The Vatican has published this free book which puts together prayers and other writings by Pope Francis to help support us all during the pandemic crisis.  

  The text below is taken from the first “Apologia” (= reasoned defence of the faith) in defence of the Christians by St. Justin, Martyr (100-165 AD). It’s particularly important because it is one of the earliest post-apostolic descriptions of the Sunday Mass and presents it as a long-established practice....

Readings: Acts 2:14,22-33; Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35 No matter how many funerals I conduct, the grief of each and every family is unique and raw. It’s unique because we are all unique. It’s raw because the pain of separation which death causes can’t be glossed over. Think...

    The Daily Bread, 25th April 2020: No heroes but One! Readings: 1 Peter 5:5-14; Psalm 88(89):2-3,6-7,16-17; Mark 16:15-20   The opening lines from the first reading are taken from the first Letter of St. Peter. They are quite beautiful and they clearly imply that Peter himself experienced what...

The text below is from the treatise “Against Heresies” by St. Irenaeus (born 130 AD)   The Church, which has spread everywhere, even to the ends of the earth, received the faith from the apostles and their disciples. By faith, we believe in one God, the almighty Father who made...

The text below is taken from a sermon by St. Theodore the Studite (759-826) How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good...

  The text below is taken from a sermon by Saint Gaudentius of Brescia Idied 410 AD)   The heavenly sacrifice, instituted by Christ, is the most gracious legacy of his new covenant. On the night he was delivered up to be crucified he left us this gift as a...

  The Daily Bread, 23rd April 2020: Jesus Christ, ever person’s dilemma. Readings: Acts 5:27-33; Psalm 33(34):2,9,17-20; John 3:31-36 When preparing today’s readings yesterday evening, I was immediately struck by the fact that both of them end with reference to that rather difficult reality we call anger. In the first...

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/editorial-forced-retreat-are-we-asking-big-enough-questions https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/when-death-not-hidden Religious freedom is not a boon granted by the benign state Governor Cuomo and God’s Noncompetitive Transcendence

The text below is taken from a sermon by Pope Saint Leo the Great (390-461) My dear brethren, there is no doubt that the Son of God took our human nature into so close a union with himself that one and the same Christ is present, not only in the...