Good Friday is the day of the Crucifixion, Passion, and Death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross was a terrorist weapon. In embracing it, was Jesus accepting defeat or pursuing a brilliant victory?...
The Creed proclaims "He descended into Hell". This homily for Holy Saturday from the 4th Century treats of the "harrowing of hell" and the rescue of Adam and Eve. This was a popular theme in early and medieval Christian poetry, liturgy and song....
The meaning of Easter is more than springtime and dyed eggs. The significance of Easter is that not only sin but death has been conquered by the risen Christ who foretold his own resurrection from the dead before he gave his life for us on...
Here Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem in the mid-4th century, urges catechumens to prepare themselves to receive the Holy Spirit at the Easter Vigil. He speaks of the sacrament of baptism in nuptial terms, describing it as a wedding feast at which the bridegroom will...
St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated on March 17 for fifteen hundred years since it is the day that Patrick, the missionary bishop who evangelized Ireland, passed from this world to eternity. This excerpt from his autobiographical work called the Confession makes clear that...
As we approach Easter, the Church switches our focus from our Lenten sacrifices to a much more important sacrifice. It was motivated by a love stronger than death, a choice for fruitfulness over comfort and safety. Unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground...
The gospel story of the raising of Lazarus found in John 11 shows us why Jesus can love some friends and disciples more than others, why death is not natural and beautiful, the difference between resurrection and resuscitation, and the deeper meaning of Jesus' miracles...
If God is a Father who loves the world so much, how can he possibly send people to hell? Jesus plainly gives us the answer to this question in perhaps the most famous worlds in the Bible....
The original meaning of Lent in the early Church and how Jesus' dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well can help us add another dimension to our understanding and experience of the Lenten Season. In the early days of the Church, Lent was...
Religion is not supposed to be the opposite of spirituality. But sometimes religion becomes a cold routine, even a business. The Lord's cleansing of the Temple spells the end of business as usual. Our religion must be a matter of living faith, zeal and fidelity...