Caesarea Maritima, Israel’s Coastal Jewel – Podcast

7 Minute Podcast in which Dr. Italy vividly describes Israel's coastal jewel, Caesarea Maritima or Caesar's town by the sea.  A place made famous by its builder, Herod the Great along with Pontius Pilate, St. Paul and early Church fathers Origen and Eusebius....

14 September, 2020 /

An excerpt from St. Augustine's sermon 46 on the rigorous accountability required of pastors.  However, it is a moving reflection on the nature of Christian leadership that is also relevant for anyone entrusted with the care and development of others including Christian parents, teachers, and...

12 September, 2020 /

September 11th is the anniversary of one of most brutal acts of terrorism of all time. Three days later, on September 14, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation, and triumph of the cross of Jesus Christ. This reflection...

10 September, 2020 /

This is a homily given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger a month prior to his election as Pope Benedict XVI (March 18, 2005) at St. Peter's Basilica.  It address the meaning and importance of Gaudium et Spes, Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the...

08 September, 2020 /

Leo the Great on the seventh of the Beatitudes, "blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." Those who have inner peace due to submission to the will of God are the ones who can create true harmony in the...

05 September, 2020 /

Leo's exegesis of these important verses of St. Matthew's Gospel is one of the most important patristic commentaries on the Beatitudes. Christ, the New Moses chooses to give his Sermon on a Mount to show that he is the new Moses, teaching the newRegarding...

05 September, 2020 /

Augustine shows that even if some pastors are wicked, seeking their own interests rather than Christ's, the Catholic Church herself is Mother and Shepherd who seeks out the straying sheep, cares for the sick and strengthens the weak. She is also like a vine which...

02 September, 2020 /

Augustine, in his sermon 46 to Pastors, reflects upon the mandate from the Lord, found in Ezekiel, for shepherds to seek out the lost sheep, even if those sheep seem to want to be lost....

02 September, 2020 /

The Filioque: A Church Dividing Issue?  An Agreed Statement by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation 2003 that uncovers a misunderstanding that is thought by many to lie at the root of the schism between the Orthodox east and the Roman Catholic West commonly thought...

31 August, 2020 /

Gregory the Great here notes the obligation of a pastor to preach with courage, boldness, and fortitude warning his people when they are on the wrong path and need to repent. To fail to speak out and reproach people for their faults is cowardice...

31 August, 2020 /

St. Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit who came to the New World in the early 17th century and dedicated his life as an evangelist and pastor to black slaves and worked at the same time as a tireless advocate on their behalf. His...

31 August, 2020 /

Gregory the Great comments on the famous passage in Ezekiel 33 in which God calls the prophet to be a watchman for the house of Israel. Saint Gregory reflects on how this applies to himself as bishop of Rome and protests his inadequacy for the...

31 August, 2020 /

9 min video episode of EWTN's Early Church Fathers series on the dramatic story of the conversion of Augustine, from Marcellino D'Ambrosio, "Dr. Italy."...

25 August, 2020 /

An account of the death of St. Monica, mother of Augustine, written about 10 years afterwards, in her son's famous book The Confessions.  Read on August 27, feast day of Monica, model of Christian Motherhood. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']B[/dropcaps]ecause the day when she was...

24 August, 2020 /

Who are the Cardinals of the Catholic Church?  Where does the word and idea of Cardinal come from, and what role do they play as electors of the Pope in the papal conclave where the election takes place? [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he  Pope, like...

16 August, 2020 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps] n July 2005, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, stirred a controversy by writing an Op-Ed article for the New York Times entitled, "Finding Design in Nature" (New York Times, July 7, 2005). His article, submitted to the...

12 August, 2020 /

The veneration of saints is a feature o Catholic and Orthodox Christianity that fascinates some and bewilders others.  In this article, Dr. Italy explains the process of the Making of a canonized Saint or Canonization in the Catholic Church: How it works, what it means...

12 August, 2020 /

A brief overview of what happens from the time of the death or resignation of a pope to the public announcement of his successor, elected by the cardinals.  The papal election takes place in a secret conclave held in the Sistine chapel. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color=''...

10 August, 2020 /

Development of Doctrine - Vincent of Lerins, a church father of the 5th century, distinguishes the legitimate growth in understanding of divine revelation from the false alteration of religion and Catholic orthodox dogma in the Church of Jesus Christ....

