Weekly Insight
Charles Borromeo Leads the True Reformation
The memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) commemorates one of the great pillars - along with Saint Robert Bellarmine, Philip Neri, Teresa of Avila and countless others - of what is unfortunately known as...
Death is Banging on My Door
A poem by Carl Sundell
When Death comes
banging on my door,
let him in.
I'd count it no sin
to surrender my skin
to the old pale Prince.
If I've not done
what God meant me to do,
it's the Devil's right
to...
The Meaning of Midterms
The term 'midterm' has various applications, from tests in the middle of the semester - which is how I usually think of things - to elections held in the middle of a presidency, taking...
Martin de Porresā SuperHeroic Charity
Some of the saints signify sanctity in a way that goes beyond the norm, if ānormā can be applied to a thing like sanctity, which itself is characterized by going beyond the normal requirement...
Two Complementary Requiems
On this All Souls' Day, here are two Requiems, which commemorate the dead with beauty and transcendence, and may accompany our prayers this day.
The first is Mozart's famous rendition, which he left incomplete on...
Pope John Paul’s All Souls’ Message
JOHN PAUL II
ANGELUS - ALL SOULS DAY
Sunday, 2 November 1997
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints and today the liturgy invites us to commemorate the faithful departed. The Church...
All the Myriads Upon Myriads of Saints
A blessed solemnity of All Saints to all our readers! Its institution goes back to its official institution by Pope Gregory III (731 ā 741) as a commemoration of all the countless martyrs who...
Pope Benedict and All the Saints
HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Vatican Basilica
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our Eucharistic celebration began with the exhortation: "Let us all rejoice in the Lord". The...
Luther’s Fateful All Hallowed Eve
(Here is a re-post of a reflection on this 'All Hallow's Eve' anniversary of the generally accepted date for the formal start of the 'Reformation', when legend has it that Luther nailed his 95...
Blessed Terence O’Brien and Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez
This penultimate day of the month of October - the eve of all hallowe'ed eve - is the memorial of the Irish bishop and martyr, Terence O'Brien (1601-1651), put to a brutal death on...
Pike, Hasan, the Church and the Death Penalty
The death penalty has been in the news of late. There was the ābotchedā execution of Christa Pike on September 30th, the memorial of Saint Jerome. Iām not sure the hermit saint had an...
Saints Simon, Jude and Desperate Causes
All of the Apostles have a feast day, and on this third last day of October, in the crisp days of fall, we celebrate SaintsĀ Simon and Jude,Ā the latter, in particular, being invoked as the...
Pope Benedict and Saints Simon and Jude
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peterās Square
Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Simon and Jude
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, let us examine two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot)....
Casting Stones with a Log in the Eye
Conservative commentator and writer George Weigel in a recent column makes some rather damning ā and I use that term advisedly ā accusations against Candace Owens, accusing her of the āgrave sinā of āanti-semitismā....
Non Nobis Domine
This brief motet - if one may term it so - has a renaissance feel to it, but is from the 1989 film, Henry V, whose director and lead role was Kenneth Branagh, and...
