This excerpt from Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, paragraph 25, explains the authority of the Magisterium or Apostolic teaching authority of the Church and the way in which Catholics are bound to submit to that authority....
On Baptism Tertullian Early Church Father [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']C[/dropcaps]HAPTER 1 Introduction. Origin of the treatise. Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will...
This Lenten and Holy Week meditation on Psalm 45 and the contemplation of beauty represents a message that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) sent to a meeting of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation in August 2002. The group was meeting in...
The infinite mercy and goodness of God are revealed in the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep, & the Good Samaritan. St. Maximus the Confessor says these prove that Jesus Christ goes to any lengths to seek us out when we have...
LETTERS 60-173 ST. LEO THE GREAT Early Church Father & Doctor of the Church [Translated by the Rev. Charles Lett Feltoe, M.A., late Fellow of ClareCollege, Cambridge.] (NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.) [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100'...
Christ Lives in His Church St. Leo the Great Early Church Father & Doctor of the Church This excerpt from a sermon by Saint Leo the Great (Sermo 12 de Passione, 3, 6-7: PL 54, 355-357) is used in the Roman Catholic Office of Readings for Wednesday of...
Sr. Faustina Kowalska and Devotion to Divine Mercy A sermon by Pope John Paul II Sr. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who propagated devotion to the Divine Mercy in the form of a devotion known as the Divine Mercy Chaplet. This sermon was given by Pope John...
APOSTOLIC LETTER ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY AND FAITHFUL ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY INTRODUCTION [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a...
Lord and Giver of Life Encyclical Letter Dominum et Vivifivcantum (1986) On the Holy Spirit Pope John Paul II [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']V[/dropcaps]ENERABLE BROTHERS, BELOVED SONS AND DAUGHTERS, HEALTH AND THE APOSTOLIC BLESSING! 1. The Church professes her faith in the Holy Spirit as "the Lord, the giver...
This reflection on baptism as illumination or enlightenment was written by St. Justin Martyr around 155AD in Rome and reflects the liturgical practices of not only the Church in that city, but most probably the practice of the Church in Ephesus and Palestine as well,...