by Thomas Storck. What is needed is a real debate on religious questions providing a rational public apologetic for the faith. “For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his grandeur.” – 2 Peter 1:16 The… Read More The Catholic Faith Is Not a Noble Lie
By Joseph Pearce | National Catholic Register. Imagine a world in which evil actions did not have evil consequences… History shows that evil movements rise and fall, but God’s plan remains sovereign — and Christians need not fear the outcome. We live in a world in which all sorts of evil things happen and, which… Read More Are Things As They Should Be?
Anne Bancroft was a convert to Judaism in 1964. She played an unforgettable central role as Mary Magdalen. Rod Steiger, Jewish, the American actor had Jewish ancestry on his father’s side and was connected to Jewish cultural roots. He likewise played an unforgettable central role as Pontius Pilate in the series starring Robert Powell (who… Read More Three Jewish Actors Who Played Prominent Roles in the 1977 Series Jesus of Nazareth
“We went [to Bethlehem] early in the day, and I sat by myself in the cave underneath the Church of the Nativity where Christ is supposed to have been born… Overhead are numerous silver and bronze lamps, and the stone walls are covered with silk and damask, now mostly threadbare. Seated there in the half-light,… Read More Malcolm Muggeridge in the Holy Land; and “snatching fantasy from the jaws of truth”
“Towards the end of the show someone out in the crowd … knew I wasn’t feeling too well,” recalled Dylan in a 1979 interview. “I think they could see that. And they threw a silver cross on the stage. Now usually I don’t pick things up in front of the stage. Once in a while… Read More Dylan’s Cross.
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
America… “not in any sense Christian” “….she licensed every form of lust with laws to cleanse the stain of scandal she has spread.” — Dante, The Inferno, canto V, 57. Every four years, truths in America can change from one thing to another, even as the center – left’s quest to be the global hegemon… Read More America and Seductive False ‘Liberty’.
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 Easter cards we see in ordinary stores give no hint of the shock of the disciples at seeing the empty tomb and beholding the risen Christ. And certainly not of the terrible trauma and ignominy which Our Lord had just gone through: the betrayal, the arrest, the torture and brutal execution of the Son… Read More Christ’s Victory Over Death and Postmodern Despair
“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.
Excerpt from Richard Evans‘ The Third Reich in Power [Footnotes found in book]. CATHOLICS AND PAGANS. Hitler both admired and feared the Catholic Church, which at the time of his appointment as Reich Chancellor claimed the allegiance of about 20 million Germans, or one-third of the population, mostly in the South and West. Like Bismarck… Read More Richard Evans on Hitler and the Catholic Church.
Taybeh Ramallah. 1300 Christians still live here: cf. John 11:54 (Eprhaim) CNA 7/1/25 “Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh, told ACI MENA: “The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as ‘Ephraim’ — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer… Read More Priest: Israeli settlers brutally attacking Christians in Jesus’ backyard…
“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.
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.
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left… Read More Holy Silence
America as true religion, the real, syncretist light of the world, and “city set on a hill” for all peoples, “endlessly reforming,” and to live and die for. The Hillsdale College professor Richard Gamble teaches a class on “civic faith,” and how American nationalism incorporated religious elements and symbolism during the Cold War. Richard M.… Read More American Civil Religion. A C-Span presentation.
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 night is far gone, the day is at hand” -Rm. 13 There is no stable law in the New World Order. It is all designed to change, “evolve,” expand and kill off the weak in the name of “Human Rights” (again). All their assurances about safeguards are worthless. They know what they eventually want:… Read More “Assisted” Dying in the UK and Beyond
Mgr. Louis Gaston de Ségur writes, “The good God does everything in His time. His wisdom united itself to His mercy in giving to the Church the divine treasure of the Heart of Jesus for the time when it was going to have the greatest need of it. The Savior said so Himself, first to… Read More The Sacred Heart in a Time of Tribulations
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
Bad and evil ideas have been far more virulent in history than silver, gold, or geopolitical schemes. Our modern errors arose out of the weeds of bad Christian soil, fueled by concupiscence and backed by diverse and mighty powers. King Henry VIII’s ecclesial revolution in England, born in lust and ending in the vast dissolution of the… Read More Philosophers of the New Light
“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
Is A Personal God Improbable? Or is it we who are improbable?Atheism has traditionally scoffed at belief in a God who is Personal or SupraPersonal. I’ve always found their position to be a counterintuitive curiosity. One of the reasons why is that I find myself, a personal being, to exist. I am here. You are… Read More I Am Therefore I Think
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
“I wrote Letters from the Desert sitting on the arid dunes of the Sahara. They cost me ten years of suffering, and I love them for that. I tried to place myself naked, poor and alone, in the presence of God’s eternal majesty, totally committed to penetrating the logic of the Gospels, which is inexhaustible. I tried… Read More Carlo Carretto on the Pain of Failing
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?
“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
First, the Problem. The famous Thomist philosopher Etienne Gilson writes, surely accurately, in his Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, “… at the very place where the Summa of Alexander and the Commentary of St. Bonaventure undertake to show that the existence of God is evident, St. Thomas devotes an article to proving that it… Read More Gilson, Saint Thomas and The Self-Attesting God
Traditionally called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,Through belief in the Threeness,Through confession of the Onenessof the Creator of creation. I arise todayThrough the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,Through… Read More Courage and Strength Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus
“Today, there is a great silence. The Savior has died. He rests in the tomb. Many hearts were filled with uncontrollable grief and confusion. Was He really gone? Had all their hopes been shattered? These and many other thoughts of despair filled the minds and hearts of so many who loved and followed Jesus. It is… Read More Holy Saturday. Silence of the Tomb.
And the Deep Truths in Fritz Eichenberg’s ‘The Lord’s Supper‘. The other side of the Eucharist is friendship. It often happens that week after week, year after year, Christians sit and kneel next to practical strangers in church on Sundays. They leave Mass as they entered, nodding and saying hello to people they do not… Read More Strangers in the Pews
Stillness By Romano Guardini When Holy Mass is properly celebrated there are moments in which the voices of both priest and faithful become silent. The priest continues to officiate as the rubrics indicate, speaking very softly or refraining from vocal prayer; the congregation follows in watchful, prayerful participation. What do these intervals of quiet signify?… Read More What is Missing. Stillness. By Romano Guardini
“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.
“It is the truth which is assailed in any age which tests our fidelity. It is to confess we are called, not merely to profess. If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are… Read More Confessing the Faith
‘In him we live and move and have our being’…‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ — Acts 17:28. A Breviary of Philosophy from the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas by Thomist philosopher Josef Pieper. The Creature is vanity in so far as it comes from nothingness, but not in so far as it is an… Read More St. Thomas On Being and Nothingness.
“THIS IS A question which has, in a sense, a frantically comic side. For the real question is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us? The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is going to make of an elephant has comic elements about it.… Read More What are we to make of Jesus Christ? by C.S. Lewis.
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