The all-consuming power of God’s grace to transform a person and give them a totally new vision is exemplified in the ilfe of St. Paul. He went from being a zealous persecutor who breathed out murderous threats against Christians and delivered on them, to a zealous apostle of Christ who practically evangelized the entire Mediterranean …
Author: admin
...
For the legal protection of the unborn
Today is the national day of prayer for the legal protection of the unborn. In protecting the legal rights of the smallest of children yet to be born, we uphold the dignity of our fellow human beings and we uphold our own human dignity as our brother’s (and sister’s) keepers. We have to look out …
The diabolical foundation for attacks on the generation of human life
The devil, the ancient serpent, hates material creation. He cannot stand the fact that God assumed to himself a material, human nature. According to a particular school of thought, God always planned to become man, even if the fall had not happened. Why? Because loves desires to be with the beloved. God so desired to …
Art Commentary: Star of Bethlehem by Edward Burn–Jones
I really like this watercolor painting, which was based on the artist’s design for a tapestry. I’m immediately drawn to the painting because it has a kind of Tolkienesque and Elvish quality – – perhaps the image informed the imagination of JRR Tolkien as he created the world of Middle earth. The warm green and …
The Mother of God births us into Christ
The very greatest theologian of the Incarnation, of God made flesh, was not St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, nor St. Anthony, nor was it even St. Athanasius, who wrote masterfully on the Incarnation. It was not St. Irenaeus, nor was it St. John the Apostle, who gave us the Gospel and Epistles of Love incarnate. …
St. Stephen, martyrdom, and witnessing through suffering
It is the feast day of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. St. Stephen gives the example of leaving the new life of Christ which we receive at Christmas. With the coming of our blessed Lord, we have the gift and ability of entering into divine life in and through he who has …
The difficulty of missing Christmas Mass and solidarity with the baby Jesus, God with us.
It is December 24, Christmas eve. The last few days have been bitter cold. The prospects of going to Christmas Mass have shifted from “not very likely” to “impossible.” I have used you not being able to go to Holy Mass in the winter. But is especially different on Christmas. I get very cold easily. …
St. Charles de Foucauld’s Silent Witness of Surrender
Many years ago, I watched a foreign film about a man who experienced a profound conversion from hedonism to Christ and became a hermit in the Sahara desert where he was eventually martyred. He was living amidst a nomadic North African tribe, serving them, and praying in solitude up until his last moments. The movie …
St. Elizabeth of Hungary and the Makings of a Good Wife
St. Elizabeth of Hungary was a strong, generous, and virtuous young woman. In reading about her life, she comes across as someone who certainly would make good wife material. It’s so appropriate that the first reading chosen for her feast day is taken from Sirach 26, in which the quality of a good wife is …
St. Albert Magnus’ Encounter with Our Lady
St. Albert the Great, the patron of scientists, is known as the Universal Doctor because he studied the natural sciences and commented on a wide range of them. He was one of the most greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages. Being highly interested in the natural sciences, he studied everything that he could, everything observable …