One prominent theme of the season of Advent is the virtue of hope. In preparing for Christmas, we foster hopeful expectation for the coming Messiah. We remember God’s promises and God’s faithfulness with hope-filled hearts. This is a good time, then, to meditate on the virtue of hope, with the help of Pope Benedict XVI’s […]
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Please pray for the repose of the soul of our beloved brothers, Fr. Augustine Hartman, O.P., and Br. Daniel Thomas, O.P. The vigil for both friars will be held at St. Albert the Great Priory, Tuesday, December 22 at 7:30pm The funeral Mass for both friars will be held at St. Albert the Great Priory, […]
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The season of Advent is here, and now that we’re getting some cold weather, it’s finally starting to feel like winter! For me, this weather gets me thinking about all the familiar experiences of the holiday season: hanging Christmas lights, putting up the Christmas tree, picking out gifts for our friends and family, and other […]
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We live in perhaps one of the most divided eras of our nation’s history. While the dust is beginning to settle from this rough year, it still feels like at any moment another vicious cultural war could break out. How does the Christian respond? By being a neighbor. It’s difficult to imagine the full ramifications […]
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The Jesus Prayer One of the most well-known and beloved prayers in Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches is the Jesus Prayer. There are a few forms which differ slightly but probably the most common goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s a simple, short, and […]
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Harvest festivals, like our American Thanksgiving, are found all over the world. From Korean Chuseok to Jewish Succoth, many farming societies developed rituals to mark the end of the harvest season, often with large parties and tons of good food. Spain has numerous local and regional festivities for the harvest season, which I am sure […]
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All men are dust and to dust they shall return. This is a seemingly grim statement, yet it is also one imbued with humility. What is man, whose life is measured in years and decades, in the great scope of God’s creation? To what can we aspire, so small in power and with a constitution […]
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Why does the Church focus on death? In his monastic rule St. Benedict tells his monks to “keep death daily before your eyes.” St. Jerome is famously depicted in paintings with a skull on his desk as he composes his translation of the Bible. Some churches are even made of human bones. Traditionally, crypts for […]
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By the grace of God, I was ordained to the diaconate this past month, and I have had the privilege to serve at Mass as a deacon. Part of the petition to be ordained to the diaconate involves declaring a clear understanding of a deacon’s responsibilities. The most important and clearly defined ones are the […]
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