Having devoured many spiritual classics from the desert fathers to St. Augustine during my two and half years as a Benedictine monk before discerning out, one idea struck me above the rest. An author, whose name escapes me, prophetically proclaimed that the Catholic Church must undergo everything our Lord has gone through. On a personal…
“You could take the blue pill. You’ll wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. Or you could take the red pill. You’ll stay in Wonderland, and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole really goes.” The above quote has been immortalized in the famous award-winning movie The Matrix. The…
In an earlier article, we briefly looked at the testimony of the Jewish historian Josephus on Jesus. Today, we will look in more detail at some objections and possible responses. The Antiquities of Josephus are a history of the major events from the Beginning of Creation to the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus…
Epistle: 1 Peter 2:11-19 Gospel: John 16:16-22 O God, who to those that go astray dost show the light of Thy truth, that they may return to the path of justice: grant that all who are enrolled in the Christian faith, may both reject all that is hostile to that name, and follow after what…
Let us consider an intriguing dilemma that has occupied the minds of all involved in the Liturgical Movement since its beginning: the novel principle of active participation (participatio actuosa), which Vatican II’s Constitution on the Liturgy promoted as “the aim to be achieved before all else.” It all started with Dom Lambert Beauduin’s accusation that the…
Twenty twenty is the 640th year since the death, on April 29, and the 50th since the proclamation as Doctor of the Church, on October 4, of a woman who played a primary role in the Church of her time: St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380). How can we fail to be filled with wonder at…
The pandemic pandemonium of the coronavirus — in its volatile mixture of undeniable physical evils and the superimposed moral evils of social engineering by political elites only too happy to take advantage of a global train wreck — has brought before Christians once again the ancient question of why the good and the wicked alike…
If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as share in our sufferings, you will also share in our…
Rule number one is “have no other gods before me.” Again and again throughout Scripture, idol-worship is followed by plague and general devastation. The plagues against the Egyptians are the most famous, but most often God strikes His own people with pestilence and plague as retribution for falling away and worshiping other gods. Old Testament…
Epistle: 1 Peter 2:21-25 Gospel: John 10:11-16 O God, Who, by the humility of Thy Son didst lift up a fallen world, grant unending happiness to Thy faithful: that those whom Thou hast snatched from the perils of endless death, Thou mayest cause to rejoice in everlasting joys. – From the Collect for Second Sunday…
The rising unemployment numbers in the United States, which are the natural consequence of an economic shutdown, brought the American middle class to its knees. Ten million (and growing) Americans were laid off in a short span of just two weeks. Individuals applying for unemployment insurance were told that it would take weeks to receive…
