January 17th, is the feast day of St. Antony (or Anthony) the Great who lived from AD 251-356 in Egypt. Last week we began a series of articles on his life. Much of our information comes from the biography of Antony written about AD 360 by St. Athanasius of Alexandria.    Antony was born in Koma in Lower Egypt to wealthy landowner parents. His parents were faithful Christians, raising him to be the same. He had just one sibling, a younger sister.    Athanasius writes, “But when he was grown and arrived at boyhood, and was advancing in years, he could not endure to learn letters, not caring to associate with other boys; but all his desire was ... to live a plain man at home.” Though living at home, he was never idle. And although Antony never learned to read, he had a fantastic memory from what he heard orally, especially from the Bible. He regularly attended the Liturgy at “the Lord’s House” (church) with his parents, “attentive to what was read, keepin...

January 17th is the feast day of St. Antony (or Anthony) the Great, also called Antony of Egypt, Antony the Abbot, Antony of the Desert, Antony the Anchorite, Antony the Hermit, Antony of Thebes, and also known as the Father of All Monks. St. Antony was born on January 12, 251, in Koma, Egypt, then a province of the Roman Empire. He died, at age 105, on January 17, 356, at Mount Colzim, Egypt. About four years after St. Antony’s death, about AD 360, his contemporary Egyptian, St. Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 295/298-373), wrote a biography of Antony called “The Life of Antony.” It became one of best-known works of literature in Christian world, and remains in print even still today. The reading of “The Life of Antony” influenced the conversion of many, including St. Augustine of Hippo (ad 354-430), St. John Chrysostom (AD 354-407), and this writer. In future articles we will go into the details of St. Antony’s life, but first, let’s just get a bit of a flavor of who this Third...

Epiphany.       This Sunday, January 7th, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord.  Epiphany means “manifestation,” and refers to the manifestation of God to His creatures – the manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 528 ).   Although Epiphany had been celebrated earlier in some areas, since AD 376, the Church universal has celebrated on Epiphany three grand manifestations of the Divinity of Jesus: (1) the coming of the wise men (the three kings), the first Gentiles to adore the Infant God ( Mt. 2:11 ); (2) the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan where the voice of the Eternal Father proclaims Him as, “My Beloved Son” ( Mt. 3:17 , Mk.1:11 , Lk. 3:22 ); and (3) Jesus’ changing water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana, the first of Jesus’ signs which “manifested His glory” ( Jn. 2:11 ), His Divine power, His radiance of the God’s splendor ( Heb. 1:3 ).      ...

Mother of God. Christmas celebrates the incarnation of God becomes Man.  As the Catholic Church celebrates the Octave of Christmas solemnly for eight days, the concluding day on January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God.       We see the expression of Mary as the Mother of the Lord, of God, in the New Testament. St. Elizabeth, then over six months’ pregnant with St. John the Baptist, greets the Blessed Virgin Mary, then early in her pregnancy with Jesus, saying, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43.) We know from the Old Testament that the Hebrews and their descendants would not pronounce out loud the Divine Name (transliterated as YHWH) but would instead speak out loud “the Lord.” Even in almost all English Bibles, “the Lord” (usually written with all caps) is printed instead of the Divine Name used in the original text. Here Elizabeth specifies, "my Lord,” clearly denoting God. “Mother of m...

Giving Thanks.        “It seems to me in the light of the Divine Goodness, although others may think differently, that ingratitude is the most abominable of sins.” St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) wrote these words in a letter to a fellow Jesuit in 1542.       With Thanksgiving coming, we might pause to contemplate gratitude and ingratitude.        St. Ignatius, continues in that letter, For ingratitude “is a forgetting of the graces, benefits, and blessings received.  As such it is the cause, beginning, and origin of all sins and misfortunes.  On the contrary, the grateful acknowledgment of blessings and gifts received is loved and esteemed not only on earth but in heaven.”       What is the greatest sin, and root of all sin?   For St. Ignatius, ingratitude .        What is the cause of all our misfortunes?  Ingratitude.   (Remembe...

All Hallows' Eve      Tuesday, October 31st, is Halloween, or better, All Hallows’ Eve, which is to say, All Saints’ Eve.  Wednesday, November 1st, is All Saints’ Day.  Tuesday, the vigil before All Saints’ Day, is the eve of All Saints. All Saints’ Day is a celebration of all the blessed of Heaven.       Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of Lourdes Church is a Vigil Mass for All Saints’ Day, and Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM at Our Lady of Lourdes Church is the Mass for All Saints’ Day. Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM at St. Joseph’s Church in Boron will also be a Mass for All Saints’ Day.       The Apostles’ Creed states, “I believe in the communion of saints.”  The Apostle St. John saw, in vision, the Heavenly scene: “I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, ...

St. Francis of Assisi: Stigmata & Praise      October 4th was the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. Everybody loves St. Francis!       What St. Francis loved most of all was Jesus! One of the prayers in the Liturgy for his feast day refers to “the mystery of the Cross which St. Francis so ardently embraced.”       In 1224, two years before his death, on a morning near to September 14th (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross), St. Francis was praying alone on a mountain top. (Well, Brother Leo was supposed to be somewhere else, but he snuck back to stay and observe his beloved father “alone” at prayer, which is how we know the story.) Francis was in the midst of a 40-day fast, praying fervently, in deep contemplation with ecstasy.       Then it happened: a vision of a gleaming six-winged seraph descending from heaven. As the seraph quickly flew towards him, Francis could see that the s...