10 August, 2020 /

Commenting on the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mt. Tabor, Leo contrasts the law, symbolized by Moses, with the grace of the gospel brought by Jesus Christ. He notes how this glimpse of the glory of his divinity and risen humanity was given to...

31 July, 2020 /

Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, presided over the 3rd great Ecumenical Council of the Church which met in 431 AD in Ephesus and which proclaimed Mary as the Theotokos ("God-bearer" or "Mother of God"). Following this proclamation, many churches were dedicated to the Blessed...

28 July, 2020 /

Mary Magdalene has been universally honored as a saint from the earliest days, as shown by this excerpt from Gregory the Great on Mary's encounter with Christ at the tomb. The feast of this "apostle to the apostles" is July 22....

22 July, 2020 /

Leo the Great on Mary, the Royal Virgin of the house of David, mother of the Messiah and Our Lady of Mount Carmel.   Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, was associated with the Virgin Mary since Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus would have crossed...

16 July, 2020 /

Addressed to those who have just received the sacrament of baptism, this sermon by St. Ambrose of Milan explains to them that that they've not simply been baptized in ordinary water, but in the sacred waters that transmit the invisible fire of the Holy Spirit....

14 July, 2020 /

St. Ambrose explains how the sacrament of baptism was prefigured in the story of the flood and Noah's Ark in the Book of Genesis. The wood of the Ark, the flood waters and the dove which returns with the olive branch all prefigure different...

14 July, 2020 /

Ambrose here addresses those who have just received the sacrament of baptism, showing them the many types or prefigurations of the waters of baptism to be found in the Old Testament Scriptures. This a wonderful meditation for those participating in RCIA....

14 July, 2020 /

St. Ambrose of Milan tells newly baptized Christians the meaning of the post-baptismal rites: the clothing with a white garment and the anointing with sacred chrism which we call the sacrament of confirmation or, in the Eastern churches, chrismation....

14 July, 2020 /

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. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]hether they’re Catholic or not, whether they understand...

30 June, 2020 /

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...

12 June, 2020 /

"The force be with you." No, God is far from an impersonal force. The doctrine of the Trinity shows us just how personal, even interpersonal, God really is....

02 June, 2020 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]his day, in which for the first time I may sit in the chair of the Bishop of Rome, as Successor of Peter, is the day in which the Church in Italy celebrates the feast of the Lord's Ascension. At...

01 June, 2020 /

Ambrose here treats of the Holy Spirit as the abundant river of grace that flows from Jesus, the Font of life, in the form of seven channels which are the seven gifts that overflow the banks of our minds leading us to supernatural knowledge of...

22 May, 2020 /

This sermon by Augustine, originally delivered on the Solemnity of the Ascension, notes that we, the members of Christ's body, ascended to heaven with the Lord through love....

22 May, 2020 /

A collection of useful information on Coronavirus COVID-19 especially as it relates to pilgrimage travel with the Crossroads Initiative.  What is the status of the upcoming pilgrimages sponsored by the Crossroads Initiative?  From Dr. Italy, a veteran international traveler and pilgrimage tour leader.  We encourage...

10 May, 2020 /

“It must be stated that Vatican II is upheld by the same authority as Vatican I and the Council of Trent, namely, the Pope and the College of Bishops in communion with him, and that also with regard to its contents, Vatican II is in...

04 May, 2020 /

Augustine on the divine love, known as charity, caritas, agape, that Jesus commanded us to have for one another in the last supper discourse of the Gospel of John. This sort of love is impossible for human beings without the help of grace -- it...

03 May, 2020 /

Written by St. Irenaeus about 185 AD, this excerpt makes clear the Church's realistic interpretation of the eucharist as the risen body of Christ which serves as the medicine of immortality, the pledge of our own future resurrection. The real presence of the body...

30 April, 2020 /

In this brief video, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. ("Dr. Italy") explains what Fundamental Theology is and why it is not just important, but pivotal and even decisive for determining what we believe about God, ourselves, and how we are to live. Christians and non-believers alike are often...

28 April, 2020 /

The COVID-19 quarantine has left many of us with more time at home than usual.  Here's a video challenge to fix your eyes on Jesus by reading one or more of the gospels from beginning to end.  Start with the gospel of Mark. During COVID-19, we...

