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Lucky sevens: the lists are endless

From the Bible to casinos, seven is often considered to be a magical, perfect and lucky number. Jesus told us to forgive those who hurt us 70 times seven times. Clearly He meant that to mean infinity. Genesis speaks of the seven days of creation, Scripture speaks of seven archangels, and the Book of Revelation speaks of the Seven Seals of Revelation. The Bible is saturated with the number seven. It would take several pages just to list the references.

Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero is pictured in a 1979 photo in San Salvador. The official promoter of the sainthood cause of the late archbishop indicated April 22 that the cause would be moving forward. Archbishop Romero was shot dead March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass. His assassination came during the Salvadoran Civil War.

Vatican official says Archbishop Romero's sainthood cause 'unblocked'

VATICAN CITY - Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and the official promoter of the sainthood cause of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, said the process to beatify and eventually canonize the slain Salvadoran archbishop has been unblocked.

Ten priests lie prostrate during their ordination by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 21.

Pope ordains new priests, talks about learning to hear Jesus' voice

VATICAN CITY - Before ordaining 10 men to the priesthood, Pope Francis prayed privately with them in the sacristy and entrusted them to Mary's care.

Pope Francis on April 15 reaffirmed the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s call for reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Pope reaffirms call for reform of U.S. nuns’ group

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has reaffirmed the Vatican’s call for reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Self-giving love is not optional

Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year C) April 28 (Acts 14:21-27; Psalm 145; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:1, 31-33, 34-35)

Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ was not an easy task in the first century. It often involved the loss of friends, the estrangement of family and alienation from one’s culture. Occasionally violent persecution was thrown in.

Jesus shows us how to pray in a crisis

How do we lift our darkest, most depressed, most lonely moments up to God? How can we pray when we are most deeply alone, helpless and our whole world seems to be collapsing?

Pope Francis leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 17, one of several occasions on which he mentioned the devil.

Battle with the devil: Pope Francis frames the fight in Jesuit terms

VATICAN CITY - In the teaching of Pope Francis, the devil has a more dastardly agenda than just convincing people to break one of the Ten Commandments; "the enemy" wants them to feel weak, worthless and always ready to complain or gossip.

Br. Anthony lost part of his arm in an industrial accident. To Br. Anthony, it wasn’t a tragedy however. Instead, he would tell people about his prosthetic arm, “This is grace.”

Br. Anthony found his home in God

Every immigrant who ever came to Canada dreaming of something better, something worthy of their best hopes, struggled, wished they had never come and wanted to go home has a soul brother in Br. Anthony Kowalczyk.

True faith withstands all

Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year C) April 21 (Acts 13:14, 43-52; Psalm 100; Revelation 7:9, 14-17; John 10:27-30)

Major imperatives within mature discipleship

In his autobiography, Morris West suggests that at a certain age our lives simplify and we need have only three phrases left in our spiritual vocabulary: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! He is right, if we understand fully what is implied in living out gratitude. Gratitude is the ultimate virtue, undergirding everything else, even love. It is synonymous with holiness.

Pope Francis gives a thumbs up as he leaves his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 10.

Being Christian means acting, loving like Christ, Pope says at audience

VATICAN CITY - A Christian isn't a person who simply follows some commandments, but is a person who tries to think like Christ, "act like him, love like him," Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience.

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