Writing Catholic Articles, Blogs, Gifts, Personals & Family

27 April 2008

6th Sunday of Easter, Year A

In the passage from the gospel of John, Jesus promises the
Holy Spirit to His apostles.  He said that He will ask the
Father to send them another Paraclete: the Spirit of truth. 
And so, He assures them that He will not leave them orphaned,
and that the Spirit of truth will always be with them. This
Spirit, which they are to receive after His Ascension into
heaven and on the feast of Pentecost Sunday, will guide them
into all truth - all the truth that Jesus had taught them. 
And with the Spirit moving them, they will know how to preach
the commandment to love God and their neighbor.  Like the
apostles, we too received the Spirit on our baptism. And we
receive the gift of His presence regularly if we celebrate
the Eucharist and go to confession often.  Like the apostles
we are assured that Jesus will not leave us orphaned because
the Holy Spirit will always be with us in prayer, Word and
Sacrament, and through the bonds of love created by Him in
our family and professional lives. learn more

Jesuit Lombardi evaluates Pope’s USA Visit

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican
press office, gave this summary of the Pope’s April 15-20
U.S. trip, which had the theme “Christ Our Hope.” The spokesman
said he thinks the objective of the trip was achieved: The
Holy Father transmitted hope to Americans, particularly Catholics,
and to the United Nations. “He brought an announcement of hope
to a great nation, which should have the dignity and the sense
of greatness of its vocation in the world today,” Father Lombardi
said. The Pontiff communicated hope to “a Church that has lived
a particularly difficult period in recent years and that had
much need of being consoled and relaunched toward the future,
aware of its responsibilities in the realm of the universal
Church,” he added. learn more

Special offers in honor of the Pope’s USA visit
Following the Pope’s visit to the United States of America,
we reflect on his visit and the spiritual direction he provided
in his homilies and speeches. We can also look to his published
works for direction as well, particularily his two encyclicals:
God is Love and Saved In Hope. Both give us profound direction
which we can use in our everyday life. Given in this page is
an Ignatius Press offering of 20% off on God is Love and Saved
In Hope, as well as a list of additional titles that speak on
these two very important topics of hope and love. Titles like
the works of Josef Pieper, Hans Urs von Balthasar or Pope John
Paul II, these readings give a spirit of hope and love for
everyone! learn more

Featuring biographical sketches on the 33 Doctors of the
Church

We are continuing to provide in this web site brief biographical
sketches of the 33 Doctors of the Church declared by the Church.
Featured for this week is St. Isidore of Seville. Like St. Basil
the Great, St. Isidore of Seville comes from a family of saints:
his two brothers Leander and Fulgentius, and his sister Florentina
were also saints.  When their parents died, Leander, who was 26
years the senior of Isidore, took care of the education of Isidore. 
Isidore assisted Leander who became bishop of Seville. When Leander
died, Isidore succeeded Leander as bishop and continued their works
in the administration of the diocese of Seville.  Isidore was a
prolific and voluminous writer - writing so many noted works that
spanned many subjects and themes.  His well-noted work is the
Etymologies - an early encyclopedia that attempted to compile all
the knowledge and all the sciences during the age of Isidore.  St.
Isidore is the first Spaniard to be declared Doctor of the Church -
the other two being St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross
(both of whom lived a millenium after St. Isidore of Seville).
learn more

If you wish to learn of the other Doctors of the Church which
we have already written about, you can check the page The Doctors
of the Church: Introduction to the Church’s Great Teachers. We
hope to finish all the brief biographical sketches of these great
Doctors of the Church by the end of the year.