Bonaventure reflects on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the meaning of the blood and water flowing from the side of Christ crucified (John 19:34), the living water of sacramental grace coming from the loving heart of the Savior. He reflects especially on several lines...
Holy or Maunday Thursday, the night of the Last Supper aka the Lord's Supper, the institution of the Holy Eucharist -- What did he mean when he said "This is my body and this is my blood" and "Do this in Memory of Me"? ...
The Mass . . . the Eucharist . . . the Lord's Supper . . . the Blessed Sacrament . . . holy communion . . . transubstantiation -- what Catholics have believed and taught about this awesome reality, by whatever name it is called,...
Cyril of Alexandria on the unity of Christians. Receiving the same sacrament of the Lord's flesh, the Eucharist, and the same Holy Spirit, in baptism and confirmation/chrismation, bind us together in an intimate relationship with God the Father and each another, one body in Christ. [dropcaps...
Didymus the Blind shows how the spiritual fire and living water of the Holy Spirit give us new birth and transform us into new men and women, sharers in the divine glory and co-heirs with Christ....
Hilary of Poitiers says the Word became flesh and we receive his flesh in the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament of his body & blood, the Eucharist....
The role of the charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit spoken of by Paul in Corinthians in the sacrament of Confirmation and the Christian Life in general, along with the prophetic & charismatic anointing to participate in the New Evangelization....
This Holy week reading on imitating Christ's death by being buried with him through baptism amplifies St. Paul's words in Romans 6:11 that in the sacrament of baptism we are baptized into Christ's death, being buried as it were with him under the saving waters...
This excerpt from a homily written in the second century by an anonymous Early Church Father speaks of true and sincere repentance of sin. His insistence that we must "keep the seal of our baptism undefiled" shows that the "once saved, always saved" doctrine...
Why must I confess my sins to a priest? Can't I simply go straight to God? These questions about the Catholic Church's sacrament of penance and reconciliation, aka confession, are answered poignantly by Blessed Isaac of Stella, an abbot from the 11th century (Sermo 11:...