Outside the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus in northwest Missouri, The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in an effort to fulfill the many orders coming in through their website, take in delivery of their ADVENT AT EPHESUS CD. It’s available worldwide on November 20, 2012 from De Montfort Music/Decca. – Photo Credit: The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles ...read more

For me, prayer is the surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. St Therese of Lisieux Catechism of the Catholic Church, page 673. CNS photo/Paul Haring World Youth Day evening vigil with Pope Benedict XVI in ...read more

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Catechism ...read more

The Vatican has released Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule for Advent and Christmas. He will preside over nine services between the beginning of Advent and the Epiphany. He will: — Lead an evening prayer service with Rome university students in St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 1. — Pay homage to Mary on the feast of the Immaculate ...read more

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment….For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God….His ...read more

The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith. ...read more

Freedom and rights belong to people not because they have already attained the truth, but in order that they might reach it. Archbishop Denis Hurley, OMI Archbishop of Durban, Natal-KwaZulu, South Africa 1915-2004 A leader in the Church during Vatican II and in the struggle against Apartheid. CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey Sister Ninet D’Costa teaches in Malakal, ...read more

– CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters Pope Benedict XVI looks through a microscope during his visit to the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 16, 2009. Dialogue and cooperation between faith and science are urgently needed for building a culture that respects people and the planet, the pope said in Nov. ...read more

To be contemplative as Christ is contemplative is to be open to all the fullness that the Father wishes to pour into our hearts. With our minds made still and ready to receive, with our self-generated fantasies about God and ourselves reduced to silence, we are at last at the point where we may begin ...read more

The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, ...read more