Weekly Insight
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal.4:4).⧾
On this the last day of the Christmas Octave and the first...
Pope Leo’s Angelus Address: The Holy Family and Holy Innocents
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH
POPE LEO XIV
ANGELUS
St Peter's Square
Sunday, 28 December 2025
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Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, and the Liturgy offers us the story...
The Te Deum: Giving Thanks and Praise to God
There is an eschatological note to this final day of the calendar year, as there was a month ago in the end of the liturgical year with Christ the King, and the beginning of...
Saint Sylvester, the Last Saint of the Year
On this last day of the calendar year, we celebrate in muted tones the mysterious and shadowy Pope Saint Sylvester I, who reigned from 314, the year after Constantine made Christianity legal after his...
The Miraculous Figures of the Infant Jesus: History and Devotion
Among the many devotional images scattered across Central Europe, in a world shattered by regional conflicts, ideological disputes, and economic upheavals, two small figures—the Infant Jesus of Prague in the Czech Republic and the...
The Church Could Use A Few More Thomas (Ă ) Beckets
A blessed continuing 'Merrie Christmas!' to all our readers, on this sixth day of the Octave, and then on through the the twelve days, right up to the Epiphany and the Baptism of our...
In the Bleak Midwinter, Gaudete Christus Natus Est
It's lovely how the simplest tunes often - perhaps most often, maybe even always - make the most beautiful of melodies. So it is with Gustav Holst's (1874-1934) carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (1906)...
The Hope of the Holy Innocents
The feast of the Holy Innocents, which we celebrate appropriately enough within the octave of Christmas, might seem a troubling commemoration at first glance. Â Remembering the wholesale slaughter of all the male children two...
Feast of the Holy Family
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
St Peter's Square
Sunday, 31 December 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this last Sunday of the year we are celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. I address with joy all the families of the...
Chant Workshop in Ottawa
For those who want to learn something about the great tradition of Gregorian chant, or hone your incipient skills, there will be a a Chant workshop offered by Miss Catherine Helferty in Ottawa with...
Entropic AI
Entropy may be described as the movement from order to disorder, from cosmos to chaos. It is the inevitable consequence of any closed system, and encapsulated as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Any such...
Saint John, the Theologian
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 9 August 2006
John, the theologian
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Before the holidays I had begun sketching small portraits of the Twelve Apostles. The Apostles were Jesus' travelling companions, Jesus' friends....
Saint John, Son of Zebedee
Pope Benedict XVI offered three audiences on the Apostle John, back in 2006, and, concise as they are - a trait of the erudite Pontiff - they make for very rich and fruitful reading....
Saint John the Beloved, Seer of Patmos
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 23 August 2006
John, the Seer of Patmos
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the last Catechesis we had reached the meditation on the figure of the Apostle John. We had first...
Saint John, the Apostle of the Logos
On this third day of Christmas, we not only get three french hens, but, far better, we get to celebrate the beloved Apostle, Saint John the Evangelist, whose Gospel signifies most clearly the eternal...
