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Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives
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Before the Eucharistic Christ I know that numerous popular devotions held in church before the Blessed Sacrament have been swept away as by a tornado. I know that in the laudable effort to highlight the Eucharistic Liturgy and therefore emphasize the altar, the tabernacle has been almost put out of sight, hidden away, as though Christ's Eucharistic Presence continuing after Mass and between Masses were something to be apologized for. I know there are speakers and writers who say things about the Real Presence which obscure the fact that Jesus Christ is really, truly and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament not only during Mass or at Communion time but all the time, as long as the sacred elements remain. |
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and Suffering If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of the great holiness which He desires you to obtain. |
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and the Grace of God Without prayer we will lose the divine life we possess, and more obviously, we shall not grow in the life we already have. In other words, no prayer, no salvation…we need to pray…because we have a fallen human nature… |
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Perfect Prayer By every standard of comparison, the most popular prayer in existence is the Our Father. Not only Catholics and Protestants, but Mohammedans and Jews, admire the Lord's Prayer for its intrinsic beauty, and declare it to be the finest expression of Christian spirituality. An interesting sidelight on this popularity is furnished by the numerous polyglot collections of the Our Father which have been published at various times since the invention of printing. The most famous are those of John Chamberlayne in the early eighteenth century (in 150 different languages), and of Padre Hervaz (in 307 dialects and tongues), first published in 1787. |
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1: The Divine Office as the Church's Prayer of Praise and Intercession One of the most providential developments in the Catholic Church, through the Second Vatican Council, has been the extraordinary emphasis on the Liturgy in the life of the faithful: priests, religious and the laity. Unfortunately this liturgical renewal has not always been wisely interpreted. Not the least problem affecting the Church today is the misreading of what the Council taught and, in some instances, a positive indifference to, by now, the extensive teaching of the Holy See on how the Sacred Liturgy is to be celebrated and what norms are to be followed if the inspired directives of the Church's latest and most comprehensive ecumenical gathering are to bear the fruit desired by the Holy Spirit. |
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The Divine Office as Liturgy But we return to our original postulate: that there is special need to see how the Divine Office is indeed a form of the Divine Liturgy. So concerned is the Church to have us know this that she has now consciously given us two equally valid names for the same spiritual exercise, namely, the Divine Office and the Liturgy of the Hours. |
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The Divine Office as a Form of Sacrifice There is more than passing value in reflecting on the Divine Office as a form of sacrifice. For one thing, we know that for anything to be pleasing to God it must be sacrificial; it must cost us something. A self-satisfying gift is a cheap gift. And the Divine Office should not be a cheap gift to God. |
| The Way of the Cross During many centuries pious Christians went as pilgrims to Jerusalem, but when the Holy land was taken over by the Moslems these pilgrimages ceased. As a result, in many parts of Europe the custom arose of placing pictures in churches, representing the journey to Calvary. Probably the first to do this was Blessed Alvarez, a Dominican, at Cordova in Spain. About 1350 the Franciscans adopted the practice in Italy and even today the privilege of erecting the stations of the Cross belongs by apostolic indult to the Order of Friars Minor. |
| With Jesus in Gethsemane All three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) give us a detailed account of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Olives, known in Hebrew as "Gethsemane", which means "the garden of the oil press." My purpose in this meditation is to select three passages from the Gospel narratives of Christ’s agony, quote the words in each case, and then apply the inspired words to ourselves. In each case there will be a brief subtitle. |
| Prayer of Admiration and Praise No doubt many people, maybe most people, most of the time when they pray are asking God for a favor, whether something they want, or to be protected from something they don't want. But is that all there is to prayer, or more exactly, is this the highest form of prayer in which we can engage, the prayer in which we tell God, "Lord, come to my assistance; make haste to help me"? |
| The Meaning of Prayer Prayer is the sublime conversation we are mysteriously able to hold with the invisible world of God and of God’s angels and saints. It is sublime because that is what we are preparing for during our stay on earth. Prayer is the one activity that will not be interrupted by death, but will continue in heaven, never to end. |
