Fr. Hugh Vincent Dyer O.P. is a member of the Order of Preachers, Province of St. Joseph. Originally from Albany, New York, Father graduated St. Anselm College and the Dominican House of Studies and was ordained in 2008. He serves as chaplain to the Catholic students at Johns Hopkins University while also helping at the Dominican parish of SS. Philip & James where among other tasks he serves as facilitator of the Tea & Short Reads Book Group and Chaplain... Read more
Review by Laura Socks As the summer is slowly winding down it is time to look ahead to the coming school year. Learning to read, multiply, and add are all important things to think about in preparing for the next year of learning, but teaching children to pray is possibly the most important. Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days by Lisa Mladinich is an important resource that will help any teacher or parent to bring prayer into their classroom.... Read more
Father Maurice Emelu is the founder of Gratia Vobis Ministries. A renowned Catholic Speaker and Retreat Preacher, Fr. Maurice is the host of two television teaching series on the Global Catholic Television (EWTN) namely, The Faith With Father Maurice and Word For A Wounded World. These series are well received in over 140 countries. He also provides daily reflections for Immaculate Heart Radio; & daily online blogs (reflections) that attract over 70,000 weekly views. We take a deep dive look at faith journeys... Read more
All the buzz these days seems to be about the Benedict Option. There are others, and one, in particular, focuses on Our Lady. Carrie Gress presents this option and its benefits in her book The Marian Option: God’s Solution to a Civilization in Crisis. What is the Marian Option and what are its benefits? Read on. So, what in the world is an option anyway? This was one on my questions when I first encountered this book. Why do we... Read more
Carrie Gress and is the author of The Marian Option: God’s Solution to a Civilization in Crisis from TAN Books. Carrie Gress has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and is a faculty member at Pontifex University. Dr. Gress is a regular blogger at The National Catholic Register and has written for Aleteia, Catholic Vote, Catholic World Report, The Stream, and Zenit. She is a frequent guest on Ave Maria Radio, EWTN Radio, and Relevant Radio,... Read more
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Our Lady appearing to three shepherd children in the small town of Fatima Portugal. As such a number of books are being released to mark the occasion. A few of them I will review here. Today we will take a look at the recent release Fatima: The Apparition that Changed the World by Jean Heimann. Before we get to what the book is about it must be mention that this is one gorgeous... Read more
We know that Christ and the angels have been really present with us, says St. John Chrysostom. What will happen when we’re called to judgment and have to report that all we ever cared about was money? There really are many people who seem to think they’re never going to die. They set about building and planning in extreme old age—but when will they take death into consideration? It will be no small punishment that we were called to bear witness,... Read more
In this long hymn of praise from an ancient liturgy (attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite), we join our praise with the praises of all the beings in Heaven. The voiceless, by their silence, the vocal, by their voices, words and hymns, perpetually bless you, because you are essentially good and beyond all praise, existing in your essence incomprehensibly. I, your visible and sensible crea- ture, praise you, and also the intellectual creature, placed above sensible percep- tion. Heaven and earth glorify... Read more
Continuing his meditation on holy angels and people, St. Augustine says that what we enjoy in someone who is holy is God himself, the only true source of happiness. But when you have joy of someone in God, it is God rather than that person that you enjoy. You enjoy God who makes you happy, and you rejoice to have come to him in whose presence you place your hope of joy. This is why Paul says to Philemon, “Yes, brother,... Read more
Interpreting Psalm 8, St. Augustine suggests that the “sheep and oxen” put under Christ are human beings and angels—angels being called oxen because of their incessant work in spreading the word of God. “You have put all things under his feet,” he says (Ps. 8:6). And when he writes to the Hebrews he uses this very testimony from this Psalm, when he wants them to understand that all things are put under our Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that... Read more
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