Saint Catherine of Siena was one of the greatest followers of Christ. Her ability to articulate the Gospel and her courage to call even the papacy to reform are among the key reasons she is one of my favorite saints. My youngest daughter is even named after this amazing saint, which means her story shows up often in our home in very real and tangible ways.
Read on to learn five amazing facts about Catherine:
Once in a quiet convent in France, a young woman named Thérèse lived her “little way” with a heart overflowing with hope. St. Thérèse of Lisieux believed that holiness was not found in grand deeds, but in simple acts of love and kindness. Even as a child, Thérèse prayed for her “spiritual eyes” to be opened—to see Jesus in everyone, especially those who challenged her patience or seemed difficult to love.
When a fellow sister would irritate her, Thérèse would smile all the more, telling Jesus in her heart, “I see You hidden in her.” Her days were filled with ordinary tasks, yet every moment was a chance to encounter Christ. Through the eyes of love, she discovered Jesus in the faces around her, and her whole life became a song of joy. Thérèse’s hope never faded, even in suffering, because she recognized Jesus walking with her in every circumstance, in every person she met.
Recognizing Jesus on the Road: From Sorrow to Burning Joy in the Light of the Resurrection
Today’s Gospel takes us on another road—a dusty path to Emmaus—where two disciples walk with heavy hearts. They have witnessed the death of their hope. Jesus, whom they loved, is gone. As they journey, a stranger joins them. They do not recognize him. The Gospel tells us “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” Yet this stranger listens to their sorrow, invites them to retell the story of their dashed dreams, and walks with them patiently.
Editor’s Note: Originally published April 18th, 2017.
Love is an open door.
Christianity across the world celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ this past Sunday. Easter is a celebration of a miraculous—and seemingly impossible—event. The feast of Jesus’ Resurrection holds a special place in my heart. I wish to share the basic biblical proof of the Resurrection, examples from some saints, and my own personal experience.
Note: If you still have questions related to a more cerebral and logical argument for the Resurrection of Jesus I highly recommend Carl Olson’s: Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?
Gospel evidence
Since there a lot of evidence to refer to and I prefer to keep today’s post as concise as possible I will only focus on the two strongest pieces of evidence I found to be convincing for me in showing validity in Jesus’ Resurrection. First, the witness of the women being the initial people to notice the empty tomb is strong evidence. The reason for this is due to in 1st century Palestine life women did not enjoy the benefits of voting, membership in the workforce, or even respect to be witnesses in events like today.
The Gospel writers uniformly state that women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the first to proclaim Jesus as risen. This does not make sense unless it was true. Why would the gospel writers embarrass the apostles by placing women in a place of honor as the first evangelizers of Jesus’ Resurrection, unless that was the truth?
Saint Mary Magdalene is known as the Apostle to the Apostles.
Secondly, the Gospel of Matthew already shows alternative explanations already surfacing to explain the disappearance of Jesus’ body when the tomb was opened. According to Matthew, the priests and elders charged the Roman soldiers to create a story to explain why the tomb was empty. They [priests and elders] state, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were asleep’. If any word of this gets to the procurator, we will straighten it out with him and keep you out of trouble.” (Matthew 28:13-14). This never made sense to me. If the apostles were fraudulent, why the Matthew plainly write about the theory of the stolen body of Jesus? Such a theory only makes sense as a lie developed by the priests and elders.
Saintly Sources
Because of the vast array of saints to attest to the truth of the Resurrection, I will only focus on two for conciseness’ sake—St. Peter and St. Paul. The thing that I really love about St. Peter is his fervor to follow the gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection. In addition to being the 1st pope of the Catholic Church, Peter testified to the truth of the Gospel as a martyr via crucifixion.
St. Paul represents arguably the greatest conversion in the history of Christianity. Paul went from being a murderer of Christians to the Church’s great evangelizer and writer of almost 2/3 of the New Testament. These two men show us that they encountered someone who transformed them. Peter and Paul’s conversions are an effect of the power of Jesus’ Resurrection!
My Testimony
While my own testimony does not hold the same weight at Scripture and Tradition, I still am convinced that certain things in my life transpired due to a power outside of my control and full understanding. During my darkest days a few years ago I learned of the power of God. He rose me up from the loss of a job and our miscarriages. God continues to demonstrate the glory of His Resurrected Son in seemingly ordinary things too. For example, I asked my cousin to pray for my wife for an important interview. My cousin told me, “Of course, and incidentally she [my wife] was the person my cousin and his fiancée scheduled to pray for, in a special way, anyways.” This is not the first time this seeming coincidence happened to my cousin.
Through Scripture, Tradition [the saints], and my personal experience with daily and extraordinary events I have come to more deeply realize the Resurrection of Jesus as an historical fact. I pray that you come to enjoy this truth in Scripture, Tradition, and your own life’s experiences!
Welcome to another The Simple Catholic Sunday Funnies! Growing up, one of my favorite parts of Sunday was flipping to the comics section of the newspaper: a little pocket of humor, color, and light-heartedness to start the week.
Now, in that same spirit, I’m excited to share this weekly collection of wholesome, funny Catholic comic strips. Thanks to the incredible talents of artists like Father Alvaro Comics, The Catholic Cartoonist, Sam Estrada, Tomics, and Fr. Michael DeBlanc. These comics bring a joyful twist to our shared faith, reminding us that laughter is one of God’s great gifts.
Sponsored: This article is made possible by Truthly, supporting quality and engaging Catholic content.
In our family home, we have a running joke about my parents calling me or my siblings whenever they have a technology problem. “The router’s not working!” or “How do I save this document?” We’ve become the default tech support. This experience got me thinking about how we use technology as Catholics in today’s digital environment.
Technology itself—whether it’s smartphones, artificial intelligence, or social media—is morally neutral. Like a hammer, car, or telephone, these tools aren’t inherently good or evil. It’s how we choose to use them that matters. This perspective isn’t new to Catholic thinking. The Church has always recognized that human innovation serves a purpose in God’s plan when used properly.
While seeking digital balance, I discovered we have spiritual guides for this journey too. The communion of saints offers us models for using technology virtuously, even saints who lived long before the internet age.
Saint Isidore of Seville: The Ancient Patron of the Internet
“The 7th century patron saint of the internet seems odd, but Saint Isidore of Seville connects logically to our digital world.
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Katie Luangkhot, Founder of Sweet Catholic Life, via phone on February 20th, 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 first inspired you to start Sweet Catholic Life?
I was on Instagram as a mom blogger in 2018 and I was feeling unfulfilled, so I shut down my page. I reopened the page in 2019 and started by praying a Rosary live. I shifted my name from Sweet Momma Life to Sweet Catholic Life.
Because my kids were getting older I had to shift my prayers to the afternoon from the morning. We pray a live Chapel of Divine Mercy at 3pm. We read a little bit from Maria Faustina’s Diary. And we aim for a weekly Rosary in the evening at 8pm.
And the community has grown and it’s been incredible.
