HOUSTON – The 200-home community of McDade Estates down the road from Sacred Heart Parish had just hours to evacuate Aug. 27. City officials knocked door-to-door, alerting residents to escape to higher ground.

VATICAN CITY – In his prayer video for the month of July, Pope Francis has asked Christians to join him in praying for those who have strayed from the faith, providing hope to them through the witness of our joy and actions.

Pope Francis on Friday urged Christians not to fall into the trap of vanity in moments of pain and sorrow but rather resort to prayer patience and hope in God. Do not be misled by the "cosmetic beauty" of vanity, but let that "joy of God" enter your hearts, thanking the Lord for the "salvation" he grants us. Pope Francis made the exhortation in his homily at Mass Friday morning, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

The life of Saint Paul, characterized by preaching, persecutions and prayer, can be a model for all Christians today. That was the theme of Pope Francis’ homily at his Santa Marta Mass on Thursday morning.

LEIRIA, Portugal – Pope Francis said his two-day pilgrimage to Fatima would be a time of prayer and encounter with Jesus and Mary.

WASHINGTON – There is no getting around fasting during Lent.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – For his silver jubilee as a priest almost a decade ago, Franciscan Father Ed Mundwiller prayed for God to keep calling him beyond the boundaries of his own comfort zone, into places he never thought he would go.

In the weakness of temptation, which we all experience, the grace of Jesus helps us to not hide ourselves from the Lord, but to seek forgiveness in order to get up and go forward. That was Pope Francis’ message during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father was reflecting on the devil’s temptation both of Adam and Eve, in the first Reading, and of Jesus in the Gospel. With Satan, the Pope said, there is no dialogue, because dialogue with the devil ends in sin and corruption.

This is the fourth in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 1, part 2 and part 3)

This is the third in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 1, part 2 and part 4)

This is the first in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 2, part 3 and part 4)

VATICAN CITY – On the first day of the new year and the 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis condemned a terrorist attack which took place in Istanbul early Sunday morning, praying for the victims, the injured and in support of everyone who works to fight violence and terrorism.

KRAKOW, Poland – Christina Shabo was born under a tree in a refugee camp after her family fled bombing in their Iraqi hometown in 1991.

VATICAN CITY – During the Angelus for the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayers for the people of Aleppo and Syria, and for all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks which have taken place in places such as Turkey and Egypt.

Have you ever sat in complete silence for a half hour?