[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Jews were absolutely unique in the Ancient world. Not only did their religion forbid them to worship gods other than the Lord, but their prophets actually taught that the gods of the nations were mere figments of the imagination. They did...
In this excerpt from a popular video Bible study, Dr. Italy and Jeff Cavins discuss the paradox of why the sinless Jesus of Nazareth had to be baptized by John the Baptist. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance from sin. Christian baptism is...
Leo the Great teaches that he sign of the cross with the oil called chrism, conferred on all Christians in baptism and confirmation, makes all sharers in the priesthood and kingship of Christ, the anointed one....
In this beautiful prayer, read by the Church each year on June 9, the feast of St. Ephrem, we see the sacraments as a reflection of the light of the resurrection, an experience of the divine beauty which brings us delight....
Hilary of Poitiers, describes how new Christians in 4th Century France typically felt innundated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon their baptism, Confirmation, & first Eucharist: a sense of joy and the release of the 7 gifts and charisms....
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....
Peter Chrysologus, a 5th century Church Father, on the priesthood of all Christian believers conferred in baptism and confirmation. He elaborates his teaching in the course of commenting on the apostle Paul's words in Romans 12:2 where we are called to offer our bodies as...
All the baptized share in a very real way in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Yet the baptismal priesthood of the laity in no way means that ordained priests don't also have an essential and irreplaceable role....
The spiritual circumcision of the heart through repentance and the sacrament of baptism -- Lenten meditation by Aphraates, a Syriac Father of the early Church.. All the biblical covenants are covered: the pact with Adam, Noah, and Moses. Just as Joshua led the people of...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]hat Jesus should come and be baptized by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream of the eternal, the unfathomable fountainhead that...