They wanted to hear more from him and about him. Enthusiasm for him was growing. The crowds were getting bigger and bigger. The powerful were becoming increasingly nervous, as their hold on the people was being challenged.

Meanwhile, Jesus was wondering not just about the people’s opinions, but what were his closest friends thinking and feeling about him? But when he posed the question—“But who do you say that I am?”—directly to them, the silence was deafening. Their once-vocal enthusiasm was muted as they pondered the question. After a while, Peter was the first to say the obvious: “You are the Messiah.” He pronounced his conviction to his Lord and Master and to his fellow disciples that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God!

The question, “Who do you say that I am?” appears in three gospels (Mark 8:27–29, Matthew 16:13–16, and Luke 9:18–20). It is significant for many reasons. It is Jesus telling us that it is OK, and even expected, for us to ask him the very same question about us: “Jesus, who do you say

that I am to you?” And for us to ask the people in our lives, “Who do you, my brothers and sisters, say that I am?”

These questions are at the very core of our creation and our journey to heaven. They’re questions of self-assessment: How am I doing at being faithful to the first and greatest commandment: loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind? And how am I doing at being faithful to the second commandment: loving my neighbor as myself? (See Matthew 22:37–40.) If we are brutally honest, we can easily identify our need for improvement in one or both areas. We need God’s help drastically. And he gives it. His mercy is offered now and forever, and his help is infinitely available—from the sacraments and the beauty of the Church to the loving actions, thoughts, and prayers of others. A

Honorable Thomas LaCross served as a nonpartisan probate judge for fifteen years, a family court judge for eight years, and a practicing attorney for twenty-two years. He is active in community and religious organizations. He and his wife of forty-three years have three married adult sons and thirteen grandchildren.

Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis

Two young men who lived a century apart, canonized together on September 7, 2025

SAINT PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI

“Man of the Eight Beatitudes”

Born: April 6, 1901

Died: July 4, 1925

Cause of death: Poliomyelitis

Beatified: May 20, 1990

Feast day: July 4

Patron saint of youth and athletes

Pier Giorgio said…

“Every one of you knows that the foundation of our religion is charity. Without it, all our religion would crumble because we would not truly be Catholics as long as we did not carry out or, rather, shape our whole lives by the two commandments in which the essence of the Catholic faith lies: to love God with all our strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.… With violence, hatred is sown and then its evil fruits are gathered. With charity, peace is sown among men, but not the peace of the world: true peace, which only faith in Jesus Christ can give, binding us together in brotherly love.”

—Excerpt from Frassati’s notes for a speech made to the Federation of Italian Catholic University Students (FUCI)

Get to know him better frassatiusa.org

SAINT CARLO ACUTIS

“God’s Influencer”

Born: May 3, 1991

Died: October 12, 2006

Cause of death: Leukemia

Beatified: October 10, 2020

Feast day: October 12

Patron saint of the internet and computer programmers

Carlo said…

“Life is a gift, because as long as we are on this planet, we can grow in our ability to love. The more we learn to love, the more we will enjoy eternal blessedness with God.”

“Everything fades, anyway…. What will make us truly beautiful in the eyes of God is only the way in which we loved him and how we loved our neighbors.”

“Everyone is born as an original, but many people end up dying as photocopies.”

“Sadness is looking toward oneself; happiness is looking toward God.”

“The Eucharist is my ‘highway to heaven.’”

Get to know him better carloacutis.com

Safety in Fundamentalism

Ileft Christian fundamentalism at age thirty. I’d been heading out the door for years, but I couldn’t make the final break until I’d moved away from my hometown. As I watch what is unfolding in our country, I understand in detail why certain Christian communities have embraced ideologies that have precious little to do with the life and teachings of Jesus. It’s about safety, and it’s about belonging. Let me put this in the context of my experience in a small, rural town in the Bible Belt.

First of all, “salvation” is framed as a means of escaping hell, so religious faith is based on fear of punishment. The way to avoid punishment is to understand exactly what one must do and what one must avoid doing to be acceptable to God and destined for heaven.

This mindset is not confined to church congregations. You could have talked to any non-church-going person in my town and encountered a Christian fundamentalist view of life: the importance of avoiding sin and doing good; the ever-present shame of being a hardened sinner who needs saving; the inevitable consequences of the wrong lifestyle. Even the town drunk knew that’s how the world worked. The fear, shame, and desperate need for the right formula to survive were the dynamics that permeated the culture.

