(Feast Day ~ June 18)   We often refer to the saints as “blessed”, recognizing that they have reached a degree of purity and goodness that most of us struggle merely to aspire to. In his Sermon on the Mount, we hear our Lord’s description of the spiritual “rewards” for those who reach this state […]

Feast Day ~ June 17 The life of a diplomat is not an easy one and the responsibilities are great. The fate of nations and the lives of many people often depend on the negotiating skills of the diplomat. The give and take, back and forth, demand and compromise in tense political bargaining require patience […]

(Feast day ~  June 14) Adapted from the Breviary Basil, one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church, was born in 329, at Caesarea of Cappadocia. He came of a remarkable Christian family; for his paternal grandfather was persecuted to death for Christ, and his maternal grandmother, who reared him as a lad, was […]

(Feast Day ~ June 11) From the very beginning of the Christian Church, from the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles, Christians have been missionaries. Those who believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God, were compelled through their zeal to speak to others of the […]

(Feast Day ~ June 10) Most of the earliest saints of the Church are venerated for their great courage amidst persecution and their martyrdom for the faith. After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the designation of “saint” was given to holy men and women whose sanctity was shown in additional ways […]

(Feast Day ~ June 9)   “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” [Matthew 28:19] The Apostles and those who joined and who followed them took our Lord’s admonition so seriously that within a few hundred years […]

(Feast Day ~ June 9) Since so many of the saints whom we venerate lived in the early years of Christianity, it would be easy to conclude that the age of saints is over, that there are no more holy priests and bishops, monastics, missionaries and evangelists, or martyrs. But there are numerous men, women […]

Feast Day ~ June 5 The Martyrology contains the names and stories of hundreds of thousands who gave up their lives simply for being Christians. These courageous saints lived and died all over the world – wherever the love of Christ was a threat to those in power – and every day, more and more […]

(Feast Day ~ June 6) Those who would be evangelists for Christ soon find that their efforts do not always result in 100% success. Like the sower in our Lord’s parable, sometimes their words fall by the wayside, or upon rocky soil or among thorns, and the seeds of the Gospel they preached do not […]

(Feast day ~ June 5) The life of St. Boniface is not one of miracles or visions or doctrinal disputes but rather of the slow, hard work of evangelizing among those who have not heard the Gospel of Christ. Born around the year 675 into a Christian Anglo-Saxon peasant family, Boniface was given the name […]