God Took Our Nature From Mary – Athanasius

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[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she...

24 March, 2017 /

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household from 1980 to the present, here discusses the experience known in charismatic and Pentecostal circles as "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" and how it relates to the sacraments of baptism and confirmation....

18 March, 2017 /

This reading by St. Bernadino of Siena on St. Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus, is so clear and powerful that it is used by the Church for the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19 to honor the Guardian of the Lord and his...

14 March, 2017 /

Origen here treats of the Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah. It is a good example of the "spiritual interpretation" of the Old Testament whereby persons, places, and things are recognized as prefiguring Christ and the realities of the New Covenant. This spiritual exegesis...

07 March, 2017 /

St. Augustine here reflects on the famous conversation in the Gospel of John between Jesus and the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well. He sees her as a symbol for the Gentiles who are called to conversion and faith and...

07 March, 2017 /

This excerpt from St. Gregory of Agrigentum is an example of the Early Church Father's spiritual interpretation of Scripture whereby realities of the Old Covenant are seen as pointing beyond themselves to Jesus Christ and the realities of the new dispensation. In this case, the...

23 February, 2017 /

Gregory of Nyssa on the famous statement of Ecclesiastes "there is a time to be born and a time to die." He interprets this as a reference to the death and new birth of salvation, dying and rising with Christ through faith and baptism....

21 February, 2017 /

The Council of Trent here affirms the existence of purgatory and the great value of praying for the deceased. Yet at the same time it sternly instructs that preachers not distract, confuse, and mislead the faithful with unnecessary speculations concerning the nature and duration...

19 February, 2017 /

Athanasius here writes of the only begotten Son as the eternal Word, his perfect image, God's creative Wisdom Incarnate through whom the Father made the universe and all its creatures and in whom he takes delight. Athanasius is anxious to show that...

16 February, 2017 /

Procopius of Gaza on Proverbs declaration that wisdom has built herself a house. His explanation touches on many topics-- the divinity and humanity of Christ, the seven gifts of the holy Spirit, the value of prudence, and the gift of Christ's body and blood...

15 February, 2017 /

Ambrose on the experience of the absence of God expressed by the psalmist who asks "Why do you turn your face away?" (Psalm 43). In the midst of suffering, it is hard to believe that God is indeed present to us....

09 February, 2017 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']S[/dropcaps]aint John Vianney (The Cure of Ars)  CHAPTER 1 : Catechism on Salvation 2. CHAPTER 2 : Catechism on The Love of God 3. CHAPTER 3 : Catechism on The Holy Spirit 4. CHAPTER 4 : Catechism on the Blessed Virgin 5. CHAPTER 5 :...

05 February, 2017 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]s long as we are sheep, we overcome and, though surrounded by countless wolves, we emerge victorious; but if we turn into wolves, we are overcome, for we love the shepherd’s help. He, after all, feeds the sheep not wolves,...

04 February, 2017 /

This excerpt from an anonymous fourth century homily (Hom. 18, 7-11; PG 34, 639-642) is used in the Roman office of readings for Friday of the 4th week in ordinary time. It beautifully describes the various ways the Holy Spirit leads a soul on the...

01 February, 2017 /

BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL ON THE EUCHARIST AS THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF THE CHURCH'S LIFE AND MISSION INDEX Introduction [1] The food of truth [2] The development of the eucharistic rite [3] The Synod of Bishops and the Year of the Eucharist [4] The purpose of the present...

27 January, 2017 /

Diadochus of Photice, an early Church Father, discusses the link between humility and love of God. To be humble is not so much to look down on yourself as to look away from yourself and focus on the beauty and glory of the Lord....

20 January, 2017 /

A feast and gala procession in honor of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple was celebrated by Jerusalem Christians at least as early as the late 4th century. It took place 40 days after the feast of the Lord's birth since the Jewish law required a...

08 January, 2017 /

La festa della Sacra Famiglia ci sfida a crescere nelle virtù di pietà, onore, pazienza e tolleranza, e ad imparare a ridere insieme. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']L[/dropcaps]a Passione di Cristo è stato il film più intenso che abbia mai visto. Ma c'è stato un momento...

24 December, 2016 /

The announcement of the Nativity of the Lord from the Roman Martyrology formally proclaims the birth of Jesus Christ, based on the biblical accounts. Beginning with creation, it relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and people of both salvation...

21 December, 2016 /

A strong affirmation, by Athanasius, of the full Divinity of Christ in an age when that doctrine was under attack. The heresy of Arianism, which taught that Jesus was inferior to the Father, originated in Alexandria, Egypt, the native place of St. Athanasius....

