Crazy Obedience

When Pat was a teen, he was kidnapped, taken to an island and forced to serve a warlord. Six grueling years later, a voice whispered to him in his sleep, “Your hungers are rewarded. You are going home. Look, your ship is ready!” Pat soon escaped to a ship and made it off the island.

St. Teresa of Avila

Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, known for reforming the Carmelite order and writing a number of mystical works. Among her writings is her spiritual autobiography, The Interior Castle, in which she humbly describes her lifelong struggles with sin and temptation, even during her religious life in a convent.

True Gratitude

The Gospel reading at Sunday’s Mass hit home to those of us who work at Cross International Catholic Outreach. That’s because Matthew 25:31-46 is a foundational scripture for us—a reminder to see Jesus in every hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, imprisoned, or impoverished person we serve.

Catholics in Vietnam Pray for America

When America remembered the tenth anniversary of 9/11 last weekend, I recalled something a nun in Vietnam said to me several years ago. I had been shadowing her as she visited very poor children in rural areas, as well as children with AIDS, deaf children, and undocumented children of migrant workers who have the odds stacked against them from birth.