Francis de Sales, one of the great masters of the spiritual life, here makes clear that devotion, his term for the pursuit of holiness, is not something tied to a specific state of life. All people, in a way appropriate to their own calling...
John Chrysostom here gives eloquent praise to the passionate love of Christ that drove St. Paul to face persecution and hardship with joy and leave behind the honors and benefits of the world. It is read each year on January 25, the Feast of the...
Hilary, commenting on Psalm 133, points out the central importance of Christian unity and fraternal love. He even says that the chief instruction of the apostles is that believers be of one heart and one mind....
December 26, The Second Day of Christmas, has been observed as the Feast Day of Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, since at least the fifth century. Fulgentius of Ruspe, a North African bishop, here notes how fitting it is that the birthday of love should be followed...
This excerpt from St. Augustine's Treatise on John's Gospel (Tract. 123, 5: CCL 36, 678-680) is read on the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6. It focuses on the real meaning of the gift-giving for which St. Nicholas is famous--the self-giving love of a...
Augustine on the famous words of Jesus "anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and sister and my mother." This indicates Mary's true greatness as a disciple, one who conceived not only in body, but in faith; Augustine...
Charles Borromeo, the bishop apostle of Northern Italy during the Catholic Reformation, on the primacy of prayer, read on his feast day, November 4. Though he is here addressing priests, his advice on meditation, distractions and recollection is valuable for all Christians....
Between the years 1642 and 1649 eight members of the Society of Jesus were killed in North America after brutal torture. These Jesuits had worked diligently to bring the native Americans of the region of what is now Upper New York and Canada to the...
This brief description the little way of love of St. Therese of Lisieux, commonly known as the Little Flower, so perfectly captures the saint's personality that they are read every year on her feast day, October 1....
St. Gregory the Great teaches us about the Archangels and why they are distinct from angels. For the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on September 29....