William of St.-Thierry explains the history of salvation, culminating in the Incarnation, as a revelation of the love of God who comes to empower us to love him in return. The advent of the Savior is the coming of Jesus Christ, the apostle of...
This excerpt from Eusebius of Caesarea's commentary on Isaiah 40 focuses on the role of St. John the Baptist, one of the key figures of Advent. John, the voice crying out in the wilderness, comes to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ....
In 1531, Our Lady appeared to a humble Indian named Juan Diego on a hill called Tepeyac, near what is now Mexico City. The following account of the apparition is found in the Nican Mopohua, or Huei Tlamahuitzoltica, written in Nahuatl, the Aztec language,...
It is not absolutely certain that it was St Ephraem who wrote this lyrical praise of Christmas, but the piece is sufficiently beautiful to be attributed to the poetic theologian and father of the church who is known as "the Harp of the Holy Spirit"...
Ephrem, on the brilliant light of God's wisdom that illuminates us especially initially through the sacrament of baptism and daily through the sacramental table of the eucharist. The sacraments are a mirror reflecting God's beauty and a pledge of our future resurrection....
Isn't Advent great? Welcome to the season where the only song we sing for four weeks is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! It's the best! Advent is my favorite season, and not just because, as a music minister, I get to play more songs with minor keys. Advent is my favorite...
St. Augustine explains how we can rejoice and even delight in something that we can’t yet see and don’t yet possess. In so doing, he helps us understand better the power of the theological virtue of hope....
Augustine here notes that we wayfarers should sing alleluia as we make our journey through constant temptation, trial and danger toward our heavenly homeland where we our song will be sung without anxiety, temptation or toil....
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]hough I like many can’t help but roll my eyes over the popularity of the Da Vinci Code, we are indebted to Dan Brown in a way. For he has reminded us that the early Church is terribly important. On...
The Second Vatican Council points out that it is only the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ that will bring the Church on earth, the universal sacrament of salvation, to perfection and cause the renewal and restoration of the entire earth. This is what we...