St. Louis IX (feast day: Aug. 25) is the only French king to be declared a saint, a model Christian monarch. With boundless energy and deep piety, he brought peace and prosperity to his kingdom, with a keen determination to administer justice at all levels of society, especially among the poor.
We tend to treat prayer as a last resort, as a desperate measure, as though it were not the most powerful means of causing change in ourselves and in the world available to us. Why is that?
... and what was her most extraordinary gift, anyway? On her feast day, Aug. 23, Father Dan Cambra, MIC, introduces us to St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617), a powerful intercessor in Heaven and first saint of the Americas.
Eight days after the liturgical feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Church celebrates the Queenship of Mary (the octave day, Aug. 22). There is an integral connection between Mary’s Assumption and Queenship, writes Br. Eliot, MIC.
On Aug. 21, the feast of Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914), we recall the Holy Father's special role in the Marian Congregation and its renovation by Bl. George Matulaitis.
Known as “Doctor Mellifluous,” as praise of Jesus “flowed like honey” from his lips, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (feast day: Aug. 20) was a strong defender of the faith even during trying times with not one but two popes: the antipope Anacletus II, and the true Holy Father, Pope Innocent II.
Saint John Eudes (1601-1680), whose feast we celebrate on Aug. 19, was one of the leading proponents of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He also discerned a close connection between the Heart of Jesus and Divine Mercy.
On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, Aug. 15, Dr. Robert Stackpole shares a witticism: The reason Mary was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven was because she always took herself so lightly.
Come, let us, with one mind and heart, praise the Lord on this Solemniity of the Assumption of Mary, Aug. 15. Mary's bodily Assumption into Heaven is the fulfillment of God's promise to recover all gifts to mankind. The Immaculate one lived and lives as all human beings were destined to live.
Who we are and what we do is “tinted” by the Immaculate Conception. The main fruit of the Immaculate Conception for the Blessed Virgin Mary is total purity, which is fittingly represented by the color white.
If we look at the lives of the saints, we discover a powerful reality — those who are in love with God are always at peace, no matter the hardship, resting in the innermost heart in the will and providence of God. Consider the miracle that is the life of the priest and martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose feast we celebrate on Aug. 14.
On Saturday, Aug. 12, Deacon Jason Matthew Lewis, MIC, will be ordained to the priesthood for the Marian Fathers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy.
