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
On this day in 1947, February 8th, Sister Josephine Bakhita completed the long and eventful journey of her life. Born around 1869 – she was never quite sure the precise date or year – her childhood was spent happy and fulfilled growing up in the region of Darfur, Sudan, which was not then the dystopic[…]
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO BENIN, UGANDA AND KHARTOUM (SUDAN) EUCHARISTIC CONCELEBRATION IN HONOR OF BLESSED JOSEPHINE BAKHITA HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II Green Square, Khartoum (Sudan) Wednesday, 10 February 1993 “Come to me, all you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11: 28). Dear Brothers and[…]
Today is the feast of Saint Paul Miki and Companion martyrs, put to death by crucifixion and impaling on February 5, 1597 at Nagasaki, Japan, amongst the hundreds, if not thousands, who witnessed for the Faith in those tumultuous missionary times; their example offers a healthy antidote to the rather darker and, to be quite[…]
Today, 6 February, is the feast of Saint Paul Miki and his (twenty-five) companions who were tortured and executed in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1597. “After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men[…]
Saint Agatha (+251) is counted amongst the most venerated of the ‘virgin martyrs’, one of the seven women whose name appears in the Canon of the Mass. Having made a vow of virginity, Agatha, under the reign of Emperor Decius, was condemned as a Christian by a certain pagan suitor, Quintianus, whom she rebuffed –[…]
Saint Blaise, a bishop of ancient Sebastea (now in Turkey), was also a physician, like Saint Luke, a healer of body and soul. And, we may add, a martyr, tortured to death for the faith in 316 A.D., a scant three years after Constantine declared the faith legally sanctioned in Roman law by the Edict[…]
Saint Bridget of Kildare (451 – 525), who lived a century after Saint Patrick (385 – 461), and a century before Saint Columbanus (543 – 615) shares with them the triumvirate patronage of Ireland. A generation younger than Saint Benedict (480 – 547) Bridget flourished during the early days of formal monasticism, the female version[…]
The term ‘charismatic’ has an ambiguous meaning in the Church, invoking images of liturgical guitars, drums, emotional crescendos, and disconcerting glossolalia. In the Church’s theology, however, it has a rather specific meaning, derived from Saint Paul’s letters: A ‘charism’, from the Greek word for ‘grace’, Χάρις is a gratia gratis data, a gift, talent, ministry,[…]
On joy, presence, young love, and the quiet holiness of Catholic education There’s a particular kind of sound you only hear in a school: a quick burst of laughter that tries to hide itself, the shuffle of sneakers between classes, the rhythmic thud of lockers, and the sudden hush when a student realizes you’re closer[…]
(Last year marked the 800th anniversary of the birth of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who came into this world on this January 28th, 1225. The great saint and doctor died in 1274, and was canonized July 18th, 1323, by the Avignon Pope, John XXII. Good thing, too, for Pope John was one of the pontiffs accused[…]
