This excerpt from St. Augustine's Treatise on John's Gospel (Tract. 123, 5: CCL 36, 678-680) is read on the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6. It focuses on the real meaning of the gift-giving for which St. Nicholas is famous--the self-giving love of a...
Advent is a season of joy & hope. Paul says to rejoice in hope. But what is hope, anyway? How does this theological virtue differ from faith and what does it have to do with rejoicing?...
Before thanksgiving was an American holiday, it was a way of life for Jews and Christians alike, indeed a hallmark of the Judeo-Christian tradition. All ancient peoples gave thanks for creation; only Jews and Christians believe that God acted decisively in history to secure...
Prayer & table blessing for Thanksgiving Day. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is a holiday with special religious significance. Originally it was celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Native Americans to give thanks to God after the harvest of 1621. In 1863 President...
The Advent season is more about preparing for the second coming of Christ than for Christmas. To prepare for his final coming is more about action than end-times speculation....
Here Faustinus shows how our Savior Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness, as both priest and king. In this he is unlike all Old Testament figures except Melchizedek. It is used in the Roman Catholic Office of Readings for...
Augustine on the famous words of Jesus "anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and sister and my mother." This indicates Mary's true greatness as a disciple, one who conceived not only in body, but in faith; Augustine...
The feast of Jesus Christ the Universal King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and is observed on the last Sunday of the Roman Catholic Liturgical Year. It causes us to meditate on the Second and Final Coming of Christ, the last Judgment,...
The story of St. Martin of Tours, the fourth century soldier turned bishop turned saint, as told by his contemporary, Sulpicius Severus....
Pope Pius XI on St. Josaphat, martyr and apostle of unity. Born in the Ukraine to Orthodox parents in 1580, St. Josaphat embraced the Catholic faith and became a Basilian monk. Ordained to the priesthood and chosen bishop of Polock, he worked for the unity...