| What Is Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament? In the present conference I suggest that we ask two questions. What is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? What are we talking about? And then, why is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? What are we talking about? And then, why is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament so important in the spiritual life of the priest, the religious and the believing faithful Catholic? |
| Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament When we speak of the Blessed Sacrament, we can mean the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist or the Holy Communion that we receive during the Eucharistic Liturgy. And the language of Catholicism does not separate the two, even while it distinguishes them. My present purpose is to look as closely as we can at one practice of Catholic piety that represents a real development of doctrine in the history of the Church, namely the practice of praying before the Blessed Sacrament, either exposed on the altar or reserved in the tabernacle. |
| The Value of Prayer and Sacrifice for Priests I would like to address myself to the subject of the value of prayer and sacrifice for priests – the value of prayer and sacrifice for priests. If there was ever a need to pray and sacrifice for priests for their preservation and sanctity it is today. It is not exaggeration to say that the Catholic priesthood in countries like our own is going through the most difficult ordeal in the Church's history. That is no exaggeration. We have lost well over ten thousand priests in the United States since the close of the Vatican Council. |
| Adoration and Praise in Our Prayer Asking the average person what prayer means he might say, "it is asking God for what we need." That answer is correct but not adequate. Many people when they pray are asking God for some favor, either what they want or something they wish to avoid. They are sick and they are asking for health. They may be facing a difficult situation and they are asking for light and strength to cope, or confused, they are asking for guidance, or fearful, they are asking for courage. This is true for God often sends us trials to keep us humbly dependent on His help. He well knows that if everything went well too often, we would become independent and not likely to pray. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Introduction We’re about to begin what we are calling a Marian Retreat. I chose, and I trust Our Lady is pleased; our focus will be on Our Lady of the Rosary. So the next logical question is, why a retreat on Our Lady of the Rosary? There are many series of reasons and I think it is well to go over, at least, some of the reasons; for the underlying reason, for the more clearly we understand why we are doing something, the more strongly we will be motivated to do it well. We should then, first reason, make a retreat on Our Lady of the Rosary because there is no single form of Catholic piety outside of the Holy Eucharist as Real Presence, as Holy Communion, and as the Sacrifice of the Mass; there is no other form of Catholic piety that has been more frequently and earnestly, and the weakest verb I can use is, encouraged by the Vicars of Christ than devotion to the Holy Rosary. Why? |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - History of the Rosary Of course, Saint Dominic had a great deal with making the Rosary, not only well-known but spread throughout the Catholic world beginning in the early thirteenth century. But our concentration will rather be on what we call the development of the doctrine about Our Lady because except for this growth or progress in Marian doctrine, devotion to the Holy Rosary would not have become what it now is, belonging to the foundations of our Catholic piety. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - An Effective Way of Praying the Rosary There then has been a growth in what we call dogmatic progress in each of the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary. What is less well known, however, is that some of the great devotees of Mary have written extensively on the different ways that they have prayed the Rosary. What they have to say is worth hearing. What is probably least well known is that, on occasion, even the Vicars of Christ have volunteered to describe how they personally have found helpful directives for reciting the Rosary of Our Lady. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Joyful Mysteries - The Annunciation We’re now ready to begin the reflection on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and the first, obviously, is The Annunciation. We might begin by observing that there is no single event in the Gospels that has inspired more artists and more poets than the scene described in St. Luke’s Gospel which is the First Mystery, not only of the Rosary, but of Christianity. What we will do now is go over each of the elements in the events described by the Evangelist. Then following Pope John XXIII’s recommendation, do some reflection on the meaning of these elements described by St. Luke and then, most practically, apply especially two lessons to our own spiritual lives. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Joyful Mysteries - The Visitation Our present conference is on the second Joyful Mystery, the Visitation of Our Lady. This mystery is really two mysteries in one. First the Visitation itself and then the Magnificat which Mary said - or as we may believe - sang on the first day she visited Elizabeth. Our conference plans to cover both mysteries and in both cases simultaneously as we go along, first the Visitation and then the Magnificat, reflect on the meaning and apply the mystery to our lives. