When You Want to Give Back to God
Laura DeMaria
May 31, AD2021
3 Comments
You may look at your life, especially as we get further from 2020, and think, “How blessed I am!” Even in a year like the
Pope: 2021 is The Year of St. Joseph
Laura DeMaria
January 10, AD2021
2 Comments
Last month, Pope Francis declared the coming year – from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021 (the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception) – the
Advent: Giving 2020 Back to God
Laura DeMaria
November 22, AD2020
4 Comments
The end of the year is coming quickly, and with it, the season of Advent. Advent begins on Sunday, November 29, just one week from
Prayer is Critical to Being a Good Leader
Laura DeMaria
September 6, AD2020
No Comments
Abraham Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own
Ecclesiastes and Turning Politics Over to God
Laura DeMaria
July 10, AD2020
5 Comments
A friend recently told me that the Old Testament book that brought her back to the Catholic faith was Ecclesiastes. “What is it about?” I
Spiritual Communion During the Easter Season
Laura DeMaria
April 13, AD2020
1 Comment
With churches now closed for over a month, more and more Catholics are becoming accustomed to ‘attending Mass’ via live-stream. But as I watched my
Praying Our Way Through the Pandemic
Laura DeMaria
March 26, AD2020
2 Comments
Rather than giving in to a feeling of helplessness in the midst of the global pandemic, Christians are called to act. One of the fundamental
How to Stick with Lent During Coronavirus
Laura DeMaria
March 14, AD2020
6 Comments
Lent this year has gotten off to a strange start. As the threat of COVID-19 spreads around the world and here in the US, many
How the Legion of Mary Taught Me to be Catholic
Laura DeMaria
January 15, AD2020
3 Comments
One of the first things I did after becoming Catholic, in my late 20’s, was to join a lay apostolate called The Legion of Mary.
‘The Art of Losing’ is Really About Trusting in God
Laura DeMaria
October 16, AD2019
3 Comments
We all experience loss throughout our lives. It is an inevitable part of the human experience. In the poem “One Art,” poet Elizabeth Bishop talks
4 Steps to a Better Sunday
Laura DeMaria
August 17, AD2019
2 Comments
In college, I learned the phrase “the Sunday scaries.” It means that feeling of dread on Sunday night as Monday morning approaches, with its threat
Rethinking Lent This Year
Laura DeMaria
March 3, AD2019
5 Comments
Growing up, all I knew about Lent was that it meant giving up something. For me, that usually meant chocolate, or if I was feeling
Radiating the Joy of Christmas Year-Round
Laura DeMaria
December 26, AD2018
1 Comment
It is easy to be cheerful at Christmas. Even as Advent brought us ever closer to Christmas Day, we found ourselves giving money to the
FBI Agent Turned Hollywood Writer is Still a Warrior
Laura DeMaria
September 15, AD2018
3 Comments
Tim Clemente has been a police officer and an FBI agent, and now he’s a Hollywood writer. But first and foremost, he has always been
Why Friendships Matter Both on Earth and in Our Spiritual Life
Laura DeMaria
August 20, AD2018
1 Comment
It’s not only worthwhile, but critical for our emotional and spiritual wellbeing to spend time forming healthy and positive friendships. And yet, it can
Can We Ask for the Intercession of Non-Saints?
Laura DeMaria
July 22, AD2018
No Comments
This month marks the one year anniversary of the passing of an extraordinary man, Fr. Arne Panula. While I never met him personally, I am deeply
Saudade: Longing for What was Lost
Laura DeMaria
June 18, AD2018
3 Comments
Recently I came across a Portuguese word, “saudade,” which means a melancholic longing for what was lost; a missing person, place or experience that is
Seeing the Face of God in the Poor
Laura DeMaria
May 19, AD2018
1 Comment
There is a tenet in the Legion of Mary so central to the mission of the apostolate that perhaps all the works and prayers its
How Well Do You Know St. Mark?
Laura DeMaria
April 25, AD2018
2 Comments
Today, April 25, is the feast day of St. Mark, one of the four writers of the New Testament gospels. Did you know he was
L’Arche Communities Bring the Differently-Abled Together
Laura DeMaria
March 20, AD2018
1 Comment
In 1964 a young man named Jean Vanier visited an asylum for the disabled at the invitation of a priest friend, who was a chaplain
Politics as a ‘Vocation’
Laura DeMaria
February 18, AD2018
1 Comment
On two separate occasions in the past six months I have been encouraged to run for office. Well, not me specifically, but me along with
The Benedictine Sisters of Virginia: Celebrating 150 Years
Laura DeMaria
January 5, AD2018
1 Comment
On May 1, 2018, the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia will celebrate their jubilee: that’s 150 years since the first Benedictine sisters, originally from Bavaria,
