The Humiliation of the Eternal Son

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“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared, though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5:7, 8.

The chief mystery of our holy faith is the humiliation of the Son of God to temptation and suffering, as described in this passage of Scripture. In truth, it is a more overwhelming mystery even than that which is involved in the doctrine of the Trinity. I say, more overwhelming, not greater –

The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World

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“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12: 32.

A GREAT number of men live and die without reflecting at all upon the state of things in which they find themselves. They take things as they come, and follow their inclinations as far as they have the opportunity. They are guided mainly by pleasure and pain, not by reason, principle, or conscience; and they do not attempt to interpret this world, to determine what it means, or to reduce what they see and feel to system. But when persons, either from thoughtfulness of mind, or from intellectual activity, begin to contemplate the visible state of things into which they are born, then forthwith they find it a maze and a perplexity. It is a riddle which they cannot solve. It seems full of contradictions and without a drift. Why it is, and what it is to issue in, and how it is what it is, and how we come to be introduced into it, and what is our destiny, are all mysteries.

Christmas – The Mystery of Godliness

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May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him, who as at this time became a little child for our sake, more simple-minded, more humble, more holy, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God.

St. Paul’s Characteristic Gift

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“Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2 Cor. xii. 9.

All the Saints, from the beginning of history to the end, resemble each other in this, that their excellence is supernatural, their deeds heroic, their merits extraordinary and prevailing. They all are choice patterns of the theological virtues; they all are blessed with a rare and special union with their Maker and Lord; they all lead lives of penance; and when they leave this world, they are spared that torment, which the multitude of holy souls are allotted, between earth and heaven, death and eternal glory. But, with all these various tokens of their belonging to one and the same celestial family, they may still be divided, in their external aspect, into two classes.

Thoughts of Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) about John Henry Newman

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In the idea of “development” Newman had written his own experience of an ever finished conversion and interpreted for us, not only the way of Christian doctrine, but that of the Christian life. The characteristic of the great doctor of the Church, it seems to me, is that he teaches not only through his thought and speech, but also by his life, because within him thought and life are interpenetrated and defined. If this is so, then Newman belongs to the great teachers of the Church, because he both touches our hearts and enlightens our thinking

Newman on St Paul

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Sr. Mary-Birgit Dechant FSO

What better way in which to begin than with Newman’s own words, taken from one of his homilies on St Paul, and to make them my own:

Most unworthy of him, I know, is the best that I can say; and even that best I cannot duly exhibit in the space of time allowed me on an occasion such as this, but what is said out of devotion to him, and for the divine glory, will, I trust, have its use, defective though it be.” (SVO 94)

Newman as a Convert and Counsellor of Converts

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By Fr. Peter Willi, Rome
John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801- 1890) ranks among the most famous converts of the Roman Catholic Church. H. J. Coleridge, S.J. wrote in an obituary: “The process of a true conversion is not often without something of the shadow of the cross upon it, but in the case of the Cardinal it was a veritable birth-pang. It was this that made him in the most true sense the father of many souls – he had passed through all their difficulties beforehand for them.” [1]

John Henry Newman – Example and teacher of the christian life in the presence of God

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Unforgettable was the afternoon at “The College” at Littlemore, when the Holy Eucharist was exposed in Newman’s oratory, and some of the Sisters of the Spiritual Family The Work knelt in silent adoration before the Lord. Suddenly the sliding door opened. Someone came in and fell to his knees. Later in the College garden, when the Sisters welcomed the tall, slender gentleman, almost Newman-like, with his shock of white hair, he was deeply moved and explained: “Sorry for the commotion; I had not expected Eucharistic adoration at this simple place of prayer, hallowed though it is.” And then he said something like: “It was a gift for me, as if the Lord had spoken!”

A Short Road to Perfection

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GardenIt is the saying of holy men that, if we wish to be perfect, we have nothing more to do than to perform the ordinary duties of the day well. A short road to perfection-short, not because easy, but because pertinent and intelligible. There are no short ways to perfection, but there are sure ones.

“Cor ad cor loquitur” John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Coat of Arms

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Dr. Brigitte Maria Hoegemann FSO

When John Henry Newman was created Cardinal in 1879, he did not have his own crest designed, but adapted one from the 17th century, which he had inherited from his father. He did not formulate his motto, but altered a phrase from the 17th century – cor cordi loquitur – that seemed so familiar to him that he assumed he had it from the Bible or the Imitation of Christ.