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Joyful Mysteries - The Birth of Jesus Our present meditation is on the Third Joyful Mystery, The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. We shall take the whole story of Our Lord’s Birth at Bethlehem as one unit and concentrate on certain features of the event. Features, I should add, that now for centuries the great spiritual masters of Christianity have identified with Bethlehem. The features of Bethlehem on which we shall prayerfully reflect are: the Significance of Bethlehem, the Silence of Bethlehem and the Simplicity of Bethlehem. I find over the years whenever is possible to use alliteration it helps people remember. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Joyful Mysteries - The Presentation Our present reflections on the Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. The narrative as described by St. Luke is one of the longest, sustained stories about Jesus in the Gospels. In sequence: St. Luke gives us the account of the Annunciation, then of Mary’s Visitation, then of Christ’s Birth in Bethlehem, then of His Circumcision on the eighth day and finally at great length, Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple by Mary and Joseph. We might remind ourselves, and this will be the logic we’ll follow in this presentation. There are four events in sequence. There is first the fact that Mary’s days of purification were completed. Then the actual Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Third, Simeon, both his Nunc Dimittis and his prophecy to Our Lady; then several verses about Anna, the Prophetess, and then one verse that Jesus, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem and returned to Nazareth in Galilee. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Joyful Mysteries - Christ Being Found in the Temple This Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is a mixture of joy and sorrow. You might say it is the link that joins the Joyful Mysteries with the Sorrowful Mysteries that are to follow. It is also the last mystery of Christ’s hidden life before He began His public ministry at the age of thirty. What I’d thought I'd do is first review each detail which occasioned Christ’s going to the Temple with Mary and Joseph and then being found there three days later. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Sorrowful Mysteries - Christ's Agony in the Garden With the present conference we begin the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, and the first, of course, is Christ's Agony in the Garden. We begin by observing that there is a profound sense in which Christ began to suffer for the salvation of the world from the moment of His conception in Mary's womb. Moreover, we can legitimately speak of Christ's Passion as beginning, already, with the Last Supper and then ending with His death and burial. Traditionally, however, the Passion of Christ with His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and ended with His Crucifixion on Calvary. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Sorrowful Mysteries - The Scourging of Christ at the Pillar Our present conference is on the second of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, namely the Scourging of Christ at the Pillar. Not unlike the first mystery, so here the Scourging of Our Lord at the Pillar is covered by all four Evangelists. It might be worth our while briefly going over the account in each Evangelist in sequence, see what each one says so we get what Pope John XXIII told us, to get a picture both physical and I would add, chronological, of what actually occurred. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Sorrowful Mysteries - Crowning with Thorns Our present meditation is on the third Sorrowful Mystery, Our Lord's Crowning with Thorns. All the events we have indicates that Christ's crowning with thorns during His Passion was not part of either Pilate's legal punishment of Jesus nor, it seems, of the Jews demands for the Savior's humiliation. We may say Christ's Crowning with Thorns came on a sudden inspiration from the devil. All evidence of the Gospels indicates that the crowning with thorns was a spontaneous action on the part of the Roman soldiers stationed at the garrison under Pontius Pilate. Also unlike the Agony in the Garden and Christ's Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns is not narrated by all four Evangelists. To be exact, two of the synoptics Matthew and Mark, and John describe in detail the Crowning with Thorns. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Sorrowful Mysteries - The Carrying of the Cross This mystery of the Rosary identifies the most important single journey in the history of the human race. It is nothing less we believe than the journey of the Son of God become Man made from the palace of Pontius Pilate to the top of Mount Calvary where He was crucified…In order to do justice to an immense subject, I thought we should separate the narrative of Christ carrying His Cross into two parts. Part one - drawing exclusively on what we find in the Gospels. In part two, what the Church over the centuries of Her Tradition has also added. Then we will conclude, at some length, with the implications of Christ's carrying His Cross for our lives. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Sorrowful Mysteries - The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus You may legitimately say that the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery is the pivotal mystery of Christianity on which all the other mysteries of our Faith depend. Everything from the moment of the Incarnation was a prelude to the Crucifixion. Everything after the Crucifixion into the endless reaches of eternity stems from and depends on Christ's death on the Cross. Given our focus in this retreat which is on Our Lady, I thought we should concentrate on Mary's role in the Crucifixion of her Son. Among the four Evangelists only St. John records the fact that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, stood under the Cross near her Son. