Hope you had blessed Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity! ♥️✝️🕊️🙏
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday.
Catholic Meme Monday— Issue 229
Unveiling the Holy Trinity: 3 Valuable Lessons from Elementary Students
Editor’s Note: Post originally publiched on October 8, 2019.
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, “The soul is healed by being with children.” This Sunday, I experienced the truth contained in that quote. It was the first class for Religious Education at my parish. Going into my third year of volunteering as a catechist, I was comfortable with the subject matter, but I was a bit nervous about teaching third and fourth graders for the first time ever. Previously, I taught high school and middle school students.
Begin with the Trinity
The starting lesson was on the Holy Trinity. While that teaching is the most essential belief of Christianity it is also the most misunderstood and easy to fall into heresy. How could I explain this doctrine to younger students without getting too theological or technical?
In hindsight, I always am reminded that it was pointless to worry. Everything turned out fine. St. Paul wrote, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6-7). I have since bookmarked this passage. Although I failed to petition God for aid before the lesson, I am expressing my gratitude in Him using my students as instruments to remind me of wondrous truths contained in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Continue readingForgiven and Sent: The Holy Spirit’s Gift on Pentecost
Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck
A reflection on the Gospel of John 20:19-23
Dear Friends in Christ,
There is a family I know—a mother, a father, and three children—who arrived in America with nothing but hope and the clothes on their backs. They had fled unrest in their homeland, crossing an ocean, believing in the promise of a new life. But when they arrived, the world was not so welcoming. The language was foreign, the winters bit through their thin jackets, and neighbors eyed them with suspicion. The children were teased at school for their accents. The father’s hard-earned degree meant nothing here; he swept floors at night while the mother cleaned houses. They grew weary, and bitterness crept in. But then, one Sunday, they wandered into a small Catholic church.
There, a kind parishioner greeted them, and soon the parish wrapped them in unexpected warmth. Yet the pain lingered—until one evening, during a prayer service, the pastor spoke about forgiveness: how it is not just for those who have wronged us, but for our own hearts’ healing. The family prayed for those who had mistreated them. Slowly, a new peace took root. Not long after, they began volunteering at the church, helping other newcomers. The love they received, and the forgiveness they offered, built something beautiful—a small reflection of the Kingdom of God, right here in their new home.
Catholic Meme Monday— Issue 228
Hope you had blessed Pentecost Sunday!🔥🕊️
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday.
An 1164 Word Interview about the American Catholic Land Movement
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Dr. Jared Staudt, via phone on April 10th, 2026. Some of the questions/answers have been rearranged, edited, and paraphrased to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What inspired you and Jason Craig to explore the American Catholic land movement?
We were at the Augustine Institute about 12 years ago and we were reading about Wendell Berry (he was a poet, wrote a series of fictional novels based on his community), John Senior, and Peter Maurin (he had worked with Dorothy Day and gave her the idea of the Catholic Worker Movement). Jason had moved back to his home state of North Carolina and started homesteading. About 3 years ago we moved and became neighbors with him. So the book was a fruit of this friendship we formed along the way.
How do you see the agrarian tradition contributing to the Church’s social teachings today?
One of the problems of modern culture is that we have become so abstracted from nature. Catholic Church social teaching is based on the fundamental command by God to have dominion over the earth. The land is the foundation for social life. We depend on it for our food. The land movement is calling us from this abstraction of modern life. It calls us back to our origin and to be good stewards of our gifts God has given us.
Your book covers a broad history of Catholic agrarian efforts, from early missions to the Catholic Worker Movement. Can you share a few pivotal moments or movements in this history that shaped the American Catholic land movement?
Continue readingAn 1199 Word Interview Catholic Author Paul McCusker
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Paul McCusker, Catholic author, via email in May, 2026. Some of the questions/answers have been rearranged, edited, and paraphrased to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
You had a well-established career before entering the Catholic Church in 2007. What drew you to the faith, and how did that conversion reshape your approach to storytelling?
The shortest version of my rather long journey into the Catholic Church might be simply placed on an often-asked question: Who has the authority to interpret Scripture and establish doctrine? Having grown up Baptist, Scripture was the center point of my faith. But, later, as an Anglican, I realized that decisions within any church about the faith had to do with the answer to that question. Over time, it became clear from the Bible and History that the answer was Apostolic Authority. So the next question was: where do I find Apostolic Authority today? That was the Roman Catholic Church. After coming to that conclusion, I was duty-bound to act on it and was received into the Church.
My writing life has been integrally bound up with my spiritual life. I can’t seem to separate them. So, becoming Catholic – and engaging in the Catholic Imagination (which is quite different from other Christian approaches) has been wonderfully freeing and creative for me.
Many people know your work through Adventures in Odyssey. How did that experience prepare you to create a new world like Welcome to Hope Springs?
Continue readingCatholic Meme Monday— Issue 227
Hope you had blessed Seventh Sunday of Easter! 🙏✝️
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday.
