Francis de Sales, one of the great masters of the spiritual life, here makes clear that devotion, his term for the pursuit of holiness, is not something tied to a specific state of life. All people, in a way appropriate to their own calling and personality, can make progress in the life of sanctity. Read on his feast day, January 24....
19 January, 2025 No comment
John Chrysostom here gives eloquent praise to the passionate love of Christ that drove St. Paul to face persecution and hardship with joy and leave behind the honors and benefits of the world. It is read each year on January 25, the Feast of the......
19 January, 2025 No comment
Bible study and prayer with Scripture is absolutely necessary for Catholics. As St. Jerome said, ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ...
19 January, 2025 No comment
Hilary, commenting on Psalm 133, points out the central importance of Christian unity and fraternal love. He even says that the chief instruction of the apostles is that believers be of one heart and one mind....
12 January, 2025 No comment
Everyone knows the story of the first of the Lord's "signs" -- how Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana at the request of Mary, his mother. But there is more to the story than at first meets the eye....
12 January, 2025 3 Comments
This excerpt from an Epiphany homily by St. Proclus is a great resource for a better understanding of the sacrament of baptism. It also helps us meditate on the rosary since the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan is the first 1st......
05 January, 2025 No comment
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan closes the Christmas Season. This reflection on the scripture readings for the feast also provide us insight into the sacraments of baptism and Confirmation and give us food for meditation as we say the first luminous mystery of the rosary....
05 January, 2025 1 Comment
January 1 is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics not because it is New Years, but because it is the octave (8th day) of Christmas, the feast of Mary the Mother of God. This feast helps bring home the reality of the incarnation, that God truly became man . . . and that man had, and still has, a mother. So affirmed the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in confirming the title of Mary as Mother of God....
29 December, 2024 9 Comments
This commentary on the Feast of the Epiphany uncovers the meaning of the term epiphany and explains why the Magi -- Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior, the three kings of Orient riding camels and carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh -- are found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene....
29 December, 2024 2 Comments
The Solemn feast of the Epiphany of the Lord traditionally occurs on January 6 following the twelve days of Christmas. Epiphany commemorates three scriptural events: the visit of the Magi to the stable of Bethlehem following the nativity of Jesus, Christ's Baptism in the Jordan, and his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. This article focuses on the significance of the Magi or three wise men who follow the star in search of the King of kings....
29 December, 2024 No comment