Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
Latest Articles
Spirituality
When Our Sufferings Give Way to God’s Glory
When I was 23 years old, I was stationed with the Navy in England. I had finished a very successful first tour at a major intelligence agency Stateside and was sent overseas to help bring a new station online. From the outside, I had everything going for me. Internally, I was crumbling. I used all m...
Spirituality
United and Divided: The Two Ends of Marriage
I live in a sunny part of the world where many American baseball teams come for spring training. These pre-game games are relaxing, enjoyable, and, for spectators such as me, an inexpensive way to connect with family and friends. Others attend the same spring-training events and bring a wholly diffe...
Spirituality
Parables, Pearls, and the Gift of Understanding: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday, Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven in parables that are so clear, even the apostles understand them. Gospel (Read Mt. 13:44-52) The Gospel reading gives us another cluster of parables about the kingdom of heaven, adding to an unusually high number in just one chapter. The first...
Spirituality
What the World Cup Taught Me About Being in a Crisis
Every championship has a moment when the game seems to slip away. It usually isn’t obvious at first. The players are still in position. The tactics haven’t changed. The scoreline may even remain close. Yet something subtle begins to happen. Patience gives way to urgency. The carefully rehearsed syst...
Spirituality
Where Are the Other Nine? The Cross of Ingratitude
From Image to Icon, Escaping the Temptation of the Idol A recent Sunday Collect beautifully summarizes one of the deepest challenges of the Christian life: “Listen, O God, to our prayers, and grant that, by imitating the Passion of your Son, we may bear our daily cross with serene courage. Through C...
Spirituality
St. Charbel’s Miracles Continue
On December 1, 2025, Pope Leo XIV knelt in Annaya, Lebanon, under an arch of stone, facing the carved cedar tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf. Pope Leo gazed at the image of the saint displayed above the tomb—a quiet, white-bearded religious priest and hermit robed in black. Charbel (Sharbel) Makhlouf wa...
Vatican News
Summer advice from Pope Leo XIV: Don’t forget the less fortunate
In response to a question about summer advice, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of remembering those most in need during the holidays.The question and answer were both published in the July/August 2026 issue of Piazza San Pietro, the official magazine of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. As...
Vatican News
5 things to know about St. Bridget of Sweden, mystic and mother
On July 23, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic of the Middle Ages who was a wife, mother to a large family, lady-in-waiting to a queen, and founder of a religious order that still exists today.1. St. Bridget experienced her first vision at age 10.Bridget,...
Vatican News
Vatican weighing papal trip to Ukraine
The Vatican will study the conditions needed for a possible trip by Pope Leo XIV to Ukraine, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said following a six-day pastoral and diplomatic mission to the war-torn country.Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organization...
World News
‘Lawrence of,’ Sacred Scripture, and the Rupnik end game
Hey everybody,Today’s the feast of the great Capuchin saint Lawrence of Brindisi, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.Lawrence of Brindisi. Credit: threecharlie/wikimedia.Subscribe nowLawrence — whose baptismal name was Julius Caesar Russo — was born in 1559, and cared for by Conventual Franc...
World News
Questions of next Lima bishop cast shadow over pope’s Peruvian trip
Pope Leo XIV is set to visit Peru, the country in which he developed most of his pastoral and episcopal ministry, in November.The trip will likely prove to be a memorable moment in his pontificate. But it will also be tense, due to the seemingly never-ending political crisis in Peru, as well as seve...