A better understanding of the virtue of denying oneself would undoubtedly benefit our society, where one is taught only how to say, "yes" to what one wants and desires.

We see Aquinas's spiritual self-understanding reveals his deep personal love for Jesus Christ in the words that he spoke before receiving the blessed Eucharist for the last time:

Recently, the newspapers and television news programs have had reports on the drug RU-486, an abortion drug. I have heard some people say that this drug is something good because it eliminates the need for an abortion and is really just a form of contraception. As Catholics, how do we view this drug?

There are saints who sweep across the sky of their generation like blazing comets signaling the reality and glory of God. Others silently earn grace for a world blind to their presence. Matt Talbot, the friend of God whose life ended on a Dublin sidewalk on June 7, 1925, was one of those hidden holy. Matt Talbot may well become the Churchs first known alcoholic saint.

"How many of you are 'pro-choice'?" she asked her grade school pupils. Immediately, all hands shot up, except one.

In his book The Mystery We Proclaim (Our Sunday Visitor, 1993), Msgr. Francis Kelly offers a five-step plan that provides catechists with a helpful framework for every time they teach the faith.

Most of us catechists want to do our work well, and are open to learning new and better ways to do it. But the best way of all is also the oldest and, unfortunately, often the most neglected.

Sola scriptura Sola fide Salvation (once and for all?) Deuterocanonicals Purgatory Eucharist Baptism Forgiveness of sins Papacy/infallibility Brothers of Jesus Mary Saints Statues, images and relics Church and authority Priesthood Worship Justification Morality

Pope John Paul II visited New Delhi in November 1999 to promulgate a special document, Ecclesia in Asia (The Church in Asia), which lays out a vision of that continent and the Churchs future there for the new millennium.

It may very well be that the first moral judgment a child utters is Thats not fair! Virtually all studies on the subject report that children as young as four already have an active and flourishing sense of fairness.