Zacchaeus (a.k.a Zaccheus) was an especially successful tax collector and therefore an exceptionally hated man. On the road to Jericho, from the limb of a Sycamore tree, this blood-sucking vampire caught a glimpse of mercy and grace and had to make a choice....
Will there be marriage in heaven? Jesus' answer to the Sadducees about the widow with seven deceased husbands needs to be understood in light of some important truths about the resurrection and the hereafter....
Ignatius of Antioch, in chains on his way to martyrdom in Rome, writes advice to his fellow bishop Polycarp. Married and celibate members of the community should live their marriage or celibacy as offering in God's honor. And the entire Church must offer to God...
Ambrose, speaking to newly baptized Christians in the fourth century, shows how the reality of the eucharist is the true bread from heaven of which manna was only the symbol and shadow. It is the heavenly banquet set before us on the abundant table...
Addressed to those who have just received the sacrament of baptism, this sermon by St. Ambrose of Milan explains to them that that they've not simply been baptized in ordinary water, but in the sacred waters that transmit the invisible fire of the Holy Spirit....
St. Ambrose of Milan tells newly baptized Christians the meaning of the post-baptismal rites: the clothing with a white garment and the anointing with sacred chrism which we call the sacrament of confirmation or, in the Eastern churches, chrismation....
Speaking to new Christians, about to be baptized, Cyril of Jerusalem urges them to acknowledge their sins and wash themselves clean, to empty themselves so as to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the supernatural seal conveyed through the anointing with sacred chrism following baptism....
Ambrose here provides a fascinating glimpse into the rites preceding baptism in 4th century Milan as well as into the adult catechesis (RCIA) of the early Church in which direct discussion of the sacraments, mystagogia, was given only after people had already received the sacraments...
This excerpt from the Didache, provides a fascinating glimpse into how the Eucharist was celebrated by Christians of the late first or early second century....
Jerome shows that the living waters & springs for which the deer longs in Psalm 42, is in fact the Trinity. In so doing, he also provides an explanation of what Jesus meant by calling the apostles "fishers of men." ...