Posted by Samantha Laveau on 5/22/19
May is an important month because it marks the anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. I had every intention to write on the subject of Our Lady’s appearance, but as I sit at my computer writing, the Resurrection is vivid in my brain.
It is ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 5/20/19
On April 15, when I got home from what seemed to be a particularly long day, I found an old photo album I had put together back in the year 2000. I was particularly interested in these nearly two-decade-old pictures, because they were taken during a trip a friend ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 5/13/19
As a child, my spirituality centered around one thing: Our Lady of Fatima. My paternal grandmother was the spiritual compass of the whole extended family, and she had a deep devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the purported apparitions three shepherd children had of the Virgin Mary in ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 4/30/19
October is the month of the rosary, but there is good reason to focus on the rosary in the month of April as well.
The last day of April is the feast day of St. Pius V, A Dominican pope who was very much devoted to the rosary and ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 4/16/19
On April 16, the church honors St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-79), the lone seer of the Virgin Mary’s appearance in Lourdes, France. Though St. Bernadette is a popular saint, with many of the faithful devoted to her, there is something else unusual about her that has drawn much attention even from the ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 4/11/19
In April, we tend to think of Easter, but before we get there we of course have to go through Holy Week and the Passion of Christ. For this column I want to explore some of the lesser known facts of Christ’s passion, as portrayed in the four Gospels. ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 4/08/19
Catholics throughout history have been called many names, some nice and others not so nice. One of the names that has been attached to Catholics is “fish eaters.” This is because of one of the more peculiarly outward Catholic practices that many non-Catholics wonder about—abstaining from meat on Fridays, ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 4/04/19
Lent is a season of repentance of sin. Repentance from sin for Catholics mostly means going to confession—yet another subject that is often misunderstood by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and for that matter, the most unused of the sacraments.
From time to time, you will hear people explain what ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 3/25/19
When I go to Rome, my favorite place to say Mass is over the tomb of St. John Paul the Great in St. Peter’s Basilica. Being inspired by him and having had the opportunity to meet him make that altar particularly important to me.
In my years of priesthood ... Read More »
Posted by Samantha Laveau on 3/06/19
Years ago one of my seminary professors cited a study listing the most well attended Masses of the year. The first two were obvious — Christmas and Easter — but the third and fourth most attended Masses were a bit of a surprise to me at the time. They ... Read More »