Eight centuries before Christ, that part of the kingdom where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali lived was attacked by the Assyrians, and the tribes were hauled off into captivity. It marked the beginning of the kingdom’s end. The Davidic empire finally crumbled in the sixth century BC, when Jerusalem was seized by Babylon and the remaining tribes were driven into exile...

Hans Egede was born in January 1686, and baptized a Lutheran, possibly at a medieval stone church at Trondenes, Norway, or in another nearby local parish church. Don’t hold it against him that Hans was baptized a Lutheran — he was only an infant, you see, plus, his grandfather was a Lutheran cleric and his uncle was too...

The Vatican’s Court of Cassation has cleared the way for the appeal phase of the Secretariat of State funds trial — commonly tied in headlines to Cardinal Angelo Becciu — rejecting last-ditch procedural challenges and accepting the recusal of Vatican Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi from the case.

Have you ever wished to go back to another decade for what may have been simpler times? With the Nuclear Savings Rule, you can — at least where your budget is concerned. The Nuclear Savings Rule looks at 1950s spending habits. Many people of that era had lived through the Great Depression and maintained their frugal lifestyles...

Catholic theology has always maintained a clear hierarchy of obligations. Before contributing financially to the Church, the faithful must ensure they can meet essential personal and family responsibilities. These include providing for one’s own and one’s family’s basic needs and, generally speaking, paying just debts and avoiding deeper indebtedness.

The Christmas season is officially over this Sunday on the The Baptism of the Lord (Year A). In our house, that means the decorations come down (see this special prayer). The house goes from glistening with beauty and mystery to an ordinary-looking home again. The good news is that Christmas, with its the grace and wonder, won’t go away; it will just move deeper inside, down in the basement of the house, and into the hearts of the family. That’s what baptism does...

Only a few minutes separated President James A. Garfield from the beginning of his summer break from the business of the White House. Starting from the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station on the morning of Saturday, July 2, 1881, he planned to retreat to his farm in Mentor, Ohio. But first, the president needed to attend his 25th-year reunion at Williams College...

“War is back in vogue and the zeal for war is spreading,” Pope Leo XIV said in a January 9 speech to the Vatican diplomatic corps. Basing his address on the thought of St. Augustine, the Pontiff made an appeal for a new approach to international collaboration, which “cannot depend on mere circumstances and military or strategic interests.” The annual audience at which the Roman Pontiff speaks to the diplomats...

As much as I enjoy and look forward to the annual Christmas break, by the end I am genuinely eager to get back into the ordinary swing of things. Indeed, this Sunday closes the liturgical season with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, after which we find ourselves once again in Ordinary Time, an easily misunderstood season and one which I try to give its proper due every January.

When most people think about where God is, they look to the sky or point to a mountaintop. God is ON HIGH. But the reality of the incarnation flips that vision upside down. Christ dwelt among us. God came to the lowest of places to meet us in our brokenness and heal our sin. Did you know the spot where Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River is literally one of the lowest places on earth? That can't be an accident...