Weekly Insight
Pope Benedict and Saint Dominic
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Saint Dominic Guzmán
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last week I presented the luminous figure of Francis of Assisi; today I want to talk about another Saint of the...
Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatines
On this day, along with Pope Sixtus and his companion martyrs, we honour Saint Gaetano Cajetan (1480-1547), not to be confused with the 'other' Cajetan, whose name was Thomas, a famed commentator on Saint...
Pope Saint Sixtus and Companion Martyrs
Historians count ten traditional persecutions of Christians in the early Church – from the first, under Nero, beginning in 63 A.D. through a series of anti-Christian emperors of various stripes and intensities, culminating in...
Pope Saint John Paul II and the Transfiguration
21st ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF PAUL VIHOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL IIFeast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Friday, 6 August 1999
Today, the Eucharist which we are preparing to celebrate takes us in...
The Long Shadow of Hiroshima
I post this again, indeed each year, in light of 'never forget', so that evil will 'never be repeated. For on this feast of the Transfiguration, which is also the anniversary of the death...
The Strength of the Transfiguration
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pet. 1:18).
Today we celebrate the glorious Feast...
An Unsporstmanlike Sports Minister
Readers may have heard of Adam van Koeverden, who won Olympic medals for Canada in kayaking in the first two decades of this millennium. He's now a politician, in the Liberal party, and Minister...
(In)Stability in the Priesthood
There are various ways one might understand 'instability'. When turned into an adjective - unstable - what comes first to mind is the mental sort. There is also doctrinal instability, following the vagaries of...
Jeanne le Ber: The Canadian Adorer on the Path to Canonization
Servant of God, Jeanne Le Ber (1688 - 1711) could easily be, some day, the patron saint of adorers. Her love for the Eucharist was such that she gave her life for it, literally,...
Dedication of Santa Maria Maggiore and Our Lady of the Snows
On August 5th, we celebrate the dedication of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the highest church in the hierarchy of churches dedicated to Our Lady in all of Christendom. The glorious edifice sits...
Blessed Frederick Jansoone: The Guardian of Notre Dame du Cap
Blessed Frédéric Janssoone, O.F.M. (1838 - 1916) hailed from France, from the town of Ghyvelde, in the northwest most corner, where the language was Flemish, and not French. After a difficult and impoverished, but...
A Meditation on the Feast of St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars
August the 4th is the Memorial of St. John Vianney, the Curé of Parish Priest of Ars. Canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, he was named patron saint of priests in 1929 by...
Saint Jean Vianney, a Priest for Priests
On this day, August 4th, in 1859 - the same year that Darwin published his specious Origin of Species, and one year after Marx's Communist Manifesto, both of which, sadly, shook the faith of...
Pope Benedict and the Priesthood
(The holiness of the Church - and hence the salvation of the world - depends much upon the holiness of her priests. Hence, these words from Pope Benedict XVI from August 5th, 2009, on...
Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
How strictly should we interpret Saint Cyprian of Carthage’s dictum extra ecclesiam nulla salus – outside the Church, there is no salvation? After all, it’s quoted in the 1992 Catechism, and is a dogma...
