Archives for 2012

January 2013 Homilies

For Sunday Liturgies and Feasts Homilies for January 2013 Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God Spiritual Resolutions for 2013 Purpose: a) To help Catholics better understand their obligation to attend Mass on Holy Days of Obligation, … [Read more...]

“Father, Aren’t You Afraid I’ll Become Muslim?”: The Challenge of Encountering Non-Christian Religions

The reason behind offering a world religions course to Catholic young adults became more apparent: to help them understand Christian Catholic distinctiveness, what separates our faith from others.    Fr. Hardon, S.J., Peter Kreeft, Fr. R … [Read more...]

Obstacles to Reading Scripture in Modernity: Von Balthasar’s Response

Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics {are} a remedy for the breakdown in modern biblical exegesis and the groundwork of an approach to revelation that allows the glory of God to show forth in all of its splendor. In the first b … [Read more...]

The Widow’s Mite

... {I propose here} to move ... to the freedom of giving as an inevitable expression of our spirits in Christ and as a necessary means of our own sanctification. We Catholics in the United States traditionally give more from an … [Read more...]

America’s Leading Pastoral Magazine in This Year of Faith

Honor the Pope’s request in renewing our devotion to our Catholic faith, and assisting Homiletic & Pastoral Review in being that voice of the Gospel around the world. On January 1, 2013, Homiletic & Pastoral Review will have b … [Read more...]

“Blessed is She Who Believed”—The Mother of God as a Model of Faith

“By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her devotion…”—Porta Fidei, §13 "Annunciation"-by Leonardo DaVinci In promulgating Porta Fidei in the Year of … [Read more...]

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller and the Virgin Birth

In treating the Virgin birth, Gerhard Ludwig Müller carefully identifies what the Catholic Church actually does teach, and cautions the reader that the exact physiological details, thereof, are not an article of faith.   Nativity by M … [Read more...]

The Eternal Presence of the House of Nazareth

The family life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Nazareth is an ever-present revelation of God’s purposes and work in the world, inviting to holiness families of the 21st century.   Does the household of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the small vi … [Read more...]

The “Munus Regendi” of the Priest and the Vocation of the Laity

...the priesthood as a whole, but especially in its exercise of the office of governance, is exercised with the full flowering of the vocation of the laity in mind. The goal of the priesthood is a mature and well-formed laity that embraces … [Read more...]

Merit Revisited

One of the most significant themes is the doctrine of merit.  This long-forgotten element of Catholic teaching has made a remarkably ostensible reappearance in the new translation. It seems that the implementation of the new translation … [Read more...]

The Culture of Honor—A Brief Essay

What is needed to walk in our true identity, and to carry out the mission of bringing heaven to earth, is the culture of honor. God the Father wants nothing less than heaven on earth. This is why he gave us his Son, and his many … [Read more...]

Prior to Adult Faith Formation, One Thing Is Necessary

I stress a simple but essential prerequisite (for adult formation) ... without which all the formal education in the faith will remain merely on the surface of the person. In a recent article in HPR, I stressed the need in the Church for … [Read more...]

Credible Communion: The Witness of Apostolic Religious Life

When the Church has been humiliated and vilified by public scandal ... I suggest we need to shift our focus to Christ.   Introduction “How can you write anything credible about the witness of religious life today?” I was asked by a disil … [Read more...]

Pornography, Masturbation, and the Confessor

The spread of pornography is a new pastoral challenge for confessors, but I want to suggest that there is another moral issue...deserving to be taken seriously, which is often overlooked in the discussion over pornography.  That issue is … [Read more...]