14 December, 2016 /

William of St.-Thierry explains the history of salvation, culminating in the Incarnation, as a revelation of the love of God who comes to empower us to love him in return. The advent of the Savior is the coming of Jesus Christ, the apostle of...

13 December, 2016 /

Athanasius here identifies the only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ as God's uncreated Wisdom Incarnate. He insists that the "Wisdom" praised in Sirach, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and other biblical books is not a creature but is rather the Creator, the Divine Word in whose...

12 December, 2016 /

This excerpt from Eusebius of Caesarea's commentary on Isaiah 40 focuses on the role of St. John the Baptist, one of the key figures of Advent. John, the voice crying out in the wilderness, comes to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ....

11 December, 2016 /

In 1531, Our Lady appeared to a humble Indian named Juan Diego on a hill called Tepeyac, near what is now Mexico City. The following account of the apparition is found in the Nican Mopohua, or Huei Tlamahuitzoltica, written in Nahuatl, the Aztec language,...

11 December, 2016 /

It is not absolutely certain that it was St Ephraem who wrote this lyrical praise of Christmas, but the piece is sufficiently beautiful to be attributed to the poetic theologian and father of the church who is known as "the Harp of the Holy Spirit"...

30 November, 2016 /

Ephrem, on the brilliant light of God's wisdom that illuminates us especially initially through the sacrament of baptism and daily through the sacramental table of the eucharist. The sacraments are a mirror reflecting God's beauty and a pledge of our future resurrection....

30 November, 2016 /

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 my favorite season, and not just because, as a music minister, I get to play more songs with minor keys. Advent is my favorite...

28 November, 2016 /

St. Augustine explains how we can rejoice and even delight in something that we can’t yet see and don’t yet possess. In so doing, he helps us understand better the power of the theological virtue of hope....

28 November, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]wake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man. You would have suffered eternal death, had he...

27 November, 2016 /

Augustine here notes that we wayfarers should sing alleluia as we make our journey through constant temptation, trial and danger toward our heavenly homeland where we our song will be sung without anxiety, temptation or toil....

25 November, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]hough I like many can’t help but roll my eyes over the popularity of the Da Vinci Code, we are indebted to Dan Brown in a way. For he has reminded us that the early Church is terribly important. On...

23 November, 2016 /

The Second Vatican Council points out that it is only the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ that will bring the Church on earth, the universal sacrament of salvation, to perfection and cause the renewal and restoration of the entire earth. This is what we...

22 November, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]e do not know the time when earth and humanity will reach their completion, nor do       we know the way in which the universe will be transformed. The world as we see it, disfigured by sin, is...

22 November, 2016 /

Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and...

21 November, 2016 /

It's important to market yourself when it comes to getting a job and then advancing in your career. But climbing the corporate ladder can become exhausting, leaving you feeling empty, trapped, and alone. Is there anything that satisfies, that actually lasts? Is...

20 November, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he kingdom of God, in the words of our Lord and Savior, does not come for all to see; nor shall they say: Behold, here it is, or behold, there it is; but the kingdom of God is within us, for...

20 November, 2016 /

In this 2nd century homily, we see that there was no separation between faith and works in the early church. Rather, faith is confessed not only once, in the moment of baptism or justification, but continually through deeds....

08 November, 2016 /

This excerpt from an anonymous homily written in the 2nd Century AD extols the precious gift of salvation that comes to us as a grace, a free, undeserved gift from Christ Jesus. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']B[/dropcaps] rethren, we ought to regard Jesus Christ both...

08 November, 2016 /

The selection from Origen’s Exhortation to Martyrdom is read on the feast of martyrs Saints Marcellinus and Peter on June 2.  Marcellinus, a Roman priest, and Peter, an exorcist, were martyred together in Rome during the persecution of Diocletian around 303 AD. They evidently faced...

08 November, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]hat is man, that you are mindful of him? What is this new mystery surrounding me? I am both small and great, both lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I am to be buried with Christ and to...

26 October, 2016 /

St. Augustine here clearly disguishes between devotion to and veration of the martyrs and saints, and the worship (Latreia) due to God alone. This distinction was clear to the early Christians, but abuses and misunderstandings certainly existed, as noted by this bishop of the late...

25 October, 2016 /

In Advent 2011, the English Translation of the Mass was changed.  One of the most noticeable changes was in the Penitential prayer in the beginning of the service known as the Confiteor.  Why all of a sudden did we begin beating our breast and saying...

17 October, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]gnatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church of God the Father, and of the beloved Jesus Christ, which has through mercy obtained every kind of gift, which is filled with faith and love, and is deficient in no...

