From Season to Season

My newest article for Aleteia​ celebrates Our Lady of Einsiedeln, whose feast is celebrated on July 16 : "It is significant that St. Luke tells us of Mary turning to prayer in times of great change, challenge, and possibility. She was sustained by the public, liturgical prayer of her Jewish faith, but beyond that, we are also given glimpses into Mary’s faith through her openness to what God was asking of her and her moments of prayer themselves." To read the full article, click here .

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is honored by many titles and in countless places by Christians around the world. These various names of Mary often tell us something about her role in the story of salvation, such as “Mother of God,” “Cause of our Joy,” and “Ark of the Covenant.” Other titles of Mary tell us something of the unique role she plays in the life of the Church and of individual Christians: “Comforter of the Afflicted,” “Help of Christians,” “Mother of Good Counsel,” and “Queen of All Saints.” Finally, there are those titles of Mary that are associated with specific places like Guadalupe, Lourdes , Fatima , or La Salette . Each of these titles, in its own way, expresses a faith and devotion that was first voiced by the woman who cried out to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you” (Luke 11:27).   I have three titles of Mary that are especially meaningful for me and seem to capture my own devotion to the Mother of God. They are “Mother of...

Meinrad, the “Martyr of Hospitality,” was born of a free peasant family near what is modern-day Würtemberg, Germany. As a youth, he became a monk in the Benedictine Abbey of Reichenau, Switzerland, where he was eventually ordained a priest and became a teacher in the monastery school. Seeking a life of solitude, he received permission from his abbot to become a hermit and settled in a nearby forest, around the year 829. He acquired a reputation for holiness and many came to him seeking his advice and prayers. Desiring greater solitude, he moved to a remote spot in the Black Forest.     An early illumination depicting the martyrdom of Saint Meinrad. After living in this new hermitage, the site of which would eventually come to be known as Einsideln (the “Hermitage”), he courteously received two visitors, who turned out to be thieves who believed Meinrad was hoarding treasure. Finding none, they clubbed the holy man to death; this occurred on January 21, 861. His bod...