Lent with the Saints - 40 holy people to accompany you during Lent - Pierre Toussaint, Kateri Tekakwitha, Maximilian Kolbe pictured
Lent

Lent with the Saints

Spend Lent with the saints this year, with the aid of our downloadable handout featuring 40 holy men and women. Let their lives inspire you to courage, service, surrender, and fidelity. They will help you, as you journey with your family and faith community, to grow with them in faith, hope, and love. The saints are divided into four groups: those who changed Church or society; strong women; martyrs; and little-known holy ones. Through the […]

Saint Peter: Flawed, Forgiven, and Faithful by Stephen Binz
Books

Fishing for Men and Women

If Jesus wanted to choose the ideal person to lead his church into the future, where would he look for such a person? We might suppose he could find such a person in Jerusalem, among the priests of the temple or perhaps among the educated and talented nobles of the city. Yet the person Jesus called for the task was not found among the religious leaders or the noble families of the capitol city. Simon […]

Little Lessons From the Saints: 52 Simple and Surprising Ways to See the Saint in You by ​Bob Burnham
Mary and the Saints

St. Martin of Tours Video

In honor of the approaching feast of St. Martin of Tours, Bob Burnham talks about wielding God’s weapons of peace, joy, and love. Burnham is the author of Little Lessons from the Saints. How are you incorporating lessons about the saints in your classes this month? Don’t forget Fr. Solanus Casey will be beatified on November 18, 2017. Download Burnham’s reflection and meditation on Fr. Solanus here.

All Saints Day - Celebrate the saints.
Mary and the Saints

Learning by Imitation: Why Kids Need Saints

None of us is purely original. The fact is, we human beings learn by imitation. As infants, we begin making sounds that imitate the sounds made by those around us. Before long, we are shaping words with those sounds, achieving the ability to communicate with others. Our imitation doesn’t stop there, however. Scientists have shown that imitation cannot be dismissed as some sort of lower form of learning but is a quite sophisticated intellectual activity. […]

icon of St. Luke the Evangelist
Mary and the Saints

Three Lessons for Catechists from St. Luke the Evangelist

St. Luke the Evangelist left us great treasures by writing the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. We as Christians have learned so much about Jesus and the faith of the Church from his writings. Luke was a master at sharing the Gospel, and catechists can learn from both what he wrote and how he wrote it. Know Your Audience Luke wrote his Gospel for believers who came from a Gentile background rather than […]

Father Stanley Rother Beatification
Mary and the Saints

On the Road to Sainthood

For many of us, the stories of the saints—while inspiring and often dramatic—always seemed to be about people from far away places who lived long, long ago. Paintings and statues of saints clearly depicted them as belonging to another century, if not another millennium. That’s why it is so exciting these days to be able to see color photographs and even video of saints such as St. Pope John Paul II and Saint Teresa of […]

Bob Burnham screenshot from a Little Lessons from the Saints video
Mary and the Saints

Little Video Lessons from the Saints

A few months ago, a friend of mine told me she was going to use one of the videos I filmed for my book Little Lessons from the Saints at her next RCIA session. “Really?” “Yep. I’m leading a lesson on the communion of saints, so it’s perfect. Besides, I think they would get a kick out of seeing you on video.” “Either that or a good laugh.” “Probably both,” she said. A few days […]

Little Lessons From the Saints: 52 Simple and Surprising Ways to See the Saint in You by ​Bob Burnham
Mary and the Saints

St. Clare of Assisi and Authenticity

“Some of the wisest words I’ve ever heard about faith came from a teenager,” says Bob Burnham, author of Little Lessons from the Saints. Enjoy the short video below to learn what those wise words were and what they have to do with St. Clare of Assisi, whose feast we celebrate tomorrow. Hint: it has to do with authenticity, which we discussed recently in our Spirituality of the Catechist retreat.

St. Teresa of Avila
High School/Youth Ministry

Three Ways to Teach the Saints According to St. Teresa of Ávila

I hate to admit this, but I often give the saints short shrift in my faith-formation classes. Since I am helping ninth-graders prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation, my focus is usually on having them pick a Confirmation name. To that end, I ask them to write a paper, produce a video, or perform a skit about a saint. If I can find the time, I will set aside a lesson in which I give […]

Saint Katharine Drexel
High School/Youth Ministry

Lent with the Saints, Part 3: Giving Alms with St. Katharine Drexel

This is the last of three articles on the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Whenever I talk about the three pillars of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—the conversation I have with young people about alms usually goes something like this: “What are alms?” one youth will ask. “Are those the things we get on the Sunday before Easter?” “No,” I’ll correct gently, “those are palms.” “I know,” another will say, “it’s a book in […]