The Heritage of Pilgrimage – Podcast
Dr. Italy, in this 14 minute podcast, discusses the central and constant role pi...
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Dr. Italy -
Catholic Creatives - This Week
30JunMy Yoke is Easy, My Burden Light
In Matthew's gospel, Jesus makes the statement "my yoke is easy, my burden light." For many of us who follow him, this does not seem to square with o...
30JunUnderstanding the Mass, Part III – Real Presence in Priest & People
This third in a series on Understanding the Mass focuses on the way the Lord Jesus is really present in his body, the church, as well as his real pres...
23JunSelf-love, Self-Denial, and the Cross
Jesus says to deny self, pick up the cross and follow him. But he also says to love your neighbor as yourself. Is self-love always wrong?...
- Blogs
Advent: The Season of the Wild-Haired, Crazy Man
Isn’t Advent great? Welcome to the season where the only song we sing for four weeks is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! It’s the best! Advent is...
28 November, 2016
3 Crazy Ways Christianity & Islam Are Totally Different
Most Americans tend to think of religion as something rather fluid. It’s very common for us to say things like “all religions are basicall...
12 February, 2016
Writings
Latest Writings
My Yoke is Easy, My Burden Light
In Matthew's gospel, Jesus makes the statement "my yoke is easy, my burden light." For many of us who follow him, this does not seem to square with our experience. This post discusses the reasons for this....
30 June, 2020No commentUnderstanding the Mass, Part III – Real Presence in Priest & People
This third in a series on Understanding the Mass focuses on the way the Lord Jesus is really present in his body, the church, as well as his real presence in the priest. hether they’re Catholic or not, whether they understand it or not, most......
30 June, 2020No comment
Understanding the Mass, Part IV – Real Presence in Word & Sacrament
This fourth installment in a five part series on Understanding the Mass explains Christ’s real presence in the Word of God and in the sacrament of his body and blood. s we have seen, the Lord Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist......
30 June, 2020No commentSelf-love, Self-Denial, and the Cross
Jesus says to deny self, pick up the cross and follow him. But he also says to love your neighbor as yourself. Is self-love always wrong?...
23 June, 2020No comment
The Cross and the Sacred Heart of the World – Von Balthasar
This selection on the cross comes from Hans Urs von Balthasar's book The Heart of the World. This beautiful mediation on the piercing of Christ's heart by the soldiers lance as recounted in John 19 is a poignant mediation for Lent or Holy Week or anytime during the year....
18 June, 2020No comment
God – The Father
The Fatherhood of God has come under fire with the rise of feminism. If we know that God is pure spirit who transcends male and female, masculine and feminine, why preserve what some believe to be the antiquated, patriarchal practice of referring to the divinity as "Father"? This article uses the occasion of the American observance of Father's Day to address this issue....
17 June, 20203 Comments
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Source of Light & Life – Bonaventure
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 of Psalm 36, used in the office of the feast : "Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven, your truth to the skies . . . In you is the source of life and in your light we see light."...
16 June, 2020No comment
Understanding the Mass, Part II – Our Sacrifice
In Part 1 of Understanding the Mass, we examined how the Mass relates to the Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In this, part 2 of the series, we ask in what way the Eucharist can be said to be our sacrifice, the sacrifice offered by the Church. The New Testament calls Christians "priests" and priests are those who offer sacrifice....
15 June, 2020No comment
Wonderful Banquet! – Thomas Aquinas
The Feast of Corpus Christi, the body and blood of Christ, was instituted during the lifetime of Thomas Aquinas as a proclamation of faith in the real presence (aka transubstantiation) of Christ's body and blood in the sacrament. This selection, read annually on that feast. shows Thomas's teaching on the nature and purpose of this sacrament...
12 June, 2020No comment
This is My Body – Eucharistic Consecration & Transubstantiation – Ambrose
While the word "transubstantiation" is not employed here, the substance of this doctrine of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist is evident in this passage from St. Ambrose's treatise On the Mysteries, dating to AD 380. This excerpt explains the power of the words of Eucharistic consecration (a.k.a "the words of institution")....
05 June, 2020No comment