For months, I had been mustering the courage to go to confession. I had faced the terror of Hell to marshal my sins. I had waited in the empty church for half an hour, palms in a cold sweat, rehearsing my lines. It had been three months and … [Read more...]
Magazine
My Side of the Confessional
A Scrupulous Penitent’s Plea to Confessors
December 12, 2017 by Monica Lyons Montanaro
Is There Really Any Hope for a Return to the Traditional Latin Mass?
Interview with Dr. Peter Kwasniewski
December 12, 2017 by Roseanne T. Sullivan
In the essays by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, collected in Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages, Dr. Kwasniewski writes as an unabashed adherent for the traditional Latin Mass. He is positive not only … [Read more...]
The Significance of the Eucharist in the Apparitions at Fatima
December 12, 2017 by Dr. Richard Nicholas
Introduction. One hundred years ago in May of 1917, Our Lady began a series of apparitions to three Portuguese children named Lucia Santos, Francisco Marto, and Jacinta Marto in the village of Fatima. In the very first apparition, Mary … [Read more...]
Total Consecration to the Virgin Mary
December 12, 2017 by Jonathan Fleischmann
Introduction When we think of Jesus Christ, what do we think of first? Do we think of an ideal of unselfishness: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31)? Do we think of an institution divinely inspired: “You are Peter, a … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
December 12, 2017 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: Please explain why “even attachment to venial sin” prevents one from obtaining a plenary indulgence. It seems no one can receive one as we all are attached to, and even commit, venial sins. Answer: The answers to this question a … [Read more...]
Homilies for December 2017
November 27, 2017 by Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., Fr. Patrick Briscoe, O.P., Fr. Edmund McCullough, O.P., Fr. Athanasius Murphy, O.P. and Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.
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
November 27, 2017 by Deacon Robert T. Yerhot
“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
November 27, 2017 by Fr. Benjamin Roberts
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
November 27, 2017 by Deacon William Smith
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
November 27, 2017 by Randall Woodard
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
November 27, 2017 by Rev. Thomas G. Morrow
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
November 27, 2017 by 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
November 6, 2017 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
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
November 6, 2017 by Carolyn Humphreys, OCDS
“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.
November 6, 2017 by Stephen J. Heaney
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...]
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