Jesus heals the daughter of the Canaanite woman because her faith was so great. He rebuked the disciples because their faith was too little. Matthew's gospel here is teaching us something very important about the nature of the faith that moves mountains....
The Transfiguration of the Jesus at the summit of Mt. Tabor, remembered each year on August 6, is one of the pivotal events of the Lord's public ministry. The veil of the carpenter's humanity is pulled back for a moment and his divine nature...
St. Lawrence (also rendered St. Laurence) was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome and was martyred under the Emperor Valerian on the 10th of August 258, four days after Pope Sixtus II and his companions. Little is known of the life...
Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest, offered his life in exchange for the life of a family man doomed to execution by the Nazis at Auschwitz. The following excerpt from his writings contrasts religious indifferentism with the path of obedience to God's will and...
John Chrysostom on James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, and their mother's famous request that her sons sit at Jesus' right and left in the kingdom. St. James was born at Bethsaida and was martyred by Herod around the year 42. He is...
Clement of Rome, writing about thirty years after the martyrdom of St. Paul, affirms the Pauline balance - we are justified by faith and yet it is God's will that we perform good works of love, in abundance. He illustrates his point by many...
The gospel story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter sinking has much to teach us about the difference between fear, little faith, and the kind of trust that endures waves and storms, trials and crisis....
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed needs to be viewed from two different perspectives in order to unlock its meaning - from that of the sower and that of the seed. Whether sowing or growing - the point is a plentiful harvest...
Augustine discusses the true sacrifice of repentance God desires as he explores Psalm 51, David's expression of sorrow for sin. It is a contrite heart and a humble spirit over our own sin rather than indignation over the sins of others that pleases the...
In his homily at the canonization of St. Maria Goretti, a paragon of chastity and purity, Pope Pius XII notes how the example of her life and death is a call to all Christians to a persistent, even relentless pursuit of virtue and perfection....