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 …
Gratitude for my Sister’s Life
Today is my sister’s birthday. We won’t say how old she is because that will just make everyone feel old, although, she’s actually pretty happy about her age. Anyway, we got to speak on the phone for a little bit. She expressed gratitude for her life, and for her vocation. I have mentioned to her …
On the North American Martyrs
The early church writer Tertullian wrote that, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” The North American martyrs watered the earth with their blood. It was blood made holy by the reception of the sanctifying and life-giving Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. From this fertile soil of upstate New York and Canada, …
The Passion of Christ and St. Paul of the Cross
“Passion of Christ, strengthen me.” That’s one of the lines from the prayer Anima Christi (Soul of Christ). I have been repeating these words from time to time. The passion of Christ is strength, it is power, it is victory. Christ waged war on the enemy of souls and conquered him – – it was …