Articles

New Life, New Hope

Jan Alkire

Hope: I feel no need for it when skies are blue, children are angelic, and all’s well with the world. But I surely do need it with difficult people and during difficult times like these.

Intercessory Prayer

Jan Alkire

A neighbor asks me to pray for him during his upcoming surgery. A group gathers each month to pray for their faith community. A friend who is traveling comes to mind, so I offer a quick prayer for her safety.

Inner Healing: A Way to Remember

Jan Alkire

When fifteen year old Elie Wiesel arrived at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and saw the horror that lay before him, a memory seared itself into his brain: “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God end my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never.”

Praising God: A Doorway to Joy

Jan Alkire

Years ago, police in an oppressive regime seized two men, dragged them off and beat them. Their crime? Being Christian and talking to others about their faith. Bleeding and bruised, the men were finally thrown into a jail cell and shackled to a wall. By that night, they had decided how to respond to their pain: They began to pray and sing praises to God.

The Perfect Christmas

Jan Alkire

Christmas 1993 was going to be perfect, and the most perfect part would be having the whole family home for the holidays. Our twenty-three-year-old twin daughters, Beth and Kathy, were each scheduled to fly home in time for the four of us to go to Mass on Christmas Eve. It had been so long since we had all been together.

Too Shy to Evangelize?

Jan Alkire

For many of us, the word evangelize conjures up pictures of television preachers shedding large tears before an invisible congregation; or perhaps we think of the people who stand on street corners shouting, “Repent, you sinners!” And then we breathe a sigh of relief. Our religion, we tell ourselves, does not ask us to risk humiliation by talking publicly about our faith.

The Rosary — A Powerful Friend

Jan Alkire

I used to sit in front of God and worry. If anyone had asked, I would have said I was praying. But I didn’t release my concerns to God when praying, I didn’t receive a sense of God’s presence in the midst of the problem I was praying about, and I didn’t feel peaceful after praying. I just felt worried.