A Dominican Friar and Priest, born Guido di Pietro, he is better known as Fra Angelico, the Angelic Friar. He is the patron of artists. His paintings are among the most famous in the history of art. It was the special quality of his painting that earned him the title “Fra Angelico.” For more about this saint, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
The Rosary is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Catholic tradition. It's also one of the most commonly misunderstood, which is often the case for many of our Protestant brothers and sisters. Yet, it doesn't have to be. Put simply, the Rosary is a prayerful meditation on the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of his mother. I invite you, whether you are Catholic, Protestant, or other, to watch this beautiful video by our friends at Word on Fire. Today we pray the Joyful Mysteries. We meditate on five key events in the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of his mother, the Virgin Mary. For more, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
In the early thirteenth century seven young Florentines formed a confraternity of laymen devoted to the praise of Mary. In 1233, after a vision on the feast of the Assumption, they took up the life of hermits on Monte Senario outside Florence. They went preaching through the whole of Tuscany and founded the order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Servites, whose foundation was approved by the Pope in 1304. Their feast is celebrated today because one of the seven founders, Saint Alexius Falconieri, died on 17 February 1310. For more about these saints, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
The Catholic belief in The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a hard saying, no doubt. Yet, it's no harder a saying as was said by Jesus himself as he begins his colloquy with his disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum (see Jn 6:30). This teaching, the Catholic Church defends as the definitive and apostolic origins of the Eucharist, points to the Eucharist (from the Greek for "thanksgiving") as the "source and summit of the Christian life". For a beautiful summation of the scandal of such a saying - and the recognition of how hard it is to believe - enjoy this brief writing from Fr. Richard Veras of Saint Joseph's Seminary; and for a Catholic answer addressing common Evangelical Fundamentalist challenges to the Catholic understanding of the Real Presence, please also see more of this post by clicking on the image. Peace be with you!
This Sunday following the Epiphany the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. It is here we recall in a special way Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist. In it we are also reminded of a great mystery revealed. God the Father reveals Jesus as his "beloved Son" and the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven in the form of a dove. Here, we reject Satan and all his empty promises. For my reflection, "Do you reject Satan?" please click on the image. Peace be with you! Thomas Disciple of Christ | Son of the Church
Today we explore some of the early Church Fathers sayings about the Eucharist. Many of our mainline Protestant brothers and sisters, who know their history, will agree who these early Church Fathers were. Catholic brothers and sisters, though not a Holy Day of Obligation, Holy Thursday has rich and historical significance for each of us: for before departing the Upper Room to begin his Passion, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, giving thanks to his Father, and commanding his Apostles to love one another, as He has loved them (cf Jn 13:34); and he commanded them, "Do this in memory of me" (Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20; 1 Cor 10:16; Jn 6:53-57, 1 Cor 11:23-30). For more on this great Mystery of Faith, from the Church Fathers in their own words, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
The story of the Prodigal Son, as we encounter in the Gospel of Luke (15:11-32), is one of the most poignant in all of literature. Sadly, there are many Catholics today who have fallen away from their baptismal faith. Each has a story of his own. Yet, by the sacramental power of one's baptism there remains a call unanswered - the yearning of a Father desiring the return of his child to the home of his baptismal birth. For more about this post, and for a 2 min video expressing the tender mercy that awaits at home in love's embrace, click on the image. Our father in heaven wants us home. He wants you home. If you’ve been away from the Church for one day, or for a lifetime, come home. Your family misses you. For more, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
The Rosary is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Catholic tradition. It's also one of the most commonly misunderstood, which is often the case for many of our Protestant brothers and sisters. Yet, it doesn't have to be. Put simply, the Rosary is a prayerful meditation on the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of his mother. I invite you, whether you are Catholic, Protestant, or other, to watch this beautiful video by our friends at Word on Fire. Today we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries. We meditate on five key events in the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of his mother, the Virgin Mary. For more, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
In today's Office of Readings we encounter a reading from a treatise on the first epistle of John by St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430 A.D.).
Augustine was born in Thagaste in Africa of a Berber family. He was brought up a Christian but left the Church early and spent a great deal of time seriously seeking the truth, first in the Manichaean heresy, which he abandoned on seeing how nonsensical it was, and then in Neoplatonism, until at length, through the prayers of his mother and the teaching of St Ambrose of Milan, he was converted back to Christianity and baptized in 387, shortly before his mother’s death.
Augustine had a brilliant legal and academic career, but after his conversion he returned home to Africa and led an ascetic life. He was elected Bishop of Hippo and spent 34 years looking after his flock, teaching them, strengthening them in the faith and protecting them strenuously against the errors of the time. He wrote an enormous amount and left a permanent mark on both philosophy and theology. His Confessions, as dazzling in style as they are deep in content, are a landmark of world literature. The Second Readings in the Office of Readings contain extracts from many of his sermons and commentaries and also from the Confessions.
Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire us, like St. Augustine, to love God with our minds as well as our hearts; and if we come across a fact or a teaching that seems to us to contradict our faith, let us not reject it but investigate it: for the truth that it contains can never contradict the truth that is God.
For a reflection, "Let Christ take shape within you," please click on the image.
Peace be with you!
