(1) The Odyssey, an epic Greek poem [attributed to Homer], tells the story of King Odysseus and his heroic struggle against the gods. The tale begins when the ship of Odysseus is blown off course on the way home from the Trojan Wars. In his effort to get home, Odysseus lands on an island where… Read More Lashed to the Mast
“It was as if I saw God on his throne, and all his angels around him.” — G. F. Handel. Recorded live in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Friday 3 December 2021. Academy of Ancient Music and Choir of the Queens College Oxford. George Frideric Handel was one of the greatest composers of the Baroque… Read More Handel’s Messiah
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
How can we know the Way? “Thy Word is a light to my feet and a lamp to my path.” Psalm 119:105 By Way of The Cross He leads us through both light and darkness. “My son, trust not to thy present feeling, for it will soon give way to another. As long as you… Read More Thomas a Kempis: “Do Not Trust Feelings”
Originally Titled ‘A Catholic Flavored Commentary on Romans 7. By Craig Truglia, Sept. 2015. With the help of Augustine, we undergo exegeting perhaps the most confusing chapter of the Bible. Does a Christian, who is dead to sin, still sin? Can he lose his salvation? Is he even the one sinning? What is the Flesh?… Read More Romans 7 and our Spiritual – Existential Predicament
Christ came not only to justify us by His grace but also to truly sanctify us by his grace. “Strive for peace with all men, and for holiness without which no one shall see the Lord.”— Hebrews 12:14 “What is Purgatory but a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who depart this life… Read More On Purgatory
In a time of deep confusions, as the Church appears to be receding from the market places and thought of the world, all the more the Cross emerges in our lives. Hard as it is, this cannot be bad news. There is joy, then, even here where we are. With Him The mystery.
“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
“The need of reflecting on the interior life of the Savior is particularly great in the present period of general confusion, when individuals and entire peoples misunderstand the ultimate end of human life and forget the profound difference between perishable, material goods and immutable, spiritual goods. Material goods divide us in the measure that we… Read More Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange: What Christ Must Be for Us
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
Aridity and Spiritual Progress By Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. Even without the presence of other causes, it is possible to pass from a state of sensible spiritual fervor to one of absolute aridity. This happens by the direct work of God which makes it impossible for the soul to pray with the help of… Read More If God invites the soul by means of aridity…
“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. — St. Paul, Galatians 6:14. “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent,… Read More Kerygma. Finding Our Way Home Again.
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
Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” — Exodus 4:10 I know the feeling. Someone said, writing is easy, It is the editing that is hard. I hope visitors… Read More Slow of Speech and Tongue
A Light, Too Bright For Our Eyes. Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalene Teach me to believe, O Lord, even in darkness and obscurity; teach me to believe by relying only on Your word. Through its own efforts, the human mind is able to attain to a knowledge of God the Creator by considering created… Read More The Sacred Darkness
“LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who revealed the infinite mercy of Thy SACRED HEART in saying, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you (Matt. 5:44), and again, Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6:28): Give me, I beseech Thee, grace to obey these commandments of Thine and to… Read More Beginning Again. A Prayer of Forgiveness, Reparation, and Penitential Love.
“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
“May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, whatever good you do and whatever evil you endure, be for you a remedy for sin, an increase of grace, and the reward of eternal life. Go in peace”. — Traditional priestly prayer used with… Read More May the Passion Be For You A Remedy
[As used by the Franciscan Fathers on their missions]. See also: Christ’s Victory Over Death and Postmodern Despair. + First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death 0 Jesus So meek and uncomplaining, teach me resignation + Second Station: Jesus Carries His Cross My Jesus This Cross should be mine, not Thine! My sins crucified thee!… Read More A Short Way of The Cross
“In an enlightening and profound episode, Michael Knowles sits down with the esteemed Bishop Barron to explore the deep spiritual significance of Easter Sunday and the solemn observances of Holy Week. This interview delves into the heart of the Christian faith, unpacking the mysteries and traditions that define this pivotal time in the Christian calendar.… Read More The Authority of Christ v. The Power of Pontius Pilate
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
The hollowest sunken-eyed 90 poundforsaken waif, kicking papers under the night’s dim street lamps, is looking for repose, every bit as much as you or I, loaded with sins and hope. It is wrong. It’s wrong, to walk by without a look at him or her who could have been you or I, servicing another… Read More You or I
A brilliant philosopher who found the ultimate truth in Christ, St. Edith Stein, once an atheist and intellectual, underwent a radical conversion that led her to embrace the Cross. From studying philosophy to becoming a Carmelite nun, her journey ended in martyrdom at Auschwitz—but her legacy of faith and wisdom lives on. Teresa Benedicta of… Read More From Philosophy to the Cross: St. Edith Stein
Cannot all the waters of the seven seas wash this blood clean from my hand? — Lady Macbeth Friends: It used to be that people escaped admitting their own guilt by blaming it on capitalism, communism, lack of soft drink parlors, Grade B milk, and naughty ductless glands. Now a new psychology arises to blame… Read More Morbidity, the Denial of Guilt, and Forgiveness. Archbishop Fulton J Sheen.
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”.
“Tribulation worketh patience“—Rom. 5:3 St. Francis de Sales writing of tribulations and patience says that there is always the danger that, “Some word will escape that may sour the heart, and disturb its peace for a considerable time,” But “when nothing is said … the storm subsides, anger and indiscretion are put to flight…” “A… Read More On Patience. By St. Francis de Sales
What Fulton J. Sheen saw so clearly that others seek to forget: We are only sojourners here in a strange and foreign land. “Our whole life ought to be one continued penance“. — Frs. Francis Spirago, Richard F. Clarke on Penance. Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all of your heart,with… Read More Repentance and / or the American Dialectic
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.
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.
Physical condition Besides the stigmata which he bore most of his life and the lifelong periods of the dark Night of the soul, “Padre Pio’s medical reports [from the time he was a young man and then friar], as was evident from the symptoms mentioned in the letters, never showed a clean bill of health.… Read More The Divine Illnesses and “Wasted Body” of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
“Failure is a better teacher than success.” Variants of this old saying have been attributed to a number of different people over the years. It has also been the rallying cry of sports teams, working professionals, academics, entrepreneurs and almost anyone else who has struggled, failed and been determined to come back stronger. People make… Read More 7 Famous Sinners and What We Can Learn From Them
“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
See also The Drama of Atheist Humanism Ignatius Press Fulton J. Sheen: “The Roots of Democracy and Peace. The word “crisis” in Greek means judgment. A crisis in history is therefore a “verdict of history” upon the way any given civilization has lived and thought, married and unmarried, bought and sold, prayed and cursed. That… Read More Democracy. Philosophies At War. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:28-29 Not a few on the political far Right, alas, seem… Read More Not Ethnicity or Race, Not Blood and Soil…
“O Lord, You are my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? You are the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. One… Read More Whom Shall I Fear? Expect the Lord.
“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…”
Catholic Critique 