Reflect He wanted to reunite Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, and became a Capuchin friar as a step toward that desire. But Leopold Mandić’s health issues and mild personality led him down a different path: forty-eight years of hearing confessions and giving lenient penances. Among those he counseled was a young seminarian who became

Reflect She was working as a laundress so that she could become a missionary sister. A fall into a vat of boiling water derailed that plan for Anna Schäffer (1882-1925), but eventually brought her to missionary work from her own bed, offering a listening ear, prayer, and needlework to others. Pray Saint Anna Schäffer, obstacles

Reflect He came to the United States with little beyond the certainty that he was meant to be a priest–something he couldn’t do in his native Czechoslovakia because of an oversupply. John Neumann (1811-1860) was ordained less than a month after his arrival, and tirelessly ministered to German and Italian immigrants as well as native-born

Reflect It takes trust—and often patience—to discern God’s plan for us. Zélie Guerin (1831-1877) initially believed she was called to be a woman religious, but poor health closed that door. She was a successful lacemaker when she met Louis Martin, and the two married just three months later. All five of Zélie and Louis’s daughters