Category: Reflections
![00Ciarlo_Prayer_Image](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/00Ciarlo_Prayer_Image-705x470.jpg)
Ladders of Lenten Prayer by Gene Ciarlo
Like the image of the chakras in Kundalini yoga, prayer can grow from utter simplicity to communion with divinity.
March 4, 2021/by tac![00Oczypok_Intergenerational Friendships_Image](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/00Oczypok_Intergenerational-Friendships_Image-705x470.jpg)
On the Importance of Intergenerational Friendships by Kate Oczypok
When you worry about whether or not you’re succeeding or properly “adulting,” hearing affirmations like these really does some good for your soul.
March 2, 2021/by tac![Garrigan_Prine_Image](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Garrigan_Prine_Image-705x467.jpg)
A Poem by Gerard Garrigan, OSB
"John Prine, to my mind, you were a lot like me..."
February 26, 2021/by tac![featured-tac-default](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/featured-tac-default-705x470.jpg)
Editorial: “People or Bricks”: A Catholic Response to the Crisis in Texas
The crisis in Texas shows that we need to heed Pope Francis's call for a "Copernican revolution" in our political and economic life.
February 24, 2021/by tac![00Salone_Destiny_Image](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/00Salone_Destiny_Image-705x470.jpg)
A High and Lonely Destiny by Fran Salone-Pelletier
We must be liberated from our own constrictions, the restrictive rules we made and make, in order to give space and place to true freedom.
January 27, 2021/by tac![DEC20_Salone](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEC20_Salone-705x470.jpg)
The Pause before Our Fiat by Fran Salone-Pelletier
This time, I lingered in the space between yes and no, go and come, sorrow and joy. This time, I linked my life with Mary’s.
December 15, 2020/by tac![DEC20_Burns](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/DEC20_Burns-705x470.jpg)
Faith in the Incarnation by Ed Burns
Faith in the Incarnation enables us to always have within us a cause for hope, even in the most hopeless of human situations. And faith in the Incarnation roots us in a source of ever-increasing joy that no one will be able to take from us.
December 15, 2020/by tac![DEC20_Yeomans](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEC20_Yeomans-705x470.jpg)
The Gift of Advent: To Build the Peaceable Kingdom by Dorothy Yeomans
In Advent we refocus: Here we are once again, Lord, to renew our covenant commitment with you and to ask you to use us in accordance with your will. We want only to bring your love and mercy to those most in need of your redeeming embrace.
December 15, 2020/by tac![NOV20_Burns](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NOV20_Burns-705x470.jpg)
The Depths of Nonduality by Ed Burns
From the Christian point of view, authentic married life has a salvific character based on the bedrock biblical teaching that we are not created for isolation but for relatedness and communion with each other.
November 23, 2020/by tac![NOV20_Ciarlo](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NOV20_Ciarlo-705x470.jpg)
Hope in the Midst of Near Chaos by Gene Ciarlo
Spiritual life, by my definition, is the best in humanity pushed and honed to perfection, to fine points that penetrate the hardest hearts, the deepest sorrow, and the densest mindsets to touch finally at the core of what makes us human.
November 23, 2020/by tac![NOV20_Salone](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NOV20_Salone-705x470.jpg)
Hope Lies in Seeing Clearly by Fran Salone-Pelletier
Slowly, over the years, the song has become more than a hummed tune. It is now a call and command to receive and accept clearer vision.
November 23, 2020/by tac![NOV20_Bailey](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NOV20_Bailey-705x470.jpg)
The Month of the Holy Souls by Jane M. Bailey
In thinking about the saints, we can’t help but wonder how we stack up. That wonder just might help us to become more loving and trusting human beings.
November 23, 2020/by tac![NOV20_Swist](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NOV20_Swist-705x470.jpg)
On Presence: The Commonplace We Can No Longer Remember by Wally Swist
By sheer application of being conscious in the moment, we defy the odds and realize our birthright, which is the experience of finding the numinous in the commonplace.
November 23, 2020/by tac![OCT20_Salone](https://www.todaysamericancatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/OCT20_Salone-705x469.jpg)
Songs in the Key of Life by Fran Salone-Pelletier
Silence reigns while a bumper-sticker mentality speaks loudly and persistently. Is there an alternate path to take? Might there be a way to honor life without entombing it?
October 12, 2020/by tac