Saturday, April 4, 2026

Weekly Insight

Saint Isidore of Seville, the Internet and Industriousness

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...

An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

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...

Europe’s Long Descent

(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....

Bishop Fulton Sheen’s 58th Good Friday Reflection

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,...

Pope Saint John Paul II’s First Good Friday Homily

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...

A Meditation for Good Friday: How To Undo the Effects of Sin?

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,...

Good Friday and Suffering

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...

Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Memory

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...

A Minimal Friar and the Death of a Great Pope

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...

Pope Benedict’s Last Holy Thursday Homily

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...

Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf

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...

Spy Wednesday, and Bishop Sheen’s Take on Judas

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...

Moon Shot?

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,...

Parsing Pope Leo’s Plea for Peace

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...

Woven versus Seamless Garments

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...