Time. We never have enough time, and certainly we do not have enough time to pray! However, there is often a sad reality beyond a statement like this: we have more important things to do. Everyone makes time for what they love most. Furthermore, in our fast-paced, egocentric culture, we want things now, and the faster the better! However, those who have ever reached a difficult goal know that what is needed is a necessary time of preparation, of training. … Read More
We have only just closed the joyful celebration of Christmas with the feast of Candlemas; and the liturgy has cast aside the festive gold and solemn white to vest herself once again with the green of hope during these last few Sundays of January and the first of February. It is hard to believe that Lent is already fast approaching, but that will be made clear with the arrival of Septuagesima Sunday. The ministers will don the violet vestments of … Read More
ST. NICHOLAS, BISHOP OF MYRA AND CONFESSOR Divine Wisdom has willed that on the way which leads to the Messias, our great High Priest, there should be many pontiffs to pay Him the honour due to Him. Two Popes, St. Melchiades and St.Damasus; two holy doctors, St. Peter Chrysologus and St. Ambrose; two bishops,St. Nicholas and St. Eusebius; these are the glorious pontiffs who have been entrusted with the charge of preparing, by their prayers, the way of the Christian … Read More
SAINT PETER CHRYSOLOGUS BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH 4th December The same divine Providence, which would not that the Church should be deprived of the consolation of keeping, during Advent, the feast of some of the apostles, who announced to the Gentiles the coming of the Messias, has also willed that the holy doctors, who defended the true faith against heretics, should be represented in this important season of the Catholic year. Two of them, Saint Ambrose and Saint … Read More
The Liturgical Year. If our holy mother the Church spends the time of Advent in this solemn preparation for the threefold coming of Jesus Christ; if, after the example of the prudent virgins, she keeps her lamp lit ready for the coming of the Bridegroom; we, being her members and her children, ought to enter into her spirit, and apply to ourselves this warning of our Saviour: ‘Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands, and ye … Read More
During the month of November the relics of Saint Therese and Saints Louis and Zelie Martin were welcomed to the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Kilannin, County Galway. This was arranged by Mrs. Gráinne Faherty, whose late husband had been a “Knight of St. Therese.” Along with parishioners, people from neighbouring parishes and other parts of the county turned out in hundreds to venerate the sacred relics. In a highly reverential atmosphere, people of all ages lined … Read More
In our modern culture, it is all too easy to forget that Christmas has not yet arrived. The celebrations seems to have already come by the end of November. Everywhere we go, shops are decorated with yuletide glee. We hear Christmas carols on the radio and see Christmas programming on television. By the time the feast itself comes around, some of us may have almost had enough of it. This premature (and often very secular) celebration of Christmas can obscure … Read More
“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Maccabees 12:46) During the month of November, the Church is particularly mindful of her children who are suffering in purgatory. In addition to the Requiem Mass, the Sacred Liturgy contains a treasury of intercessory prayers and rites which are offered and performed to benefit the members of the Church Suffering. One such ceremony is the Absolution, which is performed … Read More
Christ’s boundless Charity “The proof of His boundless charity that Christ the Lord left to his Bride the Church, namely, the inexpressible and supreme gift of the Eucharist, requires us to deepen our appreciation of this great mystery and to share ever more fully in Its saving power. Accordingly, the Church, in its pastoral zeal and care, has repeatedly made practical laws and timely statements of doctrine aimed at furthering devotion toward the Eucharist, the summit and centre of Christian worship”. (Immensae Caritatis 1973, Sacred … Read More
Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The subject I intend to speak about today is not an easy one. But one cannot simply ignore what has been going on and pretend nothing has happened. The scandals we have seen during these past fifty or sixty years are very painful to the Church. And because it hurts, we would be inclined not to talk about it, and simply let it go. However, it would not resolve the matter. Because the … Read More