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Glorious Mysteries - The Resurrection of Jesus We are now beginning the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary and the first, Our Lord's Resurrection from the Dead. Seeing how much our Faith depends on Christ's Resurrection, it seems worthwhile subdividing our reflections in this fundamental mystery. Christ's Resurrection, we must say, is not only the First Glorious Mystery of the Rosary; it is the First Mystery of our Faith along with the Savior's Crucifixion on Calvary. Before we get into a more detailed reflection on Easter Sunday it might be to see how the sorrowful mysteries are related to the glorious ones, and more specifically, how Calvary is related to Easter Sunday. Man having sinned and not in the distant past, sinning now and we may be sure continuing to sin until the end of time. The first need and the first meaning of Redemption is redemption from sin. To accomplish that God had to become Man and die on the Cross. But that's only one half. We were not only to be redeemed from sin, we're also to be restored to God's friendship and this Christ did by His Resurrection. Removal from sin achieved on Calvary, restoration to God's grace achieved and begun with Christ's rising from the grave. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Glorious Mysteries - The Ascension Our present meditation and reflection is on the Second Glorious Mystery, the Ascension of Our Lord from earth to Heaven. With this, the Second Glorious Mystery, we complete our reflections on Christ's sensibly perceptible stay on earth. When God became Man He began His earthly and, I qualify, sensibly perceptible Presence when He was conceived by Mary at Nazareth. As we begin this meditation, I cannot exaggerate the importance of realizing that for thirty some years God became Man and was on earth visibly, sensibly perceptible – that since the Ascension God become Man, I repeat become Man, is indeed in Heaven at the Right hand of His heavenly Father, but He is also and that word also is at the heart of our Catholic Faith – He is also on the earth in the Holy Eucharist. Christ then completed this earthly and I then repeat visibly perceptible stay, He completed this kind of earthly stay on Ascension Thursday forty days after Easter. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Glorious Mysteries - The Descent of the Holy Spirit The Third Glorious Mystery, is in its way, is the consummation of all the other Mysteries of the Rosary before what began at Nazareth on earth ended at Jerusalem on earth. We may safely say that the Person who came down on Our Lady at Nazareth was the same Divine Person who came down on those awaiting His coming in Jerusalem. At Nazareth the Angel told Our Lady that the Holy Spirit would come upon her so that she would conceive and bear a Son who would be the Son of the Most High. Thus the Holy Spirit began the work of the Incarnation. As the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mary became the Mother of God become Man. That was the beginning. Some thirty-three years intervened then the purpose of that first coming of the Holy Spirit on Our Lady was finally fulfilled when He actually descended and the term we should use descended on the Church and has been descending ever since. |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Glorious Mysteries - The Assumption of Our Lady Our present meditation is on the Fourth Glorious Mystery, the Assumption of Our Lady. As we all know the dogma of Mary's Assumption was defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. There are so many aspects of this Mystery that we could meditate on. I thought I would choose the three most fundamental. Begin by asking ourselves, what do we believe when we believe that Our Lady was assumed body and soul into Heaven? Then, more briefly, why did the Vicar of Christ just at this time in history define Mary's Assumption? Then, more specifically, within the Pope's teaching, why should Mary have been assumed body and soul into Heaven? And on the practical level, finally, how are we to put this Mystery of Faith into practice? |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Glorious Mysteries - The Coronation of Our Lady But Mary's Coronation took place in Heaven. Our planned scope for this meditation conference will cover the following aspects of what we keep repeating are Mysteries of the Rosary, meaning they are Truths of our Faith that we should try to grow in understanding but we'll never, even into the endless reaches of eternity, fully comprehend. First, what does the Church mean by the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Second, why? Why do we honor Mary as Queen and, therefore, commemorate her Coronation in Heaven? And, finally, always back to earth - How should Our Lady's Queenship affect our personal and collective spiritual lives? |
