Jesus Christ: “given unto us” (Isa 9.6): This “true Man” has been the subject of the most sublime contemplation, worship, and love imaginable for over two thousand years. Even agnostics marvel over his Person and teachings. And His enemies, of whatever variety, obsess over Him to this very day. For in that crib, the Church… Read More Jesus Christ, Light of the World
…who kindly blesses each one of us with the Sign of the Cross + from the sidewalk when we come out of Church. Or when we pass on the street. O blessed Sign! Once when I needed to Confess my sins only to find it was one of those rare days when the church was… Read More I know a priest
“Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life which is genuinely personal”—Pope John Paul II Fides et Ratio,” meaning “Faith and Reason,” is an encyclical by Pope John Paul II published on September 14, 1998. It emphasizes the essential relationship between faith and… Read More Encyclical Letter ‘Faith and Reason’. Pope John Paul II.
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Christians and non-Christians alike. “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”— 1 Jn.1:10 All we, like sheep, have gone astray,each of us has turned to our own way; — Isaiah 53:6 “For… Read More Truth and “Catholic Guilt”
James Bishop’s Encyclopedia of Religion, Society and Philosophy Dan Brown in his book The Da Vinci Code (2003) writes, “Nothing in Christianity is original.” In recent times a number of people are claiming that the historical Jesus is simply a rehash of older pagan secretive religions, and of the religions of dying and rising gods. This is a view… Read More Why we know Jesus is not a copy of pagan religions
It was a dream. Needless to say, it was not a vision. If I ever had a vision I would likely run for the psychiatric couch, not to a pope. I cannot remember whether it was a day or a night dream. The city hung heavy over us all. I was lifting a lantern before… Read More The City and the Cross
When Magicians work their tricks, people applaud, are charmed, and wonder aloud how they ever did that. But with the Lord Jesus Christ it was very different. His saving deeds elicited fear, which is the sign of a real miracle occuring in the midst of sane men and women, as witness the Gospel history: “A… Read More Jesus of Nazareth vs the Magicians and Empiricists
Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God.” — Col. 1:15. The Eternal, because of the Incarnation, belongs to time and history now forever. Everything has changed. All things are become New! St. John Damascene: b. 675, Damascus; d. December 4, 749, near Jerusalem. He writes to Christians against the iconoclasts, “The Scripture says,… Read More St. John Damascene, the Incarnation & the Iconoclasts
The story is told of an archaeologist scholar who specialized in the earliest era of Christianity. He decided to take some students to visit ancient monasteries near the Sinai in Egypt. He was no believer. Upon arriving at one such site after a long journey he knocked on the entrance door hoping to be allowed… Read More The Scholar and the Abbot
By Father Gabriel of St Mary Magalene, 1953. O Lord, increase my confidence in Your help and grant that in this confidence, I may always find courage to begin again. What most distresses souls of good will who are seriously trying to live a spiritual life, is to find themselves falling so many times, despite… Read More The Courage To Begin Yet Again
To be a Roman Catholic one must believe in miracles. This in itself has been a stumbling block to many. And yet the believer knows that one need only find the earth beneath one’s feet and all other genuine miracles become mere footnotes. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, originally a student of the intractable rationalist, Bertrand… Read More Wittgenstein and Existence.
By Casey ChalkNew Oxford Review, Sept.2025 Christians, even those who convert (or revert) after a long sojourn in the wilderness, often fail to appreciate how hard it can be for someone to abandon his previous beliefs and place his faith in Christ. For every bit of evidence deemed demonstrable proof for the existence of God,… Read More Motives of Credibility: The Miracles of Christ
“The natural man does not understand the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” — 1 Corinthians 2:14 Tim Staples, a Catholic writer, says, “…from a philosophical perspective, the soul is pure spirit and is the form of… Read More The Natural Man Does Not Understand
Fr. Chad Ripperger writes, “The juridical concept of the deposit [of Faith] requires that it is not the property of the guardian. In other words, it is not the person who receives it that has ownership of it, but of the consigner who is handing it over to him to keep it in a safe… Read More The Binding Force of Tradition
Understanding the Epistemological Foundations of Scientific Totalitarianism. by Phillip D. Collins. Scientific totalitarianism is certainly not a new topic in the halls of political science and history. Given its bloody legacy of democide (i.e., state-sanctioned genocide, mass murder, and politicide) and its prolific spread throughout the world, scientific totalitarianism remains a preoccupying sociopolitical phenomenon of… Read More The Faustian Face of Modern Science
“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners —-of whom I am the worst16 but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him… Read More God Is Not Out To ‘Get’ us. He is Out to Heal Us.
“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.” Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any… Read More Let No One Despair! Forgiveness is risen! St. John Chrysostom. St. Francis de Sales.
And Fulton J Sheen on the meaning of Palm Sunday. Homily of Benedict XVI, Palm Sunday, 2006. To understand what occurred on Palm Sunday and to know what it meant not only for that time but for all times, a detail is important, which became for his disciples the key to understand that event when,… Read More “The Cross Is the Tree of Life” – Benedict XVI
This young woman gets what many theologians have long forgotten or forsaken. May God give her -and all of us- perseverance unto the end. Romans 5:6-11: with a powerful and encouraging word for each of us. Through the blood of Jesus we receive grace to be conformed to the righteousness of God! The life of… Read More Saved From Wrath. Rachel Shares Romans 5:6-11.
How Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples after the resurrection in the Eucharist. 24 “… on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body.… Read More He was “known to them in the breaking of the bread”.
Romano Guardini on “The End of the Modern World“. “This frightful destruction did not drop down from heaven; in truth it rose up out of hell!” —Romano Guardini. Mark Malvasi writes, “…absorbed by technology, [Romano] Guardini anticipated the emergence of a new type of human being that was defined by regimentation and conformity. This “man… Read More Disappearing Into the Collective
Signs of contradiction. Sunday January 6, 2013. And the Protestant Worship Problem. Let us return to the Wise Men from the East. These were also, and above all, men of courage, the courage and humility born of faith. Courage was needed to grasp the meaning of the star as a sign to set out, to… Read More Pope Benedict XVI on the Epiphany
“Our peace in this life is found in humbly enduring suffering rather than in being free from it. He who knows best how to suffer will enjoy the greater peace, because he is the conqueror of himself, the master of the world, a friend of Christ, and an heir of heaven.”— Thomas a Kempis, Imitation… Read More The Cross of Jesus Christ and Suffering Love.
Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem. 41 “And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround… Read More Al-Aqsa Mosque controversy
The most subtly banned Name in all of Social Media is the Name of Jesus Christ, the Christ of the Gospel, the Christ of history, and the Christ of Faith. This is true of the West in general. On the Internet we will find the ill-defined cover-all name-term “God,” and many other equally vague substitutes,… Read More Not ‘God’. God in Christ.
Malcolm Muggeridge. “The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history. . . . As it is, belonging to a civilization which began with the birth of Jesus some two thousand years ago, and reaching the conclusion—to me inescapable—that whatever is truly admirable in the achievements of the succeeding… Read More Fiat Lux. Into History Comes the Light
“Man cannot get back onto his feet unaided: he needs the help of the Holy Spirit. If he refuses this help, he commits what Christ called “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”, “the sin which “will not be forgiven” (Mt 12:31). Why will it not be forgiven? Because it means there is no desire for… Read More Pope John Paul II on the Unpardonable sin
Provocateur extraordinaire By Stephen Hand, editor, Catholic Critique. The 1566 Catechism of the Council of Trent states: “This guilt [for the death of Christ] seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: ‘If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory’;… Read More Towards A Critique of E. Michael Jones
“We, the Ordinary People of the Streets“. The words express the core of Madeleine Delbrel’s vision: These are the people who have an ordinary job, an ordinary household, or an ordinary celibacy. People with ordinary sicknesses, and ordinary times of grieving. People with an ordinary house, and ordinary clothes. These are the people of ordinary… Read More We the Ordinary
Advent and Penance “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust,adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week, I give tithes of… Read More “Extortioners, adulterers, tax collectors…”
George Eldon Ladd. The uniqueness and the scandal of the Christian religion rest in the mediation of revelation through historical events. The Hebrew-Christian faith stands apart from the religions of its environment because it is a historical faith whereas they were religions rooted in mythology or the cycle of nature. The God of Israel was… Read More The Saving Acts of God
The value of sufferings in Christ By Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. O Jesus Crucified, teach me the science of the Cross. 1. The Passion of Jesus teaches us in a concrete way that in the Christian life we must be able to accept suffering for the love of God. This is a… Read More Personal knowledge of the Cross
The Imitation of Christ, and the Contempt of All the Vanities of the World. Ch. 1. HE that followeth me, walketh not in dark-saith our Lord. Jn 8:12. These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, that we must imitate his life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered… Read More The doctrine of Christ surpasses all the doctrines of the saints
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”—Jn.16:33. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.Mary as “blessed among women”. Pope John Paul II 1. The liturgy today commemorates theNativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.This feast, very important to popular piety, leads us to admire in Mary the… Read More Praying for the Children
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”— Jn.1:5 “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world, to condemn the world, but that… Read More Mary, The Good News and the ‘Book’ of the Meek
Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period, when several fishing villages sprung up around the lake. The site had no defensive wall and extended along the northwestern shore of the lake. The cemetery zone is found 200 meters (660 ft) north of the synagogue, which places it beyond… Read More Capernaum the Town of Jesus
“Justice leads us to render to each one what is his due. But when it is a question of justice to God our Creator (Gen. 1:1), we can never succeed in giving Him all that we owe Him, in making Him a suitable return for all His gifts, in paying Him the worship and homage… Read More Why Natural Religion Cannot Save Us
The short answer: a lot of bread. Bread was a staple in the typical daily diet in the first-century Greco-Roman world, supplemented with limited amounts of local fruits and vegetables, oil, and salt. Bread in first-century Galilee would have been made with wheat or barley flour. Cooks had to grind grain into flour by hand using a tool called a… Read More 0ur Daily Bread. What did Our Lord eat on a typical day?
This morning I heard some politicians in the UK bemoaning the bewildering numbers of suicides, especially among men, in the West. It was difficult to hear their reports and stories. Mental health. It is not enough to throw more and more money at the problem. If at bottom our deepest unattended personal problems are fundamentally… Read More Politics cannot heal what ails us
“To be an Olympian is to be entangled in a complex dialectic involving elitism and egalitarianism. The foundational elitism of the Olympian lies in self ascribed rationality, generally picked up on an academic campus. Egalitarianism involves a formal adherence to democracy as a rejection of all forms of traditional authority, but with no commitment to… Read More “Christophobia” and the West
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