A Guadalupano Wins the Palm of Victory
“Viva Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!” - final words before his martyrdom.
II Day within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception
"...that this most worshipful Mother should be made bright with the brightness of uncontaminated holiness."
The Immaculate Conception
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement.℟. Amen. Reading 4From the Sermons of St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem.On the AssumptionWho and what was the blessed and glorious Mary, always a Virgin, hath been revealed by God by the message of an Angel, in these words: Hail, thou that art full…
In Illo Tempore: 2nd Sunday of Advent
The Church places before us on the 2nd Sunday of Advent a Gospel passage from Matthew 11:2-10 whose two movements mirror each other like the ends of a well bound book. The first concerns the identity of Christ as sought by the imprisoned Forerunner. The second concerns the identity of the Forerunner as confirmed by…
In Illo Tempore: 1st Sunday of Advent
The paper cup must become more like the swimming pool if it is to receive what is poured out with divine liberality.
The Story of a Conversion: the Extraordinary Encounter of Manuel García Morente
How could a distinguished modern university professor of philosophy believe in God, the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints? Before his conversion, to such a rhetorical question, the Spanish thinker Manuel García Morente (1886–1942) would always respond with the silence of a superior smile. All these Christian teachings and beliefs were, gently, labeled by him as…
Now We Are Sixty-Five
A long, long time agoI can still remember how that music used to make me smileAnd I knew if I had my chanceThat I could make those people danceAnd maybe they’d be happy for a while—Don McLean, “American Pie.” This last November 8, I passed a milestone – I turned 65 years of age. There…
Colligite Fragmenta: 24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost
All good things come to their end, with the exception of God’s love and the eternal joy of Heaven. Thus, the Church, in her liturgical wisdom, allows the cycle of the year to come to its own solemn conclusion, so that we may be stirred up again to begin anew. As this series of reflections…
The Colossus of Lombardy: Saint Charles Borromeo
"This visitation had been sent as a chastisement for sin."
Colligite Fragmenta: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Let’s have some context. We are drawing toward the end of the liturgical year, when the Church’s gaze turns ever more intently to the consummation of all things, the Second Coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and judgment. Pius Parsch, in The Church’s Year of Grace, sees in these autumn Sundays a…
Colligite Fragmenta: Dedication of St. John Lateran
The dedication of a church is therefore a liturgical wedding.
