While we met Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in the Gospels, we don’t learn much about them, other than they were close friends and disciples of Jesus. We don’t know how they met Jesus or whether they were related to Him. Yet, our Church has designated July 29th as the day we celebrate their lives and the impact they have had on our faith.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee . . .” We know the prayer, but do we know the prayer? How often do we sit and reflect with the Hail Mary? Do we say the prayer or do we pray the prayer? 

There are seasons in business when everything feels accelerated. Deadlines multiply. Opportunities expand. Visibility increases. People need answers, leadership, strategy, and execution — often all at once. For Catholic women entrepreneurs, these high-intensity seasons can become spiritually dangerous when productivity quietly replaces prayer and urgency begins to overpower interior peace.

At surface level, yoga as a part of an exercise and fitness program appears harmless. Yoga is a 2,000 to 5,000-year-old Hindu theistic system of physical, mental and spiritual practices aimed at uniting the body and mind. To be clear, theism is the belief in the existence of at least one deity, a personal God who is both the creator and sustainer of the universe, often involved in human history.Christianity is a form of theism, monotheism.

I don’t know about you, but artificial intelligence has been at the top of my mind recently. As a software engineer, AI has taken its spot in the driver's seat and has drastically changed my day-to-day work. We are being called to “AI-forward development” and embracing any opportunity to use this new technology.

Just over a year into the papacy of the first American pope, Pope Leo XIV has released his first encyclical: Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”). Subtitled “Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” the encyclical is timely, beautifully written, and challenging.

There is so much to digest and pray about, and I recommend that everyone read the encyclical in full (like other encyclicals, it’s available for free on the Vatican’s website). In the meantime, however, I’ve gathered five takeaways for Catholic professional women. I’ll be meditating on them over the coming days, weeks, and months. I hope you will, too!