Dear Friend,

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

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

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 to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration.

Coping When Your Spouse Dies helps readers realize that, while you can't bring back a spouse who died, you can face your grief in a series of stages which lead toward personal healing. The author advises those trying to cope with a loss not to bury their feelings, but rather to go through the pain of death and look toward the new life God has provided.

Dear Friend,

How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren't home? Sound absurd? According to one-time management study, that's how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail.

Dear Friend,

Pope John Paul I states that a problem with educating young people in the church stems from a failure to understand how young people learn. He claimed that adults learn in the following pattern:

Dear Friend,

Let me offer a few thoughts from a bishop friend of mine in Ireland about how to cultivate a sense of humor:

1. Catch yourself in some amusing inconsistency and then laugh at yourself. This is the foundation of a healthy sense of humor.

Dear Friend,

The Gospel (Mk 6:30-34) tells us that the apostles gather around Jesus after returning from their mission. They tell Him what they have accomplished. He then says to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (v. 31). However, the people understand where they are headed and, when they get off the boat, Jesus finds the crowd waiting for Him. He feels compassion for them, and He begins to teach (cf. v. 34).

This historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history--Mother Teresa. During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles.