Dr. Italy
In this brief video by Sherwood Fellows the key themes of Lent are explored - th...
In this 8 minute video, Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D. (Dr. Italy) shares so...
Saint Andrew of Crete on the nativity of Mary as a turning point between old and new covenant, the frontier where types and symbols give way to realit...
The parable of the merciless servant illustrates the meaning of "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," a petition i...
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 Or...
The seven last words of Jesus Christ from the cross are actually 7 short phrases that serve as an awesome meditation for Lent or especially for Holy Week. Here they are provided in English and Latin....
Tertullian, in the late second century, writes of the power of Christian prayer, which replaces the sacrifices of old and makes us priests who are worshipers in spirit and in truth. Prayer is one of the three traditional tools for spiritual growth in Lent...
Hilary of Poitiers explains what the "Fear of the Lord" really means in Proverbs, Psalms and Wisdom literature of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself the way to the fear of the Lord that leads to perfect love....
Why the confirmation is a distinct sacrament, how confirmation relates to sharing in the Lord Jesus Christ's mission as priest, prophet and king, the meaning of the sacred oil called chrism, why the bishop normally confers the sacrament of confirmation, the seven (7) gifts of...
Paul's concept of "pedagogy," further developed here by Irenaeus, holds that the whole period of the Old Testament with all its characters, events, and institutions, was a preparation for and foreshadowing of the fullness of revelation that was to come in Jesus Christ and his...
Here John Chrysostom contrasts the Red Sea with baptism, Moses with Christ, showing us that while Old Testament realities point forward to the events of the New Covenant, they cannot begin to equal them. ...
This post on the Lord's Prayer comes from one of the earliest treatises on the Our Father, written around AD 240 by Cyprian of Carthage. It discusses one of the three pillars of Lenten penance, namely, the importance and power of prayer....
The spiritual circumcision of the heart through repentance and the sacrament of baptism -- Lenten meditation by Aphraates, a Syriac Father of the early Church.. All the biblical covenants are covered: the pact with Adam, Noah, and Moses. Just as Joshua led the people of...
This excellent reflection on one of the three pillars of Lenten penance, almsgiving or generosity, is an excerpt from a sermon on the love of poverty by Saint Gregory of Nazianzen. It is also a very clear statement on stewardship -- that we are stewards,...
Saint Asterius of Amasea, a bishop and Early Church Father, on the gospel parable of the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to go in search of the one lost sheep....