The world may think that Christmas ended at midnight on Christmas Day, but the Church knows better. We celebrate an eight-day Christmas Octave, stretching from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1, with a number of special feast days, including three feasts of martyrs:
Is martyrdom and the shedding of blood what God really wants? Father Chris Alar, MIC, explains. Then meet Gene Zanetti and his apostolate called Spiritual Strength, which uses sports as a metaphor and platform to instill Catholic virtue.
Of the hundreds of Catholic martyrs in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland during the Protestant Reformation, only a handful were women. One of these is Blessed Margaret Ball (1515-1584), one of Ireland’s patronesses, whose feast day is June 20.
Two heroes of our Marian religious community, Blessed Anthony Leszczewicz and Blessed George Kaszyra, lived and died as witnesses to Christ's love. Father Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC, shares their powerful witness. Then hear the story of Harmel Academy in Kent County, Michigan, a unique community of young Catholic men who combine spiritual formation with hands-on trades education.
What a grace we have on Dec. 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents! What a gift!
On June 3, the Church commemorates St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs to the lust of a king who would not take no for an answer.
As we commemorate the First Martyrs, let us not forget that today, more than ever before, our brothers and sisters in Christ are going home to God because of their fidelity to the faith which saves.
On Oct. 28, Catholics remember Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles. Who are they? They lived humbly in the shadows of the more well-known disciples of Christ.
Such is the life, the work, and the heart of a person who has given everything to Mary.
