I begin with an admission that may surprise some readers. When I was discerning my vocation, Franciscanism never appealed to me. I never quite got it. To my young clerical imagination, Saint Francis of Assisi was a kind of “hippie saint,” al … [Read more...]
Rebuilding the Church, Within the Church
An Editorial on Pope Leo XIV’s Declaration of the Year of Saint Francis (2026)
Laudato? Si!
June 27, 2015 by David Vincent Meconi
The Holy Father’s recent encyclical on the Christian care of the environment deserves to be read by all the faithful. He takes its name from his beloved Francis of Assisi’s "Canticle," Laudato Si, “Let him be praised.” For too long, the Magi … [Read more...]
Winter Reading for January 2015
January 29, 2015 by Book Reviews
New Evangelization: Passing on the Catholic Faith Today. Cardinal Donald Wuerl. (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2013) 91 pages. (Reviewed by Dr. Edward Peters) ______ A Future Built on Faith: Religious Life and the Legacy o … [Read more...]
Scriptural Iconography Communicating Our Vision of God
October 29, 2014 by Fr. John Navone, SJ
Literature, whether in the form of narratives, plays, autobiographies, biographies, or histories, is a question-raising work of art for the inquisitive mind seeking understanding. As such, it presents what scholastic philosophy called “the s … [Read more...]
True, Virginal Wife of Joseph
October 29, 2014 by Jonathan Fleischmann
Recently, a holy, married couple made the following claim regarding the central place of sexual intercourse in sacramental marriage, expressed as a personal insight, gained over the course of more than 50 years of sacramental … [Read more...]
The Glory of the Mass
July 10, 2014 by Rev. Thomas G. Morrow
Obviously, the Mass is a glorious thing. It is the way God continues to feed his people; it is the way Jesus Christ—God made flesh—keeps his promise never to leave us orphans. Those who attend daily Mass have been given an unmatchable gra … [Read more...]
Contemplation, Action, and the Good Life
February 22, 2014 by Dr. Richard Becka, PhD
Everyone is seeking knowledge, but is the knowledge they are seeking really worth the trade-off in terms of the life’s cost? Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas Everyone familiar with the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition will recognize … [Read more...]
Communion, Community, and Communication
January 14, 2014 by Fr. John Navone, SJ
The Gospel summons us to authentic human development in communion, community, and communication under the sovereignty of God’s love. Our Christian conversion is both an event and a lifelong process of ongoing response to the grace and call o … [Read more...]
Welcome, Holy Father Francis!
March 15, 2013 by David Vincent Meconi
Like Francis of Assisi, our Holy Father is calling us back to the great saint who “rebuilt Christ's Church” by living a life of sheer simplicity and charity. St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis: "Rebuild my House" Let us take this oppo … [Read more...]
Prayer as the Channel of Celestial Joy
June 2, 2012 by Carolyn Humphreys, OCDS
We can accept, rather than trying to avoid, pain and trials in a spirit allowing us to offer this rarely-appreciated human gift back to God. This is the cause of St. Francis of Assisi's perfect joy. St. Francis of Assisi by Jusepe de … [Read more...]
The Dark Side of Voluntary Poverty?
THE POVERTY OF RICHES: ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI RECONSIDERED. By Kenneth Baxter Wolf (Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016, 2003), 208 pp. HB $45.00.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
The emergence of a commercial economy in the High Middle Ages created new spiritual challenges for many medieval Christians, who wondered how to reconcile Christ’s instructions to the rich man in the gospel with the emerging profit economy. … [Read more...]
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