of the human person from conception until natural death
This weekday’s series of passages from the Book of Genesis begins on Monday by recounting the patriarch Jacob’s journey from Beer-sheba to Haran after receiving his father Isaac’s blessing, all the while fleeing the revenge of his brother Esau. During the night, Jacob has a dream of a ladder (Sūllām Yaʿăqōḇ)…
The first encyclical of the pontificate of the late Holy Father was also the first to be written by two Popes. It was begun by Pope Benedict XVI and completed by Pope Francis. The encyclical completes the trilogy of theological virtues that Pope Benedict had previously written in regard to…
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and the longest surviving of the fifty-six Founding Fathers of the nation. As an only child, Charles was not only the singular heir to the largest fortune in colonial Maryland but to the ancestral legacy…
In the Nicene Creed, at least weekly, the faithful profess their belief in the four marks of the Church: she is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Full apostolic faith requires several elements: belief in the divine inspiration of both testaments of the Bible, the teachings of the apostolic fathers, and…
The accounts of the events accompanying the Baptist’s birth, coupled with the declarations that Jesus made about John both testify to why the early Church held the Precursor in such high esteem. The Lord declared John to be “more than a prophet” (Lk 7:26) and “among those born of women,…
Known in English as the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Lat. Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Domini Iesu Christi), this feast honors Jesus Christ, really, truly, and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine. This Presence happens through the change that the Church calls transubstantiation (“change of…
11th Ordinary Week Ordinary vs. Proper in the Mass There are two different types of elements that constitute the Mass as whole: the Ordinary and the Proper. The Ordinary includes…
In an apparent contradiction to what Jesus had said earlier that He had made known to the disciples all that He had heard from the Father (Jn 15:15), at the outset of this weekend’s Gospel Jesus tells them, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”
Nature and dignity 