So, you learned the rules. The better Christian you were, the more rules you knew, and the better you got at explaining and defending them.

We also needed an unassailable authority behind the rules. That authority was a printed book: the Bible. It contained every answer we would ever need. We read it and memorized it. We may even have been inclined to turn it into an idol. Whatever the Bible said determined how we perceived reality—never mind the complex history of how this book came to be or our inability in present-day MidAmerica to understand something written in a Greco-Roman context centuries before medical science or geology or psychology. Never mind the ongoing and painstaking work of theologians and biblical scholars to help us better understand these sacred stories. It was safer to call our book inerrant. When reality called into question any part of the Bible, we coped by deciding that any information opposing Scripture was unreliable. In fact, it was from the devil. No source outside our form of faith could be trusted. The faith community became, therefore, a closed system.

Redemptive Living

VINITA HAMPTON WRIGHT

For fundamentalists, the words of Scripture tell them—literally—how to perceive reality.

And, if you wanted to belong to a community and get along with your family, if you wanted to practice any faith at all, if you desired to love and know God, then you stayed with the program. You shut down logic, ignored the cognitive and spiritual dissonance, and (repeatedly) repeated the doctrines and rules.

Of course, there are those who lean toward fundamentalism in many Christian congregations, including Catholics. They also seek sanctuary in rigid interpretations of Scripture and doctrine, and they resist modernism and change. Fundamentalism provides clear answers, and, for some, it is the only safe place they know. A

IVAN-SAMKOV / PEXELS

Home Movie

A DAUGHTER SEEKS ANSWERS TO LINGERING FAMILY QUESTIONS AND DISCOVERS HERSELF IN THE SEARCH

When I was seven, my Aunt Lorraine could do no wrong. When I was thirteen, she died.

That is how I think of my life—with Lorraine and after Lorraine. The after has been the longest part.

Lorraine was everything my mother was not, although they were sisters. My mother, who is eight years older, can make a killer egg salad, manage the laundry, cook for a family of seven, and remember the birthdays of every person in our neighborhood. She is still attractive at fifty-five, with gray streaks in the brown hair she always wears swept up in a bun. Her name is Claire, but everyone just calls her “Mrs. K” (for Keller).

Lorraine, a striking blue-eyed brunette, was going to be a movie star and acted in local Cincinnati theater productions. But, suddenly, in her early 20s, she came home and married my Uncle Jack.

My family never talks about Lorraine’s death, but my sister Mary accidentally reopened the subject this year when she put the home movies that my dad had

filmed over the decades on video for each of us for Christmas. When I switched on the television to watch the video, the first smiling face I saw seemed to be my own. But it was my Aunt Lorraine, about twenty years ago. And there was little me, right beside her, a constant shadow.

Not only did I look like Lorraine, but I was also like her child from the very beginning because Mother let her name me. Lorraine named me Jean, after bombshell actress Jean Harlow. Mother would have preferred Joan, after St. Joan of Arc, but she contented herself with the fact that my middle name was Marie, and everyone called me Jenny, anyway.

In the home movies, Aunt Lorraine is laughing or smiling in every bit of footage. Her brown hair falls in a wavy mass to her shoulders, and even in black and white you can see that her eyes reflect light. I have her eyes, her wide face, her figure—all that was going to make her famous.

The nice thing about home movies is that every

LEIGH ANN ROMAN

MASCHA TACE / SHUTTERSTOCK

person seems like a star for his or her moments on screen—carrying a birthday cake lit with candles, trying out a new hula hoop, and the like. The sad thing about home movies is that you know how everyone’s story turns out.

Lorraine’s official cause of death was an “accidental overdose.” Jack’s cause of death was a car wreck. But the facts are that Lorraine killed herself, and Jack was drunk when his car ran off the road at 2 a.m. a few months after her funeral.

I learned the truth about Jack’s and Lorraine’s deaths when I was seventeen from our neighborhood pharmacist, who remarked on how much I looked like Lorraine when I was in his store one day. “It was such a shame she took her own life,” he said.

My initial anger at my parents for withholding the truth was the main reason I took the scholarship at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where I have lived since I was eighteen, first as a college student and then as a newspaper reporter. I’m not angry anymore, but I want to understand. So, I’m driving to Ironton, Ohio, from Pittsburgh in the rain on this New Year’s Eve, 1994, to get answers to questions I was too afraid to ask when I was a teenager. Questions like, “Why does love end in death?”

sepia glow that makes them look inviting.

