Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your
One of the chief trends in modern life is from the rural to the urban setting. We must note, of course, that the city itself is not a strictly modern development. Cities have always marked civilization, from Troy to Athens, from Rome to Paris, from London to New York. Cities afford opportunities for the development
Silence is a hallmark of prayer in many religious traditions. It carries with it a certain awe, as if maintaining extended periods of silence were supernatural in itself, but in reality, it is part of the human life’s natural commute from solitude to encounter. Silence creates a separation that allows one to move away from
Pope Benedict XVI saw the need for an education in silence in our time: “Ours is not an age which fosters recollection; at times one has the impression that people are afraid of detaching themselves, even for a moment, from the mass media. For this reason, it is necessary nowadays that the People of God
The role Job played in the salvation of his friends may be interpreted as prefiguring both the Church and Christ. The friends, according to St. Gregory the Great, are “heretics,” while Job is a type of the Church, “whose faith they used to impugn with their false assumptions.” The heretics, therefore, must obtain their salvation
Surely there are few more endearing characters in all biblical and literary history than Job. Mankind universally identifies with the conundrum of innocent suffering and the questions it brings. Though the person of Job in the Old Testament is a historical one, the book of Job itself, irrespective of a literal interpretation, is regarded as
Lent is a time of fasting. It is a time to prepare for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery, the summit of the liturgical year. It is to commemorate the forty days of retreat and fasting of our Savior before His public ministry. To fast is to set a period of not eating or of
Facing temptation is the plight of mankind. Jesus is a real person, and He faced temptations too. The biggest temptation for mankind is that he is not willing to be a man but wants to be a God, becoming his own master. He puts himself, instead of God, in the center of all things. Instead
What, pray, you will ask, is pulpit direction? Well, without attempting to make the matter appear complicated, it means simply that you explain the topic of the sermon as well as you can and that you suggest: a certain application to the personal needs of your listeners; a recourse to prayer and the sacraments for
“The penitent, through perfect contrition, accompanied by the desire of confession, has already obtained remission of his sins from God.” Roman Catechism, Part 2, Section 4, Penance The idea of contrition is very unique to the Roman Catholic Tradition. The word itself literally means “the breaking of an object into small parts by means of
