One forgives to the degree that one loves (Saint Francois de Laval, +1708)
Month: May 2020
The Devil Inside
On November 22nd, 1997 – the memorial of the patroness of music, Saint Cecelia – the lead singer of the 80’s rock band INXS, Michael Hutchence, was found dead in his luxury hotel room in his native land of Sydney, Australia, where he and his mates had been staging comeback tour. He was hanging –[…]
Do Cats Go to Heaven?
(The Church in her official capacity does not speak much of animals, except in their relation to us humans. They don’t have intrinsic ‘rights’, but only in relation to us – that we should treat them with respect and care. Many saints – Francis, Philip Neri, Padre Pio – demonstrated a great love for God’s[…]
Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he[…]
True and False Shepherds
The Good Shepherd has risen, who laid down His life for His sheep and willingly died for his flock (Communion Antiphon). Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the sacred liturgy invites us to contemplate Christ the Good Shepherd who leads us and guides us to the fullness of life. I came that they may have[…]
Good Shepherd Sunday
Has any one of you ever been a shepherd? or even seen one? Do shepherds exist in contemporary North America? Nevertheless, we know instinctively that when Jesus uses the image of a shepherd, he is expressing his loving concern for his “sheep,” i.e., his followers. You might well ask, therefore, why he did not simply[…]
He (Jesus) became what we are that He might make us what He is. (Saint Athanasius, +373)
A society so afraid of death, that it is afraid to live
As the recent addition to our lexicon, COVID-19, rolls off the tongues, and streams off the texts of so many throughout the world these last few weeks, I am personally reminded of the thing which seems to be the source of so much panic and pandemonium: death. But, unlike the invisible and worrisome COVID-19, death[…]
An Easter Homily of Saint Athanasius
Easter-day xxiv Pharmuthi; xiii Kal. Mai; ‘ra Dioclet. 46; Coss. Gallicianus, Valerius Symmachus; Proefect, Magninianus; Indict. iii. AGAIN, my brethren, is Easter come and gladness; again the Lord hath brought us to this season; so that when, according to custom, we have been nourished with His words, we may duly keep the feast. Let us[…]
Human work, and especially manual labor, receive special prominence in the Gospel. Along with the humanity of the Son of God, work too has been taken up in the mystery of the Incarnation, and has also been redeemed in a special way. At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought[…]