“Aunt Jenny, Aunt Jenny!” my brother Bill’s kids shout as I get out of the car. They know I usually bring them something fun from the ‘Burgh. Bill’s son, Nathan, is old enough to be a football fan and has chosen the Steelers over the Bengals. At six, Mary Katherine loves dolls, and I bring one whenever I see her.

I brace myself for the kids’ running hugs and walk into the house with them. I immediately smell the warm, juicy scent of my mother’s famous roast and then see her gentle smile as she looks around the corner from the kitchen.

“Oh, Jenny. You’re home.” She wipes her hands on her apron and comes to give me a hug and a soft kiss on the cheek. The apron is one I made in the Brownies, decorated with my small handprints. It is so like her to wear it.

As I drive down the street where I grew up, I feel a pang, and I’m not sure whether it is nostalgia or loneliness.

When I was six, Lorraine and Jack moved across the street from my parents. Mother was getting ready to have baby Mary (her third child), and she would have Theresa eleven months later and then Joey two years after that. Lorraine became my automatic babysitter and best friend. We spent every afternoon and summer together, poring over movie magazines, polishing our nails, or sunbathing. For me, being with Lorraine was the next best thing to being with a movie star. Thanks to her time in theater, she especially loved classic cinema, where the leading ladies were either powder-perfect or evil. She could recite lines from countless movies and never left the house without full makeup.

At twenty-seven, I’m the same age Lorraine was when she died. I’ve chosen the path of a single, professional woman, turning down two proposals of marriage in my twenties. When I’m in a relationship that gets too serious, all I can see is Lorraine in her coffin or my mother’s tired face at the dinner table, surrounded by the three little ones who came one after another in her 30s. I cannot see myself in either of these situations.

Still, as I drive down the street where I grew up, and I see my niece and nephew playing kickball with the neighbors, I feel a pang, and I’m not sure whether it is nostalgia or loneliness. The sun has come out after the rain, bathing the modest brick houses in a

My father comes downstairs, gives me his usual side hug, and sends Nathan back out to the car for my luggage. The rest of the afternoon is a blur of noisy conversation and heavy food.

After dinner, my brother Joey runs upstairs to get ready for the basketball tournament that is always held around New Year’s. Dad, Bill, my sister-in-law Katie, and the kids are going to watch, and Mary and Theresa are going out with friends.

“Looks like it’s just us girls,” I say as everyone scatters.

“That is just fine with me,” Mother says. “Do you want some tea?”

We sit at the little table at the end of the living room—the one with a burgundy wing chair on either side. We used to call it “Mother’s prayer corner” when we were kids. Her Bible and missal are just behind the lamp on the table next to a small glass bowl that holds her rosary.

I take a steadying drink of my tea, set it on the table, and look at my mother. “Mother, I have some things I would like to ask you about Lorraine.”

She nods behind her teacup. “I thought that might be why you came home, after I saw the video Mary made. It was hard for me to watch.” She clears her throat. “There is something I want you to see, and I think the time is right.”

She walks down the hall and comes back with a large white envelope bound with blue satin ribbon. Her eyes look a bit damp as she unties the ribbon and slides the contents onto the table.

“These are letters between Lorraine and Jack. And their wedding picture. And some programs from Lorraine’s plays in Cincinnati. I want you to have them.”

In the wedding picture, Jack and Lorraine are as glamorous and beautiful as I remember, beaming out the window of Jack’s 1968 Dodge Charger in front of St. Joseph Catholic Church in their “going-away” suits. The theater programs are for plays like A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie

“She was so talented,” Mother was saying. “Oh, how I wish she had stayed in Cincinnati. Then things might have been different.”

“Have you read the letters?” I ask.

She nods. “Read them, Jenny. There aren’t many. We can talk when you are finished.”

I walk down the hall to the bedroom I will be sharing with Mary and Theresa for the weekend—the room I shared with them growing up. As I sit down, I hear the clink of Mother’s rosary beads.

The letters are all from before Jack and Lorraine got married. The first one is from Lorraine, gushing about the play she was in and how much she missed Jack. Another one, from Jack, talked about his friends at Armco and the raise he had just received. Then, there is a valentine from Jack—a beautiful card trimmed with red ribbon. When you open it, there is a pop-up heart, and two tiny cut-out people stand in front of it, holding hands. “You are the only one for me,” he had written at the bottom.

