Laetare Sunday marks the halfway point of Lent. It is so named after the Introit, from Isaiah 66:10–11 and Psalms 121:1.
Lætare Jerusalem et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam; gaudete cum lætitia, qui in tristitia fuistis, ut exsultetis et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae.
Psalm: Lætatus sum in his quæ dicta...
Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and true (Eph. 5:8-9).
The account of the cure of the blind man at the pool of Siloam, like...
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College is embarking tomorrow on our annual pilgrimage to Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, following the steps of Saints Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant and their companions who gave their lives for Christ, for Canada, and for the people they loved so much. They prayed...
War is always a bad business, even in the most just of them, the criteria for which the current conflagration does not seem fit. Whatever one's view, as one of the worst of evils to afflict Man – along with plagues and, say, giant asteroids – we should strive...
As of this writing, I have 53 days until I am confirmed into the Catholic Church. An astonishing thing for many reasons. Mainly because I never thought there would be a day I would become a “heretic” as I formerly believed – but there are much more nuanced reasons...
Should it please the reader to explore the Church’s rich repository of Latin poetry, I shall gladly introduce you. Surely, it is a noble study which you undertake, and I hope to direct your desire to profitably see its fulfillment. Our holy Mother, the Church, possesses an inexhaustible library...
(The Liberals are fast-tracking Bill C-9 through parliament, which will make illegal 'hate speech', vaguely defined, and punishable by two years to life imprisonment. Specifically, the new bill seeks to remove 'religious exemption' from legitimate criticism of the nefarious, or at least controversial, beliefs and practices of certain 'protected...
We would remiss on this March 10th if we didn’t mention the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, a group of elite Roman legionaries – called the Fulminata (‘the ligthning’ regiment) - who en masse professed Christianity, and were condemned to death. This was under the persecution of Emperor Licinius in...
Bishop Marian Eleganti, auxiliary emeritus of Chur, Switzerland, through which I happened to pilgrimage last summer, sums up the irregular situation of the SSPX. His thoughts bear pondering:
Firstly, acting with full autonomy without papal mandate or confirmed mission; secondly, operating with bishops not in union with the Pope and...
John Ogilvie was born in 1579, just as the Protestant 'reformation' was taking hold in Britain, including his native land of Scotland, led by the fiery apostate priest John Knox. Catholicism would soon be all-but wiped out in dear Alba, signified by the death of our saint.
Although raised in...
There’s so much talk in the news right now about how we can unite as a region at a time when we’re more divided than ever. Often, we turn to policy to answer this question. But it’s so much bigger than that.
And while the problem is big, I believe...
Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, a Cistercian Trappist, converted to Catholicism in 2002, and, after years of study at Cambridge and Rome - he is an expert in Syriac - was ordained to the priesthood on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 2011, and a decade later,...
We should not be surprised that the saints speak to us through the ages. How they responded in their own era with its own troubles and crises offers us an example for how to act in our own. As well, they intercede for us, that we, like them, may...
‘Give me a drink’ (Jn. 4:7).
The conversation of Our Lord and the Samaritan woman revolves around the gift of water. This request is presented to us to contemplate on this third Sunday in Lent; and it is a request that we will hear again during the Commemoration of the...
Saints are by definition ‘extreme’, for they live a liminal life, on the very threshold of eternity, seeing past the veil of this world. Hence, they act as though all that mattered were the next life, which, in the end, is true. Contrary to John Lennon, they more than...
For our musical offering on this Third Sunday of Lent, here are a few renditions - amongst many - of the perduring Stabat Mater, the 13th century poem on the sorrows of Mary 'standing by the Cross', attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone de Todi, or, some say, Saint Bonaventure...
Remember to turn your clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time this evening, March 8th, a 2 am to be precise. Or, at least, since most of us keep time using digital devices, which automatically adjust, one should psychologically prepare for one hour less sleep.
One would hope that this measure...
Today marks the memorial of the early martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, put to death likely in the year 203, under the reign of Septimius Severus, an emperor who seems on the whole to have been well-disposed to Christians. But the true religion was still one hundred and ten years...
Nicole Boellet (1381 - 1447) was a miraculous birth. Her childless, elderly parents, Robert and Marguerite, prayed to Saint Nicholas - yes, 'Santa Claus' - that they might conceive, and lo and behold, as he often does, old Saint Nick came through with his gift. Marguerite conceived at the...
Fulton Sheen’s beatification continues. And I’d like to draw attention to something he once wrote:, “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white Host,” and that sentence alone has more theological density than most religious commentary produced in a year. Consequently, if we are...
Here is a disconcerting exchange between Pope Leo XIV and an EWTN reporter, when the Pope is asked to comment on the case of Jimmy Lai.
As readers may know, Jimmy Lai is a Catholic entrepreneur and businessman, who persevered through years of threats to stand up for basic human...
