For a guided reading Chapter Eight of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia is significantly entitled: "Accompanying, discerning and integrating weakness." This part of the document is not very large, because it is … [Read more...]
Magazine
Wilderness versus Pseudo-Paradise
A Reflection on the Church in Revelation, 12:13-17
May 1, 2017 by Fr. Andreas Hoeck, SSD
Introduction Last year on March 17, 2016, the government of the United States had issued a formal statement regarding Christian genocide in our days: Secretary of State John Kerry declared that ISIS is committing genocide against … [Read more...]
Liturgy as an Act of Leisure
Perspectives from Guardini, Pieper, and Ratzinger
May 1, 2017 by Veronica A. Arntz
We frequently hear that the liturgy is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, a quote from the Vatican II document, Lumen gentium. We often do not get the whole context for this small part of the quote. In a slightly different tran … [Read more...]
Orthodox Christians and the Modern Church
May 1, 2017 by John Madigan
With the recent meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and all Russia, it is important and helpful to remind ourselves of developments in the Church’s teachings regarding our Eastern brothers. This article explores how l … [Read more...]
The Immaculate Heart of Mary as the The Perfect Custodian of the Human Heart
May 1, 2017 by Bernard M. Collins
Showing us a disposition to be acquired, as well as admired. Can anyone doubt that we live in times of great moral danger, perhaps as great as at any time in human history? Any recitation of grave evils in the world need go no further … [Read more...]
Christ is Risen, allelujah!
April 15, 2017 by HPRweb.com
Sequence — Victimae Paschali Laudes Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat st … [Read more...]
The Temptations of Christ and the Paschal Triduum
A Reflection
April 8, 2017 by Fr. James Orr
I am not sure what to call this. It is not an exegesis. As a theological reflection, it lacks a certain rigor. It does seem to work as a spiritual/homiletic/liturgical reflection, and that’s how I’ve proposed this when I have taught it, and … [Read more...]
The Prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane in the Monothelite Controversy
In this article, originally published in French in the Actes du Symposium sur Maxime le Confesseur (1982), François-Marie Léthel shows how the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane factored into the monothelite controversy. Léthel first focuses on t … [Read more...]
Accusation, Forgiveness, and the Joy of Forgetting
April 8, 2017 by Deacon W. Patrick Cunningham
The greatest problem any one of us human beings has is sin. Sin can make our lives miserable on earth, and, if it is unrepented and unforgiven, it can result in everlasting misery. When the priest-prophet Zechariah foretold the ministry of … [Read more...]
Lumen Fidei and the Revelation of God’s Love as the Foundation of Our Faith
April 8, 2017 by Dr. Jeffrey Froula
Introduction In his encyclical letter, Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis greatly emphasizes the importance of believing in God’s love for us. The prominence of this theme is indicated by the title of the encyclical’s first chapter, "We Have Bel … [Read more...]
The Imperishable Crown
Martyrdom as the Fulfillment of the Baptismal Call
April 8, 2017 by Tyler J. Worthy
At the heart of the mystery of Christian life is a paradox: although those who are baptized receive all of the supernatural grace necessary for entering eternal life, they do not on that account escape the harsh reality of the present … [Read more...]
“Do You Love Me more than … These?”
April 8, 2017 by R. Thomas Richard, PhD
Introduction The catch of exactly 153 fish in the closing chapter 21 of John’s Gospel has been an exegetical challenge for a very long time. “So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fift … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
April 8, 2017 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: Why was baptism by John so crucial for Jesus, but not for Jesus’ followers? Answer: The baptism by John is the last in a number of rituals established by God as a part of the progressive preparation of the human race for the co … [Read more...]
Homilies for April 2017
March 26, 2017 by Deacon James H. Toner, Ph.D.
Fifth Sunday of Lent—April 2, 2017 Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040217.cfm EZ 37:12-14; PS 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; ROM 8:8-11; JN 11:1-45 As St. Paul tells us today, we are consecrated to the truth, not to the ways of th … [Read more...]
Cry of Abandonment? No, Proclamation of Faith
Psalm 22 and Matthew 27
March 26, 2017 by Paul Senz
“The New Testament is concealed in the Old, the Old Testament is revealed in the New.” These words of St. Augustine of Hippo have become axiomatic for Christian Scripture scholars. In particular, when a passage from the Old Testament is dir … [Read more...]
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