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
Handel’s Messiah dates back to 1742, an Oratorio that pulls out all the stops, usually connected with Christmas, but actually follows the whole life of our Saviour from His birth, through His Passion, to His glorious Resurrection. And that triumph of Christ over death The work is European in a cosmopolitan sense: Written by a[…]
Jean Mouton (1459 – 1522) was a French priest, canon and, like Vivaldi (also ordained), a prolific composer, well ahead of his time in his masterful use of polyphony, chords and harmony. From what survives of his work (more than most, due to his contemporary popularity with popes, kings, queens, nobles and the people), we[…]
Listen Everything is loud, until you listen. If you couldn’t speak, what would you do? What would you notice? The miracles of Christ or Christ? Hume said, “The Son of David’s miracles are not probable.” Was Hume deaf or dumb? Because I heard yesterday, “You can’t apply probability to intentional events.” Hume must be[…]
If a blessing is God’s favour and protection, can there be an eminent example of such than the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary? In his tertium librum Sententiarum, 3.q.I, Blessed Duns Scotus, a humble and most erudite Franciscan theologian writes: Mary did not contract original sin because of the excellence of her Son. Inasmuch[…]
The story of St Nicholas goes back to the third century, to the 15th March 270, when he was born in the Patara village in Asia Minor. In those days his village was within Greek influence. He hailed from wealthy parents, who were adamant to raise him in the Christian faith. Unfortunately he lost his[…]
Words Aren’t Weightless “Sticks and stones may break my bones But words will never hurt me” Tell that to the lasting tone of a stone Their syntax sticks My inner structures are brittle Hollow bones like a bird Words aren’t weightless They fly away from prepositions and predicates Subjected phrases, objectifying subjects Making nests[…]
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Lk. 3:4). ⧾ The Gospel of the Mass on this second Sunday of Advent introduces us to John the Baptist, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight’. John the Baptist is one of[…]
John of Damascus was born around the year 675 or 676, into a cultural milieu which was rather intriguing. Although given much prominence in Byzantine Theology, he grew up in the Islamic culture, and although he came from a Christian family, he was appointed the Treasurer of the Caliphate. Court life did not really leave[…]
“And her husband Joseph, being a just man…”[1] How many times have we as Catholics heard these words of Scripture and experienced the meaning of them go right over our heads? I know that this has been the case with me. Over and over again in my young life I have heard these words in[…]
Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506, in the city of Javier, which in Basque language means “new house”, in the Kingdom of Navarre (present day Spain). He was a companion of St Ignatius of Loyola, one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris in 1534.[…]
