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How Does Pride Accumulate in Our Life? A Reflection on a Teaching by St. Bernard of Clairvaux By: Msgr. Charles PopeSo you think the idea of the “Twelve Steps” is new? Well, if you think you’ve got a new idea, go back and see how the Greeks put it, or in this case how the Medieval Latins put it. St. Bernard of Clairvaux identified twelve steps up the mountain of pride in his work Steps of Humility and Pride.In today’s post, we focus on the Twelve Steps of Pride. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the Twelve Steps of Humility (from St. Benedict’s rule). ...

Pope Francis has declared Gregory of Narek to be a "Doctor of the Church." This is one of the highest honors conferred by the Catholic Church on saints. Only a handful have been so honored. The only problem is that as far as I am able to tell, Gregory of Narek was not Catholic. He was a monk of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is part of the non-Chalcedonian (Oriental Orthodox) communion. The Armenian Church has not been in communion with the Pope of Rome since at least the sixth century. The very small Armenian Catholic (Eastern Rite) Church did...

The Coptic Orthodox Church has announced that the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya will be commemorated in its Church calendar. Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church. According to terrasanta.net, the martyrdom of the 21 Christians will be commemorated on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, or February 15th of the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration falls on the feast day of...

February 21, 2015Saturday after Ash Wednesday    Reading 1 Is 58:9b-14 Thus says the LORD:If you remove from your midst oppression,false accusation and malicious speech;If you bestow your bread on the hungryand satisfy the afflicted;Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,and the gloom shall become for you like midday;Then the LORD will guide you alwaysand give you plenty even on the parched land.He will renew your strength,and you shall be like a watered garden,like a spring whose water never fails.The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;“Repairer...

February 17, 2015Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,and how no desire that his heart conceivedwas ever anything but evil,he regretted that he had made man on the earth,and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said:“I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,and not only the men,but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,for I am sorry that I made them.”But Noah found favor with the LORD. Then...

February 14, 2015Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop    Reading 1 Gn 3:9-24 The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, “Where are you?”He answered, “I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself.”Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”The LORD God then asked the woman,“Why did you do such a...

 February 10, 2015Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin    Reading 1 Gn 1:20—2:4a God said,“Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.”And so it happened:God created the great sea monstersand all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems,and all kinds of winged birds.God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying,“Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas;and let the birds multiply on the earth.”Evening came, and morning followed–the fifth day. Then God said,“Let the earth bring forth all kinds...

Saintly Siblings Br. Isaac Augustine Morales, O.P.Over the centuries God has raised up countless saints in his Church, leading men and women from all walks of life along various paths to sanctity. Particularly striking are those saints who came from the same family. One thinks, for example, of St. Monica, whose perseverance in prayer we can thank for the conversion of St. Augustine, one of the greatest minds in the history of the Church. Among the first disciples of Jesus, St. Andrew brought his brother Simon, who was to become head of the Church, to Jesus (Jn 1:40-42). In...

February 6, 2015Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs    Reading 1 Heb 13:1-8 Let brotherly love continue.Do not neglect hospitality,for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,for you also are in the body.Let marriage be honored among alland the marriage bed be kept undefiled,for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.Let your life be free from love of moneybut be content with what you have,for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.Thus we may say with confidence: The Lord...

February 5, 2015Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr    Reading 1 Heb 12:18-19, 21-24 Brothers and sisters:You have not approached that which could be touchedand a blazing fire and gloomy darknessand storm and a trumpet blastand a voice speaking words such that those who heardbegged that no message be further addressed to them.Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said,“I am terrified and trembling.”No, you have approached Mount Zionand the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,and countless angels in festal gathering,and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,and God the judge of all,and the...

February 3, 2015Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Heb 12:1-4 Brothers and sisters:Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to usand persevere in running the race that lies before uswhile keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,the leader and perfecter of faith.For the sake of the joy that lay before himJesus endured the cross, despising its shame,and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,in order that you may not...

St. John Bosco: Conquering Souls for Christ Sean FitzpatrickThe boy entered the strange courtyard. He saw a knot of boys gathered by the far corner. As he approached, wondering where he was, he overheard them talking, laughing, and cursing. The boy became enraged at the foul language and rushed into their midst, striking them to silence their blasphemies. He froze suddenly under the gaze of a man with a face like the sun.“John,” the man said, “come here.”The boy lowered his fists, standing before the group he had been belaboring.“Conquer the hearts of these, your friends, not with violence...

January 31, 2015Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest    Reading 1 Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 Brothers and sisters:Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a placethat he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country,dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the...

 January 28, 2015Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Heb 10:11-18 Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins.But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying: This is the covenant I will establish with themafter those days, says the...

God acts in mysterious ways. That truth is made particularly evident in the types of things he does with those who are especially close to him. Here are a few saints who totally had superpowers:

The Conversion We Think We Want Stephen BealeLet’s face it. Given a choice, most of us would choose to have the conversion experienced by St. Paul.Here’s how Acts 22 describes the sudden conversion of the great apostle, which we celebrated on Sunday:On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you...

January 26, 2015Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops    Reading 1 2 Tm 1:1-8 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godfor the promise of life in Christ Jesus,to Timothy, my dear child:grace, mercy, and peace from God the Fatherand Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God,whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,so that I may be filled with joy, as I recall your sincere faiththat first lived in your grandmother...

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun...

January 24, 2015Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Heb 9:2-3, 11-14 A tabernacle was constructed, the outer one,in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place.Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not...

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and...