(July, 1846) Our readers do not need to be informed that the distinguished author of this work on the development of Christian doctrine, has, within the last year, been admitted to the communion of the holy Catholic Church; for who … Continue reading
Category: Theology
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
Saint John Damascene and the Iconoclasts
St. John the Evangelist succinctly described the essence of the Incarnation when he wrote: “The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us.” Fr. Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M., speaking about the Incarnational nature of Christianity, stated: I am going to tell … Continue reading
Arianism and the Council of Nicea
It has long been our opinion at Saint Benedict Center that a thorough understanding of the twenty-one Ecumenical Councils of the Church would be a great inspiration to Catholics. Especially is this true today when we are laboring to preserve … Continue reading
The Council of Ephesus
Editor’s Introduction: In the following pages, Brother Michael tells an inspiring story of the Christian enthusiasm with which the faithful of the fifth century fought and repelled a heresy that would have undermined faith in the Incarnation, and would have … Continue reading
Constantinople I — In Defense of the Holy Ghost
Byzantium was a little Greek colony that sat rather proudly on the western shore of the Bosphorus Strait. For almost a thousand years this classical settlement posed, unappreciated, upon one of the most strategic geographic locations in the world. Lying, … Continue reading
The Road to Emmaus
We read Holy Scripture in order to learn God’s ways in His dealings with men, ways which invariably prove to be mysterious and baffling to our thoughts and expectations. Most especially do we find ourselves both challenged and bewildered by … Continue reading
The Church, The Mystical Body
(From a talk Brother gave at the 1997 Saint Benedict Center Conference) I will begin this talk with a basic question, but a question I’m afraid most of us don’t think enough about: What was the purpose of the Incarnation? … Continue reading
Is Faith a Gift?
When Our Lord was asked: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? He replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.”
The Blessed Trinity Explained to Thomas Butler
You said: “Write a treatise on the Blessed Trinity, and explain it just to me!” You know very well that there are many realizations of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity which you have already arrived at, and which are … Continue reading
On Judging Others
[Originally published in the 1940s.] Slogans are what often pass as Protestant substitutes for dogma. Nor is the disease of sloganizing confined exclusively to Protestants. Many Catholics, foolishly supposing association with heresy to be harmless, have been infected by it … Continue reading
Love is the Spirit of Truth
(written in 1948) Mr. Daniel Sargent has written a classic biography called Thomas More . If anyone should know about Utopia, it would be Sargent.
A Prelude to Faith
There is a certain definite behaviour of the human mind in reference to the Divine Mind constituting a function which Catholic Theology calls Faith. I am concerned with a critical analysis of that function. It were therefore a clear begging of … Continue reading
On Grace and Nature
The central mystery of our faith is the mystery of the Incarnation. The norm of Catholic orthodoxy has always been and will always be the doctrine that Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true Man.
What Laws can the Church Change?
(written in 1955) Every Catholic knows (and practically all non-Catholics have heard about it) that one of the major proofs given for the truth of his religion is the fact that it does not change, that it has been the … Continue reading