Praying the Magnificat with monks can be a jarring experience. Most parish communities pray at a pace more in line with an auctioneer—quick and efficient. But...
Spirituality
Professor of religion Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada says that growing up in New York City she was always fascinated by street fairs. “There’s just a certain sort of...
An invitation from a local retreat center beckons to the worn and weary. Who among us does not need renewal these days? The demands of daily life challenge...
I started working for U.S. Catholic on the day our office closed during the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. While I was bummed not...
For years I’ve had the word gelassenheit (literally: “serenity”) framed on my wall. In college, I studied existentialism and phenomenology and came across the...
A creak in the old floorboard announces my presence. The blue-haired cashier twists from her perch behind the counter as I enter the co-op. Her young eyes warm...
Growing up Catholic in Chicago, urban planner Jamie Kralovec has made the study of cities his life’s vocation. For him, it’s a vocation that combines the...
I remember my first radio. One Christmas morning in the early ’60s, I unwrapped a tan, boxlike radio with a sloping face and three dials: an on/off switch, a...
I garden as a spiritual practice, as a practice in humanity and humility. I garden with attention, intention, and (now that I am an elder) the great gift of...
My great-grandmother’s house was full of mysteries. Full of secret rooms and eclectic memorabilia, the house always felt a bit like a treasure hunt. In...
