With the Fall of Adam sin entered the world, and with sin, death. Worse than physical death is the “second death” (Apoc. 20:14) of eternal damnation. It is from this death, and from sin that leads to it, that Christ … Continue reading
Category: Spiritual Life
Purgatory
A Commentary On Father Schouppe’s Purgatory Explained Alas! We do not sufficiently remember our dear departed, their memory seems to perish with the sound of the funeral bells. Saint Francis de Sales Have pity on me, have pity on me, … Continue reading
My Morning Cup Of Joe – Part IV
Since we are on the subject of getting old — we were talking about that, weren’t we? — or is my mind slipping into two months feeling like it was two years ago. Time, oh time, it goes so fast … Continue reading
God is Here
There is a Latin rhyme that goes like this: Ora et labora, Deus adest sine mora. In English, we can translate it this way, keeping the rhyme: “Work and pray; God is here without delay.” Ora et labora is well … Continue reading
Saint Thomas’ Five Remedies Against Sadness
Carlo de Marchi, Opus Dei: On certain days we have all been sad, days when we have been unable to overcome an inner torpor or depression that weighs down on us and makes it difficult to interact with others. Is … Continue reading
Anger Issues
Anger is a vice that seems to be on the increase, with the country splitting at the seams of religion, class, race, party, and ideology. Pat Buchanan refers to this as the “balkanization” of America. At the opposite moral extreme … Continue reading
My Morning Cup Of Joe — Part III
The previous two articles in this series highlighted my morning woes, my inability to rise and shine as quickly as I should, and my difficulty in adorning my apparel. There is a reason for this: I am simply getting older. … Continue reading
Are the Works of Mercy a Matter of Justice?
Continuing the general subject of the last Ad Rem, I would like to reply to this second question about Mercy. We are, after all, in the “Year of Mercy,” and some things should be gotten straight about this gravely misunderstood … Continue reading
Faith and Miracles
What is faith? The Baltimore Catechism gives a very simple definition of faith as the first of the three theological virtues: “Faith is a Divine virtue by which we firmly believe the truths which God has revealed on the authority … Continue reading
Are the Works of Mercy Ever Obligatory?
Two questions about “mercy” were recently asked of me. Since we are soon to embark on the “Year of Mercy” proclaimed by Pope Francis, and since there is much confusion about the subject in general, I thought it worthy of … Continue reading
Act and Potency in the Christian Life
In the Tuesday night Philosophy group that has been meeting since this past summer, we are now more than halfway through the course on Cosmology. We recently covered the subject of act and potency — a couple of simple words … Continue reading
Why Is Total Consecration the Remedy to Our Ills?
The following is an excerpt from my recent conference talk. I am probably not alone — I hope I am not — in considering much of devotional literature a bit tiresome when it presents one or another special devotion as if … Continue reading
Scandal! Heresy! And Grace!
When considering the multiple scandals and heresies besetting the Church in our time, three Biblical verses come immediately to mind: “And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a … Continue reading
The Holy Rosary and Spiritual Childhood
Happy feast day Blessed Mother of the Rosary! It was called in England, Our Lady’s Psalter and also Our Lady’s Beads. The early Christians repeated simple prayers, Paters and Aves, by moving their thumb along a beaded string. Bede, in … Continue reading
Marian Consecration: A Little History
To whet the appetites of our readers for our conference theme, I present here a small chunk of my own talk, which is the “title cut” of the conference, since it has the same name: “Total Consecration to Mary: The … Continue reading
