A friend of mine was looking for practical ways to overcome hopelessness and the vice of sloth. In her research for Catholic-based solutions, she encountered tried and true remedies such as adding frequent confession and adoration to her routine. However, she told me...
G.K. Chesterton once quipped, “The greatest thing the human body can do is to rise from the dead” (quoted by Dale Ahlquist from the TOB Congress audio). That’s what we celebrate today—Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ was the first human to rise from the dead bodily. Quite...
"I want to stick to my resolution. I know it's for the better. I want to persevere, but it's so hard, and, if I'm being honest...I'm scared." It's a phrase all too familiar with people who are struggling to get out of a bad habit or better themselves with a long-term...
Do you remember your childhood days when your mom would guide you in moderating your helpings for a meal or dessert? “Only two pieces of candy.” “Only one helping of spaghetti.” “Only two helpings of ice cream.” (How good that two helpings of ice cream were allowed!)...
Last week while giving a retreat to middle school students, I had them bring a notepad and pencil into the chapel. After some quiet and prayer, I asked them to notice everything in the chapel and to draw it, be it candles, stained glass, air conditioning vent, pews,...
We are a safety-obsessed culture. One need only recall the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to see just how much people are willing to sacrifice for the cause of bodily health. Or consider how the phrase “safety is our top priority” is the standard jargon we...
A special blog by Monica Ashour, honoring Pope Benedict XVI’s death and thus his entrance into eternal life. When my friend and colleague, Sheryl Collmer, texted me this morning, “Rest in eternal joy, dear Benedict,” I smiled and said, “Well done, good and faithful...
December 8, 2001 is the day TOBET was officially founded by nine of us eager, young adult Catholics who had been changed by Jesus Christ through St. John Paul’s vision of the human person known as Man and Woman: He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. We had no idea...
October 22, 2022 Happy Feast Day, St. John Paul! “Are you Monica Ashour?” a stranger said to me. We were on a train to Rome for St. John Paul’s Canonization on April 28, 2014. Shocked, I said, “Yes. Do I know you?” She said, “I’m Mary Sladek, and this is my husband,...
September 29 is the Feast of the Archangels, but this day has also traditionally been called “Michaelmas,” and has a long history of religious and harvest celebrations connected to it (start looking up those Goose recipes!). The traditional story of St. Michael as the...