There are two basic senses of Holy Scripture: the literal (or historical) and the spiritual. The spiritual sense is further divided into the allegorical, the tropological (or moral), and the anagogical. St. Thomas cites St. Gregory the Great on the … Continue reading
Category: Holy Scripture
Making Good Use of Scripture
(This piece is an excerpt from a lecture Brother Francis gave in the 1970s.) The Bible is the book that makes saints.
Imitating Christ’s Humility: Philippians 2
The Challoner edition of the Douay-Rheims Bible gives a good description of Philippians 2 at the head of the chapter: “He recommends them to unity and humility, and to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” In broad overview, … Continue reading
The Magnificat, Hymn of the Incarnation
(The following is a talk he gave at the 2007 Saint Benedict Center Conference.) THE MAGNIFICAT (Luke 1:46-55) Author: Mary, a transcendently beautiful Jewish maiden. Age: Fourteen. Home: Nazareth, in the province of Galilee, Palestine.Year of composition: Nine months before … Continue reading
The Annunciation by Father Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M.
When the Blessed Virgin Mary, the spouse of the angelic Joseph, the royal son of David, was fourteen years, six months and seventeen days old, there occurred to her, and for her and through her, the greatest event that ever … Continue reading
The House Upon a Rock
Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam . With these words, taken from the sixteenth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, 1 Our Lord promised to build His Church upon the petram (rock) of Petrus (St. Peter).
Saint Paul against the Liberals
Men, brethren and fathers, hear ye the account which I now give unto you. I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the truth of … Continue reading
A Better Testament
“But now [Christ] hath obtained a better ministry, by how much also he is a mediator of a better testament which is established on better promises.” (Heb. 8:6) The terms “supersessionism” and “replacement theology” are used by Jews and heterodox … Continue reading
The Ark of the New Covenant
In his Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul calls Our Lord the “high Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle” (9:11). Greater than the Israelite priests — those who “serve unto the example … Continue reading
Left Behind
Left Behind is a popular series of books written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Evangelical Protestants brilliantly capitalizing on their “pre-trib” version of the “rapture theory.” This article is not about those books, but about the Catholic custom … Continue reading
Lazarus, Come Forth! — An Easter Meditation
In an earlier issue of From the Housetops (No. 51), Brother Francis wrote an article on the four senses of Holy Scripture. The piece was intended to help readers study Scripture by employing a traditional method used throughout the ages … Continue reading
The Second Eve
“Death by Eve, life by Mary” — Saint Jerome (Epistle 22) The standard Protestant attacks on Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary are generally based on the same false premise. The notion is that devotion to the Blessed Mother … Continue reading
The Ark of Noah and the Church of Christ
In the May 1994 issue of Daylight, a Catholic creationist journal published in England by Anthony Nevard, 1 there is a fascinating article by a French geologist, Guy Berthault, entitled: “The Laying Down Of Marine Sediments — A Revolutionary New … Continue reading
The False Prophets
For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect (Matthew 24:24). Introduction Some time ago a Catholic student at Brooklyn College called me to … Continue reading
The Beloved Disciple
One day Jesus was walking along the banks of the Sea of Galilee and He saw two fishermen, “James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called … Continue reading