When Christ the King was brought before Pontius Pilate, the Romans were running a European superstate which they called their ‘Empire’. Roman laws and Roman taxes were enforced by a well-organised network of local administrators, backed up by a powerful military and political machine. For Pontius Pilate, the administrator of Judea, ‘kingship’ meant simply the sort of power you wield [...]
MY oldest friend, mine from the hour When first I drew my breath; My faithful friend, that shall be mine, Unfailing, till my death; Thou hast been ever at my side; My Maker to thy trust Consign'd my soul, what time He framed The infant child of dust. No beating heart in holy prayer, [...]
John Henry Newman referred to the day on which he became a Catholic, 9th October 1845, as simply, “my day”. In his early evangelical days he thought that the Church of Rome had added to the original deposit of faith. “Now I come to two other works, which produced a deep impression on me in the same Autumn of 1816, when [...]
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897) is one of the sweetest and toughest of God's Saints. This hyper-sensitive and resilient young woman has a lot to teach us about the value of suffering: that if we willingly accept our suffering and offer it up to God, His grace will turn it into something salvific, both for ourselves and for [...]