“Our Savior and His Love for Us“* The greatest Thomist mystical theologian of the 20th century, who mentored so many*, in this important volume leads us beyond the corruptions of too much mere academic Christology today into the deep of Gospel truth. “The need of reflecting on the interior life of the Savior is particularly… Read More Garrigou-Lagrange on Christology: What Christ Must Be to Us
…and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s reported last. Scott Hahn on Holy Thursday. Penance. The Good Thief Dismas. Like ourselves, (Rom. 6:23) “41 We are punished justly, for our sins. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you… Read More Holy Thursday and Good Friday
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, after Easter, they recalled those tumultuous days with a new… Read More “The Cross Is the Tree of Life” – Benedict XVI
“Let Us Make Good Use of Time“ By Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. 1. Time passes and does not return. God has assigned to each of us a definite time in which to fulfill His divine plan for our soul; we have this time and shall have no more. Time ill spent is… Read More Time Passes and Does Not Return
Sheen explains that the Church “continues Christ, expresses Christ, develops all the virtualities, potentialities of Christ, makes it possible for Him to extend Himself beyond the space of Palestine and the space of thirty-three years to prolong his influence unto all times and to all men—in a word, it de-temporalizes and de-localizes Christ so that… Read More The Mystical Body of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen
Rom. 8:22 For we know that every creature groans and travails in pain, even till now. 23 And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope.… Read More The Whole Creation Groans
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
By Malcom Muggeridge. First Lux! 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… Read More Into History Comes the Light
I arise todayThrough a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,Through a belief in the Threeness,Through confession of the OnenessOf the Creator of creation. I arise todayThrough the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,Through the strength of His… Read More The Prayer and Breast plate of St. Patrick Against All Harms
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” —Isaiah 49:15-16″ All the wrong turns in the past, the… Read More Can A Mother Forget?
Patience in Penance. Fourteen Years the Abbot spent on Overcoming One Fault. “Love demands a complete inner transformation – for without this we cannot possibly come to identify ourselves with our brother… And this involves a kind of death of our own being, our own self. No matter how hard we try, we resist this… Read More Perseverance, Patience, Penance.
“The Christian may not despair; i.e ., he may not give up hoping that God will forgive his sins, or help him in adversity. Cain despaired when he said: “My sin is too great to be forgiven” ( Gen . iv. 13 ). Saul despaired by throwing himself on his sword when hard pressed in… Read More The Christian may not despair.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to… Read More The Image of God in Our Turning Techno-logical Moment
The Silence of the Tomb. “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… Read More Holy Saturday
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen: the Meaning of the Cross of Jesus Christ. By Way of The Cross He Leads Us Through Both Light and Darkness. “Your care for me is greater than all the care I can take of myself. For he who does not cast all his care upon You stands very unsafely. If… Read More The Meaning of the Cross
By Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. O Jesus Crucified, teach me the science of the Cross; make me understand the value of suffering. 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… Read More The Value of Suffering in Christ
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
How did he do it? Sept. 22, 2021 By Francis Dottloff How did Christ endure the ignominy of his people, being branded a criminal, tortured, cursed and crucified, lashed, nailed, pierced, and crowned. He doubted, felt forsaken, yet he used his last breath to forgive, as love oozed from his pores more red than blood. Strong, serene,… Read More Crucifixion
Their lives amazingly intersected. And he prayed in her convent’s chapel. Hear the story. —- Divine Mercy and the Lonely
“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, and… Read More Kerygma. Finding Our Way Home Again.
By Brian Kelly. It is written (Ezechiel 18:22): “I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.” Saint Thomas in the third part of his Summa Theologica, Q. 86, art. 1 uses this quote from Ezechiel in his Sed Contra to refute the… Read More Forgiveness. “I Will Not Remember Their Sins”
In Evelyn Waugh’s stunning classic, Brideshead Revisited, there is a scene which presses on my mind these days as I ponder so many forces gathering against a Church weakened greatly by the sins of her own children, both clerical and lay. All of us. It is the time when Sebastian, Lord Alex Marchmain’s idiosyncratic, drunkard, but… Read More Lord Marchmain’s Long Hate
What is meant by the Predominant Fault? The noted theologian Reginald Garrigou – Lagrange explains, “The predominant fault is that defect in us that tends to prevail over the others, and thereby over our manner of feeling, judging, sympathizing, willing, and acting. It is a defect that has in each of us an intimate relation… Read More Judas Did Not Fight His Predominant Fault… and so was blown away
We immerse ourselves daily in news, in reports, in never-ending drama and events. We see or hear the sins of many, many others, endlessly; but do we neglect our own souls, our own need for healing? Thomas a Kempis teaches, “Rest from the inordinate desire of knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit.… Read More Saint Francis de Sales’ Consoling Words on Forgiveness and Self knowledge
Dr. Martin’s compassionate meditation here reminds us never to lose saving Hope and to see and reach out to others in our postlapsarian human condition, from the foot of the Cross. — Pray the most beautiful Sorrowful Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary for the Sick and Suffering. Rom.8 22 We know that the whole creation… Read More The Irreducible Loneliness of Life on Earth
A Personal Account. July 3, 2021 Brother Lawrence Mary, Tert. M.I.C.M. Have you ever paused on the edge of a life-changing decision, one in which you contemplated an irreversible choice that would separate you forever from everything that you know and love? Maybe you traveled to a new country, knowing you would never return. Or… Read More Standing on the Edge
Reginald Garrigou Lagrange and St. Alphonsus Ligouri 1. Catholic Thomist Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange’s Summary of Predestination: “Herein lies the great mystery of grace: it’s two aspects which are to be harmonized, may be expressed in the following manner: this mystery contains a striking light and shade: The light is expressed in two principles; the shade is… Read More Harmony and Differences on Predestination in Catholic Theology
Credo Of The People Of God.Pope Paul VI – 1968. “Complete and Explicit …We believe…” With this solemn liturgy we end the celebration of the nineteenth centenary of the martyrdom of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and thus close the Year of Faith. We dedicated it to the commemoration of the holy apostles in… Read More The Credo Of The People of God.
Let all the evolutionary philosophers* whose brains must evidently still be only in process (ever “evolving” towards some esoteric terminus of theirs) keep silent with their opinions. The Catholic Tradition, confirmed by the Saints, tells us March 25 is the Greatest of All Days in the whole History of the World, after the Resurrection. God’s liturgical… Read More March 25 in the Whole History of the world
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