I began to write this on the feast of St. John of San Facundo, a Spanish Augustinian Friar of the fifteenth century. He is the patron of the city of Salamanca. Conspicuous for being a peace maker among factions, he … Continue reading
Category: Spiritual Life
The General Relationship between the Virtues and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
The gifts of the Holy Ghost resemble the infused virtues in a number of ways. Both are operative habits which have God as their efficient cause and the perfection of man as their final cause.
On the Church and the World: Lessons from the Easter Liturgy and the Russian Prophet
Lessons from Today’s Liturgy. During Easter Week, the traditional liturgy presents us with rich Scripture readings proper to every day of the week. Today, Wednesday of Easter Week, we read the Gospel account from John 21 about the post-Resurrection miraculous … Continue reading
Passiontide Meditation
“He that is of God heareth the words of God.” — a meditation on Passiontide, based on the Gospel and Epistle for Passion Sunday. Passion Sunday. Today is Passion Sunday. The Church gives it this name because the two weeks … Continue reading
Lenten Combat Considerations
For your edification, I offer some thoughts on this week’s Sunday Gospel and Epistle, which focus us on the spiritual combat of the Lenten season, and of the Christian life. These meditations were prepared for Sunday, so they refer to … Continue reading
On the Hatred of ‘the World’
Below is a sublime liturgical reflection from the pen of my favorite spiritual writer, Abbot Prosper Guéranger. It is an excerpt from The Liturgical Year for the Tuesday of Quinquagesima Week, where that profound Benedictine master writes about the hatred we … 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
Homesick For Heaven: Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
In the long history of our Holy Catholic Church, the Carmelite Order is the only group of religious that can trace its beginnings back to Old Testament times. From the age of the prophet Samuel, there existed in the Holy … Continue reading
La Reconquistadora – The Virgin Mary and the Virtue of Fortitude
For the better part of eight hundred years, Catholic Spain fought to liberate herself from Islamic occupation. The Reconquista, or Reconquest, as this war of liberation was called, began to make great strides in the second half of the eleventh … Continue reading
Meditation on the Immaculate Conception, by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Eternal Love, Spirit of Light and Truth, make a way into my poor mind and allow me to penetrate as far as it is possible to a wretched creature like myself, into that abyss of grace, of purity and of … Continue reading
The Holy Name of Mary
And the Virgin’s name, wrote Luke, was Mary. Let us speak of this name for a few moments. It is said to mean “star of the sea,” a name applied most appropriately to the Virgin Mary. She is compared most … Continue reading
Joining Worship of the Eucharist with Devotion to Mary
In Catholic piety, worship of the Eucharist and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary are usually seen as two separate things. There are religious orders dedicated to promoting each.
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
Catholic Sacramentals — Gifts of Grace
In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady.
Beholding His Mother
Editor’s Introduction: The following is excerpted with permission from Emmanuel d’Alzon: Apostle for our Time, by Father Wilfrid J. Dufault, A.A. JUST AS the great monastic reformers like Dom Guéranger and Dom Columba Marmion had a refined, sublimely theological approach … Continue reading
