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.
“Most Holy Theotokos, Save Us!” – on the New Vatican Document about Marian Titles
The new document contains no definitive language intending to definitively bind the faithful.
Why Heretics Hate Mary but We Should Love Her More & More
Editor’s note: in light of today’s news, we must remember this important spiritual reality about Marian devotion. However, this text is not meant to imply that anyone is guilty of the crime of heresy, but merely to assert forcefully the spiritual reality behind this doctrinal question, written by a former Protestant. -TSF Marian devotion is…
The Fiery Prison of Purgatory and How to Avoid It
The common teaching of the saints and doctors is that the slightest pains endured in the terrible fire of Purgatory will be more painful than all the pains of the present life. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, “[St.] Augustine (Enarration on Psalm 37, no. 3) speaks of the pain which purgatorial fire causes as more severe…
Colligite Fragmenta: 21st Sunday after Pentecost
As the liturgical year draws to its close, the Church’s voice takes on autumnal gravity. The Sundays after Pentecost turn our eyes toward the final harvest, when the Lord will take all things to Himself. This Sunday’s Collect, Epistle, and Gospel form a single meditation on mercy and judgment, protection and peril, the divine household…