In this excerpt from a letter written AD 125, so appropriate for Advent, the anonymous author discusses the marvelous and secret plan of salvation culmination in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Paul calls this plan "the Mystery." The...
The human soul is like a house or garden . . . if left untended by the Master, it is invaded by filth and vermin. But Christ, here depicted as a farmer, has ploughed the wild field of humanity with the wood of the Cross...
This excerpt from a second century homily speaks of what it means to honor and blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, and the Church, the body of Christ. "Is the Lord’s name blasphemed? It is because we say one thing and do another."...
Augustine, in this letter to Proba, provides his interpretation of the command of Saint Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to pray always, with unceasing desire, hope and love....
Augustine tells Proba that praying always through the desire of the heart does not mean we should not frequent pray formally, at appointed hours, using words. Without such formal prayer at set times, desire would grow cold....
Augustine on the duty of pastors to strengthen weak Christians. The weak are those who want to live a good life but are unable to endure the sufferings that inevitably threaten. Some are so ill that they are like the paralytic who needed to be...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]here are two ways of life that God has commended to the Church. One is through faith, the other is through vision. One is in pilgrimage through a foreign land, the other is in our eternal home; one in labour,...
On June 27, the Catholic Church honors the Memory of St. Cyril of Alexandria, best known for his role at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431 defending the traditional title of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos, translated "God-bearer" or Mother of God....
Cyprian begin's his commentary on the Lord's Prayer by analyzing the first line: Our Father. We do not pray as individuals, but in common, as a family, since we are all children of the same Father....
Cyprian prepares to analyze the Our Father by reflecting upon the basic attitude of humility necessary if prayer is to please God, reflecting upon the example of Hannah, mother of Samuel, and the story of the Publican and the Pharisee told by the Lord Jesus....