We live in a time when we are facing a growing crisis of fatherlessness. This is evident not only in society but also in the Church, where some shepherds may struggle to relate to those entrusted to their care as spiritual fathers because of their own woundedness. In psychology,...
Saint Pantaleon (275 – 305) was a martyr under the persecution of Diocletian, who, like the later Saint Augustine, had a pagan father and Christian mother, who instructed him in the faith. At first, the lad followed his dad, away from the Church, studying medicine, and became the personal...
François Couperin (1668 - 1733) was one of the great Baroque composers, perhaps most famous for his keyboard - harpsichord and organ - works, which are indeed marvelous, and played at many a wedding. He also composed for voice, and here is a little-known motet, from 1679-80, in four...
On this day in 2009, at the end of his Angelus message, Pope Benedict had these brief words to say on Saints Joachim and Anne:
A second point for reflection comes from today's liturgical commemoration of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of Our Lady, and therefore, grandparents of Jesus. This...
(From our archives, but well worth a revisit on this day:)
Let us sing praises to Joachim and Anna,
The couple honoured by God (as they are His kinsmen)
They have borne for us the Maiden
Who in a manner beyond understanding
Gave birth to Him who though fleshless
Became the incarnate to save the...
Today we celebrate the great feast of Saint James 'the Greater', not because of any intrinsic superior quality to the other apostle James, 'the Lesser', traditionally held to be the author of the New Testament epistle, whom we venerate with Saint Philip on May 3rd, but likely because this...
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
James, the Greater
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are continuing the series of portraits of the Apostles chosen directly by Jesus during his earthly life. We have spoken of St Peter and of his brother, Andrew. Today we meet the figure of James. The biblical lists...
As a psychology graduate, I do not dismiss the benefits of this discipline, along with psychotherapy, which can help us understand behaviour, wounds, fear, grief, family patterns, and suffering. But something changes when psychology stops being a tool and becomes a worldview. One of the great temptations of our age is the belief that therapeutic language alone can tell us who we are, what is wrong with us, and how we are to be healed.
God often works through hidden ways, and those who live a hidden life. Amare nesciri, Saint Philip Neri was wont to say, 'love to be unknown'. Behind the noise of the world, the saints are sowing the seeds of the kingdom, and one of the most 'invisible' of them...
It has been a constant teaching of the Church that society, and its laws, must uphold marriage and family. That means, of course, the true marriage, between a man and a woman, faithful and indissoluble unto death do them part, and open to children.
Supporting counterfeit versions of marriage is...
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Saint Bridget of Sweden
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the eve of the Great Jubilee in anticipation of the Year 2000 the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II proclaimed St Bridget of Sweden Co-Patroness of the whole of Europe. This morning I would...
Long before Sweden was known for ABBA and IKEA – two exports not to everyone’s taste, even if billion-dollar brands – along with a soft version of socialism and moribund demographics, the northern nation was was a land of saints. The people were devoted to their Faith, after the...
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
Castel Gandolfo
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Word of God this Sunday presents us once again with a fundamental, ever fascinating theme of the Bible; it reminds us that God is the Shepherd of humanity. This means that God wants life for us, he wants to guide...
A blessed feast of Mary Magdalene, which - or who - was raised from memorial status in the liturgical revisions of 1969 to a full feast by a decree of Pope Francis in 2016. This was to emphasize her role as the 'apostle to the Apostles'; perhaps also to...
(Here is a reprise of a reflection by Joseph Donnelly, on the courage of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and those who plotted to overthrow Hitler in the final days of World War II. Stauffenberg was executed on this 21st of July in 1944, the day after his failed attempt...
Guilio Cesare Russo was born to a family of Venetian merchants, but not in Venice, but rather far to the south, in the village of Brindisi, right down on the heel of the boot of Italy. He took the name Lawrence when he entered the Order of the Capuchins,...
The very phrase “artificial intelligence” is an acknowledgement that AI is, in a pretty fundamental way, a likeness. It’s an imitation of human intelligence. One question which occasionally troubles us is how good this imitation could be. Could it ever get so perfectly alike that it turns out to...
Introduction
As conflicts between nations continue to impact our life and threaten the fragile stability of the world, conflicts within the Church weaken the Church’s mission to call the world to conversion and to the truth of the Gospel. The purpose of this article is to make available and accessible...
The See of Ravenna – on the north-east coast of Italy – was once, way back in the Middle Ages, nearly on par with Rome in terms of its ecclesiastical stature. Of course, Rome was and is always Rome, and the Pope, the Pope, who is always, unto the...
The mystical literal interpretation of scripture is an avenue to powers many consider to be unusual. It is not a method they teach you in catechism class. Some of its masters, such as Venerable Mary of Agreda in her classical Mystical City of God, succumb to errors by failing...
Saint Alex – or Alexius – known as ‘the Beggar’ was a Christian in the early fourth-century, was the son of a Senator, Euphemian, and his wife, Aglae. Fearing the allure of the riches of the life intended for him, Alexius decided to renounce everything to follow Christ in...
