At his papal election in 2003, why did Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger take the name Benedict? Because it was the Benedictine Order who, systematically and comprehensively, rebuilt Europe after the barbaric invasions. This fact is of such vital importance that it must be restated, or even stated for the first time, and without embarrassment. It is quite remarkable that some European leaders refuse to acknowledge Europe’s Christian roots and, specifically, the Church’s role in building its...
An Excerpt from “The Blow of Mercy”
“I still remember my first high dive,” he began. “At some point, you have to try it. You can’t keep practicing on the lower board. I had screwed up my courage and told myself I was diving into the arms of Jesus. It was a leap of faith with no support except trust. There was no turning back, midair. The dive was total and took over completely. The early Christians did it that way. I mean the catechumens. When they got baptized, they plunged...
What is the meaning of suffering? Holy Week confronts each of us with this inscrutable question. Whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, suffering spares no one. It does violence to the person and to groups of people. It comes from us and others, from places, events, and unfulfilled expectations. ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ To whom shall we go for answers? For consolation? If life is a riddle, doesn’t someone owe me an answer? If it’s all a joke, what is...
Last week, when Pope Francis addressed 5,000 secular and Catholic journalists and media, he spoke of how the role of mass media has expanded with its indispensable ability for reporting current events. He thanked all present for their efforts to present the historic and complex events of the recent election, an arcane subject that can even stump Vaticanologists. He elaborated: “The Church does not respond to an earthly logic because the nature of the Church is spiritual, not...
It’s so beautiful, I could faint! This will surely be your response if you should want to visit the website of Corpus Christi Watershed (http://www.ccwatershed.org/blog/categories/loft/). The music is not Gregorian chant but contemporary sacred music composed in a way that is oriented toward the chant. Http://www.chantcafe.com/ and http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org are two other websites filled with information about beautiful liturgical music and ways to make it available to parish...
In 2008, Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a consulter for the Pontifical Council for Culture, spoke about “the blight of and iconoclastic Puritan streak in North and North West Europe which has inevitably had an effect on all forms of art, including church architecture.” He has also noted that, during the utilitarian trends of the Soviet Empire, the Eastern Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic, “seem to have successfully stood their ground, with an amazing talent for beautifying the...
Not since Pope St. Pius X (1903-14) has a pontiff befriended sacred music more passionately than Benedict XVI. At the Counter-Reformation, musical excesses were corrected. In the nineteenth century, concerns about church music that was pietistic, devotional, and non-liturgical came and went with minimal reform. Since Vatican II, the issue of sacred music has mushroomed into bitter debates, a fact well-known to Benedict. This essay summarizes his catechesis on sacred music in his own...
From primitive times, fasting has been practiced for three basic reasons: the magical, the ethical and the religious. Apparently, the results brought about by fasting and by the use of drugs are similar: both release or produce mysterious powers. Unlike drugs however, fasting sharpens a person’s intellect and strengthens the will. Fasting can increase concentration and mind-expansion. Saying no to drugs or to any addiction is to be liberated from that addiction.
A...
In the year 300, you could be put to death if you were a Christian. In 400, you could be put to death if you weren’t. During those first three centuries of persecution, heroic women came to hold pride of place in the Christian community.
Seven women – in addition to the Mother of God – are named in the Roman Canon I: Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia. It was for their faith that they suffered ghoulish physical torture and martyrdom. In the Eastern part...
Athanasius cut a curious figure, a dwarf-like man with hooked nose, short beard, and fiery temper. Born in A.D. 295 near the Egyptian Nitrian desert far away from the Diocletian persecution in Rome, he was well-educated in the classics and theology. Bishop of Alexandria for many years, he became the Church’s dominant theologian of the fourth century. This Doctor of the Church died in 373, and his feast day is May 2nd.
The Arian Heresy
How is Jesus fully God and fully man? This was a...
