Discernment and Peace of Soul – Diadochus

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Diadochus of Photice, a bishop of the early church, explains the role of recollection and discernment in Christian life. To discern thoughts originating in God from those planted by the enemy, we must cultivate peace of soul and mind and dispose ourselves for the...

01 February, 2019 /

Excerpt from Athanasius' famous Life of Antony, recounting the story of the call of St. Anthony of the Desert, father of monks and great supporter of Christian Orthodox belief in the divinity of Christ against the Alexandrian heretic Arius....

15 January, 2019 /

In this excerpt from a letter written AD 125, so appropriate for Advent, the anonymous author discusses the marvelous and secret plan of salvation culmination in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Paul calls this plan "the Mystery." The...

18 December, 2018 /

The human soul is like a house or garden . . . if left untended by the Master, it is invaded by filth and vermin.  But Christ, here depicted as a farmer, has ploughed the wild field of humanity with the wood of the Cross...

28 November, 2018 /

Columbanus (Columban) urges us to remember our dignity, created as we are in the image and likeness of God.  Since God is love, we must manifest love in our actions and our words, being especially careful lest we deface that image through careless use of...

24 November, 2018 /

In this 15 minute podcast, Anna Mitchell, host of the Sonrise Morning Show, discusses with Dr. Italy, the significance of Jesus' encounter with Bartimaeus, the Blind Beggar of Jericho.  What emerges is a tribute to a kind of faith that acts up and reaches out. Jesus...

25 October, 2018 /

Death is both a mystery and an enigma say the fathers of the Second Vatican Council. This moving treatment of death and dying is an excerpt from one of the more important of the Council documents, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern...

23 October, 2018 /

Augustine tells Proba that praying always through the desire of the heart does not mean we should not frequent pray formally, at appointed hours, using words.  Without such formal prayer at set times, desire would grow cold....

20 October, 2018 /

The Call of Matthew, tax-collector and notorious sinner, rattled the pious Pharisees and caused them to reject Jesus. This calls us to reflect on the true nature of holiness and how it differs from that pompous religiosity and empty piety that has always been the...

18 September, 2018 /

Augustine on the duty of pastors to strengthen weak Christians. The weak are those who want to live a good life but are unable to endure the sufferings that inevitably threaten. Some are so ill that they are like the paralytic who needed to be...

17 September, 2018 /

You cannot serve both God and Mammon says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He also points us to the example of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Are we then to view money and honest work as...

20 August, 2018 /

The teaching authority of the Church, and especially the Papacy, are seen by some as competing with the authority of the Bible. This essay explains the Catholic position that the Pope and all Church authority are under the authority of God's Word coming to...

18 August, 2018 /

This 3rd in a series on the Magisterium of the Catholic Church explores infallibility: the teaching that the bishops of the Catholic Church, and the Pope in particular, can, in certain circumstances, teach in a way that is guaranteed to be infallible or without error....

02 August, 2018 /

Commenting on 1 Peter 2, Bede tells the newly baptized that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood & a consecrated nation through their baptism into Christ and anointing with the sacred oil of confirmation. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']Y[/dropcaps] ou are a chosen...

26 July, 2018 /

Annie Mitchell, host of the Sonrise Morning Show,  interviews Dr. Italy on the birth of a grandchild and why he is a miracle baby On July 17, 2017, a baby was born to Cristina Boshart, the daughter of Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio.  The story of the coming...

18 July, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]O HAVE THE TRUE SENTIMENT WHICH WE OUGHT TO HAVE IN THE CHURCH MILITANT Let the following Rules be observed. First Rule. The first: All judgment laid aside, we ought to have our mind ready and prompt to obey, in all, the...

04 July, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]here are two ways of life that God has commended to the Church. One is through faith, the other is through vision. One is in pilgrimage through a foreign land, the other is in our eternal home; one in labour,...

01 July, 2018 /

On June 27, the Catholic Church honors the Memory of St. Cyril of Alexandria, best known for his role at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431 defending the traditional title of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos, translated "God-bearer" or Mother of God....

27 June, 2018 /

John Paul II's proclamation of Saint Thomas More as Patron of Statesmen and Politicians, an example of moral integrity, a witness to the primacy of the truth over power and a defender of the inalienable dignity of the human conscience....

