The story of the ten lepers. (Luke 17: 11-19). A Biblical passage that elicits profound joy but at the same time intense sadness is when Jesus heals the ten men afflicted with the terrible, contagious, terminal, and ugly disease of leprosy—a disease that was highly prevalent in the Biblical times before Jesus and during the lifetime of Jesus on earth.

THE PROFOUND JOY.  Their overflowing joy flows from the fact that the love, mercy, and compassion of Jesus were made manifest by a mere word when He healed these poor men whom society had ostracized and marginalized. As they headed … Read more

Taken from his own experience, after the life-changing battle of Pamplona, Saint Ignatius of Loyola offers us two series of Rules to help us in our battle for the salvation of our immortal souls. The first series is composed of 14 Rules; the second, of 8 Rules!

ORIGIN? After the serious wounds in both of his legs in the Battle of Pamplona, Ignatius had plenty of time for recovery. In this period of convalescence his mind and affections gyrated back and forth between two contrary objects: one was the worldly, the sensual, the vain, the material life he had lived; … Read more

One of the many channels that can be utilized to augment our faith, devotion, and love for the greatest of all Sacraments, the most Holy Eucharist, is by reading and meditating upon key Biblical passages, both in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. The Old Testament presents symbols or what Bible scholars term Types, Biblical Typology of references or allusions to the Eucharist that become a reality in the New Testament. In other words, what is present in hidden, mysterious, and symbolic form in the Old Testament breaks out in transparent Truth in the New Testament.… Read more

It is hard to suffer, none of us really like to suffer, nor do we look forward to suffering! Nonetheless, being human, suffering is both inevitable and unpredictable, as well as unavoidable! Young or old, man or woman, poor or rich, in season and out of season—there is a constant: the difficult and demanding reality of human suffering!

According to both Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas—the greatest Greek philosopher and the greatest Catholic Theologian and thinker—suffering is neither good nor bad; it is neutral, you might say. It all depends upon the way we perceive suffering and react to it. … Read more

Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure of heart; for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8) Therefore, if we truly desire to contemplate the Face of God in this life and for all eternity, we must strive to attain that very demanding virtue of purity, the virtue of chastity. In whatever state of life we have chosen, we all must strive, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, for this daily self-mastery of our passions, this control over the demanding impulses of the flesh, this conquering of the animal nature of our fallen human nature.

This being said, let … Read more