I have received a number of emails asking what prayers to use for the dead. I will tell you what I have come to practice, but there are many other prayers, and it is best to discern which prayers bring an inner affirmation by the Holy Spirit. Just know that the disposition of your heart is more important to God than the words are. Avoid prayers that "have never been known to fail". Prayer isn't magic. Really, a prayer with few words but much love goes straight to God'

When we listen to the Scripture that calls on us to have the mind of Christ, we in the West go right away to theological formulas and might easily conclude that Christ's mind and the mind of the Church are one and therefore whatever the Church teaches is the mind of Christ - done ! The emphasis , like an accent mark, makes the Church the authority. For our faith She is the authority, but the point here is one of emphasis. Going directly to Christ in the Gospels, we immed

The struggle against the passions and toward the virtues takes many turns. Following the spirituality of the ancient Fathers confronts us with a work that seems totally impossible, and when we crash and burn, it takes all of our strength and courage to keep walking. Grace meets us, and we carry on. But sometimes we crash and cannot get up right away. We need a place to rest - to recover. St. Therese and her sisters kept hiding the books on the Desert Fathers from their f