17 June, 2018 /

Cyprian begin's his commentary on the Lord's Prayer by analyzing the first line: Our Father. We do not pray as individuals, but in common, as a family, since we are all children of the same Father....

16 June, 2018 /

Cyprian prepares to analyze the Our Father by reflecting upon the basic attitude of humility necessary if prayer is to please God, reflecting upon the example of Hannah, mother of Samuel, and the story of the Publican and the Pharisee told by the Lord Jesus....

15 June, 2018 /

This excerpt from St. Augustine shows that, as early as the fourth century, Christians celebrated June 29th in honor of Peter and Paul, the two apostles and martyrs who laid down their lives for Christ in the Eternal City of Rome....

02 June, 2018 /

Cardinal Josef Ratzinger's reflection on  Ad Tuendam Fidem, Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei, is intended to provide examples of  the various levels of authority of the teaching of the Magisterium and explain the proper response owed to them....

28 May, 2018 /

Gregory of Nyssa here identifies the glory that Jesus speaks about in the Last Supper discourse of the Gospel of John with the Holy Spirit, the source of Christian unity. He also sees a reference to the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs...

27 May, 2018 /

This page covers some of most frequently asked questions (FAQ) that we receive here at The Crossroads Initiative. If you have any questions you can check this page frequently for more Catholic Q & A. We are adding new Questions and Answers every week. If...

28 April, 2018 /

St. Theodore the Studite here acclaims the cross as a life-giving tree that is the antidote to that tree in paradise that was Adam's undoing. Following the early Christian method of interpreting the Old Testament spiritually, he traces the many ways the wood of...

08 April, 2018 /

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Declaration in Defense of the Catholic Doctrine of the Church  Against Certain Errors of the Present Day is best known by the first two words of the Latin text, Mysterium Fidei.  It was written in response to...

08 April, 2018 /

 JOINT DECLARATION  ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']P[/dropcaps]reamble 1.The doctrine of justification was of central importance for the Lutheran Reformation of the sixteenth century. It was held to be the "first and chief article" [1] and at the same time the "ruler and...

04 April, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]rue, Vatican II says that the Christian Life is supposed to be an intimate relationship, a dialogue between us and God. But wait a minute.  God is so different from us!  His ways are not our ways.  And if our puny minds have trouble...

01 April, 2018 /

Benedict XVI's homily for the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday 2009. The annual occasion on which the bishop, who is the only one who do so, blesses sacred chrism and other holy oils to be used throughout the diocese in the coming year. ...

28 March, 2018 /

This piece by St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the wounds of Christ is very fitting to be used in Lent and especially during Holy Week as we meditate on the Passion of the Lord Jesus & his mercy. St. Bernard, perhaps the greatest preacher...

22 March, 2018 /

One great way to observe the early Christian tradition of the Octave or eight days of Easter is to read a different resurrection account from the gospels each day of Easter week. Here is a list of the resurrection accounts, one for each day...

20 March, 2018 /

Saint Gregory of Nyssa here provides a moving explanation of a phrase from Psalm 118 that is a traditional refrain for the great resurrection feast known as Great Pascha or Easter: This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be...

17 March, 2018 /

A growing number of people are embracing spirituality and rejecting religion.  But to divorce the two entails a misconception of what the word religion truly means and can lead to a shallow spirituality of cheap grace that shirks commitment. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]t is...

10 March, 2018 /

Melito of Sardis, a 2nd century Father of the Church, shows how the Passover Lamb and many Old Testament realities, prefigure Christ and his suffering. This marvelous Holy Week reading is a great example of the spiritual sense of Scripture....

09 March, 2018 /

Leo the Great reflects on the passion of Jesus Christ and sees in it not shame, but glory. He sees in the cross not weakness, but power. In his passion and death on the cross, Jesus fulfills all the sacrifices of the Old...

08 March, 2018 /

Jesus sacrifice of himself for our sake on the cross has brought redemption to the whole world, says St. John Fisher, the fifteenth century English bishop whose own self-sacrifice would recall that of his master....

05 March, 2018 /

he blood and water that flowed from Christ's side on the cross were symbols of the eucharist and baptism, prefigured by the blood of the Passover Lamb, says one of the greatest preachers of the early Church....

