Manos
Lent: Crush the heads of invisible dragons
From the Melkite weekday services in Lent, known as the Presanctified Liturgy, the closing prayer: ALMIGHTY LORD who created the whole universe in wisdom; who by your ineffable providence and great goodness have brought us to these salutary days for the purification of our souls and bodies, for the control of our passions and for hope…
Father Hardon on Lent and his 7 Rules of Penance
Fr. Hardon gives the basis of penance as a Divine Law that each of us must do, or perish. We may voluntarily do penance now – with his 7 rules of penance – or forcefully have it done to us later.
Alabama moves to destroy Children
This past Monday, some of the strangest things happened in Alabama, the alleged Bible belt. Out of fear that they were living the Wallace days again — Wallace the one who stood in the doors of the school to block the entrance of black children — many judges rushed to provide so-called marriage licenses to homosexual…
So What is Sexagesima Anyway? (the real secret to easy grace)
I never realized when I studied the Illiad and the Odyssey in latin in high school just how much my perceptions of words from latin were forever changed. I take for granted that latin words sound completely different to someone not familiar with latin. Recently, I was talking to someone and mentioned that Sexagesima Sunday was approaching. They…
Forget New Years: It’s still Christmas!
I’m always amazed at how effectively our society can put Christmas behind everyone before it’s even really started! Christmas began last week — it is still the octave of Christmas now, today. We live in an upside-down world, though: they thought Christmas started the day after thanksgiving, and ended last week. That was advent. Today is Christmas! It’s an…
Merry Christmas from the Bellarmine Forum!
May the birth of Jesus bring great blessings and grace to you and yours! Sing with the Angels and the shepherds today, “Gloria!” Enjoy this homily of St. John Chrysostom on the Nativity: BEHOLD a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a…
Christmas Novena Begins Today
Today, the feast of St. Andrew, begins the Christmas Novena. Said fifteen times each day until Christmas day, it is held in pious legend to deliver what is asked. Sometimes, it’s called “Prayer to obtain favors” for that reason. This version of the novena prayer received an Imprimatur from Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York on…
What the Catechism said on voting 100 years ago
Today is the mid-term election in the United States. At stake are state governorships and the representative positions. I’m sure many readers are painfully aware of the debates and nonsense of politics. There’s often a lot of debate over the role of Catholics in elections, and particularly what to do when you are faced with bad choices, no…
Make some friends in high places. Poor Souls: Who will pray for you?
While there is a bit of calendar hijinks that happen due to the way Sundays translate some feasts to adjacent days, but at the same time feasts on other days are made optional (such as All Saints’ Day yesterday), it can be confusing as to when you ought to pray for the Poor Souls in…
St. John Paul II and a Caution against the Age of Fraud
Fifty or a hundred years from now, the sociologists that write books to describe our time will have only one term to discuss today: fraud. It’s everywhere, and people think nothing of it. I think that’s because they don’t realize that the ancient Greeks long before the time of Christ, determined that there would be a time…