| Our Lady of the Rosary - Marian Retreat - Resolutions in a Marian Retreat But the final purpose of a retreat through now centuries of the Church’s experience is to make - the final purpose of a retreat is to make - a salutary improvement in our lives. And the word salutary means: improvement that conduces to our "salus," to our salvation. So we ask ourselves: How is this improvement to be achieved? In the last six days we’ve covered many aspects of our faith and, as far as possible, always against the background of Our Lady. Suppose we approach this concluding and I would say basic subject from three angles by asking three questions while applying these questions to the meditations we’ve been making for the past week on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 1 - Holy is the Lord Chapter 1 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 2 - Spirit of the Lord Chapter 2 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 3 - Consecrated to the Lord Chapter 3 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 4 - Life in the Lord Chapter 4 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 5 - Service of the Lord Chapter 5 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 6 - Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Lord Chapter 6 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 7 - Heart of the Lord Chapter 7 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 8 - Mother of the Lord Chapter 8 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 9 - Foster Father of the Lord Chapter 9 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 10 - Blessed in the Lord Chapter 10 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| For Jesuits: Chapter 11 - Kingdom of the Lord Chapter 11 of Fr. John A. Hardon's prayer book. |
| The Hail Mary As we know the present Hail Mary is really two prayers, one after the other: the Hail Mary properly so-called, and what not too many centuries ago was called the Holy Mary. Confessors would tell their penitents to recite, say, three or five or whatever the number of Holy Marys. We say it so many times almost subconsciously that if there is correspondingly any one vocal prayer that deserves to be looked at more closely it is this one. My plan is to take this prayer in sequence word for word, or better, term for term, in a prolonged meditation on what its sentiments really mean. |
| The Rosary: A Prayer for All Times - The Indispensible Prayer for Our Times There are so many wonderful things we can say about the Rosary that I thought we should focus on what I sincerely believe. The Rosary is necessary in order to obtain from God the miraculous graces that the world so desperately needs in our day. The moment we say the modern world needs miraculous graces we imply that these graces are indeed to be obtained from God; but they must come through the intercession of the Mother of God. |
| Election Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, Our Lord The second article of the Apostles’ Creed is the foundation of our Christian faith. It is at once a profession of our belief that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ and that the Incarnate God is the Lord, who is the Master of our eternal destiny. Who, then, is Jesus Christ? He is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, whom the Father sent into the world to save the human race from sin. Having lost the friendship of God by sin, mankind could not regain this life of grace any more than a man who is dead can bring himself to life again. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: He Was Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit, and was Born of the Virgin Mary Our present conference is a profession of our Catholic faith on how God became man. We have already declared that we believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, Our Lord. Our focus here is on how the Incarnation took place. Two powers cooperated with each other in order for the Second Person of the Holy Trinity to become incarnate: the Holy Spirit or the Third Person of the Trinity and the humble girl of Nazareth whose name was Mary. In human language, this cooperation produced the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who is the Redeemer of the human race. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Died and was Buried If we wish to know how important is this article of the Creed, all we have to do is read Saint Paul’s statement to the Corinthians. He says, "I judge myself not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). We cannot exaggerate the importance of understanding the passion, death and burial of Jesus Christ. They are the highest proof of how much God loves us. They are also the deepest inspiration for our loving God in return. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: Jesus Christ Descended into Hell, and on the Third Day Rose Again from the Dead This article of the creed affirms two truths of our Christian faith. It first declares that after Christ died, His soul separated from the body and visited the souls of the faithful departed in what theologically we call the Limbo of the Fathers. The second truth is Christ’s bodily resurrection from the grave on Easter Sunday. Certainly, the Lord’s resurrection is far more important, but His descent "into hell" should be better known. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: He Ascended into Heaven and is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father It is very important to be convinced that Christ’s Ascension into heaven was an historical fact. As early as the beginning of the second century, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote seven letters on his way to martyrdom in Rome. In these letters, he is at great pains to defend the historical facts of the events in Christ’s life, including His Ascension into heaven. The importance of Christ’s physical Ascension lies in the fact that He is now in heaven as the same identical Jesus who rose from the dead and for forty days appeared to his disciples. Equally important is the fact that this same Jesus who ascended into heaven is really on earth in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: He Will Come Again to Judge the Living and the Dead The general judgment means that all human beings from the dawn of history until the end of time will be judged by Christ when He comes on the last day of the world. This does not mean only passing negative judgment on sinners. It also, and emphatically, means the universal manifestation of God’s mercy and of man’s cooperation with divine grace. Thus Christ will glorify the virtues of the saints no less than testify to the sinful conduct of the wicked. In both cases, however, the last judgement will glorify God; His infinite justice no less than His infinite mercy. