Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Dedicated to Rita Ann Knuffman As the old proverb, now meme, goes, “Blood is thicker than water”. Blood meaning family, and more specifically, individuals who share a blood relationship to each other and water of course is everyone else, friends, neighbors, strangers, and perhaps in-laws. Thicker can only be construed as greater than, better than,[…]
‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’ (Jn. 10:10). These few words tell us everything that we need to know about the Redemptive Incarnation, the saving mission of the Word Incarnate, and about ourselves in relation to this Mystery. The Lord of all creation reveals Himself and He has created us[…]
Start being brave about everything. Drive out darkness and spread light. Don’t look at your weaknesses. Realize instead that in Christ crucified you can do everything. (Saint Catherine of Siena, +1380)
Lies come in all types – Half-lies, white lies, truthful lies, lying truths, and the ‘damned lies’ of statistics. Saint Thomas, following Augustine, defines a lie as a falsehood told with the intention of deceit, and he distinguishes them based on their intent: Jocose, for fun; officious, for a good reason; and malicious, for evil[…]
Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will[…]
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Saint Mark 15:15-16)
A sense of urgency It is useful and edifying to read a Gospel continuously, from start to finish. It allows us to notice details that we miss by hearing it presented piecemeal at Sunday Mass. With the Gospel of Mark several things immediately catch our attention, one being the word “immediately.” There is a feverish[…]
Here is a sublime rendition of the Regina Caeli Laetare a 8, by Tomas Luis De Victoria (1548-1611), as sung again by the ensemble Voces8. This work was first published in 1576, at the height of the Catholic Restoration: We cannot let Easter go by without Palestrina’s contemporaneous version of this ancient Marian antiphon: And,[…]
Pretense: A false appearance or action intended to deceive. A professed but feigned reason or excuse; a pretext. Something imagined or pretended. (https://www.wordnik.com/words/pretense) What term does one use for what happened at the cathedral of Saint John Lateran last week, on Tuesday, April 18th? A group of Anglican divines – not priests, still less bishops[…]
I think we’ll make this a regular event, listing the various signs of hope – locally and globally – in our fragmenting and fractious world. After all, Saint Paul’s words that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, and Saint John’s, that the true light has come into the world, and the darkness has[…]
