St. Teresa of Avila on the petition of the Lord’s Prayer: Thy will be done; as in Heaven, so on earth. From The Way of Perfection, by St. Teresa of Avila. The book’s specific purpose was to serve as a guide in the practice of prayer, and it sets forth her counsels and directives for the attainment of spiritual perfection through prayer, not only for her Carmelite daughters but for all souls.    Excerpted from Chapter 32.   What we give is in itself nothing at all by comparison with all that has been given us and with the greatness of Our Lord. But in truth, my Lord, Thou d ..read more

 “. . . a man untempted, is a man unproved.”   Cyril (c. 313–386) is venerated as a saint within the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII.    From St. Cyril’s treatise on the Sacred Liturgy and Communion:   Then, after the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless service, is completed, over that sacrifice of propitiation we entreat God for the common peace of the Churches, for the welfare of the world; for kings; for soldiers and allies; fo ..read more

St. Augustine’s focus on the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness. The difficulty of loving and forgiving our enemies.   From Sermon 6 on the New Testament, to catechumens preparing for Baptism.    And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Touching this petition again we need no explanation, that it is for ourselves that we pray. For we beg that our debts may be forgiven us. For debtors are we, not in money, but in sin. You are saying perchance at this moment, And you too. We answer, Yes, we too. What, you Holy Bishops, are you debtors? Yes, we are debtors ..read more

Since St. Thomas Aquinas can be difficult to follow, his discussion of the Lord’s prayer will be slightly modified from the way it is presented by the Saint in his Summa Theologica.    Matthew 6: 9-13; Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.   Luke 11: 2-4; And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, hal ..read more

The Church militant regards herself as entirely composed of sinners; she thinks herself unworthy to call God her Father, and to address to him the seven petitions, which in the name of the faithful she is going to address to him by reciting the Pater noster, (“The Our Father”). Hence she protests that she only dares to address to God this prayer because God himself has commanded her to do so. She then teaches us that we may venture to present to God the seven petitions which contain the whole economy of our salvation, because it is pleasing to him and he himself gives us the command.  &nb ..read more

A certain sede-vacante website has been featuring a major article to make the case for sedevacantism. They present the below paragraph, quoting from the future Pope St. Pius X, in order to support their thesis. However, if one reads this carefully, it actually is a condemnation of sedevacantism. When Leo XIII was Pope and was celebrating 50 years of being a priest in 1887, Bishop Giuseppe Sarto of Mantua in Italy said to his flock: "The moment has come to prove to the great Vicar of Christ our unchanging affection and fidelity. For us Leo XIII is the guardian of the Holy Scriptures, the int ..read more

  The holy women and apostles have varying visits and experiences at the empty tomb of the Risen Lord.  The gospel accounts can seem confusing, if not irreconcilable.  Maria Valtorta in The Gospel as Revealed to Me gives these accounts in such detail that it is possible to unravel their sequences.  One thing to be considered are the various locations and trajectories of the visitors from their respective starting points.      A Canadian site has produced a video with clear icons showing these events.  Although it is in French, I am posting it becaus ..read more

  The scourging and crowning of Jesus, amid the mockery of the soldiers. As revealed to Maria Valtorta – mystic and victim soul. «Let Him be scourged» Pilate orders a centurion.   «How many blows?»   «As many as you like... In any case the matter is over. And I am bored. Go.»   Jesus is led by four soldiers to the court-yard beyond the hall. In the middle of that court-yard […], there is a high column like the one in the porch. At about three meters from the floor it has an iron bar protruding at least a meter and ending with a ring, to which Jesus is tied, with His hands ..read more

The Chicken Dance Mass [LINK] took place on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024 at the Catholic parish church of Christus der König (Christ the King) in Ruhstorf an der Rott, in Germany. St. Alphonsus de Liguori: The Reverence with which Mass ought to be Celebrated.   “In proportion as a devout Mass excites great devotion and reverence towards the sacred mysteries, so does an in-devout Mass destroy all devotion and reverence due to so great a sacrifice.”    A priest celebrating Mass ought to behave with all the reverence due to so great a sacrifice. To induce him to do this is the intent ..read more

Unless a priest esteems the holy Sacrifice as it deserves, he can never celebrate it with suitable devotion. Assuredly there is no action which man can perform so sublime, so sacred, as the celebration of Mass. “We must needs confess,” says the Council of Trent, “that no other work can be performed by the faithful so holy and divine as this tremendous mystery itself.” God himself could not enable man to perform anything greater than the celebration of Mass.   All the ancient sacrifices, by which God was so much honored, were but shadows and figures of our sacrifice of the altar. All the h ..read more