Archive | 2013

Pope Francis’ recent Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is vigorous and beautiful reading, full of provocative statements to awaken us from spiritual slumber.  Unfortunately, it is a long document, and many may not read it through carefully.  I thought it would be helpful to clip out some of the most striking comments the Pope makes on

Senior Fellow Michael Barber has made a close and careful reading of the Scriptures that the Church has chosen for this coming Sunday.  He unpacks the Emmanuel Prophecy in Isaiah 7 showing how it was read at the time and how the rabbis understood it before Matthew’s Gospel applied it to the virgin birth of

Today is the memorial of St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch at the end of the first century.  In this interview, Patristics scholar and St. Paul Center vice president, Mike Aquilina, discusses the life and legacy of this important early witness to the faith of the Apostles.  

In honor of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we’d like to share this talk by St. Paul Center Fellow Dr. Michael Barber, “The Bible and the Rosary: How to Hear the Word of God in Prayer.”  As Pope Francis said, “the Rosary is a school of prayer; the Rosary is a school

I’ve always liked Florida. I’ve been going there off and on for vacation since I was a kid and have done business there, too. And while I have always enjoyed myself in the “Sunshine State,” September 14, 2013, was of particular note. Why? First of all, because I only spent about 5 minutes at the

The word sabbatical comes from the biblical Sabbath — the seventh day of creation, when God rested from his labors. The Sabbath was, ever afterward, the weekly holy day when Israel imitated God by refraining from work. Last month I began a sabbatical year, a break from my ordinary labors at the university. But it’s

If you run a Google search on the terms “John Chrysostom” and “sex,” you’ll soon find a mess of conflicting statements. Part of the problem is with the saint’s interpreters, and part of it is with his own voluminous writings — some 700 sermons, 246 letters, plus biblical commentaries, moral discourses, and theological treatises. When

God made me for this purpose. That same thought occurs to me every year after the St. Paul Center’s exhausting, exhilarating Letter & Spirit Summer Institute. We just wrapped up our sixth annual gathering of doctoral candidates. It’s five intense days of fellowship, study, prayer, and discussion. But it’s become so much more than that.