Tag: John Paul II
Psalm 110(109): Sit at my right hand!
1. We have just listened to one of the most famous Psalms in Christian history. Indeed, Psalm 110[109], which the Liturgy of Vespers presents to us every Sunday, is cited frequently in the New Testament. Verses 1 and 4 in particular are applied to Christ in the wake of the ancient Judaic tradition that has… Read More ›
The capacity to live “in truth and love”
In marriage man and woman are so firmly united as to become—to use the words of the Book of Genesis—”one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Male and female in their physical constitution, the two human subjects, even though physically different, share equally in the capacity to live “in truth and love”. This capacity, characteristic of the human… Read More ›
Psalm 148: Praise to him who sits upon the throne
1. Psalm 148 that we have just lifted up to God is a true “canticle of creatures”, a kind of Old Testament Te Deum, a cosmic “alleluia” that involves everyone and everything in divine praise. This is how a contemporary exegete has commented on it: “The Psalmist, calling them by name, puts beings in order…. Read More ›
Jesus took his place
After having undergone the humiliation of his passion and death, Jesus took his place at the right-hand of God; he took his place with his eternal Father. But he also entered heaven as our Head. Whereupon, in the expression of Leo the Great, the glory of the Head became the hope of the body. For all… Read More ›
Psalm 118 (117): “The stone rejected … has become cornerstone’
1. When a Christian, in unison with the voice of prayer in Israel, sings Psalm 117{118}, that we just heard, he feels within him a special thrill. In fact, he finds in this liturgical hymn two phrases that echo with a new meaning in the NT. The first is verse 22, “The stone rejected by… Read More ›
Former pope destined for sainthood
A second miracle attributed to the late pope John Paul II has been reported and he could be made a saint soon, Italy’s Panorama weekly said on Thursday, citing documents sent to the Vatican. The miraculous healing occurred just weeks after John Paul II’s grandiose beatification on May 1 last year, which put him on… Read More ›
Psalm 93(92): God is our strength in the storms of life
1. The essential content of Psalm 92 [93] on which we are reflecting today is evocatively expressed by some verses of the Hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours for Vespers of Monday: “O, immense Creator who, in the harmony of the cosmos laid out a path and a limit for the pounding waves of… Read More ›
Psalm 150: Music, hymnody should be worthy of the greatness of the Liturgy
1. Psalm 150, which we have just proclaimed, rings out for the second time in the Liturgy of Lauds: a festive hymn, an “alleluia” to the rhythm of music. It sets a spiritual seal on the whole Psalter, the book of praise, of song, of the liturgy of Israel. The text is marvelously simple and… Read More ›
Suggested Reading for Lent
“On the days of Lent, from morning until the end of the third hour let them apply themselves to their reading, and from then until the end of the tenth hour let them do the work assigned them. And in these days of Lent they shall each receive a book from the library, which they… Read More ›
Saints Cyril and Methodius
19. The catholicity of the Church is manifested in the active joint responsibility and generous cooperation of all for the sake of the common good. The Church everywhere effects her universality by accepting, uniting and exalting in the way that is properly hers, with motherly care, every real human value. At the same time, she… Read More ›