31 March, 2020 /

Excerpts from two ancient Holy Week homilies followed by a special Holy Week thanksgiving prayer appropriate for either personal or corporate use. Super devotions for the sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday....

30 March, 2020 /

This post on the sufferings and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is focuses on Palm Sunday but makes for a great read anytime during the Lenten Season or Holy Week. Frequent meditation on the Passion of Christ is important because the Passion is...

24 March, 2020 /

5 min video on Building spiritual muscle fighting coronavirus.  Growing prudence in justice by battling the storm together. Muscles are only developed through resistance.   The fight against Coronavirus can be an occasion for developing spiritual muscle!  Holiness is measured by the strength of the three spiritual...

20 March, 2020 /

A 5 min video from Dr. Italy to help give you inspiration in the midst of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.  There is an opportunity in the midst of every crisis - practical tips on how to make the most of it. The COVID-19 coronavirus is unprecedented...

20 March, 2020 /

Hold fast to God, our one true good, counsels Ambrose.  In the following words, he explains the essence of the great commandment of Deuteronomy 6:4-5.  Loving God with your whole heart, soul, and strength means holding on to him, seeking him and pursuing him with...

15 March, 2020 /

\[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']D[/dropcaps]ear friends, If any of you have told many friends and family that you are going to the Holy Land, you probably have been told "you've got to be crazy!" For those following TV news over the years, this reaction is quite...

01 March, 2020 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']S[/dropcaps]ome people give in when confronted with temptation in their lives. Some just do the best they can. In this week’s Gospel reading [the first Sunday in Lent] we have an inside look at how Jesus overcame temptation with God’s...

24 February, 2020 /

This excerpt from a catechetical instruction by St. Cyril of Jerusalem dates from the mid 4th Century, just a generation after the Council of Nicaea. At that time, the bishop of Jerusalem himself instructed the catechumens before baptism (today's RCIA), and this is a record...

10 February, 2020 /

In this 7 minute podcast, Sonrise Morning Show Host Anna Mitchell interviews Marcellino D'Ambrosio about the groundbreaking study from Ascension Press: Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Dr. Italy spend most of 2019 writing and filming a ground-breaking Bible study on the life and...

04 February, 2020 /

2 minute trailer for the new video Bible Study series from Ascension Press, Jesus: the Way, the Truth and the Life, by Jeff Cavins, Marcellino D'Ambrosio ("Dr. Italy").  A virtual tour of the Holy Land that will help you make Jesus more the center of...

03 February, 2020 /

John Chrysostom here comments on the famous lines in the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus calls his disciples the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World (Matt. 5: 15-16). [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']Y[/dropcaps]ou are the salt of the earth....

03 February, 2020 /

Christians don't leave home to "go to Church" - the family, says Vatican II, St. John Paul II, and Pope Francis, is the "domestic church," the smallest pastoral unit of the Church where much of the life of the church takes place....

28 January, 2020 /

The list of the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most comprehensive that we've seen.  We hope you find it helpful. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]m I the only one who wants to have in one handy location all the titles ascribed to...

14 January, 2020 /

The publication of The Da Vinci Code in 2003 and the New Age movement both rekindled interest in an ancient religious movement known as Gnosticism.  A second century bishop named Irenaeus wrote a massive rebuttal of the claims of the gnostics which we do well...

01 January, 2020 /

Where did December 25 come from as the celebration of Christmas, the birthday of Jesus?  What are the origins of the feast of Christ's Navity?...

16 December, 2019 /

The Second Vatican Council is often called a pastoral council since it issued so many practical directives for the renewal of the day to day life of the church.  Many of the objectives of the council fathers have been implemented since Vatican II's close in...

16 December, 2019 /

People often think of the Catholic Church primarily in terms of being an institution.  While the Church does have an institutional dimension, it is entirely at the service of proclaiming the word of God.  It is a prophetic institution....

13 December, 2019 /

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, 2019 /

This Advent reading on the two comings of Christ is an excerpt from Cyril of Jerusalem's famous catechetical instruction of adults getting ready for baptism around AD 360. Cyril contrasts Christ's first coming in humility with Jesus' second coming in glory....

01 December, 2019 /

In 1969, then Fr. Josef Ratzinger, theologian and peritus (theological advisor to the bishops) at the Second Vatican Council, predicted that the Church of the future would be much smaller than it was in the sixties, at least in the western, developed world.  But, the...

