Sacramentals -- what are they and what role do they play in Catholic liturgical life? Are they devotional articles or objects of popular devotion like scapulars, or are they blessings? Can they be found in the Bible, either the Old or New Testament? Were...
Peter & Paul have a common feast day. And though they each have their own basilica in Rome, the dedication of both are celebrated on the same day. St. Leo, 5th century bishop of Rome, shows that this is because they were united...
Gregory of Nyssa continues his reflections on the Beatitude "blessed are the pure for they shall see God" (Mat. 5:8) by showing how purity of heart is the key the opens the way to seeing, to the hope of the vision of God....
Gregory of Nyssa, commenting on the beatitude "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God," compares God to an inaccessible rock, a mountain peak impossible to climb except to those lifted up, as Peter was, by the strong hand of Jesus....
Athanasius writes that God the Word assumed our nature and took a human body in order to offer it in sacrifice, winning us salvation from sin and death....
Paul tells us we are justified by faith, not works. The story from Luke 7 about Jesus, the Pharisee, and woman with the alabaster jar helps us to understand what Paul means and why many debates between salvation by faith vs. works entirely misses...
Augustine makes clear that though grace must come before any good works that are truly pleasing to God, grace necessarily leads to good works which are really God's works in and through us as we tred the path of humility....
St. Ambrose here provides a poetic and moving description of the role of the book of psalms in the prayer life of the Church. Though many devotional prayers are are to be found in the treasury of the Christian Tradition, it is the psalter...
An intense tribute to God as the fountain of eternal life, light, and living water by the Irish monk Columbanus around the AD 600. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']B[/dropcaps]rethren, let us follow that vocation by which we are called from life to the fountain of...
Cyril of Alexandria discusses the words of Jesus "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5)l; how the Holy Spirit is the bond uniting us with Christ & one another, making us bear fruit....