“Silence is the space of this child. Silence is the sphere where God is born. It is only when we ourselves enter the sphere of silence that we reach the point where God is born. Thus, these words of Saint Elizabeth [of Hungary] echo one of the earliest texts of the Christmas liturgy,...
In my last two pieces, I discussed how pastors are called to preach the truth of the faith and the laity are called to listen to their teachings. This fundamental relationship between pastors and the laity is a bedrock of the lived Catholic faith. While individual pastors can be weak, sinful, poor speakers,...
What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that...
“Express how you feel, and then be quiet. Because the truth is humble. The truth is silent. The truth isn’t noisy. It’s not easy, what Jesus did. But the dignity of the Christian is anchored in the power of God. With people lacking good will, with people who only seek scandal, who seek...
Pope Francis kicks off the Advent season, by also kicking off a campaign from the charitable foundation Aid to the Church in Need: the “Candle for Peace in Syria” initiative. Said the Pope: “May these flames of hope dispel the darkness of war (…) Let us pray and help Christians to remain in Syria...
“For such dignity and authority belong to the Church that she alone is the center of truth and of Catholic unity. It is the Church in which alone religion has been inviolably preserved and from which all other Churches must receive the tradition of the Faith. (…) To them [the Roman Pontiffs], in...
“We must move toward an idea of truth that is evermore inclusive, less restrictive; at least, if we are thinking of the truth of God and not some human truth, however solid it may appear to us. The truth of God is inexhaustible; it is an ocean of which we can hardly see...
“Uncrowd my heart, O God, until silence speaks in your still, small voice; turn me from the hearing of words, and the making of words, and the confusion of much speaking, to listening, waiting, stillness, silence.” — Esther de Waal; “Lost in Wonder”; Chapter: “Silence” Silence as a theological challenge: This week, we...
Some dissenters have tried to wiggle their way out of obedience to Pope Francis, by arguing that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was invalid and, therefore, the latter is actually the legitimate pontiff. Mark Mallet wrote a thorough and interesting refutation of that claim here (WPI’s tripartite series “Was Pope Benedict forced to resign?” may also be...
“This destruction begins in the interior and ends when the Lord says: ‘That’s enough.” There will come a day when the Lord will say: ‘Enough of this world’s appearances.’ It’s the crisis of a civilization that believes itself proud, sufficient, dictatorial and which ends thus. (…) Do we live as Christians? It seems...
«They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners.» — Mk 2:17 (DRV) Since Jesus Christ in the above Gospel quote, sickness has been used as an analogy for sin. We recognize that sickness happens when something...
In the first reading today, John describes the apocalyptic fall of the great city of Babylon. While there’s debate among Scripture scholars over whether John’s vision of Babylon represents Rome or Jerusalem, for my purposes here I want to focus on Babylon being identified as “the great harlot.” The harlot in Biblical imagery is...
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