04 March, 2018 /

Augustine here connects the passion of Jesus beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane and culminating on the cross, with the sufferings of the whole body of Christ, commenting on Psalm 141 along with the passion narratives of Mark and Luke....

23 February, 2018 /

Saint John Chrysostom here speaks of the gift of prayer as continual conversation with God that proceeds from longing for God that lifts the soul into the heavens where it embraces God and brings great joy and light to the soul....

15 February, 2018 /

Ad Tuendam Fidem Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio, by which certain norms are inserted into the Code of Canon Law and into the Code of Canon of the Eastern Churches (May 28, 1998) (L'Osservatore Romano explanatory note: On January 9, 1989, the Congregation for the...

05 February, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]gnatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the [Church] blessed in the grace of God the Father, in Jesus Christ our Saviour, in whom I salute the Church which is at Magnesia, near the Moeander, and wish it abundance of...

04 February, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']P[/dropcaps]ROLOGUE: There was a man of venerable life, blessed by grace, and blessed in name, for he was called "Benedictus" or Bennet: who, from his younger years, carried always the mind of an old man; for his age was inferior to...

03 February, 2018 /

Gregory of Nyssa, in the course of his treatise on Christian perfection, lays out these guidelines for the sort of examination of conscience which should be a regular feature of anyone who wants to make progress in Christian discipleship....

02 February, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']1[/dropcaps] Prayer Is a Means Necessary to Salvation. One of the errors of Pelagianism was the assertion that prayer is not necessary for salvation. Pelagius, the impious author of that heresy, said that man will only be damned for neglecting to know...

20 January, 2018 /

Irenaeus here shows that the Church of the 2nd century regarded the Eucharist as a sacrifice which fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 1:11 of a new, pure oblation and offering that would be offered by the gentiles all over the world. ...

20 January, 2018 /

Cyprian here writes of the martyrdom of St. Fabian who was elected bishop of the Church of Rome in 236. In 250, at the beginning of the persecution of the Emperor Decius, Pope Fabian was captured, martyred, and buried in the catacombs, in cemetery...

20 January, 2018 /

Athanasius sees a marvelous unity and order in creation that is held together and orchestrated by the divine word.  He uses the metaphor of harmony in music to describe the magnificent unity found among the magnificent diversity of the world's creatures. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color=''...

11 January, 2018 /

Here St. Cyril of Alexandria comments on the promise of God the Father to pour out his Holy Spirit on all mankind in order to renew and restore our wounded human nature.  In his baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ, "the first-fruits of our restored nature," receives...

10 January, 2018 /

The following are excerpts from Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) that pertain to the Mass and the sacrament of the eucharist. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]NTRODUCTION For it is the liturgy through which, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist,...

09 January, 2018 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]gnatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be...

04 January, 2018 /

Cyprian, who himself was martyred a few years after writing this, here speaks of the invincible faith of the martyrs. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']H[/dropcaps]ow can I find the words to praise you, most courageous brethren? How can I compose a speech worthy of the...

03 January, 2018 /

8Beats is an exciting effort at evangelization through film.  Slated for release in 2018, 8Beats is an Anthology of eight short films, each a contemporary reflection on one of the 8 Beatitudes of Matthew's gospel.  Produced by over 70 of the best Catholic filmmakers in...

21 December, 2017 /

This excerpt from St. Irenaeus shows that the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly a new Eve, just as her son Jesus Christ is a new Adam. He contrasts Eve's disobedience with Mary's obedience....

09 December, 2017 /

In this video webinar of approximately 75 minutes, Dr. Matthew Bunson of the Catholic Distance University (CDU), initiates a conversation with two other CDU professors, Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio (Dr. Italy) and Dr. James Kruggel, on Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation on Marriage and the Family, Amoris...

03 December, 2017 /

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']H[/dropcaps]appy Holidays! Seasons Greetings.  Holiday Tree.  For years our increasingly secular culture has worked hard to expunge “Christ” from “Christmas.” So it is understandable that serious Christians would be suspicious of using “Xmas” to refer to the feast of Christ’s birth. But...

02 December, 2017 /

Augustine comments on the image of the shepherds of the Church as watchmen who are obligated to warn God's people when they are going astray. He also comments on the words of Jesus to his disciples that they are to do what the chief Priests...

22 November, 2017 /
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