Have the Montanists returned?   Montanism was a 2nd century heresy and sect begun by their leader Montanus.  The Montanists believed in a “New Prophecy,” as it was known, centered on the prophetic revelations of its founder.  Montanus, and two other female oracles, Prisca and Maximilla, would go into ecstatic visions to reveal “new things” from the Holy Spirit.   Eusebius relays the manner of these new revelations, “and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner co ..read more

A Brief Typological Inquiry God designed the story of Exodus as a symbolic preview of the Redemption. What if that preview extended to the Apocalypse and the Second Coming of Christ?  This is the question posed in this brief inquiry. This book is an inquiry because we do not have a complete answer, and the author seeks to find the truths in Scripture and Tradition that shed light upon this. Exodus does indeed foreshadow the coming of Christ, as written about at length in Burning Bush, Burning Hearts: Exodus as Paradigm of the Gospel. God embedded signs and symbols within Exodu ..read more

One overlooked aspect of Our Lady of Fatima is in the final October 1917 apparition is a trifold vision of the three mysteries of the rosary.  As most of the tens of thousands of onlookers witnessed the “dancing of the sun,” the three children Lucia, Francisco, and Marta witnessed visions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  More precisely, Lucia saw a mystical triptych in the sky of the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the rosary.  Lucia describes the vision of the first scene of the Joyful Mysteries and the Holy Family: “We beheld St. Joseph with the Child ..read more

Introduction If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. —John 5:46 From Type to Reality The heart of Exodus is the revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ. Each detail and each event of the story adds a brushstroke to the portrait of the coming Messiah that is taking shape. Hints of Christ are in the Passover, the Tabernacle, the manna, the sacrifices, the water, the fire, and the feasts. Exodus is nothing less than God’s revealed plan of redemption for our salvation.  Exodus is a series of object lessons illustrating the Catholic Church and a catechetical instruct ..read more

J.R.R. Tolkien created a parallel universe.  It reimagines the Biblical story of Creation, but with the same tragedy of the Fall, including the fall of the angels, the fall of man, and the epistemological struggle of good and evil.   The Silmarillion is a deeply Christian cosmology, albeit an imaginary one.  It explains the mythic truths of Christianity without ever mentioning them explicitly.  The same is true, of course, of The Lord of the Rings.  The Silmarillion is the pre-history of The Lord of the Rings.  It is Middle Earth’s B ..read more

Pope Pius XII called Dietrich von Hildebrand the “20th century Doctor of the Church.”  Dietrich von Hildebrand was a fierce anti-Nazi crusader.  Hitler and Himmler despised him and sought to have him assassinated.  Dietrich managed to evade the Nazis and ultimately flee to America where he taught philosophy at Fordham University.  Von Hildebrand voiced his greatest concerns, however, over the remainder of his life fighting against the Modernist heresy in the Church, especially after the Second Vatican Council. His thought was crystallized in his famous ..read more

In 1917, it seems the woman crushing the head of the serpent and the serpent lying in wait of her heel played out in real time.   The Mother of God came to Portugal in 1917 just as the seed of the serpent was unleashed in Mother Russia.  MARCH-APRIL: In March 1917, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne, and Lenin returned from exile in Switzerland in April.  Lenin came back to Russia to solidify the Bolshevik Revolution that was exploding across the country.  The errors of Russia were happening in real time.  The Russian monarchy was fa ..read more

“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.” (Mt. 17:2) “and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” (Rev. 1:16) In this Easter season, the mystery of the Resurrection remains ever before us.  Christ rose bodily from the dead.  In other words, a human being overcame death!  This is the Good News we should be shouting from the rooftops.  This is why Christianity is unique.  Of course, Christ was not just human.  He was, and is, fully Go ..read more

January 6th is the traditional Feast Day of the Epiphany celebrating the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, his revelation to the Gentile world (i.e., the three Magi), and the twelve days of Christmas. Technically, the Feast was celebrated this year on Sunday January 3rd in order to foster greater participation, yet the 6th as the traditional and official date remains.  Epiphany comes from the Greek epiphaneia meaning manifestation or appearance. The Epiphany, then, is the celebration of the appearance, or the manifestation, of Christ born into the flesh.  St. Pa ..read more

Burning Bush, Burning Hearts: Exodus as paradigm of the Gospel What if Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church, and the Sacraments were all encoded within the Exodus?  My newly published book, Burning Bush, Burning Hearts: Exodus as Paradigm of the Gospel, examines this very question. The book offers in-depth commentary on the underlying symbolism hidden within the story of Exodus that points directly to the Catholic faith.  Much has been written on the many scriptural prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah. These are well-known. However, much less atten ..read more