This excerpt on the sacrament of baptism from St. Basil the Great’s book On the Holy Spirit (ca. AD 360) describes how baptism fulfills what Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3 about being born again in water and the Spirit. He also here outlines...
Cyril of Alexandria here emphasizes that the risen body of Jesus Christ, received in the Eucharist, gives life to those who receive it, expelling death and corruption....
A Witness of Christ in the Church: Hans Urs von Balthasar by Henri de Lubac, S.J. As Ludwig Kaufmann has justly remarked in a recent issue of Orientierung, it is disconcerting that from the first summons of the Council by John XXIII, it did not seem to have...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]ntroduction (1-10)1. First of all, the Scripture about the Hebrew Exodus has been read and the words of the mystery have been explained as to how the sheep was sacrificed and the people were saved. Therefore, understand this, O beloved:...
Augustine, in commenting on Jesus' proclamation in John 8:12 "I am the light of the world," connects it with the story in the very next chapter of the healing of the man born blind and with the biblical promise that one day we shall see...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she...
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household from 1980 to the present, here discusses the experience known in charismatic and Pentecostal circles as "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" and how it relates to the sacraments of baptism and confirmation....
Barnabas, a second century writer, here emphasizes the importance of virtue as opposed to ritual sacrifice....
Here the 2nd century Epistle of Barnabas emphasizes the newness of the new law and new covenant in contrast with the Covenant made with Moses and the law given on Mount Sinai....
This reading by St. Bernadino of Siena on St. Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus, is so clear and powerful that it is used by the Church for the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19 to honor the Guardian of the Lord and his...