Archives for November 2017

Homilies for December 2017

Homilies for the First Sunday in Advent—December 3, 2017 Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120317.cfm Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37. Author: Fr. Gregory Maria Pine, O.P. Be wa … [Read more...]

The Diaconal Call to Spiritual Martyrdom

The Foundation of the Servant Mysteries of Christ

“Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[1. Matthew 20: … [Read more...]

An October Mystagogy

A Proposal

We count people in October. Each year in the parishes of the dioceses of the province of Atlanta, we count the number of people who are attending Mass each weekend. The reason for the choice of this particular month has been lost to … [Read more...]

Bringing the Gospel to the Troops

A Survey of American Military Homiletics

The record of preachers in uniform is a remarkable one, filled with physical bravery and moral courage in the face of internal and external pressures, ameliorated by a deep, and very personal sense of care for the ordinary combatants who … [Read more...]

Our Current Youth Culture and its Upcoming Impact on Successful Marriages

There is no doubt that readers of Homiletic and Pastoral Review will believe strongly in the sanctity of marriage and a have profound respect for the importance of the family in our contemporary world. Those familiar with the work of John … [Read more...]

Helping the Souls in Purgatory

Her husband had died some months previously when she asked a priest, “How can I get Bill into heaven?” The priest responded, “You attend Mass every day: offer your Mass for him. That’s very powerful.” The Council of Trent taught that t … [Read more...]

Late Autumn Book Reviews

All the Pope's Saints: The Jesuits Who Shaped Pope Francis, by Fr. Sean Salai, SJ (Our Sunday Visitor, 2017) 144 pages; $15.00. Reviewed by Deacon David Paternostro, S.J. How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard, by Aurora Griffin (Ignatius … [Read more...]

On Vulnerability and Self-Disclosure in Priestly Formation

Thoughts for Seminarians & Formators

By some accounts, millennials—the cultural cohort of young adults born in the early 1980s to the early 2000s—are the “vulnerability generation”, using their struggles, flaws, and personality quirks to their advantage, to connect with others … [Read more...]

All For Jesus

“All for Jesus," Sister William had said in the ward, pulling on the rubber gloves. "Say it, my dear students, every time you are called upon for what seems an impossible task. Then you can do anything with serenity. It is a talisman phrase … [Read more...]

On Good and Evil in the Things That Afflict Us

What it means to say a condition is a good thing, and what it does not mean.

What is the proper attitude toward the afflictions God sends our way? Are they bad things, or good things? The answer is: “Both, but in respect to different things.“ I want especially here to concentrate on several types of conditions wit … [Read more...]

In Praise of Patriarchy and Headship

For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:23) He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. … [Read more...]

The Mystery of Hell

As the world has moved towards a relativistic stance in relation to the existence of objective truth, then the idea of hell, and the full reality of this dogma, is not surprisingly something the secular world wants to be confronted with. If … [Read more...]

What is Authentic Intimacy?

This article is a response to a Protestant couple that disagreed with the Church’s teaching on the dignity of the marriage act. It was a pleasant evening and we were discussing some of the books I was reading. The topic of contraception … [Read more...]

Armageddon and the “Kings from the East”

Probing Deeper into the Meaning of Strife

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of … [Read more...]