Second Sunday of Advent: The Baptist’s Call to Repentance

The nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious (Is. 11:10). The Gospel of the Mass on this second Sunday of Advent...

The Christian and Depression            

  I strongly encourage anyone who is discouraged or depressed to read the third chapter of the book of Tobit. In this passage, two people...

On the Jaws of Death and the Gates of Heaven

Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977) was a Catholic convert, philosopher, and theologian whose deep thinking prepared him during his long life for fruitful meditations on...

Slouching Towards Babel

For all shall come to nothing that proceeds not from God. The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis  In the beginning, the Lord God instructed Man to go...

A Protestant Gentleman, Predestined?

He was a good man, in the old Scottish Presbyterian phrase, God-ward and man-ward. - Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary Leslie Hamilton Neatby who died...

Surrendering to Grace When Bereft of the Sacraments

In times of spiritual aridity we can be tempted to think that without certain works, like the Sacraments, our good Lord cannot save us....

When I Die, Do I Want to Be a…Tree?

This phrase recently appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in an article on the greening of death, a quote from Susan Koswan, a Waterloo writer...

Epiphany: Kneeling Humbly Before our God

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then opening their treasure...

General Audience, 2007: Saint Jerome

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 7 November 2007 Saint Jerome (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today, we turn our attention to St Jerome, a Church Father who...

Random Reflections on Jacques Maritain

Recently I was startled to realize, it being so uneasy a reminder of my own mortality, that the eminent French philosopher Jacques Maritain has...