Dear Friend,

Healing takes time, patience and determination to persevere through the long process of healing. It’s not easy, but it is the reality of the healing process.

A good friend recently told me his own experience with the healing process of his right knee. About two years ago he had a total right knee replacement. When his knee started acting up and hindering his walking he wanted his knee to be better right now - not tomorrow.

Dear Friend,

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp. When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension.

Dear Friend,

Many people turn water into wine. It takes at least six weeks. But with Jesus it took no time at all. And it required no effort: he did it without even a word or a gesture or command; it just turned into wine in his presence, and he instructed the waiters to take it to the table. C.S. Lewis remarked that all the miracles worked by Jesus were in accord with the laws of nature, and not against them. There are no magical transformations, no weird metamorphoses. He did in a moment what nature does slowly.

Dear Friends,

Margaret Cregg, my high school classmate, wrote that in the mid-1990’s her uncle, Father Walter Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, and his throat would soon become unable to swallow.

Dear Friend,

Most of us have now learned to live with "voicemail" as a necessarypart of our daily lives. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if God decided to install voice mail?

Imagine praying and hearing the following:

Thank you for calling Heaven.
For English, Press 1.
For Spanish, press 2.
For all other languages, press 0.

In a series of essays linked by his examination into key areas of spiritual growth, Fr. Jacques Philippe develops themes relating to prayer, freedom, the Holy Eucharist, and man’s constant struggle for contentment amid the stresses of everyday life. Through spiritual insights of amazing women of the Church— Etty Hillesum, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Teresa of Avila—Fr. Jacque’s essays examine topics such as: Why look for interior peace?; Knowing God through Mary; touching God through prayer; the theological virtues; and the Eucharist.

Dear Friend,

God promised peace to those on whom His favor rests.

God has not promised skies always blue, Flower strewn pathways all our lives through; God has not promised sun without rain, Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God has not promised we shall not know Toil and temptation, trouble and woe; He has not told us we shall not bear Many a burden, many a care.

Dear Friend,

Lent is a time of refreshment and renewal. The word “Lent” comes from the old English, “lencten," which means spring. Lent is meant to be a "springtime" for the church. In Lent we participate in works of charity, prayer, and penance. Oftentimes people give up something in Lent and this is certainly a laudable practice. However, it is also good to do more prayer, more works of charity, etc. It is also a time to examine our conscience to see where we need God's help and forgiveness. Consider giving up these things, for the rest of your life:

Dear Friend,

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness and frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty of something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.

Dear Friend,

What does hope in God do for humanity?

Hope shines brightest when the hour is darkest.
Hope motivates when discouragement comes.
Hope energizes when the body is tired.
Hope sweetens while bitterness bites.

This revised and expanded edition of Forgiveness: A Catholic Approach will equip and inspire you to move toward forgiving those who have hurt you. With the power of God's grace, you can work through the process of forgiveness and find freedom in Christ.

This book teaches all about forgiveness: what forgiveness is and what it isn't; how to forgive and why. It addresses questions that Catholics grapple with today more than ever before: forgiving the Church; working with anger; forgiving when we can't reconcile; forgiving and not condoning behavior; and how forgiveness doesn't mean we forget, but helps us remember differently.

Dear Friend,

We need to possess an enduring love. Endurance: the power to withstand hardship or stress, to keep on going despite all setbacks.

I recently heard of a Catholic woman who, after having four children, started running and then entered marathons. This year, she is running the London Marathon, but before she does, she will run four other marathons each day before the London Marathon. So she will be running 26 miles every day for five days. It will take great endurance to complete, but on British TV she said she is committed to enduring all that she will have to face to complete the marathons set before her.

Dear Friend,

Pope Saint John XXIII often reminded people, "Do not forget your prayers. These may be as short as you wish if you find long prayers too hard, but do not forget them. Even a sign can be a prayer."

We all have our routine and we don't always want to change it. Never-the-less we can find more time for prayer, if we just look at our daily routine.

Dear Friend,

C. S. Lewis once provided a powerful image of the difference between heaven and hell.

He described hungry people sitting at a huge banquet loaded with delicious food. Every person had a meter-long fork and knife attached to their hands (that’s about three feet long).

Dear Friend,

Yvette, who is a young mother in Washington D.C., recently told me her remarkable story, she wrote:

“It was the end. I knew it. I could no longer fight. I sat here emotionless. I was totally alone. Others had tried to help - doctors, nurses, parents, husband, children. But they were gone. Hours earlier I had come into the hospital on an emergency basis. I had back pain so severe that at times, it dropped me to my knees. This was not my first hospital stay. I had been sick for a long time it seemed...

Coached by Joan of Arc book is a dialogue between the reader and Joan of Arc, the woman Mark Twain called “easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced.”

As we explore her virtue-infused life, this astonishingly modern woman takes us by the hand, coaches us, whispers wise advice and lessons in noble leadership in our ear. Far from being anachronistic, her way of life and virtuous example is eternally new, for she follows precepts that are above human weakness.

Joan is for all of us – men and women of today, living and working in the midst of the world. She is for us all a coach, a mother, and an excellent teacher of the elevated, virtuous, and courageous life.