Excerpt from The Mother of the Savior and Our Interior Life. Mary’s Predestination to the Divine Maternity Preceded her Predestination to the Fullness of Glory and Grace. by Rev. Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. This proposition may appear a little too profound for a beginning. In reality it is quite easy to understand. Most people admit it,… Read More The Predestination of Mary by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
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.
Fundamentalist Protestant incomprehension of the Catholic doctrine regarding Mary as the Mother of God is largely and essentially an incomprehension of the Incarnation itself, whereby the Word, who is God, was made flesh (John 1:1; 14). It is rooted in a failure to contemplate, with the Catholic Church, the stupendous implications of this wondrous mystery.… Read More Our Blessed Mother, Mary, in the Order of Grace
Love and Penance “No crime, however heinous, can be committed or even conceived which the Church has not power to forgive, just as there is no sinner, however abandoned, however depraved, who should not confidently hope for pardon, provided he sincerely repent of his past transgressions. Furthermore, the exercise of this power is not restricted to… Read More “Extortioners, adulterers, tax collectors…”
Salvation History and the “Shocking Alternative” “Sanctify them through the truth. Your word is truth” — John 17:17 “Let God be true and every man a liar”–Romans 3:4 Adam and Christ 12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men… Read More Romans 5
Striving To Get Serious. To clear our vision and souls. “The first purification to be made is from grave sin. The means whereby to make it is the sacrament of penance. Seek the best confessor within your reach, use one of the many little books [if needed] written in order to help the examination of… Read More The First Purification. St. Francis de Sales.
“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
Here is no mythological construction. This is the true God, the Maker of heaven and earth, exploding every human mythological construct and entering into history, splashing it with the Blood of redemption“. Jesus Christ: “given unto us” (Isa 9.6): This “true Man” has been the subject of the most sublime contemplation, worship, and love imaginable… Read More Jesus Christ, Light of the World
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
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 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.
“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
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
In his 1987 encyclical letter, Redemptoris Mater, Pope Saint John Paul II writes, “Thanks to his special bond, linking the Mother of Christ with the Church, there is further clarified the mystery of that “woman” who from the first chapters of Genesis until the Book of Revelation, accompanies the revelation of God’s salvific plan for humanity. For Mary,… Read More Mary the Mother of May
If it is true that John XXIII controversially determined it was neither opportune nor wise to conclude the Council with the anathemas which usually follow Church councils, it is also true that the Councils of Trent and Vatican I (the latter had been interrupted in the last century and needed completion) were specifically cited and… Read More The Hermeneutical Firewall Protecting Vatican II
“The Order of the Parts of the universe to each other exists in virtue of the Order of the Whole universe to God.” — St. Thomas Aquinas, C.G.1,83 By Malcom Muggeridge First Lux! “From its triumphant opening: In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God,” to its beautiful… Read More Into the Darkness Comes the Light.
C. S. Lewis once said that reading literature from the past is like a clean sea breeze blowing through our musty minds. Interview by Greg Peters. This article is from the November 2023 issue. Christianity Today. In recent decades, evangelicals studying faith in the Middle Ages have done much to recover its variety and richness. Yet… Read More Mystics, Monastics, and the Moderns Who Need Them
“There would be tares as well as wheat in the harvest, good as well as bad fish in the catch, foolish virgins as well as wise virgins; there would be scandals, false sheep, jealousy, seeking first places at table, craving to lord it over others—until the final reckoning, when He would come in the clouds… Read More The Mystical Body of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen
by Malcolm Muggeridge The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history. Is our [modern] skepticism one more manifestation of our having–in Bonhoeffer’s unhappy phrase–come of age? It would be difficult to support such a proposition in the light of the almost inconceivable credulity of today’s brain-washed public, who… Read More Jesus the Man Who Lives, And the Credulity of Our Age
Where is history headed? Dr. Ralph Martin received his BA from the University of Notre Dame in Philosophy and did Graduate work on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in Philosophy at Princeton University. He received his MA in theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary and has been on the faculty since 2002. He holds a S.T.L.… Read More A Most Important Conversation. The Church in Crisis.
