Advancement in Holiness

“Not as though I had already attained.” -Philippians 3:12 It is a common maxim of all the Saints that not to advance in the way of God is to go back.  Who is there that, after having travelled homeward several days, would feel inclined to go back, particularly when he calls to mind the sentence…

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Padre Pio, Superhero, Makes Another Save

The remarkable conversion of actor Shia LaBeouf is making waves among Catholics and the culture at large. I watched his testimony in a fascinating long interview with Bishop Robert Barron. LaBeouf comes across as fully sincere, repentant, and highly thoughtful. This is an obviously intelligent and informed individual, highly cerebral, who came to the Church…

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The Spiritual Influence of St. Antony of the Desert

Such was the life of Antony. We must not disbelieve when all these wonders are wrought through a man.  For it is the promise of the Savior, who said: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, depart hence, and it shall depart; and nothing shall be…

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The Supernatural Character of the Priest

Something very profound remains to be said of the priest.  In view of the lofty and holy vocational tasks that a priest must discharge, the question spontaneously suggests itself: How can the priest, who after all is only a man, be equal to such tasks and such goals? We can recognize that this question refers…

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The Holy Eucharist – Past, Present, and Future

 In the Magnificat Antiphon for Second Vespers of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Church sings “O sacrum convívium, in quo Christus súmitur: recólitur memória passiónis eius: mens implétur grátia: et futúræ glóriæ nobis pignus datur, allelúia. / O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind…

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The Proof of True Humility is Patience

The proof of true humility is patience: neither meekness of speech, nor humbleness of bearing, nor the giving up of oneself to lowly works, is a sufficient indication by which to judge if a soul is truly humble. There are many who bear all the appearance of exterior humility, but who are angered at every…

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God Does Not Abandon Us at the Hour of Death

As a gentle mother, leading her little child with her, helps it to walk, carries it according as she sees necessity, allows it to make some steps by itself in places which are very smooth, and not at all dangerous, sometimes taking it by the hand and steadying it, sometimes lifting it up in her…

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Meditation on the Vestments of the Mass

You may ask, dear Reader, if Our Lord also ordained the ceremonies of Mass.  I answer, “No.”  He instituted only the essential arts of the Mass.  He left it to His Church to prescribe the rites and ceremonies to be observed in its celebration. However, most of the ceremonies of Mass are of great antiquity,…

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Inspiration from St. Stephen of Hungary and His Crown

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Pope Francis by phone on Friday and thanked him for his prayers. The phone call came the day after the funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica for Cardinal Jozef Tomko, who at age 98 had been the Catholic Church’s oldest living cardinal, and the last of the great Cold War…

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Sins of Habit

“Let not sin reign in your mortal body.” -Romans 6:12 It is a great evil to accustom ourselves to evil.  A habit of sinning is a fatal chain which binds the soul and renders it a slave to crime.  It blinds the spirit, hardens the heart, stifles the voice of conscience and gives a death-blow…

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Discourse on the Feast of the Assumption

Meditation on the Death of Mary On this day the Church celebrates, in honour of Mary, two solemn festivals; the first is that of her happy passage from this world; the second, that of her glorious Assumption into Heaven. In the present discourse we shall speak of her happy passage from this world; and in…

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The Importance of Mary in the Spiritual Order (PART II)

The Holy Parents of Mary: Saints Joachim and Ann In fine, the appointed time approaching, God sent into the world two brilliant flambeaux, to announce the coming dawn of the Sun of Justice, Jesus, our Saviour. These were St. Joachim and St. Ann, whom the Divine Will had prepared and created to be the parents…

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Resignation to the Divine Will

“My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.”  -John 4:34 So said Jesus Christ, speaking of Himself.  In this mortal life, “meat” is that which preserves our life, and therefore Our Lord said that it was His meat to do the will of the Father.  This also ought to be the…

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Remedies Against Gluttony

Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and drinking.  Our Savior warns us against this vice, saying, “Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life.” (Lk. 21:34).  When you feel the promptings of this shameful disorder, subdue them by the following considerations: Call to…

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The Mercy of God on the Return of a Sinner

“If sin abounds in malice to destroy, grace superabounds to repair.” -St. Francis de Sales The entrance of sin takes away life from the heart and from all its good works; the entrance of grace restores life to the heart and to all its good works.  A severe winter kills the plants of the field,…

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God Controls All Events, Whether Good or Bad

Nothing happens in the the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ I am the…

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Introduction to the Dark Night of the Soul

The following is an Introduction penned by Fr. Benedict Zimmerman for Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. The Dark Night, though only a short treatise in comparison with the remaining works of St. John of the Cross, is perhaps from a practical point of view the most important of the…

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