Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
I sometimes like to joke with my parishioners that our church building which is located on the same street as United States Capitol has quite an exulted status. For, indeed, just up the street from my parish of Holy Comforter, is the United States Capitol. It is arguably one of the most powerful buildings on …
Perhaps as a concluding post on funeral masses, this is my third post on the subject this week (omni trinum perfectum – all things are perfect in three), I would like to re-post an article I wrote over a year ago. Many of the comments these past days mentioned the Traditional Latin Requiem Mass, which …
On yesterday’s blog post, I discussed some of the more common problems that arise with funerals these days. That blog post provides the kind of background to the homily I present here. In this homily, I try to teach on what I think are important and central themes that need emphasis in Christian funerals today. …
Continue reading “A Funeral Sermon designed to teach on the Last Things, and inspire prayer”
I have mentioned before that many years ago in seminary I was quite surprised to listen to some of my professors declare what I considered to be heretical things about Jesus Christ. They often said, he did not claim to be God, or he did not know he was God. When I might meekly suggest …
Continue reading “The Divinity of Jesus Christ, In Scripture and in his own words.”
Catholics have often endured the charge that we are an unbiblical Church. Strange accusation, really, for the Church that collected the Scriptures, determined the canon of Scripture and preached it for 1,500 years before there ever was a Protestant denomination. The fact is we are quite biblical and often in ways that are stunningly powerful. …
Continue reading “How Traditional Catholic Architecture Better Fulfills the Plan of God”
The Lord Jesus gives a penetrating analysis of the state of the sinner and some very sobering advice to we would-be saints in today’s Gospel. Let’s look at the Gospel in two stages: The Analysis of the Sinner and the Advice to the Saints. I. ANALYSIS OF THE SINNER – The Lord Jesus describes a …
Most Catholics are unaware of how our traditional church buildings are based on designs given by God himself. Designs that stretch all the way back to Mount Sinai when God set forth the design for the sanctuary in the desert and the tent of meeting. Many of the fundamental aspects of our church layouts still …
In a kind of follow up from yesterday’s blog on the call to repentance, it seems it might be helpful to list what the Bible describes as some of the more serious sins. One of the great deceptions of our time is that serious sin is a remote possibility for most people, and that it …