Theology is only thought applied to religion (G.K. Chesterton)
Month: August 2023
Death and Dying: A Christian Perspective
Life begins, and life end ends. As Christians we hold dear the inherent dignity of that life for its entirety—from its beginning at conception to its natural conclusion. And while we hope death will not come too soon, we know that as St. Francis Sales put it, God will harvest everything in its season. In[…]
The Pieta’s Anamnesis: Memory and Consolation in the Eternal City
A visit to Rome prompts the author to reflect upon his own journey to Catholicism. It was not rational argument that shipwrecked the mind as much as a growing recognition of something lost long ago: something that now somehow satisfies the universal desire to both remember and be remembered, to consoled as to be consoled.[…]
Lessons I Have Learned from Saint Augustine
In his first catechesis out of a series of three on the saint, given at Paul VI Audience Hall on Wednesday 9 January 2008, one of the most eminent Augustinian scholars ever, Pope Benedict XVI, described Saint Augustine with the following words: Man of passion and faith, of the highest intelligence and tireless in his[…]
To endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward. (Saint Bede the Venerable)
Pope Benedict and Augustine – Part III
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 30 January 2008 Saint Augustine of Hippo (3) Dear Friends, After the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we return today to the important figure of St Augustine. In 1986, the 16th centenary of his conversion, my beloved Predecessor John Paul II dedicated a long, full Document to[…]
Pope Benedict and Augustine – Part II
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 16 January 2008 Saint Augustine of Hippo (2) Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today, like last Wednesday, I would like to talk about the great Bishop of Hippo, St Augustine. He chose to appoint his successor four years before he died. Thus, on 26 September 426, he gathered[…]
Churches Spared
Even the secular news had to admit that it was odd, even using the word ‘miraculous’ as this headline proclaimed, that the Catholic church was spared in the tragic wildfires on Maui. Across the Pacific, the same is happening in Western Canada, battling their own blazes – all of the churches have been left intact.[…]
The True Saint Augustine
St. Augustine’s legacy has fared so well not just because of his personal holiness and scholarly genius, but also because of the great ease with which he expressed profound thoughts. His aphoristic style of writing compares favorably with Newman or Chesterton. Here are some examples: “God is always trying to give good things to us,[…]
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself. (Saint Augustine, +430)