Author: Mark J. Chmiel

Living Examples

The most notable new female community was the Missionaries of Charity, originally founded by an Albanian nun, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta (d. 1997), to work especially with the poorest of the poor in India—the abandoned…

Today’s One-Liner (#207)

We have the power to let the current pass through us and use us to produce the light of the world or we can refuse to be used and allow the darkness to spread. –Mother…

Conscience Versus Power

In spite of all the terrible executions, the indescribable tragedies, and the unrepented brutalities, the White Rose leaflets made their way throughout Germany and occupied Europe, bringing hope into the cells of condemned prisoners and…

Today’s One-Liner (#206)

Over the years they had learned to dissemble, learned how to look cool and distant, how to keep their faces inscrutable, their eyes blank, how to submit to security checks without trembling.  –Annette Dumbach and…

(Back to) Augustine

But there comes a time when we know that something is missing. And when this time comes, we need to know where to turn. Often, I will suggest, we should turn to Augustine himself. Without…

Stories Matter

Stories move us in ways arguments and theories cannot. In ways we may not even notice, the stories of others rework the way we see the world. The stories of true heroes remind us of…

Today’s One-Liner (#204)

I felt charity enter into my soul, and the need to forget myself and to please others; since then I’ve been happy!  –Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: Autobiography

So Long Ago and So Modern

St. Francis anticipated all that is most liberal and sympathetic in the modern mood; the love of nature; the love of animals; the sense of social compassion; the sense of the spiritual dangers of prosperity…