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
August 18th is the traditional feast of St Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, the Empress who found the Cross of Christ. In Malta we celebrate her feast at the parish Church of Birkirkara. When thinking about the life of St Helen what spontaneously comes into my heart and mind is the her role[…]
Saint Roch (1295 – 1376?) – also known as Rock, or, in Scotland, Rollox, not to be confused with the luxury watch of similar vintage – whose feast we celebrate on August 16th, was a Majorcan confessor, perhaps originally from Montpellier. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he tended to plague victims, caught the disease, and[…]
Christians agree that God invites us all to end our lives in a state of being called ‘heaven’; that is, in a personal relationship with God that is full of joy and oneness for all eternity. The idea of a perfect state of being is very difficult to grasp since we are not perfect, and[…]
A couple of weeks ago in Indianapolis, IN, 60,000 Catholics gathered together for a five-day National Eucharistic Congress. I was blessed to be one of them. If I were to describe my experience in three words it would be this: foretaste of Heaven. Being amongst such a vast number of people with the common goal[…]
And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence (1 Kings 19: 12). The Prophet Elijah’s mysterious encounter with the Lord in the sheer silence was not unlike the experience of Peter and the disciples once Jesus and Peter got into the boat.[…]
The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, issued from the Second Vatican Council, emphasized the point that every person has a vocation to holiness. The word “vocation” stems from the Latin word vocare which means “to call.” Within each person’s call to holiness is a particular vocation such as the priesthood, marriage, and religious[…]
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” From the Catechism of the Catholic Church Purgatory is traditionally defined by the Catholic Church as[…]
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (Jn 6:33) As we listen to our Lord’s Eucharistic discourse, our Lord Himself teaches us about the Eucharist, the Sacrament prefigured not only in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish but also in the life[…]
This morning I invite you to reflect on St Eusebius of Vercelli, the first Bishop of Northern Italy of whom we have reliable information. Born in Sardinia at the beginning of the fourth century, he moved to Rome with his family at a tender age. Later, he was instituted lector: he thus came to belong[…]
“The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can[…]
