“Let all of us who love to honor the martyrs form a great choir and praise the most wise Catherine, for she preached Christ in the stadium and trampled the serpent, despising the art of orators.”
-Kontakion for the feast of Great-Martyr Catherine of Alexandria
Are we preaching Christ Jesus everywhere we go?
[…]
Celebrating this day of Thanksgiving with loved ones and friends, I thought this morning at Divine Liturgy that what is crucial is diving into what really matters, what we’ve been given by the Lord —the most holy of giving thanks. It is the Holy Eucharist, instituted by the Lord Jesus “on the night he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion.”
Here we see the root of our
[…]
Clement was a disciple of Ss. Peter and Paul from whom he learned about Jesus and the new Way. Much of what we know about Clement comes from his epistle to the Church at Corinth (an example of pastoral concern and paternal prudence). Yet, our knowledge of Clement comes through the witness of St. Irenaeus spent significant time with the Church at Rome, before serving as bishop of Lyon from approximately AD 177. Irenaeus was a
[…]
Those called the Martyrs of Armenia are understood today to be the forerunners of the WWI Armenian genocide by the Turks.
Between 1895–96, eight Franciscans martyed by invading Islamic Turks who tortured them, demanded their conversion to a false religion, and murdered them when they refused. They were:
• Baldji Oghlou Ohannes
• David Oghlou David
• Dimbalac Oghlou Wartavar
• Geremia Oghlou Boghos
•
[…]
St. Cecilia, one of the venerated Virgin Martyrs of the early Church. Known as the patron saint of church musicians, she is the object of many a poet and has the affection of many even today.
Orpheus could lead the savage race;
And trees unrooted left their place;
Sequacious of the lyre:
But bright Cecilia rais’d the wonder high’r;
When to her organ, vocal breath was
[…]
Depending on the liturgical tradition you follow today’s Marian feast has a few names. The Latins will call this the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary while the Christian East will call the feast the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. Whether you say Presentation or Entrance there is little difference. The key is that Mary deepens her relationship with God by this gesture.
Those of us who are Benedictine
[…]
The prayer of Jesus, like any exercise deserving the name of prayer, is first and foremost an act of thanksgiving. The elements in his prayer which, in this particular instance, belong exclusively to his dignity as the Son, should not distract us from the thanksgiving he offers as an essential constituent of prayer. He who prays is Jesus of Nazareth. His prayer is an act of thanksgiving to the Father, pure and simple.
The prayer of his followers, too, can only be that, an act of thanksgiving. In
[…]
