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Lent

The New Evangelization means that even our approach to Lent must change. We need to switch our focus from personal growth to Church growth and "give up" not chocolate, but our fear of sharing the Good News of God's love coming to all people...

This powerfully poetic sermon on the Cross of Christ as the Cosmic Tree was preached during Holy Week in the early church, somewhere around the 5th century, by someone whose name has been lost. It was wrongly attributed to the great preacher St. John Chrysostom....

This excerpt from a homily written in the second century by an anonymous Early Church Father speaks of true and sincere repentance of sin. His insistence that we must "keep the seal of our baptism undefiled" shows that the "once saved, always saved" doctrine...

With the coming of the New Covenant, much in the Old Law of Moses is rendered obsolete. But the Ten Commandments, otherwise known as the Decalogue, has eternal value, says St. Irenaeus, because it enshrines justice to God & neighbor....

St. Maximus the Confessor here makes clear the nature of true charity or love of God (one of the theological virtues), and affirms that it is not by faith alone that we secure our salvation, but also by a positive act of love of God...

Augustine reflects on the nature of a true sacrifice pleasing to God. Works of mercy and acts of compassion qualify, but the most perfect sacrifice is that of the Whole Body of Christ, head and members (Totus Christus), which is offered to God in every...

Augustine describes the theological virtue of hope in terms of expanding the desire of our hearts to see God face to face, stretching the capacity of our souls to contain more of the fullness of his presence....

Augustine tells Proba that praying always through the desire of the heart does not mean we should not frequent pray formally, at appointed hours, using words.  Without such formal prayer at set times, desire would grow cold....

Benedict XVI's homily for the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday 2009. The annual occasion on which the bishop, who is the only one who do so, blesses sacred chrism and other holy oils to be used throughout the diocese in the coming year. ...