News

The Way of Saint James

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

In anticipation of the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a group of young men from the Saint Anne’s chapter of Catholics in Action, in Gilbert, Arizona have decided to travel the thousand-year old Way of Saint James this Summer 2014, on a journey that spans over 500 miles across some of the most geographically beautiful landscapes in all of Spain. This documentary will record the experiences of these pilgrims, across 40 unforgettable days, in which they will face difficulties and personal struggles (i.e. physical and psychological stress). It narrates the story of men in search of the goal of our human existence: in search of the meaning of life, and the truth of who they are as men before God.

Grassroots Films, Inc is raising funds to create this documentary.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 51 – 23 March 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller


pope-francis2-300x187This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 16 March to 22 March 2014. 

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Speeches

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “Thank you for all your warm wishes on my anniversary. Please continue praying for me.” @pontifex, 17 March 2013
  • “Christian love is loving without counting the cost. This is the lesson of the Good Samaritan; this is the lesson of Jesus.” @pontifex, 18 March 2013
  • “I greet the World School Network for Encounter.Today we plant the first virtual olive tree for peace. @infoscholas” @pontifex, 19 March 2013
  • “May we learn to say “thank you” to God and to one another. We teach children to do it, and then we forget to do it ourselves!” @pontifex, 20 March 2013
  • “Sickness and death are not taboo subjects. They are realities that we must face in Jesus’ presence.” @pontifex, 21 March 2013
  • “Jesus is our hope. Nothing – not even evil or death – is able to separate us from the saving power of his love.” @pontifex, 22 March 2013
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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 50 – 16 March 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 25 February to 13 March 2014.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 49 – 9 March 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 19 February to 7 March 2014.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “How to live a good marriage? United to the Lord, who always renews our love and strengthens it to overcome every difficulty.” @pontifex, 3 March 2013
  • “In life we all make many mistakes. Let us learn to recognize our errors and ask forgiveness.” @pontifex, 4 March 2013
  • “Lent is a good time for sacrificing. Let us deny ourselves something every day to help others.” @pontifex, 5 March 2013
  • “Let us pray for Christians who are victims of persecution, so that they may know how to respond to evil with good.” @pontifex, 6 March 2013
  • “Our deepest joy comes from Christ: remaining with him, walking with him, being his disciples.” @pontifex, 7 March 2013
  • “The challenge for Christian spouses:remaining together, knowing how to love one another always, and doing so in a way that their love grows.” @pontifex, 8 March 2013

Other

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Liturgy

Ash Wednesday 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Not sure what I am going to do this Lent.  Last year during Lent I nailed humility and it gets harder each year finding something to perfect.

The capybara kap-i-’bar-uh, hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South and Central America. It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae, order Rodentia.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 48 – 2 March 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 2 February to March 1 2014.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

Apostolic Letter

General Audiences

Letters

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “Our Lady is always close to us, especially when we feel the weight of life with all its problems.” @pontifex, 24 February 2014
  • “All of us who are baptized are missionary disciples. We are called to become a living Gospel in the world.” @pontifex, 25 February 2014
  • “In a family it is normal to take charge of those who need help. Do not be afraid of frailty!” @pontifex, 27 February 2014
  • The Eucharist is essential for us: it is Christ who wishes to enter our lives and fill us with his grace. @pontifex, 28 February 2014
  • “Let us thank all those who teach in Catholic schools. Educating is an act of love; it is like giving life.” @pontifex, 1 March 2014
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Liturgy

Review: Lent at Ephesus

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

If you own or have heard either of the two albums by “Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles” then all you need to know is that Lent at Ephesus is now available.

Otherwise if you are unaware of their recordings it is certainly time to acquaint yourself with them. At the end of 2012 they released Advent at Ephesus and in 2013 Angels and Saints at Ephesus. These two albums both spent some time at the top of Billboard traditional classical albums chart. They were the first order of nuns to win an award in the history of Billboard magazine.

