The Temptation of Jesus in the Desert is the gospel of the first Sunday of Lent. The purple color of Lent symbolizes penance, but also royalty. As we remember how the first Adam was tempted and failed his test, we rejoice that...
Leo the Great here emphasizes that the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming man, changes everything. Human dignity is now vastly elevated, requiring us to live in a new way, with a new relationship to the visible things of this beautiful but passing world....
A reflection on the Solemnity of All Souls, touching on the mystery of death and the afterlife including heaven, hell, and purgatory, and the validity of prayers for the dead....
Ambrose reflects on Paul's statement in Philippians 1:21 "to live is Christ, to die is gain." He sees dying as a road to life since through the death of Christ, we are redeemed. This passage is read annually on All Souls Day, November...
Can a Christian celebrate Halloween? In this article, Church historian Fr. Augustine Thompson sifts through the evidence to see if it supports the common belief that All Hallows Eve and its various customs had their origin in a pagan feast dating back to the Druids...
Death is both a mystery and an enigma say the fathers of the Second Vatican Council. This moving treatment of death and dying is an excerpt from one of the more important of the Council documents, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern...
What does the term Tradition really mean? Is it opposed to the Bible? The sola scriptura principle of the Protestant Reformation assumed it was -- here we examine this assumption in the light of a few key scriptures....
In this video, Dr. Italy discusses Augustine's fight against both Manicheans and Pelagians defending free will on the one hand and the utter necessity of grace on the other. In this, video #20 in his series on the Catholic Theological Tradition, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. (Dr. Italy)...
In this 35 minute video, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. (Dr. Italy) explains the importance of Justin Martyr, a second century philosopher turned apologist, on the development of Christian Thought. The first pagan intellectual to embrace the Christian faith and use some of the conceptual background of philosophy...
In this 14 minute podcast, Anna Mitchell of the Sonrise Morning Show queries Dr. Italy about a new course he has developed for the Catholic Distance University, Fundamental Theology, Revelation & Faith, and why this topic is important not just for academics, but for every...