the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser men are forthcoming (Gaudium et Spes, 15)
Year: 2022
Saint Vincent of Lérins and True Development of Doctrine
Here is a very good take on Saint Vincent of Lérins (+445) and the complex question of the development of doctrine, on which Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman also wrote a millennium and a half after Vincent, in his own superb and carefully delineated essay. We are in dire need of such precise and clear[…]
And with regard to ourselves, how deservedly do we keep the feast of the Assumption with all solemnity. What reasons for rejoicing, what motives for exultation have we on this most beautiful day! The presence of Mary illumines the entire world so that even the holy city above has now a more dazzling splendor from[…]
St Maximillian Kolbe: The Martyr of Love
In this canonization liturgy there seems to appear before us that “martyr of love” of Oswiecim (as Paul VI called him), saying: “O Lord, I am thy servant. I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou has loosed my bonds” (Psalm 115 (116):16). With these words during the canonization homily of Blessed Maximillian[…]
Blessed Marco D’Aviano: The Staunch Defender of the Freedom and Unity of Christian Europe
August 13th is the feast of Blessed Marco D’Aviano, who played a curcial role in Christian Europe of the seventh century. His importance can be seen even nowadays, in a Europe of integration of multi-ethnic and multi-faith context. He was born in Aviano on November 17, 1631, the third of eleven children of Pasquale Cristofori[…]
Douglas Farrow’s Thoughts on Smudging and the Sacraments
An intriguing and insightful take here from Dr. Douglas Farrow, a fifth-generation Canadian and professor of theology and ethics at McGill university. My talk at our recent Wojtyla Conference was on the ‘Sacramental Nature of the Human Person’, and we are indeed sacramental by our very nature, not only seeing things as ‘signs’, but turning[…]
Pèlerinage dans La Belle Province
For the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim on July 26th, just prior to the papal visit, I went on pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré, dedicated to the mother of the Blessed Virgin, and the grandmother of Our Lod. We may as well put a word in also for poor Joachim,[…]
The Empathy of Edith Stein
An intriguing take on Saint Edith Stein from the perspective of empathy, on which the saint wrote her dissertation, an important topic in our world so immersed in suffering. That said, secular authors should probably brush up on at least some basics of Catholic doctrine. To say that Edith “took Holy Orders as a Carmelite[…]
St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a Mystic for our Times
We celebrate the feast day of St Teresa Benedict of the Cross on August 9th, and we may ask, who was this great woman whose life was cut short at the age of 51 years old? Her original name was Edith Stein. Born on 12 October 1891, the highly intelligent Edith in her teenage years[…]
Laughter and Weeping, Riches and Wealth
Occasionally, in hearing confessions, I encounter a penitent who has been away from the sacraments for a number of years. When it comes time to assign a penance, I pause, for “Say ten Hail Mary’s” seems to trivialize the significance of someone’s being reconciled to God and to the Church after so long a time.[…]