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in the Holy Spirit The third and last part of the Apostles’ Creed begins with our profession of faith in the Holy Spirit.…Now we express our belief in the Third Person of the Trinity, as the Spirit by whom Our Lady conceived her Divine Son, as the Spirit promised by Christ to those who profess that Jesus is their Lord and Redeemer, and the Spirit who animates the Church as the Soul of the Mystical Body of Christ. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church and the Communion of Saints It may seem strange to begin with the statement that Christ founded the Church during His visible stay on earth. But over the centuries, this has been widely denied by many so-called Christians. They claim that Christ merely inspired a religious movement, or started a reformed movement of Judaism, or was a great leader whose ideals were later adapted and later became what we now call the Church.…But Jesus Christ did found not only a Church, but the Church, the same visible body of believers united under visible authority, which is the Catholic Church. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins We do not ordinarily associate Christmas with the forgiveness of sins. But we should. God became man in the person of Jesus Christ in order to redeem the human race. So true is this that we merely speculate whether the Incarnation would ever have taken place if sin had not entered the human family. However, having sinned, we are absolutely sure this was the reason why God came into the world. |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body As Christians, we not only believe that the human soul is immortal, but also that the human body is to rise immortal from the grave. However, our souls are spiritual by nature and are therefore naturally immortal. Our souls will never die.…In the short time at our disposal, we will ask and briefly answer a series of questions: How is the resurrection of the body reasonable? Will all human beings rise from the dead? Will each of us receive our own body? What are the qualities of the risen body? What are some implications for our spiritual life? |
| The Apostles’ Creed: I Believe in Life Everlasting Faith in life everlasting is deeper than merely believing that our souls will continue to exist once they leave the bodies when we die. Life everlasting is nothing less than the unending share in God’s own life. |
| Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: The Lord's Prayer We live in an age when people are looking for digests to condense large amounts of knowledge into a small span of print. If we wish to capsulize all that Jesus taught, all that He stood for, and all that He wants us to do, we cannot find a better synthesis than what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the only prayer that Christ taught directly to His apostles, and through them has been teaching the human race. It is an imminently practical synthesis of the faith, because it both tells us what to pray about and with emphasis, how we should pray. |
| Mental Prayer is for Everyone …it seems worthwhile to look at mental prayer as closely as we can so that we might better appreciate what a treasure it really is and appreciating its value might engage in what some saints, like St. Teresa of Avila, have said is absolutely necessary to achieve sanctity. No mental prayer, no holiness. And I would add it is necessary not only to achieve sanctity, but sometimes even to preserve one’s sanity. |
| The Our Father When the apostles asked our Lord to teach them how to pray He gave them what has since come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer. In teaching them Christ was teaching us, and He taught us many things. My plan is not to give a commentary on the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, but rather to reflect in God’s presence on the lessons that this prayer should teach us. |
| Why Should We Pray? If, as we know, prayer is so universal in believing mankind, almost describing believing mankind, and is so much insisted upon in Christian Revelation, it must be important. It is not only important, it is indispensable, and the reason it is indispensable is because it answers to the two most fundamental statements we can make about God and ourselves. So we ask once more "why pray?" We must pray, because God is God and because we are we. This is not a clever phrase. It is at the heart of human existence and the bedrock of our faith. What I would like to do is to briefly recapitulate and go over each of these two fundamental statements. We pray because God is God and because we are we. |
| Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament - Part One In the present conference I suggest that we ask two questions. What is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? What are we talking about? And then, why is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? What are we talking about? And then, why is prayer before the Blessed Sacrament so important in the spiritual life of the priest, the religious and the believing faithful Catholic? |
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