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.c-editors-note:after{background-color:#000;content:””;display:block;height:1px;margin:32px auto;width:96px}.c-editors-note__text{font-family:AGaramondPro,Adobe Garamond Pro,Garamond,Georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin:0;letter-spacing:0;line-height:24px}@media (min-width:576px){.c-editors-note__text{font-size:20px;line-height:1.4}}.c-editors-note__label{font-family:AGaramondPro,Adobe Garamond Pro,Garamond,Georgia,serif;font-weight:700;font-style:italic}.c-editors-note__text em{font-style:normal} Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. The new coronavirus has brought American life to a near standstill, closing businesses, canceling large gatherings, and keeping people at home. All of th...

In preparation for the Feast of the Annunciation I picked up Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. 3 (The Infancy Narratives), by Pope Emeritus Benedict. I was very moved by a brief reflection that he made on Mary as the Angel Gabriel left her. His remarks consider her faith in a very touching manner. I must say that I have always been moved—and intrigued—by the faith of the Blessed Mother. She is mulier fortis (a strong woman) and  “a woman wrapped in silence,” a phrase that forms the title of an excellent book by Fr. John Lynch. The pope’s words capture both her faith and her mystery: I consider it important to focus also on the final sentence of Luke’s Annunciation narrative: “And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38). The great hour of Mary’s encounter with God’s messenger—in which her whole...

[embedded content] This Gospel doesn’t address directly what we’re going through now, but indirectly it does. The Word of God is always right on time. It’s the gospel of the blind man. Open your Bible to John Chapter 9 and I’ll give you a little bit of an introduction to what we mean by lectio divina and how it how it works. You’re going sit before the text of God and say be still, my soul, for the God I love is about to speak to me. I’m about to hear a word from the God who loves me…

“Nothing is impossible with God…”

Father Jason Christian, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Tryon, N.C., gives his homily to a parking lot full of parishioners at Harmon Field March 22, 2020. (CNS photo/Giuliana Riley, Catholic News Herald) Well, now. These are certainly some different times. I normally travel a bit like a maniac. Because I have platforms to share news and commentary, I have long felt it a little bit of my responsibility to make sure I am seeing and hearing as much as possible. It’s sometimes wearing for an introvert, but it’s really an honor and a privilege to get to meet people and listen to them, tell a few of their stories and learn from them and share some of their wisdom. Even on a given day, the number of people I am able to interact with can be amazing — and sometimes overwhelming, but alway...

Denver, Colo., Mar 21, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- The policy of social distancing means that the newly-homebound are seeing less of coworkers than they did just weeks ago. They’re seeing fewer friends too. But they might be seeing a lot more of their family, or their roommates. And that isn’t easy. For some, especially those who live alone, social distancing can bring with it a sense of isolation and loneliness. But for those who live with family or roommates, staying home means spending a lot of time together. After a few days of fun, being “alone together,” all the time, can become difficult. Neither living alone nor with other people is easy in a time of great stress, Dr. Christina Lynch told CNA. But there are ways to build and maintain healthy relationships during the coronavirus p...

Note: This is the opening of the forthcoming issue of Sword & Spade.  It is being published here exclusively because of its ties to an upcoming Sunday that is potentially without Mass. As this issue nears printing the coronavirus is forcing many into “social isolation” to slow the pandemic.  Whatever your opinion of such measures, there is the real possibility that many feasts days will go by without true feasting, without people gathered to celebrate.  Easter is approaching, the feast of feasts, but we also have various saints, including St. Patrick and St. Joseph in the third week of Lent, with the Annunciation coming March 25th.  There is a real chance that heaven will be rejoicing as catechumens enter the Church at the Easter Vigil, yet the church will be empty ...

Laetare Sunday — 4th Sunday of Lent—Year A This past Wednesday evening, I saw this image online with the caption: “Darkness has fallen: every single U.S. diocese has suspended public celebrations of the Mass.” Our Laetare Sunday rejoicing is more subdued this Lent. The sad but necessary suspension of public Masses by our nation’s bishops is a painful loss. And for many of the faithful, the greater their love for the Lord the greater the pain they feel. They are like the woman at Simon the Pharisee’s house who could bathe Jesus’ feet with dripping tears ‘because she loved much.’ (Luke 7:47) However, darkness has not overcome us. “Brothers and sisters,” today’s second reading tells us, “you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” God is still God, Christ is still Lord, and we...

1918, Sisters and Church Closings March 21, 2020 by Amy Welborn From yesterday’s NYTimes:  A few years ago, I set out to research my grandmother’s early childhood in Philadelphia, looking for clues about what the world was like in the first precarious years of her life. I knew that she was born in October 1917, that she had lived through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 as a baby, but I was unprepared for the harrowing details I uncovered in my search. Reading about the fall of 1918 left me grappling with a series of images of the outbreak as it was experienced locally: hushed streets, shut doors, bodies piled up in basements and on porches because the morgues had run out of coffins. Businesses and public spaces citywide were shuttered, including churches, schools and theate...