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Rejoice in Hope – Gaudete Sunday & John the Baptist
Gaudete Sunday calls us to rejoice in hope. As John the Baptist found joy amidst suffering due to the Good News that the Christ had appeared, we too pause from our Advent penance to rejoice in a salvation that has drawn near and whose first fruits we can taste....
09 December, 2019No comment
St. Joseph’s Claim to Fame – Father of Faith
Saint Joseph always appears in Manger scenes during Advent and Easter time and even has a special Solemnity or Feast in his honor, St. Joseph's Day, March 19. This essay makes a case that St. Joseph teaches us some crucial things about the nature of faith that we can't afford to forget....
09 December, 2019No comment
Don’t Forget Mary – Josef Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
The Marian devotion of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is beautifully manifest in his previously articulated “six reasons for not forgetting” Mary. In a 1984 interview with Vittorio Messori, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, identified Our......
07 December, 2019No comment
Santa Claus – How Do We Deal with Him?
Christmas, at least in the USA, is hard to imagine without Jolly ole Saint Nicholas, aka “Santa Claus.” Since some focus on him to the neglect of the Christ child, some propose that he be banished from an authentically Christian celebration of Christ’s birth. We......
06 December, 2019No comment
Immaculate Conception & Mary as a Model of Faith
The Gospel of Luke presents Mary, mother of Jesus, as the model of faith, showing us what faith must include to be authentic and effective. And imitating Mary's virtue is key to an authentic Marian devotion....
06 December, 2019No comment
Saint Nicholas & John 21 – Augustine
This excerpt from St. Augustine's Treatise on John's Gospel (Tract. 123, 5: CCL 36, 678-680) is read on the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6. It focuses on the real meaning of the gift-giving for which St. Nicholas is famous--the self-giving love of a pastor who laid down his life for his sheep. ...
06 December, 2019No comment
Crisis in the Church-Henri de Lubac
CRISIS IN THE CHURCH The concluding section from an address given by Henri de Lubac, SJ, at the University of St. Louis on May, 29, 1969 “he second fundamental condition (for true renewal according to the intent of Vatican II) is the love and concern......
05 December, 2019No comment
Three Comings of the Lord – Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Bernard of Clairvaux says there are three comings: Advent prepares not just for the first coming of Christ to Israel, or even the second at the end of time. There is a third coming between these two in which Jesus comes in spirit and power for our rest and consolation....
04 December, 2019No comment
Advent of Peace – Fast before the Feast
Christmas is a joyous celebration of the birth of Peace. So why does the Church precede the feast of December 25 with a somber season of fast and penance? A meditation for the Second Sunday of Advent, cycle A. ...
03 December, 20191 Comment
Advent as the Season of Hope
Advent is a season of joy & hope. Paul says to rejoice in hope. But what is hope, anyway? How does this theological virtue differ from faith and what does it have to do with rejoicing?...
03 December, 2019No comment

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