Another letter from Lorraine was full of apologies and what looked like dried watermarks on the ink. “I’m not good enough for you,” she had written. “I don’t know why you want to be with someone like me.”

In the next letter from Jack, the ink is still dark, as if he had pressed down hard with the pen on the paper as he wrote. “There is nothing wrong with you, Lori. You are the most wonderful person I have ever

met. You didn’t have any of these problems when you were here with me. I am coming to bring you home.”

An old piece of carbon paper falls out of a business envelope at the bottom of the stack of letters, the writing so faint I could barely see it. The envelope bears the name of a hospital in Cincinnati, and the paper is a discharge order. I squint to make out the words “manic depression.” The date on the paper is just two months before Jack and Lorraine’s wedding.

I let the letters slide out of my lap and onto the bed. Oh, Lorraine, I thought. So much fun, so often the life of the party. But there were days, and not just a few, when I would walk across the street to her house and find her in bed in the afternoon. She would say she had another headache, and I would sit beside her bed in the dark room, hold her hand, and tell her about my day at school. Jack would always take care of her when he got home from the mill at 4 p.m. “Thanks, Peanut,” he would say. “I’ll take it from here.”

I press my hands against my eyes as the tears begin to wet my cheeks. I know what manic depression is. It’s called bipolar disorder now—a tough diagnosis, but treatable. In tiny Ironton, Ohio, in the 1970s, I can’t imagine that people knew what it was. And, if they did, the shame of it probably kept them from admitting that it touched anyone they loved.

I swallow the lump in my throat and slide the papers back into the envelope. As I walk back into the living room, Mother looks up and smiles at me sadly. Then, her beautiful blue eyes fill with tears. “I am so sorry, Jenny. So very sorry. Dad and I didn’t handle it very well—losing Lorraine and then Jack. I know it hurt you.”

I kneel beside her chair and hug her. I’m crying, too, but the ache in my chest that I feel when I think of Lorraine has dissipated. Mother wipes her eyes and hands me a tissue.

“We found the letters after Jack died, when we were cleaning out the house. Your dad found them first, and he didn’t show them to me for a while because he thought it would make things harder for me.”

Mother clears her throat. “After I read them, I called the hospital in Cincinnati and asked them what the diagnosis meant. But I still didn’t understand, so I checked out books from the library. I knew you were too young to comprehend mental illness, and losing Lorraine was so hard on you. I just kept trying to make sure you knew she was in heaven, although…”

She begins to cry again. “I wasn’t sure if suicide was a mortal sin. But Father Muller…do you remember him? He told me that God is merciful, especially to people like Lorraine.”

I nod.

“Dad and I decided we would tell you when you asked. We didn’t want to burden you with it until you were ready. I’m sorry, honey. I know you loved her so much—just like me.”

Just like me

In that moment, I realize I have been wrong about a lot of things in my life, the most important of which is the belief that I am my Aunt Lorraine made over. As it turns out, I am more like my own mother than I thought. In her face, I see the features that both Lorraine and I inherited, and I see all the love that has ever existed in my life. The love that has sustained me so many times when life seemed too hard. Without even realizing it, when I am confronted with an extremely difficult assignment at work, my mother’s face flashes into my mind, making sandwiches for five lunches at the kitchen counter, praying her rosary in her prayer chair.

“I have something else for you,” she says, sliding an indigo velvet box out from the shelf under the table. I

Bible Quiz answers (puzzle is on page 44)

1 N (Prv 31:10)

2 I (1 Sm 17:23, 32–50)

3 S (Mt 7:6)

4 B (Gn 17:26)

5 X (Acts 9:36)

6 Q (Jn 3:1–2)

7 L (Gn 35:22)

8 P (Ex 3:1–2)

9 O (Lk 9:28–36)

10 H (2 Kgs 2:11)

11 D (Gn 24:2–4)

12 J (Gn 46:26–30)

13 C (Gn 28:16–19)

14 M (Lk 8:40–56)

15 K (Mk 6:14–16)

16 E (Jer 32:4)

17 G (Acts 13:22)

18 A (Gn 4:8)

19 W (Acts 7:14–16)

20 V (Acts 12:13–14)

21 U (Gn 31:19)

22 Y (Mt 25:14–30)

23 T (1 Sm 5:1–2)

24 R (Gn 4:16)

25 F (Prv 8:11)

lift the top and see a mother-of-pearl rosary nested in dark blue satin.

