“Reading” a Marian Eucharistic Icon

Scripturally, Theologically, and Liturgically

This icon has a double appellation. The first is that of place, Our Lady of Connecticut, because its basic symbols are derived from the state’s shield and motto. Its second designation is that of grace, Virgin Mother of the Holy Vine, from w … [Read more...]

In Memoriam: Fr. Fred Miller

Rev. Frederick L. Miller, a beloved priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on September 28, 2022. He was the Spiritual Director of St. Andrew’s Hall College Seminary and Adjunct Professor of Systematic T … [Read more...]

Doing the Works of Mercy with Mary, Mother of Mercy

Although I have had a relationship with Mary since I was a child and had been praying the Rosary since my early twenties, I developed a closer relationship with Mary as a mother and came to understand her as the Mother of Mercy because of … [Read more...]

The Mystery of Miscarriage

Mary, Joseph, and the Theology of Pre-Natal Life

The deepest truth about the human person is contained in the words “Our Father.” Enfolded in this sublime opening to the Lord’s Prayer is God’s loving provision for and delight in each one of us; our connection to Jesus and to one another as … [Read more...]

The Biblical Mariology of Pope Benedict XVI, Part II

Blessed Is She

In the first part of this article, I demonstrated how Pope Benedict XVI, erudite biblical theologian that he is, grounds his Mariology in an ardent love of Sacred Scripture. In this article, the second of the two parts, I will demonstrate … [Read more...]

The Biblical Mariology of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 1

Hail, Full of Grace

“The unique and unrepeatable position that Mary occupies in the Community of Believers . . . stems from her fundamental vocation to being Mother of the Redeemer. Precisely as such, Mary is also Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ, which i … [Read more...]

Mother Church, Tota Pulchra

A Call for Ecclesial Communities

In the Gospel of John, we read “Neque vocem ejus umquam audistis, neque speciem ejus visistis” (John 5:37), or “Neither have you heard His voice, nor seen his ‘speciem.’” “Speciem” is defined as “visual appearance . . . splendour, beauty, vi … [Read more...]

Mother of the Little Bright Lights of the World

Her History and Spirituality

At Medjugorje, Our Lady said that she was completing there what she began at Fatima. Surprisingly, my story follows that same way. This story begins simply at Fatima in 2001 and proceeds to Medjugorje in 2017. In July 2001, I went on a … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – April 2021

The Sacraments: Discovering the Treasures of Divine Life. By Rev. Matthew Kauth. Reviewed by Aaron Martin. (skip to review) Telling Stories That Matter: Memoirs and Essays. By Marvin R. O’Connell. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (skip t … [Read more...]

A Shepherd’s Experience Leading His Flock in a Consecration to Jesus through Mary

A chance stop at the Children’s Rosary booth in the Conference Centre of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin 2018 brought me my first encounter with what would become my diocesan-led Child Consecration: To Jesus through Mary. After a c … [Read more...]

“I Am The Immaculate Conception”

In his classic and inspirational book The Song of Bernadette, a novel based on the true story of Mary’s apparitions and miracle at Lourdes, France, Franz Werfel wrote, “Then at last she revealed the most important happening of the day, whi … [Read more...]

The Sweetness of Fatima

Catholics begin a new liturgical year by starting with a pregnant Virgin Mother in Advent, and we start a new chronological year by invoking her once again — the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. If God “started” with Mary, why shouldn’t we? … [Read more...]

Our Lady of America

Great Expectations

What could it mean that the Blessed Virgin Mary, appearing in Northern Indiana, USA, on September 25, 1956, in private revelation to Sister Mary Ephrem, CPpS, “promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be … [Read more...]

Our Lady of Good Help, the New Evangelization, and the Priest

Allow me to begin by making two confessions: I arrived at the Monastery of the Holy Name of Jesus in Denmark, Wisconsin, on Friday afternoon. I am an old friend of the nuns and try to visit them at least once a year. Two of the nuns, … [Read more...]

Mary and Prayer

Part III of a Marian Triptych

Mary is not a conceptual counterpoint to Christ, imagined and projected into the Gospels as a kind of semidivine goddess who was made manifest, as it were, in preparation for the coming of the Savior of mankind: a kind of “power of woman” to … [Read more...]