Today, April 4th, muted this year by Holy Saturday, is the commemoration of Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) a bishop and doctor of the Church during a tumultuous age, when civilization was crumbling, coming apart at its very seams, which may sound sort of au courant. Then again, the...
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders - anticipates - what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious...
(As we meditate on this day on Christ's burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot 'redeem' hell, nor those therein, He can and...
Incredible, at the beginning of this reflection, that the Venerable Bishop Sheen declares that he has given nearly 58 Good Friday reflections - this, as far as I can gather, was his final one, and he seems in full vigour in mind and body. The good bishop and evangelist...
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
AT THE CONCLUSION OF
THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM
Good Friday, 13 April 1979
When we make the Way of the Cross from one station to the next, in spirit we are always at the spot wherethis journey had its “historical" place:...
Cardinal Newman, now Saint John Henry Newman, was a towering figure of nineteenth-century Catholicism who is almost universally admired. I say “almost” because not everyone likes him. I knew a priest once, Arthur Caulkins, who has become disenchanted with Newman. As an undergraduate Arthur had been enamoured of Newman,...
Evil and pain is always a mystery, that whole mysterium iniquitatis, of which Saint Paul writes (2 Thess 2:7). In 1984, Pope Saint John Paul II penned an Apostolic Letter on the nature and purpose of human suffering, Salvifici Doloris (curiously, now looking back, the same year he made...
On this Good Friday, a fitting help to our devotion is Allegri's Miserere, his unsurpassed musical setting of Psalm 51, recited in Lauds (Morning Prayer) every Friday. Composed around 1638, under the patronage of Pope Urban VIII- the same one who battled Galileo - the sublime piece was performed...
This April the second- overshadowed by Holy Thursday this year - marks the memorial of Saint Francis of Paola (1417-1507), founder of the 'Minim' friars, so called for their humility and poverty, who interpreted the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi in quite a literal sense: extreme poverty, trust...
MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Basilica of St John Lateran
Holy Thursday, 5 April 2012
Photo Gallery
(Video)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself....
Today's Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf (1053 - 1152) is not to be confused with Saint Hugh of Lincoln (1140 - 1200), although their life spans overlapped briefly, both were bishops and both were connected with the Carthusians. Today's Hugh - the French one - helped to found Saint Bruno's...
Today is traditionally called Spy Wednesday, the day on which Judas Iscariot made the fateful decision, deep in his heart and at Satan's prompting, to hand over Our Lord for thirty pieces of silver - the price of a slave. Thus, fulfilled the words of the prophet Zechariah:
And they...
I was just reminded that tomorrow, (or today), April 1st, NASA plans to send its first mission back to the Moon for nearly fifty years. Over a half century since 1972, the last time, according to the account, NASA landed men on the moon. Artemis II plans to send...
We will post the introduction and link to Pope Leo's sermon from Palm Sunday, petitioning in pliant terms for peace. May all those involved in the conflict in Iran, across the Middle East, and across the world take his words to heart.
One question that stays with us before we...
The reflection on the worthy project by Magie Dominic was intriguing, and I thought I would offer a brief follow-up commentary. The garment woven out of many pieces is a poignant symbol, even a 'sacramental', inspired by prayer and grace. We are all united in some way, and should...
(This is the last of Pope Saint John Paul II's Passion-Palm Sunday homilies, given in 2004, before his own passion and death the following year, when he was unable - for the first time - to celebrate Mass on this Holy Day. Yet he worked in the Lord's vineyard...
As we enter in Holy Week, it is fitting to suggest some solemn music to fit the season, here the two settings of the 'Passion' put to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. According to sources, Bach wrote five 'Passions', orchestral chorales based on the final days in the life...
We're now into the second month of the Iran vs. America/Israel War - or whatever name one wants to give it, whether 'war' or 'conflict', or who's involved, or who might become involved, as the Houthis have now started lobbing missiles into Israel. And into this second moon cycle,...
Editor's note: this reflection was originally posted by the Catholic Artist Connection. The mission of the Catholic Artist Connection is to connect and support Catholic artists of all disciplines both professionally and spiritually, to ease the loneliness of being a Catholic artist and encourage the creation of art for...
Service in politics used to be an actual thing. That is, those in 'public office' saw themselves truly as public servants, working diligently on behalf of the people they represent. Remunerated at the expense of others by enforced taxation, they realized they should offer this service in a spirit...
Well, it happened, as I suppose was inevitable, at least in a secular sense (from God' perspective, there's always hope). Bill C-9, the ironically named 'Combatting Hate Act' passed the House of Commons with a 186-137 vote. Look on the good side - there's still over a hundred sane...
