This is Part II of a two-part series. Click here for Part I. In the first part of this series, I listed the nine levels of prayer and described the first four, which exist along what is called “the Purgative Way.” In this second part, I will explore the second and third ways of prayer…
This is Part I of a two-part series. Click here for Part II. Years ago I was involved in a Protestant apologetics online forum. Unlike many online forums, this one included many very bright and respectful people who expertly debated theology without rancor. Just about every viewpoint was represented: Calvinist, evangelical, liberal, conservative, even Mormon…
I discovered this beautiful poem by Fr. Abram J. Ryan, an American priest-poet, while researching my article about the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Fell the snow on the festival’s vigil And surpliced the city in white; I wonder who wove the pure flakelets? Ask the Virgin, or God, or the…
The Rosary is arguably the most recognizable Catholic devotion. Sadly, it is a devotion that has fallen out of fashion for many Catholics. This is deeply unfortunate, as the Rosary is one of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal for spiritual warfare and one of the greatest aids in the pursuit of a fruitful spiritual…
This is the third installment of a multi-part series. You may find each part here: Part I – Part II – Part III A Book of Hours was the essential guide to devotion for a literate Catholic layman of the late Middle Ages, from the late 14th century to the early 16th. Its content was essentially liturgical, but selected with…
In his great work, The World’s First Love, Archbishop Fulton Sheen tells us how the Church’s doctrine of Mary, the Mother of God, is always correcting the errors of the time. With the decree of the Immaculate Conception, the Church condemned the modern notion that all men are created equal. When Pius XII defined ex cathedra…
In my experience, it is impossible to talk about the Catholic custom of women wearing chapel veils at Mass without encountering judgment. Progressives will insist that the practice is an outdated custom to be tossed aside. Reactionaries will declare that women who do not cover their heads in Mass are sinning and that canon 1262…
I’ve quipped that I know I’m truly Catholic because I anticipate the St. Andrew prayer novena as part of our Advent season while still cleaning up Thanksgiving dishes. I have found rote recitation of prayers written by others to be a precious part of my life. Prescribed prayers, even when spoken (or during difficult times,…
According to Catholic evangelist Matthew Christoff, “There is a serious “man-crisis” in the Catholic Church.” How bad is it? It is widespread and serious. Unless the Church, including its bishops, priests and lay men begin to take notice and make the evangelization of Catholic men a priority, the Catholic Church in the West will decay,…
“I’ve got your six” is a military phrase that means “I’ve got your back.” It comes from the old pilot system in which directions correspond to hours on the clock, where 12 o’clock is forward and 6 o’clock is behind. Thus anyone behind you is “at your six.” Blessed Peter Favre said, “I felt great…
I recently re-discovered a small prayer book I acquired, entirely by accident, 17 years ago. It was given to me by an elderly woman in Idaho. I had taken a job with a friend’s family business installing well pumps during our last summer before college, and we were doing some work at her home. As it turned out,…
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