Gentleman Saints
At night the river looked deeper than ever as the woman rowed across it with her three small children. That was dangerous enough but they were being pursued. They were being shot at. They were fleeing for their lives. The Civil War had just begun. The woman and her children were slaves. They had fled…
Read MoreAbide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. On board in all directions there was the sound of running feet. It was clear there was something wrong. Before hearing anything, however, one had somehow sensed it. Some indiscernible threat had impacted and was quickly making its presence felt throughout…
Read MoreIn his Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, “On the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission,” Pope Benedict XVI recalls a passage from the Confessions of Saint Augustine, regarding the Holy Eucharist. Saint Augustine writes about the different effect of consuming the Heavenly Bread of the Holy Eucharist in comparison with…
Read More“I was sick and ye visited me.” – J. Damien de Veuster (Inscription of St. Damien in the Bible of a visitor to the island) “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – Jesus Christ Imagine an island where people are sent to die of a…
Read MoreAll you really need to know about St. Isidore the farmer (or “the laborer”) is that in the town of Pulilan in the Philippines, parishioners of San Isidro Labrador make their water buffalos kneel before a statue of the saint. This is a fitting veneration for a saint who was often accompanied by a team of…
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