Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 2nd Reading: 1 John 2:1-5 Responsorial: Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-9 Gospel: Luke 24:35-48 Opening Our Minds and Hearts to God’s Glorious Plan He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:45) We all know what it feels like when […]
ST. PATERNUS was born at Poitiers, about the year 482. His father, Patranus, with the consent of his wife, went into Ireland, where he ended his days in holy solitude. Paternus, fired by his example, embraced a monastic life in the abbey of Marnes. After some time, burning with a desire of attaining to the […]
I have more than 1,100 friends on Facebook. Are they all really my friends? Fair question. My wife and children frequently voice their doubts that I even know that many people, much less can call that many people friends. My family has challenged me with this: “How many of those people, if they died, would […]
Divorce, malnutrition, poverty. Children “are the first victims.” For all the talk about being pro-life and pro-family, and for all that our post-Protestant nation worships children, are we really aware of the damage done to children by sin and injustice? Just as Christ suffered as the son of the Father, and just as Christians give […]
This This, only this is truly necessary. An outdated wooden crucifix in a forgotten sacristy corner, my forehead pressed to the nail-pierced feet reducing ten thousand things to one. A simple act that clarifies. Calling, inviting – I come. This single act making me one. Scott Warren
Dear William, When I shared your previous letter on Facebook, I referred to the contents as “interesting.” In it, you expressed a desire that over time, the need for the Extraordinary Form would lessen, and that you hope traditionalists would begin to frequent a better done Ordinary Form liturgy. This is a difficult discussion, but I’d like […]
ST. BENEZET kept his mother’s sheep in the country, and as a mere child was devoted to practices of piety. As many persons were drowned in crossing the Rhone, Benezet was inspired by God to build a bridge over that rapid river at Avignon. He obtained the approbation of the bishop, proved his mission by […]
ST. MARTIN, who occupied the Roman See from A. D. 649 to 655, incurred the enmity of the Byzantine court by his energetic opposition to the Monothelite heresy, and the Exarch Olympius went so far as to endeavor to procure the assassination of the Pope as he stood at the altar in the Church of […]
LEOVIGILD, King of the Visigoths, had two sons, Hermenegild and Recared, who reigned conjointly with him. All three were Arians, but Hermenegild married a zealous Catholic, the daughter of Sigebert, King of France. By her holy example, Hermenegild was converted to the faith. His father, on hearing the news, denounced him as a traitor, and […]
When I came to, I was on my back on the floor of my accountant’s office. “What happened?” I said. “When I told you how much you owe, you went down like ton of bricks,” said my accountant. “I owe the IRS again? But I set aside money every quarter!” “How many times do I […]
At the Abbey of Gethsemane in New Haven, Kentucky, the bell tower of the monastery chimed at three a.m. like Big Ben, shaking me from my bed. A seismic shift. What’s up with these monks? Why do they pray so early? Because it’s their charism, the horarium of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict […]
ST. JULIUS was a Roman, and chosen Pope on the 6th of February in 337, shortly before the death of the Emperor Constantine the Great. The Arian bishops in the East sent to Julius three deputies to accuse St. Athanasius, the zealous Patriarch of Alexandria. These accusations, as the order of justice required, Julius imparted […]
We don’t know where Thomas was. All we know is that he missed it. All the others were huddling together behind locked doors, hoping that the authorities would be satisfied with the blood of their master and leave them alone. But Jesus wouldn’t leave them alone. Despite the locked doors, there He stood, glorious in […]
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the controversy surrounding Indiana’s “religious freedom” law. Debates on this issue ultimately boil down to a question of liberty v. justice. Christian business owners invoke their First Amendment right to exercise their conscience when it comes to whose patronage they […]
At the beginning of Lent our pastor gave everyone in our parish some homework to do. He asked us to read the Gospel of Mark. He wanted us to first just read through the entire gospel once and then to go back and read it a second time with a particular purpose in mind. He […]
Colorado is no stranger to the scene of bone-chilling events. These include the mysterious JonBenet Ramsey murder and the Columbine massacre. Most recently we find something equally monstrous—Dynel Lane’s attack on Michelle Wilkins, resulting in the death of Wilkins’ preborn baby. Summarizing this case, writer Matt Walsh states: A couple of weeks ago, a pregnant […]
Why, Lord, did you give me this father, this mother, this brother, this sister, this son, this daughter, this relative, this in-law, this person, this acquaintance, this alleged friend? Why did you do this to me? Why did you put them in my life? Why did you put me in their lives? I do not […]
BADEMUS was a rich and noble citizen of Bethlapeta in 4th century Persia, who founded a monastery near that city, which he governed with great sanctity. He conducted his religious in the paths of perfection with sweetness, prudence, and charity. To crown his virtue, God permitted him, with seven of his monks, to be apprehended […]
As the UN puts polishing touches on their ambitious global plan to curb poverty, attention shifts from the political to the technical: how to measure progress and ensure targets are clearly defined? The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an opportunity to reassess the “indicators” or benchmarks for reaching the expiring Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) […]
At the close of the Extraordinary Synod of Catholic Bishops last October, the Synod’s Final Report ( the “Lineamenta”) included a questionnaire on pastoral practices on family issues. Among the questions was number 38. It opened with the following premise: “With regard to the divorced and remarried, pastoral practice concerning the sacraments needs to be […]
AT the tender age of twelve, Mary left her father’s house that she might sin without restraint, and for seventeen years she lived in shame at Alexandria. Then she accompanied a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and entangled many in grievous sin. She was in that city on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, […]
