Saint Stephen, whose feast day we celebrate on Dec. 26, is one of the first ordained deacons of the Church and the first Christian martyr we read about in the Bible. Father Chris Alar, MIC, explains the clerical state of the diaconate, and reminds us that Catholic priests are also ordained deacons. Then Fr. Mark Baron, MIC, sits down with Bishop William Byrne of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, to discuss the true meaning of Christmas.

This Giving Tuesday, the Marian Fathers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy need your help to meet an extraordinary challenge. We need to build a new Monastery because we have more young men studying for the priesthood today than at any time in our history and it would be a shame to have to turn anyone away who wants to be a Marian priest simply because we don't have enough rooms! Please help us raise $1 million to meet this matching gift challenge – and build a new Monastery on the “Field of Dreams” we call Eden Hill.

We are all called by God to a vocation, whether to consecrated life and serving Him; to the single life; or to marriage – we are all called to holiness. Father Donald Calloway, MIC, explains what a vocation is, and how to hear God telling you what your vocation might be. Then hear the story of Burke Masters, who thought his vocation was to be a Major League baseball player, but then God threw him a curveball.