Both the reading from the Acts of the Apostles and the reading from the Gospel of St. John for today's liturgy are farewell discourses, a familiar feature of the Scripture. Many of the more prominent characters of both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures signal the fact that their lives are coming to a close by offering their last or their dying words.
In the case of St. Paul, he...
Coming as it does in the last week of the Easter Season, this year's observance of the Feast of St. Matthias highlights the actions of the Holy Spirit in the deliberations of the Apostles in choosing him to take the place of Judas in their midst. As they did in every situation, the Eleven left the choice up to God.
I have often wondered at this particular event from the Acts of the...
We are generally speaking very comfortable with the tenets of our faith regarding the nature of God. We have come to believe with all of our hearts that God is Father, Son and Spirit, three in One. Every liturgical prayer begins in the name of that Triune God as we sign ourselves with the cross.
Consequently, we probably rarely consider the fact that it was not always thus. Our knowledge...
Many European Catholics, especially German Catholics, mark three or four days beginning today to remember the "cold saints" or "ice saints." They are St. Mamertus (May 11), St. Pancras (May 12), St. Servatz (May 13), and St. Bonifatz (May 14). They are called the ice saints because these days in May are oftentimes the last chilly days before the onset of warm weather. (Here in Chicago we...