“That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t go to live in the papal apartment, because the popes before me were saints and I couldn’t do it—I’m not so much a saint,” the pope said on Feb. 6 during a primetime Italian talk show.

With rising tensions in the region and the threat of a possible Russian-Ukrainian conflict spreading, Pope Francis established Jan. 26 as a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine.

St. Paul does not ask us to spend some of every day in prayer. No, he asks us to pray day and night, in joy and in sorrow, at work and at play, without intermission or breaks.

Today, in any given year, Taizé attracts tens of thousands of young people from around the world, who travel as pilgrims to this hilltop in France to meet one another, to sing and pray and to discuss what they feel are the most urgent issues of their time, from the climate emergency to refugees.

The greatest act of reverence we can give to the Scriptures is to prayerfully read them.

Each of these practices can be done in two to five minutes and require no religious background. And I promise that over time, they really can improve your life.