Shemaiah Gonzalez, Catholic News Service
Second Sunday of Advent: ‘Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming’ speaks...
The 500-plus-year-old German Advent hymn, "Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming," is not one I grew up singing in church. I had never even...
Catholic writers: Uwem Akpan’s ‘Say You’re One of Them’ touches on...
Each opening sentence of Uwem Akpan's short stories in his debut collection "Say You're One of Them," pull the reader into the story:
"Selling your child...
Shemaiah Gonzalez: ‘Joy can follow suffering’
A few years ago, I read a very sad book. The book told the story of a family that had experienced years of financial,...
Second Sunday of Lent: The life of Robert Robinson and ‘Come...
"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,/ prone to leave the God I love."
This line from the hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,"...
The Beatitudes: Because God first loved us, we show mercy
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" (Mt 5:7).
The word "mercy" is a beautiful one. A word synonymous with the one...
‘O Holy Night’: A carol for the weary
The Christmas song that always slays me, jolts me out of my secular complacency and reminds me that this is an absolutely sacred moment...
During Advent, what if we reframed the act of waiting as...
We know Advent is a season of waiting but what if you feel like you've been waiting for a long time? We've been waiting...
Thanksgiving: Something magical about hearing gratitude spoken aloud
I have a theory. It is very unofficial. I haven't done any scientific research on it. I wouldn't even know where to begin --...
World Missions: We share our faith by our acts of service
"We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).
This verse is the theme of this year's World Mission Sunday, a...
The year we all became bird-watchers: Writer Brian Doyle finds God...
One surprising note of the past year is how many of us got into bird-watching! I remember old sitcoms from my childhood where a...