Caesarius of Heisterbach (d. 1240) was one of the most popular hagiographers of the Middle Ages. The prior of the Cistercian Heisterbach Abbey, he’s most famous for his Dialogue on Miracles, which was rivaled only by the Golden Legend in popularity. Over the course of a dozen thematic books, Caesarius tells hundreds of miracle stories categorized by themes like Contrition, Confession, Demons, and so on, but the final chapter is what concerns us today...

When I was attending a daily Mass in my home diocese during college, I genuflected (as was my practice at the time) before receiving Holy Communion. Before the priest gave the final blessing, he made an announcement that he noticed that there were several people who genuflected before receiving the Eucharist. We were reminded that the local bishop had issued a letter...

When the first child of any parent is born, there is great expectancy and anticipation that both parents and the entire family experience, as the joy that the first child brings to both parents and the extended family is shared. Specifically, the joy I reference can be described as an act of faith, because after the initial joy of birth, the family rejoices in the gift of this new member...

The Shepherd of Hermas is an inspiring combination of instructions for living the Christian life and an apocalyptic vision of the saved and the damned. At the most basic level, it is “an uncomplicated guide for repentance and moral living that will lead mankind to justification in the sight of God.” Using parables and allegories, the author instructs the early Church so that its members may lead lives pleasing to God.

I’ve told this story more times than I can count, and it never gets old. What happened changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I first crossed paths with Karl Keating in early 1987 after reading a short, unremarkable notice in our diocesan newspaper about a public debate on the papacy between Catholic attorney Karl Keating and one Bill Jackson...

Believers and non-believers alike sometimes balk at the demanding nature of St. Paul’s exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In a world as broken as ours, can we really be expected to rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances?

I didn’t see this coming. I could hardly believe the news article that came across my desk the other day: none other than Bill Gates was urging climate advocates to rethink their priorities and rhetoric so that their work truly serves the good of the world. Remarkably, he even says something that could have come straight from a papal encyclical...

Jimmy Akin corrects popular Franciscan YouTuber Fr. Casey Cole’s claim that it’s “not appropriate” to pray privately after Communion and that EVERYONE must sing the Communion hymn. Jimmy goes through the argument line-by-line and exposes the claim as a classic “pious little legalism.” Jimmy quotes parts of the General Instruction that Fr. Casey never mentioned and reveals what Rome actually says about post-Communion prayer...

Our God is a God of surprises. From the Son of God being born a helpless infant raised by a carpenter and then dying to bring salvation, his ways are beyond human imagination. The humility of God is the ultimate plot twist that baffles Satan. The devil chose eternity in hell rather than to humble himself before the very one who created him. And his first big score against humanity was made possible through pride...

Tolerance is the pervasive, preeminent new moral virtue. Whatever others want to do is their choice — indeed, their right — and is to be accepted, even celebrated. Yet our society is quite narrow in its tolerance. For all its vaunted openness, the tolerance movement is riddled with ironies. Not everyone deserves to think his or her own way...