“This was Lorraine’s. A wedding gift for her, from me and your father. You don’t have to use it, but I want you to keep it. You are the right person to have it.”

I pick up the rosary and see my past and present, one day following the next like a string of beads. I look at the family photos above my mother’s head. History is not destiny. My future is in my hands. I snap the velvet box shut and close my fingers around it. A

Leigh Ann Roman is a Kentucky native and Catholic convert who makes her home in Memphis, Tennessee, where she works in higher-education communications. Leigh Ann loves running and writing and gets her best ideas on long runs. She and her husband have two grown children.

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH

Help is available 24 hours a day. Speak with someone today (English or Spanish) at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988.

“We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.”

—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2283

Catholic Crossword answers (puzzle is on page 45)

ID OL S PO ET S FA D

CA BO T OP ER A IL E

OL IV E LE OI V SS E

RE SE RV ED BI SH OP

BI AS HUNK

CO IL S TA NG IB LE

SA CR E HO YA S RI P

HE ED BO WE L VI CI

AL A EA VE S ME DI C

MI NI ST ER BE SE T

IC HR PA NT

SA VI OR MU HA MM AD

EP A RO GE R CEAS E

AS S TB ON E EN DI S

NE T SE DE R ST EA K

Bible Quiz

Rate yourself on your knowledge of Scripture. Match the first column with the second. Answers are on page 43.

1. A woman of worth is more valuable than this ______

2. David took him down with a slingshot ______

3. Do not throw these before swine ______

4. Father of Ishmael ______

5. Good-deed-doer aka Dorcas ______

A. Abel

B. Abraham

C. Bethel

D. Canaanites

E. Chaldeans

6. He came to Jesus in the night ______ F. Corals

7. He had twelve sons ______ G. David

8. He saw the burning bush ______ H. Elijah

9. He was with Jesus at the transfiguration ______

10 He went to heaven in a whirlwind ______

11 . Isaac was not to have a wife from among them ______

12 . Jacob and his family settled here ______

I. Goliath

J. Goshen

K. Herod

L. Jacob

13 . Jacob gave the city of Luz this name ______ M. Jairus

14 Jesus healed his daughter ______ N. Jewels

15 . King who had John beheaded ______ O. John

16 . King Zedekiah would not escape their hands ______ P. Moses

17. Man after God’s heart ______ Q. Nicodemus

18 Murder victim ______ R. Nod

19. Place of Abraham’s family tomb ______ S. Pearls

20. She left Peter standing at the gate ______

21 . She stole her father’s household images ______

22 Specie of biblical money ______

23 . They took the ark into the temple of Dagon ______

24 . This land was east of Eden ______

T. Philistines

U. Rachel

V. Rhoda

W. Shechem

X. Tabitha

25 . Wisdom is better than this ______ Y. Talent

QUIZ RATINGS

“Catholic Crossword” and “Bible Quiz” are produced by Gabriel Publications. Liguori Publications is not responsible for their content. Please direct questions or comments to Gabriel Publications at info@wordgamesforcatholics.com.

ACROSS

1 “…abstain from meat sacrificed to ______” (Acts 15:29)

6 St. Columba is their patron saint

11 Trend

14 Explorer Sebastian 15 Mozart work

16 ______ de la Cité

17 Biblical tree

18 Pope before Benedict III

19 Wind dir.

20 Some tables, sometimes

22 Head of a diocese

24 Strong preference

25 Large piece of

26 Loops

28 Concrete

32 First word in the name of a basilica in 16A

33 Nickname for a Catholic university

34 Actor Torn

35 Give a thought to

36 The intestine

37 Veni, vidi, ______

38 ______ mode

39 Roof overhangs

40 Doctor

41 ______ of Hospitality

43 Attack on all sides

44 OT historical book

45 Breathe hard

46 “Jesus Christ, Son of God,

49 Founder of Islam

53 US government agency

54 Catholic United States Chief Justice Taney

56 ______ and desist

57 Jesus sent disciples out for one

58 Beef cut, with 62A

59 “The ______ near!”

60 Tool of trade for Peter and Andrew

61 Passover meal

62 See 58A

1 It follows Rom.

2 Chip’s partner

Countrymen of John Paul II

Pundit’s page

Ecclesiastical court

Certain account

This was offered to the risen Jesus (Lk 24:42)

Vessel or duct

John Paul

The Lighter Side J

“It’s My Nerves!”

