Category Archives: Spiritual Life
Spiritual Life
This category, of course, can cover many topics. We try to limit it in this section to articles that deal with the inner life of the soul elevated by grace or wounded by sin: virtue and vice, heroic Catholic men and women as seen under the light of the particular virtue they exemplified, the cardinal virtues, spiritual formation, growth, and purgation, and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
Pope Warns About Narcissism in the Church
CNA’s Elise Harris: In listening to the words of the Holy Father in his many different homilies, audiences and speeches since his election, there is one incredibly clear message he is sending to us: the Church is narcissistic. We are a narcissistic Church, the product of a narcissistic culture. More on this here.
Pope Francis: To Be Ashamed Is To Be Humble
Vatican Radio: “But Jesus in the confessional is not a dry cleaner: it is an encounter with Jesus, but with this Jesus who waits for us, who waits for us just as we are. “But, Lord, look … this is how I am”, we are often ashamed to tell the truth: ‘I did this, I thought this’. But shame is a true Christian virtue, and … More →
Evil and Control
These thoughts came to me this morning as I had in my mind the residue of a Gary Potter article I read last night (it will be published soon): Control that which was given to you to control. Where an evil exists that you cannot control, exert influence. Where you have the capacity for neither, accept the situation with meekness as a cross from the … More →
Readings for Holy Week and Easter
Recommended reading for Holy Week, the sacred Triduum and Easter Sunday: Holy Week in General — The Drama of Holy Week by Brother André Marie. Holy Thursday — The Eucharist in Four Simple Mysteries by Father Feeney, introduced by Brother Francis; Delivering What We Have Received (on the Eucharist) by Brother André Marie. Good Friday — The Seven Words by Brian Kelly, Imitating Christ’s Humility: … More →
A Simile for Grace
While I was explaining the doctrine of grace in a tertiary conference last week, a simile came to mind. It is nothing I have ever read or heard before, so I hope that I am not inventing my very own heresy. (If it turns out that I have done so, I willingly submit to the authority of Holy Mother Church.) People seem to think — … More →
Methods of Mental Prayer Handout
“Methods of Mental Prayer” is another handout I prepared to go with the lectures on mental prayer. Below, you will find it on Scribd. Its two pages are in landscape form, and page two shows up first. If you can print it two sided, and fold it in half, you will end up with a four-page 5.5″ x 8.5″ pamphlet, which I what I designed … More →
Man’s Edifice, Natural and Supernatural
“The Natural and Supernatural Edifice of Man” is a handout I prepared to go with the lectures on mental prayer. (There is also a single stand-alone lecture available on this important subject, “The Practice of Mental Prayer,” available in CD or MP3 download.) Thanks to the technology provided by Scribd, we can neatly present our readers with a PDF of that handout. We hope you … More →
The Contemplative and the Toyota
A couple of weeks ago, a wonderful coincidence struck me as I reviewed two articles for our site hours apart on the same day: Robert Hickson’s Complacent Sentries and the Sloth of Roaming Unrest and Gary Potter’s Glittering Images. The two articles were by men with very different styles, who can argue quite vociferously with one another, as real men with intelligence are wont to … More →
Rome: Cardinal Retreat Master Calls TV ‘Great Moloch’
CWN: Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, who is leading the annual Lenten retreat for the Pope and leaders of the Roman Curia, preached on February 20 on Psalms 131 and 39. More here.
Prayer to Our Mother of Good Success
Prayer to Our Mother of Good Success Soul of Mary, sanctify me, Body of Mary, purify me, Heart of Mary, inflame me, Sorrow of Mary, comfort me, Tears of Mary, console me, O Sweet Mary, hear me. With thy benign eyes, look on me, Through thy holy steps, guide me, To thy Divine Son, pray for me, Pardon for my sins, achieve for me, Devotion … More →
The Baptism of Jesus: What Happened and Why?
I have been reading a few good articles about Our Lord’s baptism on Catholic websites, one by Carl Olson for the Catholic World Report, another by Monsignor Charles Pope for the Archdiocese of Washington website, and lastly the Sunday sermon of Pope Benedict XVI. Carl Olson cites a number of the fathers of the Church commenting on the mystery of the baptism of the sinless … More →
