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
(In the spirit of beginning our Lenten journey, here is a retrospective of the first Lenten message by Pope (Saint) John Paul II. A blessed and grace-filled Lent to all! Editor) You ask: “What has happened to Lent?”. Going to some small extent without food does not, you think, mean much, at a time when[…]
The Ave Regina Caelorum is the Marian antiphon sung during Lent. Its origins and composer are unknown, but manuscripts exist from the early 12 century onwards. There is the standard Gregorian chant, sung at Compline each night: But there are also any number of polyphonic renditions. Alonso Lobo (1555 – 1617) was a Spanish composer,[…]
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. – Soren Kierkegaard Does prayer work? First we should define what prayer is, and is not. It is not the merely automatic utterance of pious words on somebody else’s cue. That is to say, it is not just a habit that sooner or later[…]
Every year, the Wednesday after Ash Wednesday, the Mass readings revolve around the prophet Jonah. Not only does the first reading come from the book itself, Jonah 3:1-10, to be exact, but the Gospel reading includes the powerful and prophetic allusion to Jonah made by Jesus Himself in Luke 11:29-32, when He says that, “Just[…]
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time (Lk. 4:13). ⧾ On Ash Wednesday we began our observance of the holy season of Lent. By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert (The Catechism of[…]
(In light of today’s Gospel, on the calling of Levi, and our Lord eating with ‘tax collectors and sinners’, here are some fitting words on what holiness means from contributor Carl Sundell). Pope Benedict XVI knew knew the foremost item on his agenda. “First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral[…]
(This sermon by Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy was preached at the evening Mass a week before Ash Wednesday that year, on Sunday, February 12, 1956, and is perhaps more applicable today than those more traditional days of half a century ago. Monsignor Foy died on March 13, 2017, at the age of 101, after[…]
Our nation is in great turmoil; and those who should provide us with moral leadership are either completely silent or dithering as they assess the political landscape in the hope of making most of any crisis for partisan gains. They are not public servants; rather, they act or fail to act, in the interests of[…]
(As we make our way through the Sirach in the readings for Mass, also called Ecclesiasticus, a deuterocanonical book in the canon, considered ‘apocryphal’ by the Protestants, here is a fine meditation by new contributor Peter Bartholomew on why both the protocanon and deuterocanon are all canonical in the true Catholic sense. A good lead[…]
I’ve been hearing confessions now for over fifty years, and I have noticed that there is one sin that comes up more than any other; it’s connected to today’s Gospel, about loving your enemy, “turning the other cheek.” The penitent will say something like this: I know that I should forgive everyone, but I there[…]