13 October, 2016 /

Columban. also known as Columbanus, here shows passionate fire of his Celtic monastic spirituality. Commenting on Luke 12:37-38 where Jesus praises those servants who stay awake, their lamps brightly burning in expectation of the master's return, Columban asks that his lamp would burn brighly...

11 October, 2016 /

Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on the book of Haggai, speaks of the Church, the Body of Christ, as the new temple that we must busy ourselves with building and the peace that passes understanding as the reward given to those who rebuild it....

09 October, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]ll holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues which...

25 September, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']Y[/dropcaps]ou have already been told about the wicked things shepherds desire. Let us now consider what they neglect. You have failed to strengthen what was weak, to heal what was sick, and to bind up what was injured (that is,...

17 September, 2016 /

Gesu’ ci chiama ad avere almeno tanta fede quanto un seme di senape. Inoltre continua a ripetere ai suoi discepoli il comando: non temere! S. Francesco d’Assisi ci mostra come abbandonare il timore e crescere nella fede. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]utti noi ammiriamo gli...

13 September, 2016 /

In Luca 14, Gesù dice delle parole molto preoccupanti per chi vuole essere suo discepolo. Parla della chiamata al discepolato che richiede che la gente non solo rinunci ai suoi beni, ma anche alla propria vita ed alla famiglia. L'esempio di Thomas More ci mostra che...

13 September, 2016 /

On February 3, 1994, Mother Teresa was invited to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. President Clinton and his wife Hillary along with Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper were also in attendance....

02 September, 2016 /

Gregory the Great's point of departure is Jesus' statement "the harvest is great but the laborers are few." He notes that while priests, bishops, and preachers abound, there are few who have the zeal and courage to speak the truth even when it offends and...

02 September, 2016 /

This excerpt from the beginning of Saint Anselm's famous work, the Proslogion, calls us to make space for God in the midst of the hectic life we lead, retreat within, and seek God's face....

26 August, 2016 /

This excerpt from the Confessions of Saint Augustine helps us understand what the author means by the title of his book: his goal is to confess his own weakness and at the same time to confess God's goodness - the mercy of one who sees...

26 August, 2016 /

John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio dealt with many topics relating to the state of the family in the modern world.  Here are a few salient excerpts on the issue of Communion for the Divorced and Remarried. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]n 1980, there was...

24 July, 2016 /

Caesarius of Arles' point of departure in this meditation on divine mercy is one of the beatitudes found in the Gospel of Matthew: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." He exhorts us to become "mercy's slaves" who receive divine mercy & give...

24 July, 2016 /

Father Cantalamessa on Limbo and the Unbaptized Offers a Follow-up to Commentary in ZENIT [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']R[/dropcaps]OME, JAN. 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A commentary by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, published Jan. 6 in ZENIT, prompted questions about the status of unbaptized children who die. The topic...

02 July, 2016 /

USCCB President Equates Deep Seated Homosexuality With Heterosexuality [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]n multiple interviews the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said that "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" are equivalent to "deep-seated heterosexual" tendencies. Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad made the remarks to the Washington...

02 July, 2016 /

The Threshold of Faith by Fr. John Cihak This article is a popular summary of the contribution to Christian apologetics made by the great French Catholic philosopher, Maurice Blondel, who lived at the turn of the 20th century. The author brings out the relevance of Blondel's thought...

02 July, 2016 /

Surprise Health Benefits of Bread [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]s people have become more conscious of limiting their carbohydrate intake, bread has gotten an increasingly bad name. But several years ago, German researchers made a surprising discovery. They found that the process of baking bread produces...

02 July, 2016 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps] Tertullian, On Baptism 7-8 (c. 200 AD) “Then having gone up from the bath we are anointed with a blessed anointing of ancient discipline, by which people were accustomed to be anointed for priesthood, by oil from a horn from which Aaron was anointed...

02 July, 2016 /

Gout Busters [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']B[/dropcaps]romelain, quercetin, and vitamin C eased pain and prevented flareups in gout sufferers during several studies. Gout--the sudden pain, often in the ankle, big toe, heel, or instep of the foot--is the result of a toxic build-up of uric...

01 July, 2016 /

Sacramentals -- what are they and what role do they play in Catholic liturgical life? Are they devotional articles or objects of popular devotion like scapulars, or are they blessings? Can they be found in the Bible, either the Old or New Testament? Were...

29 June, 2016 /

Peter & Paul have a common feast day. And though they each have their own basilica in Rome, the dedication of both are celebrated on the same day. St. Leo, 5th century bishop of Rome, shows that this is because they were united...

28 June, 2016 /
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