29 November, 2019 /

Augustine, commenting on the psalms command to sing to God songs of joy, notes that the jubilation in our hearts sometimes overflows the capacity of all words, yet we cannot remain silent. The Church recalls such songs of joy on the feast of St....

22 November, 2019 /

This excerpt from an Eastertide sermon by Saint Augustine was addressed to the newly baptized, who Augustine considers as the chosen, holy seed who have been born again in Jesus Christ through the Sacrament of baptism. These new men and women are now sharers...

22 November, 2019 /

Augustine comments on the Last Judgment scene found in Matthew 25 and speaks about the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and how to be properly prepared for it by showing the same mercy to others by which we wish to be...

12 November, 2019 /

This doctoral dissertation abstract on "Henri de Lubac and the Recovery of the Traditional Hermeneutic" was submitted to the theology department of the Catholic University of America by Marcellino D'Ambrosio for completion of the requirements of a Ph.D. in historical theology.  The abstract was submitted...

10 November, 2019 /

The second Council of Orange was a small synod of only 14 bishops, presided over by St. Caesarius, bishop of Arles, held in what is now south-eastern France.  It confronted issues of faith, grace, free-will and predestination in order to solve lingering debates over Pelagianism...

03 November, 2019 /

An excerpt from the Letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans, written while on his way to Rome to be martyred in the arena where he expects to become God's wheat, food for the wild beasts, a willing sacrifice with and for Jesus Christ....

14 October, 2019 /

It is fitting that Pope John XXIII be canonized a saint by Pope Francis -- they share a focus on humility, prayer, the surprises of the Holy Spirit and breaking papal protocol to draw near to the simple people, Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and non-believers....

08 October, 2019 /

This excerpt on prayer from Ambrose's treatise on Cain and Abel highlights the value of thanksgiving, forgiveness of others, and praying with and for the whole body of Christ, the Church, rather than simply praying by oneself for oneself....

02 October, 2019 /

This article, "Ressourcement theology, aggiornamento, and the hermeneutics of tradition" by Marcellino D'Ambrosio is reprinted from Communio 18 (Winter 1991).  The theological movement the set the stage for the Second Vatican Council shows that the Christian tradition is a vital and dynamic force that is not retrograde, but...

01 October, 2019 /

The twelve apostles of Jesus of Nazareth -- 12 fishermen and tax collectors who were selected from the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to be official eyewitnesses of his public ministry, death, and resurrection, priests of the new covenant, stewards of the mysteries of...

16 September, 2019 /

Brief video by Dr. Italy that provides an overview of the Life and teaching of St. John Chrysostom, early Church Father, Doctor of the Church, and one of the greatest preachers of all time.  The story of this courageous hero will inspire you....

15 September, 2019 /

St. John Chrysostom proclaimed the Gospel fearlessly despite the jealousy and hatred directed at him by the supposedly Christian Empress and Imperial Court of Constantinople around AD 400. In the face of government threats he proclaims "If Christ is with me, whom shall I...

10 September, 2019 /

When asked what the four cardinal or hinge virtues were, St. Bernard of Clairvaux replied "humility, humility, humility, and humility." This article explains what humility is and why it is so central to Christian life, in light of Jesus' conversation with James & John, the...

01 September, 2019 /

St. John Eudes on living in Christ in intimate union, as body is united to head.  Jesus, who is the source of our life, wants to live in and through us. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps] ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is...

16 August, 2019 /

Augustine, in the conclusion of his commentary on John, speaks of our future hope - the vision of God in heaven following the coming of Christ.  The Gospel of John and every book of the Scriptures will no longer be needed since we will see...

12 August, 2019 /

This reading on the mean of Christ's sufferings Savior's passion reflects on the Lord's passion by means of several key bible passages including of the piercing of Christ's side in John 19. Theodoret interprets the blood and water flowing from that wound as signs of...

12 August, 2019 /

Ignatius of Antioch, in chains on his way to martyrdom in Rome, writes advice to his fellow bishop Polycarp.  Married and celibate members of the community should live their marriage or celibacy as offering in God's honor.  And the entire Church must offer to God...

03 August, 2019 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]t is right for you to give glory in every way to Jesus Christ who has given glory to you; you must be made holy in all things by being united in perfect obedience, in submission to the bishop and...

03 August, 2019 /
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