Christianity moves. As we ponder so often in the Gospels, Christ gathers and sends out, he forms and confers a mission. The mystery of the Lord’s ascension into heaven manifests the grand vertical dynamism that comprehends all such h … [Read more...]
A Study of the “Song of Songs” in the Works of St. Bernard and St. John of the Cross
The Songs of Songs which is Solomon’s[1. Holy Bible Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 517 in an introductory note to the book, “Song of Solomon,” says that this is its original title.] w … [Read more...]
Springtime Reading
Proofs of God: Classical Arguments from Tertullian to Barth by Matthew Levering. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016. Reviewed by Matthew K. Minerd, Ph.L. Speaking from Within: Biblical Approaches for Effective Pr … [Read more...]
Ite ad Joseph
"Ite ad Joseph" (Go to Joseph)—a million pilgrims a year visit the Oratory on Queen Mary Road in Montreal where these words are inscribed at the base of a statue of St. Joseph at the main entrance. In the Old Testament story of Joseph and h … [Read more...]
Bl. Columba Marmion on Living in Christ
Fr. Aidan Nichols in his book, Christendom Awake, rightly points out that we have lost the cultural foundation of the spiritual life. In the modern world, God is perceived as absent and there is an intense focus on the individual. … [Read more...]
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Cor 13:11). It is a very good thing to learn one’s faith at a young age. And it is a very good thing … [Read more...]
Late Winter Reading
Hope for the World: To Unite All Things in Christ. By Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke and Guillaume D'alançon; paperback; published July 20, 2016. Reviewed by Fr. Ryan Rojo. Proofs of God: Classical Arguments from Tertullian to Barth by M … [Read more...]
The Theological Virtue of Faith: Assent and Certitude
Of the seven fundamental virtues,[1. Faith, Hope, Charity (Theological) and Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance (Cardinal)] Faith, Hope, and Charity are the Theological virtues because they orient us to God; Prudence, Courage, Justice, … [Read more...]
What is Christianity?
An Evangelical Catholic and Reformed View of Faith and Culture
The only strength with which Christianity can make its influence felt publicly is ultimately the strength of its intrinsic truth. This strength, though, is as indispensable today as it ever was, because man cannot survive without truth. … [Read more...]
Winter Reading 2017
A Theology of Grace in Six Controversies. Edward T. Oakes, S.J. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2016) 248 pages; $28.00 paperback. Reviewed by Steven J. Meyer, S.T.D. John Lawrence Hill, After the Natural Law: How the Classical … [Read more...]
Revisiting Grace
There is an old Irish saying according to which there is an ebb and flow to every-thing except God’s grace. George Bernanos, in his Diary of a Country Priest, gives a touching illustration of that truth. It is the portrayal of a priest who b … [Read more...]
Feminine Empathy in Two Daughters of Israel
On the feast of St. John of the Cross, 1934, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St. Edith Stein) highlighted the age-old battle between good and evil, sin and death: The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and an … [Read more...]
Thomistic Reflections on Divine Mercy and Divine Justice
Many paths can be taken during this Year of Mercy. Above all, we must tread the path of experiencing mercy—in our own participation in the Sacraments, and in our extension of Divine Mercy to others. Nevertheless, knowledge of the faith and, … [Read more...]
Evangelization & Scripture: The Pastoral Prerequisites for Mass
The Sacred Liturgy is “an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ” by which the sanctification of mankind is “signified by signs” “and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs … it is a sacred action surpassing … [Read more...]
And the Two Become One Flesh
A Model for Marriage and the Universal Church
The world is facing a crisis: the family, seen as the fundamental unit of society since the days of Cicero and Aristotle, is now crumbling at its very foundations. But this is not only a crisis for the world, as the secularization of the … [Read more...]
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