Though she lives 2,000 miles away from Dallas, Ileana Valdez never forgets the life lessons she learned from her mother, Estela.
Since the days of her childhood, technology and the love for engineering have been passions that Ileana has nurtured with her mother’s help and inspiration. That passion keeps them even closer today while she resides in Seattle, working for a cybersecurity company.
Our world needs Christian faith. A book that proved this to me regarding the medical field is Losing Our Dignity: How Secularized Medicine is Undermining Fundamental Human Equality by Charles C. Camosy.
Many of us want to grow in holiness and draw closer to God. Our perception of our personal holiness or closeness to God often revolves around how many prayers we say, how many spiritual books we read, how often we attend church, how often we receive the sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance, or whether we are good parents or good people. Yes, these are excellent steps toward holiness and closeness to God, and I encourage and recommend that we all practice them.
The Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980, declared in a book of prose that “the Scriptures constitute the common good of believers, agnostics, and atheists.” For Milosz, whose life was scarred by the Nazi and Communist takeovers of his native land, the moral authority and literary beauty of the Bible was a refuge against the lethal and banal propaganda spewed forth from those godless governments and armies, even though he could not bring himself to believe in God.
Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a penitential prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica March 25, the Vatican said.
Lent is a good time to ask God’s help in throwing off any spiritual “drowsiness” that dulls a person’s prayer life and attentiveness to the needs of others, Pope Francis said.
A curious pattern of exile is evident in the endings of several Old Testament books. After God promises Abram the land of Canaan, the patriarch must immediately flee to Egypt because of a famine (Genesis 12); his descendants, the sons of Jacob, repeat the expedition for the same reason (Genesis 42-47).
The Catholic Church needs women, especially women saints, who have shown throughout history an unwavering dedication to God and to caring for their brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis said the Vatican “is ready to do everything to put itself at the service of peace” in Ukraine.
Pope Francis said his heart was “broken” by the war in Ukraine, and he pleaded again, “Silence the weapons!”
