St. Joseph is a model par excellence of prayerful silence for the ordinary layperson. Why is he silent, though? What purpose(s) does his silence serve? How can we imitate him?
Why We Need Silence—4 Lessons from the Life of St. Joseph
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The Saints
Sing of Joseph, Strong and Gentle
In the person of St. Joseph, the Church has a beautiful contradiction to the boastful nature of much of society. Strong, quiet, and gentle, Joseph stands out as a model that all people—men and women alike—can and should strive to follow.
Why We Must Strive for Sainthood
I remember listening to one older friend of mine talking about his grownup children. Though they’ve fallen away from the Faith, he described them as “good people.”
Elizabeth of the Trinity: From Firecracker to Contemplative
When we read accounts of the saints, a lot of them might strike us as “sugar and spice and everything nice.” Not St. Elizabeth of the Trinity! The elder of two daughters, she was an energetic, strong-willed girl given to temper tantrums.
Stanley Rother: The First American Martyr
Never in the history of the Catholic Church has there been a canonized American-born martyr to the faith. The fact that he has been beatified, and his case for canonization is being examined, is cause for great excitement among American Catholics and demands that his story be told again.
Thomas Becket: Canterbury’s Finest Catholic
Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England were the closest of friends. Accounts of their friendship describe the two as being like-minded in many of the issues confronting England. Thomas is frequently credited as playing a major role in the political reforms Henry was applauded for instituting.
Franz Jägerstätter: Lone Witness against the Nazis
It’s easy to condemn evil from the comfortable armchair of hindsight. The Nazis were evil. Who in good conscience would have cooperated in their destructive agenda? Surely I wouldn’t have! It’s quite another thing to face the choice either to cooperate with evil, or lose your life.
Louis and Zélie Martin: Not Just St. Thérèse’s Parents
The French saints Louis and Zélie Martin are perhaps most famous as the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, but their own stories are less well-known.
St. Raphael: The Forgotten Archangel
Raphael is a major figure in the Book of Tobit, rendering immeasurable help to Tobit and his son Tobiah. Though a great archangel, he can instruct and aid us in many ways.
Joan of Arc: The Fighting Flower of France
Imagine that the United States has gone to war with Canada and that the war has raged for more than eight decades. The war has been so brutal that the central government in the United States has vanished.
Edmund Campion: England’s Diamond
At age 26, Edmund Campion had the world at his feet. He was an eloquent orator, of sweet and amiable temper, with a large number of followers and a golden future ahead. Yet his doubts and thirst for the truth held him back.