“If you have begun to act well, do not turn back through constraint of the enemy, for your endurance destroys the enemy. Those who put out to sea at first sail with a favorable wind. Then the sails spread, but later the winds become adverse. Then the waves toss the...
Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a prisoner of war, a cardinal, and a source of inspiration for the Vietnamese faithful worldwide. Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was born in 1928 near Huê´, then the imperial capital of Vietnam. HAPPY AND DEVOUT CHILDHOOD His parents were Nguyễn Văn ´m and Elizabeth...
“The Cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirmation of victory, the way by which God descended to man, the trophy against material spirits, the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day, and the ladder for those who hurry to enjoy the light...
St. Stephen of Hungary was a husband and father, and a great reforming king. Given the birth name Vajk, he was born to the leader of the Magyars, Grand Prince Geza, and Charlotte, his wife circa 975 at Esztergom built aside the Danube River. The Magyars were a nomadic people...
“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”...
St. Thomas was a first century disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ. He took the Gospel message to the known ends of the earth. Thomas was likely born to a Jewish family in Galilee. Nothing is recorded of his early life or of how he came to be a disciple....
“While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point preeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence.” St. Irenaeus (2nd-3rd centuries) “For God, being...
Servant of God Léonie Martin was a “black sheep” in her family, a devotee of her saintly sister, and a religious sister. Léonie was the third of nine children born to [Sts.] Louis and Azélie Martin at Alençon in northern France in 1863. Four of the nine Martin children died...
“If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.” St. Peter Chrysologus (5th century, Doctor of the Church) “We can be excused for not...
St. Louise de Marillac was a wife, mother, widow, and religious foundress. Louise was born in 1591 at Le Meux, a small village near Compiègne in northern France. Her parents were not married, and she never knew her mother. Louis de Marillac, a widower from a prominent family, declared Louise...