Last week I spoke of my attachment to Prime, one of the “little hours” of the Divine Office, and why Catholics today should consider taking it up as the backbone of their morning prayer. Today I turn to the Roman Martyrology. What is this book, and why do I connect it with Prime [i]? The Roman…
I was born an old man. Cantankerous and curmudgeonly, I came to believe that miracles were possible — after a great deal of Thomistic tinkering. Still, I didn’t want to believe in them. I was a Catholic, but a bad one. “We really hit a wall after our second child,” my friend assured me on his…
This seems to be an easy question to answer, at least for us: we need God. We need other things, yes, but those needs become negotiable if our relationship with God is at risk. Sometimes they fall away for a time, when God wishes to draw us closer to Him in a special way. I…
For many years, as a Catholic praying Pope Paul VI’s Liturgy of the Hours, I had no idea that a liturgical office called Prime — or, for that matter, a liturgical book called the Roman Martyrology — even existed. As I discovered the traditional Latin Mass, I also discovered the Roman Breviary, the monastic Divine…
Today, many of us would be skeptical of an arranged marriage. This is because people instinctively know they cannot love a person they do not know, and without loving such a person, they are doubtful of the idea of entering into a lifelong relationship with him. This is true for our faith as well. Saint…
The Catholic life is filled with resolutions. Confession is not valid without a good resolution to avoid sin [1]. Every morning offering is a new resolution, and every new year is an occasion for resolutions. Why is the Devil so successful in bringing our resolutions to naught? In this article, we will cover the most common…
I had never read the Bible, which is to say, the whole Bible. The extent of my Bible reading had been the passages read during Sunday Mass and the occasional daily Mass. So when I learned about Dr. Taylor Marshall’s plan for reading the entire (Catholic) Bible in one year, I decided to do it.…
Readers may already know about the delightful book The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-Tale from Ireland by Roger Buck (Angelico Press, 2015). Buck is back with an equally dashing although more earnest sequel: The Gentle Traditionalist Returns (Angelico Press, 2019). So many are the excellent insights in this book that I will undoubtedly return to…
The great saintly mystics and masters of the spiritual life tell us that one of the surest means to advance virtually by light years is by frequent meditation on the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on His love and sufferings, and on the heroic pains He endured for us. Thus, St. Louis Marie de…
There is perhaps no truth today more shunned, suppressed, and vehemently ignored than the reality of death. The modern man is consumed with indulging his slavery to his passions, proclaiming himself free, and absolutely banishing the thought that he will die. He has invented words to shun even the mention of death: “macabre,” “morbid.” Yet…
The Day Is Now Far Spent Cdl. Robert Sarah with Nicolas Diat Ignatius Press 385 pages $16.96 paperback, $12.97 e-book The new book by Cardinal Robert Sarah with Nicholas Diat, The Day Is Now Far Spent, brims with wisdom and understanding, especially concerning the present crisis and scandal in the Church. Worth the purchase price…
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