For those of you who haven't read the Confessions of St. Augustine, St. Monica, is remembered as the gracious doctor's mother. She prayed for Augustine for over seventeen years, that he would be converted to the true faith. As the phrase usually goes: Augustine wouldn't have been a saint unless Monica had. The episode reminds me of a story wherein Pope Paul VI upon becoming … [Read more...]
The Resurrected Christ and the Mass in Revelation 5
"And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And … [Read more...]
Ex'rcist Meal Time: What Can One Prayer Accomplish?
I've jokingly titled this post 'Ex'rcist Meal Time" because of the popular program (Epic Meal Time). Growing up in an Evangelical family the old German (Lutheran) meal time prayer 'Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let this food to us be blessed, Amen'. It was the closest we got to liturgy. Whenever I heard it later in life I thought of it as a mindless and childish substitute … [Read more...]
Advent Prayers
I was trying to find some good prayers for different seasons of the Liturgical Calendar with allusions to moments in the Church's history, but I was out of luck. Thus, I wrote some myself. I think I'm allowed to do that... I've placed in square brackets the influences on each. 1. Everlasting Father, by the power of Thy Holy Spirit Thou madest Christ to dwell in the Blessed … [Read more...]
The Power of Prayer in the Life of St. John Chrysostom
*I am indebted to Dr. Ravi Zacharias for finding this quote for me, and I've borrowed some of his insight as well* "Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted... the mother of a thousand blessings... The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire, it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest; extinguished … [Read more...]