Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: Augustine

Human pride brought you down

Behold, man, what God has become for your sake! Keep in your heart a lesson from this great humility imparted by a speechless infant!  You were in paradise one day and you were eloquent giving each creature a name but your creator, for your sake, laid down speechless unable to call his own mother by… Read More ›

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I was looking for a way to reach You

I was looking for a way to reach you and be yours, but my search bore no fruit, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (Tim 1 2:5). For He has commanded me to stick to Him in order to reach You, and He – may… Read More ›

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The laws of nature are changed

Today our Lord Jesus Christ, who is for ever the creator of all things, has become saviour for us by being born of a mother. Today by his own free will he was born for us in time, that he might lead us to the eternity of the Father. God was made man that man… Read More ›

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Do You Believe in Angels

A friend once messaged me to mention an encounter with an angel. The way he started his note is very telling: “Would you think your old friend crazy. . . ?” Though we agree on many things, there was a basic and curious assumption that while one of us might believe in angels, the other… Read More ›

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Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The hoped-for day of the blessed and venerable Mary ever a Virgin has now come; therefore let our earth rejoice with great gladness, illuminated by the birth of so great a Virgin. For she is the flower of the field from which came forth the priceless lily of the valley; by her child-bearing the nature… Read More ›

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Top Ten Saints For Sinners

If you’re struggling with sin, if temptations are half-killing you, if all seems lost – maybe have a word with one of the following in prayer, and ask for a little help. After all, as my parish priest always reminds me, we are a community. 1. St. Margaret of Cortona Formerly a mistress and rather… Read More ›

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Psalm 147:1-11(146): “Praise the Lord!”

1. The Psalm just sung is the first part of a composition that also includes the next Psalm, n. 147[146], that the original Hebrew had kept as one. It was the ancient Greek and Latin versions which divided the song into two different Psalms. The Psalm begins with an invitation to praise God and then… Read More ›

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St. Augustine: There is no doubt the dead are aided by our prayers

There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for other dead who are remembered. It is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we… Read More ›

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The Divine Mercy Devotion and Praying the Fatima Chaplet

The Divine Mercy Devotion, which has some strong similarities with the Fatima Program, can provide a logical template on which to build a Chaplet The Divine Mercy prayer is Eucharistic and concerns the Father and the Son while the Fatima prayers are a bit more Eucharistic and decidedly Trinitarian. This Trinitarian focus reflects our central… Read More ›

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Pope stresses need for ‘fraternal correction’ in Christian life

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sep 4, 2011 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Correcting the behavior of those gone astray is an essential part of Christian life, said Pope Benedict XVI in his Sunday Angelus address Sept. 4. “This approach is called fraternal correction: it is not a reaction to injury suffered, but is moved by love… Read More ›

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