He Who Prays Learns Hope
A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can...
Spes Nostra, Salve!
The Holy Father’s Encyclical Spe Salvi ends in a splendid prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Spes Nostra, Our Hope. One of the high points...
A Little Bit of Heaven Present on Earth
Monday of the Twenty-Third Week of the Year I Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Good Counsel Colossians 1:24–2:3 Psalm 61:5-6, (R. 7a)...
God Shows Us His Face and Opens to Us His Heart
Rather than preach my own homily this morning, I read the homily given by the Holy Father today at Mariazell. When the Successor of Saint...
Our Wounded God
Christ’s Holy and Glorious Wounds I was present in Saint Peter’s Square last Sunday when, in the course of Holy Mass, Pope Benedict XVI preached...
Sacramentum Caritatis: The Friendship of Christ
Reflections on Sacramentum Caritatis With the approach of Maundy Thursday — the solemn commemoration of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist and of the...
Benedict XVI: The Face of God and the Cross of Christ
Yesterday, in his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Benedict XVI returned to what has become a leitmotif in his preaching: the Face of God. The Holy...
Pope Benedict XVI on Reparation
At a February 22, 2007 meeting of the Roman clergy with Pope Benedict XVI, Don Alberto Pacini, Rector of the Basilica of Sant’Anastasia, spoke of...
The Novena to Saint Joseph
There are Catholics, belonging to a certain theological “caste”, who sniff condescendingly at novenas and other expressions of popular devotion. They forget, perhaps, the words...
“They Shall Look on Him Whom They Have Pierced”
The coincidence of the Holy Father’s Lenten Message with the liturgical memorial of Saint Claude La Colombière prompts me to post an article that I...
A Chant Meditation on the Holy Father’s Lenten Message
The Antiphon, O quantum in cruce, found in Laudes Vespertinae, the Cistercian collection for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, is the perfect meditation on the...
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2007
“They shall look on Him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37) Dear Brothers and Sisters! “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced” (Jn...
Pro Orantibus: Praying for Those Who Pray
From the Holy Father’s Angelus Message, 19 November 2006 On the occasion of the liturgical memorial of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the...