I sometimes wonder just what Mary was doing when the angel Gabriel appeared.  Was she out for a long walk in the hills?  Stopping to rest for a moment while hauling a heavy water jar from the village well?  Or was she in the kitchen?  Luke’s gospel tells us nothing.  Whatever she had planned for [...]

Our new pope chose the name Francis, for St. Francis of Assisi. But the Bridges family knows he could have chosen equally saintly models with the same name.

My first missal, its battered spine barely clinging to the title, still has a place of honor between the new Roman Missal and an assortment of prayer books.  I can remember tucking it under my arm as I walked to Mass at the church behind our house, happy to be able to follow along just [...]

Our Bridges family wonders why a couple getting married can’t write their own vows. There’s a good reason for that, writes Father John Ames.

What evidence could we show to others, and to God, that we are listening to God’s word, walking in His presence, sharing with our brothers and sisters and joining them in prayer?

Just a few months before our wedding, my husband and I attended a retreat for engaged Catholic couples. On so many levels, it was very impactful and really helped prepare us for the vocation of marriage. The amazing priest at this retreat painted a pretty powerful image in our minds – one that we have [...]

It’s Lent, so in this season of penance I have a confession: I don’t like show tunes. Hate is a strong word so I won’t use it to describe how I feel about those songs from Broadway musicals that I … dislike. And with that, God chuckles.

In his continuing examination of the Creed, St. Charles Seminary professor Msgr. Magee focuses on the Word of God as not a mere idea, but a person – Jesus Christ.

“What else can’t you do that you would like to do?” asks my physical therapist at our first meeting, after cataloging a list of things I couldn’t do:  go down stairs, go up stairs, put in the clutch on my car so I can repossess it from my 16 year old. “I would like to [...]

Many religions share with Christianity a belief in a supreme being. But the uniqueness of Christianity, writes theology professor Msgr. Michael Magee, lies in our belief that the destiny of every single created person hinges on the one man Jesus Christ, who is the personal presence of God in human history and saves us from sin and death.