A man went to see his doctor because he had developed a nervous condition. The doctor advised him that the best thing to calm his nerves would be to take up knitting. At first, the man did not like the idea of learning to knit, but he gave it a try. Soon, he began to like knitting and found it to be calming. Over time, he became very good at knitting. He could knit anywhere—even while driving his car. One day, as he was knitting while driving on the highway, a police officer on a motorcycle pulled up alongside him, saw him knitting, and yelled, “Pull over!” The man yelled back, “No, it’s a cardigan!”

Unintended Evangelization

Two Catholic nuns who were also nurses were delivering supplies to a rural hospital. Their car ran out of gas, but, fortunately, they were not too far from a gas station. They walked to the station only to find that they had to bring their own gas can. So, the nuns walked back to their car to get the only thing available they could carry gas in: two bedpans. Later, when they were pouring the gas from the bedpans through a funnel into the gas tank, two atheists driving by were amazed at what they were seeing and stopped to watch. As the nuns got into their car, one atheist said to the other, “If that car starts, I’m joining the Catholic Church!”

If you have jokes or amusing stories you’d like to share, please email them for consideration to Liguorianeditor@Liguori.org, or mail them to Liguorian Editor, 200 Liguori Drive, Liguori, MO 63057.

The First Day of School

On the first day of school, a student handed the teacher a note: “Dear Teacher, The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his exasperated parents. Thank you in advance for your patience.” 

Br. Raymond Pierce, CSsR , supplies the text for “The Lighter Side.” To receive his complimentary weekly emails, “ Morning Smiles ,” email him at raymondcssr@gmail.com.

Sanko

September 1

Labor Day

Kindness Calendar

HELPFUL TIPS TO GROW AND LIVE YOUR FAITH DAILY

Pray for the unemployed, the underemployed, and those working more than one job to make ends meet.

September 7

Canonization of Saints Carlo

Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati

Research these two inspiring young saints and share what you learn with a young person.

Saints Carlo and Pier Giorgio, pray for us and those we love.

September 7

Grandparents’ Day

Grandparents: Read the Guardian Angel Prayer (see October 2) and think about how you can “light and guard, rule and guide.” Those who have grandparents: Give thanks— to them and to God.

September 11

Patriot Day

Pray for peace throughout the world as we remember every family who lives with grief and every rescuer who died in honor.

September 15

Jubilee of Consolation

As those who need comfort gather in Rome, think of someone who is bearing an especially heavy cross and what you can do this week to lighten his or her load.

September 22

Autumnal Equinox

It’s officially autumn. Take a nature walk. As the leaves fall, make plans to let go of what is cluttering your space—one drawer at a time.

September 26–28

Jubilee of Catechists

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV will formally institute laypeople as catechists, those who teach the faith by word and example. Thank someone who models the faith, and consider whether your life is a lesson in faith.

September 29

Feast of the Archangels

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are messengers of God. Are you listening?

October 2

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

Pray this with or for a child: Angel of God, my guardian dear,

To whom God’s love commits me here, Ever this day be at my side, To light and guard, to rule and guide.

October 4–5

Jubilee of Migrants

Remember Hebrews 13:2— “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.”

“For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

October 8–9

Jubilee of Consecrated Life

Give thanks for those who dedicate their lives to the gospel. Consider one way in which you might increase your own dedication.

October 11–12

Jubilee of Marian Spirituality

Ask Jesus’ mother to intercede for you and all the concerns of your heart. Hail Mary, full of grace….

October 13

Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day

This is a day to remember that most citizens have ancestors who came from somewhere else. Remember to show gratitude for the discoveries of the adventurous and respect for the customs of those who call a place home.

October 16

World Food Day

Some people struggle to limit their food intake, and others go to bed hungry. Consider donating to a food pantry or Catholic Relief Services and pray for creative ways to achieve equitable distribution of food.

October 24

United Nations Day

In 2025, the United Nations marks eighty years of promoting peace, human rights, and social progress. From the charter is the promise “to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors.” Let’s start at home, in our neighborhoods, and in our church communities.

October 27–November 2

Jubilee of the World of Education

In Rome, a week will be dedicated to education because, as Pope Francis said, “Education is always an act of hope!” No matter your age or state in life, there is always something to learn. What will you learn this week?

October 31

Halloween

For generosity to children of every age and for their safety and well-being this day and always, we pray.

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