The famous miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes calls us to trust that when we offer the Lord our ordinary and scanty resources, he will work a wonder of transformation, just like he transforms the bread and wine of the Eucharist. To...
We so often condemn the Pharisees that we totally miss a sneaky way that we are often like them. The hard saying of Jesus "if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off" is a kind of shock therapy to wake us up...
The Fatherhood of God has come under fire with the rise of feminism. If we know that God is pure spirit who transcends male and female, masculine and feminine, why preserve what some believe to be the antiquated, patriarchal practice of referring to the divinity...
Gregory the Great explains the nature of true simplicity making use of the example of Job as well as the Gospel saying of Jesus "Be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves." For him simplicity must be accompanied by the fire...
This talk on SAINT JOSEPH, HUMILITY AND MEEKNESS is 3rd in a series of presentations given by Dr. Italy for the special Year of St. Joseph. Jesus combined tremendous strength with great humility and gentleness. In his human nature, he learned this from his father. In...
14 minute podcast in which Dr. Italy discusses St. Joseph as an often overlooked hero of the Advent - Christmas story. He shows how St. Matthew's gospel presents him as a model of faith....
This post on the Lord's Prayer comes from one of the earliest treatises on the Our Father, written around AD 240 by Cyprian of Carthage. It discusses one of the three pillars of Lenten penance, namely, the importance and power of prayer....
Leo the Great on the famous passage from Matthew 16 in which Jesus gives Cephas the new name of Peter, meaning rock, along with the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It is read each year on the Feast of the Chair of...
There is a cost of discipleship -- Jesus sometimes calls us to leave behind professions, friends, even family. Does that mean that work and human relationships are at odds with growing in our relationship with God?...
The Feast of Christ the King reminds us that Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Matthew 25 hints that the pious, decent folk may be in for a surprise . . . sins of omission, failing to love, may figure more prominently...