“Praise increases joy. Praise is like a ladder: it leads hearts upward,” Pope Francis said. “Praise elevates souls and defeats the temptation to give up.”

“I think that there we have a piece of information that is beautiful and a girl who has recovered her sight,” Cardinal Omella said. “Doctors will now have to assess whether or not it was incurable,” the first step in the official declaration of a miracle.

My relationship with Mary is complicated. I couldn't see the appeal of Marian devotion until I had a baby and understood how she embodies the life-giving sacrifice of motherhood.

On the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the 54th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis reminded Christians to "imitate the shepherds: let us learn to see! To understand by seeing with our hearts."

A Homily for the Octave Day of Christmas, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God by Father Terrance Klein

A reflection for Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent, by Ashley McKinless