Augustine, in this letter to Proba, provides his interpretation of the command of Saint Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to pray always, with unceasing desire, hope and love....
Augustine tells Proba that praying always through the desire of the heart does not mean we should not frequent pray formally, at appointed hours, using words. Without such formal prayer at set times, desire would grow cold....
The Call of Matthew, tax-collector and notorious sinner, rattled the pious Pharisees and caused them to reject Jesus. This calls us to reflect on the true nature of holiness and how it differs from that pompous religiosity and empty piety that has always been the...
Augustine on the duty of pastors to strengthen weak Christians. The weak are those who want to live a good life but are unable to endure the sufferings that inevitably threaten. Some are so ill that they are like the paralytic who needed to be...
St. Bruno on Psalm 84. "How lovely is your dwelling place" is taken to refer not so much to the Jerusalem temple as the heavenly dwelling of God in heaven according to the spiritual / anagogical sense of Scripture....
Commenting on 1 Peter 2, Bede tells the newly baptized that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood & a consecrated nation through their baptism into Christ and anointing with the sacred oil of confirmation. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']Y[/dropcaps] ou are a chosen...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]O HAVE THE TRUE SENTIMENT WHICH WE OUGHT TO HAVE IN THE CHURCH MILITANT Let the following Rules be observed. First Rule. The first: All judgment laid aside, we ought to have our mind ready and prompt to obey, in all, the...
In this video , Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. (aka "Dr. Italy") discusses the earliest writing after the New Testament which provides a window into early Christianity in Rome and Corinth. Lost to the Western world for centuries, the first letter of Clement of Rome was rediscovered in...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]here are two ways of life that God has commended to the Church. One is through faith, the other is through vision. One is in pilgrimage through a foreign land, the other is in our eternal home; one in labour,...
On June 27, the Catholic Church honors the Memory of St. Cyril of Alexandria, best known for his role at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431 defending the traditional title of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos, translated "God-bearer" or Mother of God....