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
Here is a question that will leave more than a few Christians, and I will even say pious ones, perplexed: What does the Heart of Jesus do and what does it say? They had not taken into account that in the Tabernacle there is someone who can speak and speaks, someone who can work virtue
Tradition, the liturgy of the Church, and Sacred Scripture itself have given the Holy Spirit many names. He is called the Paraclete Spirit, Creator Spirit, Spirit of Christ, Comforting Spirit, Spirit of Truth, Virtue of the Most High, Advocate, Finger of God, Guest of the Soul, Seal, Union, Link, Bond, Kiss, Living Fountain, Fire, Spiritual
To know oneself is not easy. This may seem a rather paradoxical statement, since according to general belief everyone knows himself best. But one needs, in fact, quite a technique and, as it were, a special training, if one really wants to know oneself. That this is the case has been known to the wizards
One of Alphonsus’s most beautiful writings is his Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, written in 1745, when he was in his fifties. This was his very first book, and it was so compelling that forty editions of it were published even during his lifetime. This precious work, composed by Alphonsus and often drawn from writings
To the extent that a Christian professes his faith and tries to live it, he becomes unusual to believers and unbelievers. This is because the Gospel won’t stop being the good news for Jews and Gentiles until the end of time. The unusualness of the Christian is purely and simply his resemblance to Jesus Christ,
“Let what was confessed by the Fathers of Nicaea prevail.” So wrote Athanasius to a philosopher in his final years. Even to this day, Catholics recite the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed at every Mass. We take for granted what St. Athanasius sacrificed so much to defend. It would serve us well to consider why he defended it,
A degree of asceticism is as necessary to the spiritual life as a degree of discomfort is necessary to the natural life. Just as the body would fail if it did not have to meet and overcome heat and cold, so the spirit would fail if it did not have to meet and overcome luxury
Pammachius, a friend of Jerome’s since they were teenagers studying in Rome, was the son of one of Rome’s most prominent and wealthy families. He had a very successful political career as a senator and office holder. He married Paulina, daughter of Paula, in A.D. 385. When she died a decade later, Pammachius began living