That gives some background. Their first album Advent at Ephesus became an instant favorite of mine. I am sure I have listened to it over a 100 times during Advent. I had been purposely growing my Advent hymn collection, but this album is the crowning jewel of it despite having access to so much music via a paid streaming service. I just love everything about this album. The song selection, the production quality, and the pureness of the voices. I wish I had the vocabulary and knowledge of the Classical music connoisseur to explain just how good this album is. I love that all this applies to Lent at Ephesus.

What I especially love about their releases it that it fills a void. If you want recordings of high quality Christmas carols you have such a large selection. That their first recording focused on Advent was such a great choice and now Lent gets some attention. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be listening to this album over and over again throughout this Lent and Lent’s to come. This is 1:18:14 minutes of pure beauty and the perfect soundtrack for Lent.

  • Jesus, My Love
  • Christus factus est
  • God of Mercy and Compassion
  • Hosanna to the Son of David
  • Jesu dulcis amor meus
  • Jesu salvator mundi
  • Popule meus
  • On the Way of the Cross
  • Pueri Hebraeorum
  • O Sacred Head Surrounded
  • Adoramus te Christe
  • Stabat Mater
  • Divine Physician
  • Vexilla regis
  • Mother of Sorrows
  • Vere languores nostros
  • Tenebrae factae sunt
  • O Come and Mourn
  • Adoramus te Christe
  • Crux fidelis
  • All Glory, Laud and Honor
  • Ave Regina caelorum
  • My Mercy

Their discography so far:

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Book Review

Review: The Romance of Religion

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Fr. Dwight Logenecker’s new book The Romance of Religion: Fighting for Goodness, Truth, and Beauty is somewhat of a sequel to his previous book Adventures in Orthodoxy. Being that the previous books is one of my favorites I was very happy to see this book.

Fr. Longenecker was kind enough to send me an advance copy of this book last year and I found it quite excellent. Recently I was sent a PDF copy of the final book to review and I had no hesitation regarding a re-read.

Towards the beginning of the book he relates the episode of as a child hearing the story regarding Jesus overturning the moneychanger’s tables.

The righteous religious people told me that Jesus turned over the tables because he disapproved of the merchants selling things in church. …

This, however, never convinced me. I knew the truth. Jesus turned over the tables in the temple because he enjoyed it. He trashed the place. He was angry. He sent the pigeons flying. The sheep and goats went bleating as he gave the thieves a beating. He scattered the proud in their conceit and dashed their little heads against the pavement. The story thrilled me. No longer would I believe only in the gentle Jesus who took little kiddies on his lap and blessed them. …

It is no coincidence that Fr. Longenecker goes on to overturn a bunch of tables himself in this book. Just like his Chestertonian blog name “[Standing on my head][]” reflects viewing things from a different perspective, the landscape of overturned tables also helps you see things for the first time.

Specifically what “The Romance of Religion” successfully does is to view the faith through the eyes of a romantic hero. The type of romantic hero who is seen as a bit of fool from the outside. To take the great stories of just this type of romantic fool and to glimpse the truth that such stories stand upon. We look to articles, newscasts, and other media to fill us with facts while really it is often in the story where we will find the truth of the world. That this adventure in the romance of religion uses Don Quixote, Cyrano de Bergerac, and even Reepicheep to make these points adds to the enjoyment.

For those familiar with Fr. Longenecker you would expect a certain playfulness with words and phrases that both ring out and ring true. The playfulness of his writing with the inherent puns first make you laugh and then make you think. I also enjoyed his looking at the roots of certain words so that you more fully understood them. The title “The Romance of Religion” might seem like an odd choice at first, but he shows how the etymology of “Romance” fits perfectly. If you can’t see your faith as an adventure and a quest then you need a bit of “head standing” to see correctly.

This is a rather sneaky book in that it is the apologetics of the fairy tale. The big questions as seen through the big stories. Really it is surprising how well this technique works in answering some common objections as seen in apologetics.

I found my second reading of this book to be quite worthwhile in that there is just so much to be drawn from both his playfulness with words, but the ideas behind them that reveal the deeper reality.

My previous review of Adventures in Orthodoxy

Mandatory Chesterton quote:

“…If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time.”
– The Napoleon of Notting Hill

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 47 – 23 February 2014

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 16 to 22 February 2014.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Speeches

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

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