Metanoia and the Spiritual Experience of Pilgrimage: Part II
The Role of Beauty Beauty and the sacred are connected in human emotions and both have their origin in the experience of God. This is news for many people. So many await this revelation and do not know that they are missing out because no one has announced to them these blessed realities, things they…
May 13th and the Consecration of Russia
THE STORY OF FATIMA On a cool spring day in 1916, Lucy dos Santos, age 9, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, ages 8 and 6 respectively, took their parents’ sheep to pasture in a place not far from their homes in the mountain village of Fatima, Portugal, about 90 miles north of Lisbon.…
The Children of Fatima and Devotion to the Papacy
The Portuguese have always shown special loyalty to the Holy Father. It was the Pope who emancipated them from vassalage to Castile – and it was to him that the new, little country of Portugal was entrusted at its birth. Though in the course of the centuries this traditional devotion was occasionally weakened, the fault…
On the Providence of God by Alice von Hildebrand
In the wee hours of Tuesday, June 11, 1940, I was awakened by the ringing of the ship’s bells. I tiptoed to open the door of our cabin and to my amazement saw people in pajamas and nightgowns with life-preservers around their waists, rushing toward the deck. I immediately woke my sister, Louloute (pronounced “Loo-lute”).…
The Author of the Salve Regina: the Stories of Two Great Lovers of Mary
The Salve Regina, after the Hail Mary, is undoubtedly the best-known and best-loved Marian prayer within the Catholic tradition. It is recited at the conclusion of each mystery of the Rosary; and, for those in monastic and consecrated life, it is traditionally sung as a final antiphon at night after compline, throughout most seasons of…
Interior Peace & Sadness
“Always active, always at rest.” -St. Augustine Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate into anxiety and eagerness. Saint Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy of these two defects. They cause us to lose sight of God in our actions and make us very prone to impatience if the slightest obstacle should…
To Attain Perfection We Must Endure Our Imperfection
The feast of the Purification has no octave; it should continue our whole life. We must have our mind settled on two points; one, to expect the growth of weeds in our garden; the other, to have courage to witness their removal, and to lend a hand ourselves. For self-love will not die as long…
Metanoia and the Spiritual Experience of Pilgrimage: Part I
Climbing Croagh Patrick in Ireland before dawn. Attending Midnight Mass in Bethlehem under the stars. Standing in the arena under the Mediterranean sun where the martyrs perished in Carthage. Fortunate is the Catholic who can experience pilgrimage, embarking on an extraordinary journey of faith and the personal transformation that comes from penitence and conversion, a…
