Uncategorized Archives - Page 3 of 6

Two habits for happiness

“Oh give thanks to the Lord!” cries the Psalmist repeatedly (Psalm 107:1; 118:1; 136:1; etc.). “All your works shall give you thanks!” (Psalm 145:10). “Give thanks in all circumstances,” Paul commands, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1Thess 5:18).

It turns out that giving thanks to God is not only good but good for you: with the success of clinical trials, gratitude exercises and gratitude diaries have become standard in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Books like One Thousand Gifts have popularized the benefits of gratitude.

Why is gratitude so helpful? There are two reasons: Continue reading “Two habits for happiness”

From Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday

“It is great and worthy of admiration that on Sunday, which is the first day, on which God began to be engaged in the creation of the world, the Savior enters into the labor of his Passion, and on the seventh day, having been engaged in our salvation throughout this week, which is called the ‘Greater Week,’ he ceased and rested in the sepulcher.”

Rupert of Deutz (+c. 1129), quoted in James Monti, A Sense of the Sacred

Beauty favors tradition

Over at New Liturgical Movement, my good friend Peter Kwasniewski has written about his conversion. He doesn’t mean a conversion from atheism to Christianity, or from Protestantism to Catholicism: he means a conversion from “modernity” to “traditional Catholicism.” He says that experiences of great beauty shook him out of “modernity,” that is, out of “what one might call modernism, an exaltation of our own specialness, differentness, newness, and autonomy.”

We can recognize in Peter’s description a progressivism we experience all around us. One could summarize the mindset as three claims: Continue reading “Beauty favors tradition”

The Cross My Only Hope

My Catholic Christian faith fills my life with joy. My marriage is founded on biblical and magisterial wisdom and supported by sacramental grace. My professional life is teaching theology; my doctoral degree is in biblical studies. So how did I find this pearl of great price?

The real story is not my story, but my father’s. I had to embrace my faith and make it my own, taking up my cross for myself. But it was Leon Holmes who began college as an atheist, found his way to Christianity and eventually to Catholicism, and then handed all that to his children as their most valuable inheritance. He found the treasure buried in a field.

And how did he do that? As it happens, he wrote a book about it. Continue reading “The Cross My Only Hope”

St. Melchizedek

August 26

The commemoration of Saint Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God most high, who greeted Abraham the recent victor in battle with a blessing and offered to the Lord a holy victim, an immaculate host. He is interpreted as a prefiguration of Christ, the king of peace and justice, and–although he lacked any genealogy–a priest forever.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]

St. Bartholomew

August 24

The feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle, whom many believe to be the same as Nathaniel. Born in Galilee, he was led to Jesus Christ by Philip near the Jordan; later, the Lord called Bartholomew to follow him and included him in the Twelve; after the Lord’s ascension, he is believed to have preached the Gospel in India, where he was crowned with martyrdom.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]

St. Samuel

August 20

The commemoration of Saint Samuel, prophet, who was called by God as a boy and later, bearing the office of judge in Israel with God’s help, anointed Saul as king over the people; when Saul was rejected by the Lord because of his infidelity, Samuel also conferred the regal anointing on David, from whose seed the Christ was to be born.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]

St. Aristarchus

August 4

The commemoration of Saint Aristarchus of Thessalonica, who was a disciple of Saint Paul the Apostle, his faithful companion in travel, and eventually his fellow captive in Rome.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]

Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

[I wonder why Martha’s feast ranks ahead of the others in this trio?]

July 29

The memorial of Saint Martha, who in Bethany near Jerusalem received the Lord Jesus into her home and, when her brother was dead, confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”

The commemoration of Saint Lazarus, the brother of Saint Martha, whom being dead the Lord mourned and resuscitated; and of Mary, his sister, who when Martha was bustling about in constant work sat at the Lord’s feet and heard his word.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]

Sts. Joachim and Anne, St. Erastus

Scripture nowhere describes Mary’s childhood, gives her genealogy, or even names her parents–which is remarkable, given that they are the biological ancestors of Christ! But Scripture focuses instead on Joseph’s ancestry, through which Jesus takes his place as heir to King David. For the sake of the Biblical Saints project, however, I am counting Joachim and Anne as “biblical”.

July 26

The memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the immaculate Virgin Mary the Mother of God, whose names have been preserved by ancient Christian traditions.

The commemoration of Saint Erastus, who was the treasurer of the city of Corinth and ministered to blessed Paul the Apostle.

***

May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede to the Lord for us, that we may merit to be helped and saved by him who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

V. Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Is the death of his holy ones.

V. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

R. Amen

[To learn about praying this and other Martyrology entries, see this page.]