Moreover, the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that all the faithful should daily approach the sacred banquet is directed chiefly to this end, that the faithful, being united to God by means of the Sacrament, may thence derive strength to resist their sensual passions, to cleanse themselves from the stains...
St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Aristotle, begins De Ente et Essentia (On Being and Essence) with the adage, “A small error at the outset can lead to great errors in the final conclusions.” These words apply to a recent article by philosophy professor Edward Feser in Catholic World Report on the “suspended Magisterium” thesis...
On Monday, August 7, 2023, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, posted a link on X (formerly known as Twitter) to an article entitled “Veritatis Splendor vs. Amoris Laetitia” on the Crisis website. He provided a quote from the article that said, “While Veritatis Splendor is in continuity with Scripture and Tradition, Amoris...
Yesterday Pope Francis released a remarkable letter to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, of which he is the diocesan bishop in addition to his numerous other responsibilities and powers over the Church outside central Italy. He warns against several temptations and false or unhelpful attitudes affecting priests’ ministry, including in this...
I first started following Deacon Steven Greydanus about a decade ago, and since then he’s been someone I’ve looked up to. He is one of the very few Catholic public figures on Facebook who I have been able to wholeheartedly recommend to others. He’s modeled what constructive and charitable conversations can look like...
When confronted by the evil in the world, we are often tempted to impatience and rash action. We can appoint ourselves as God’s champions and avengers, scouring the world for evil to eradicate. Such attitudes, however, tend to produce more harm than good. As St. James reminds us, “the wrath of a man...
A reflection on the Scripture Readings for August 6, 2023 — the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The audio version will be available at this link. I was in conversation with a friend about life. We are both facing life-challenges. Somewhere in the conversation, I said, “Sometimes, life does not offer...
LISBON, August 5, 2023 — Pope Francis met yesterday with 17 other religious leaders at Portugal’s Apostolic Nunciature. “We know this is a goal of Pope Francis’ pontificate, this interreligious dialogue,” said Timóteo Cabral, President of the Evangelical Alliance of Portugal, “We all came out of that meeting with the feeling that we...
The Church of Christ is a fascinating and wonderful reality. She is ancient, being almost two thousand years old, but, at the same time, forever young, thanks to the Holy Spirit working within her. The Church is young because her message of salvation is young, that is, relevant for all times. That is why there...
In one scene from the iconic Pixar movie Cars, protagonist Lightning McQueen is being schooled by seasoned race car Doc Hudson. In this scene Doc tells him he needs to “turn right to go left.” Doc tells McQueen to drive with the front of his car, that if he’s going hard enough left...
LISBON, August 4, 2023 — Among many other initiatives meant to bring pilgrims into a deeper relationship with Christ, the World Youth Day (WYD) organized the “City of Joy,” promoting vocations and the sacraments. Set in the gardens sprawling before the Hieronymites Monastery (one of Lisbon’s most famous landmarks), the City of Joy is described...
James Joyce, the noted Irish writer of the early twentieth century, has a character in his novel Finnegans Wake who is referred to as “HCE.” I am not going to attempt to analyze Finnegans Wake here; anybody familiar with the book even by reputation will know what an exercise in futility that would...
Popular Posts