Dear Friend,

Prayer belongs to everyone: to men and women of every religion, and probably also to those who profess none. Prayer arises in our innermost self, in that interior place that spiritual authors call “heart” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 25622563). Therefore, it is not something peripheral that prays within us, it is not some secondary and marginal ability that we have, but rather it is our most intimate mystery. It is this mystery that prays. Feelings pray, but one cannot say that prayer is only feeling. Intelligence prays, but praying is not simply an intellectual act. The body prays, but one can speak with God even having the most serious disability. Thus the entire man prays if he prays with his “heart”.

Dear Friend,

Now is the time to reflect on the on the Gospel Beatitudes. As we can read, the last one proclaims that eschatological joy for those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. This beatitude proclaims the same happiness as the first: the kingdom of Heaven is given to the persecuted in the same way as to the poor in spirit. We thus understand that we have arrived at the end of a single route which has unfolded through the preceding statements.

Dear Friend,

In the twentieth century Will Rogers was known for his laughter, but he also knew how to weep. One day he was entertaining at the Milton H. Berry Institute in Los Angeles, a hospital that specialized in rehabilitating polio victims and people with broken backs and other extreme physical handicaps. Of course, Rogers had everybody laughing, even patients in really bad condition; but then he suddenly left the platform and went to the rest room. Milton Berry followed him to give him a towel; and when he opened the door, he saw Will Rogers leaning against the wall, sobbing like a child. He closed the door, and in a few minutes, Rogers appeared back on the platform, as jovial as before.

Dear Friend,

Among the many books written by Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), one stands out as an enduring little classic, The Wounded Healer. For those who knew him, this book is especially powerful because, without expressly intending to do so, it describes very well the man himself. It was because of his own wounds that he was able to touch the lives of so many people. “By his wounds we have been healed,” St Peter wrote of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24).

However, there was a different reaction to Nouwen’s book from a group who reviewed it and announced that a Christian minister should not come before people as a wounded healer but as “a prophet of God and as a helper in their afflictions.” These different reactions show a gulf between Christians that is probably deeper than most of the issues that divide Christian Churches.

Sister Seraphina and the sleuthing mice at Saint Wulfhilda’s Abbey School are back for a seaside adventure—and an unexpected lesson on the corporal works of mercy. On the shores of Lyme Regis, where G.K. Chesterton takes his holidays, a strange sound haunts the night….

Sister Seraphina and the other Sisters of Our Lady Star of the Sea have planned a seaside summer holiday for the students of Saint Wulfhilda’s School. The mice of Saint Michael and Saint George Church welcome the group, and the beach awaits the excited students. But why is it so dangerous to go out at night? Sister Seraphina and her students will need all their wits to piece together the puzzling clues—and save their holiday!