Blog

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) devised a way of examining our soul that moved away from looking only at the sinful thoughts, words, and deeds of our day. Ignatius’s introspection begins not with sins but with gratitude and the cataloging of daily blessings.This manner of praying later came to be called an Examination of Consciousness, to distinguish it from what was done before the sacrament of reconciliation. A different contour arises in our souls when we look primarily at the …

The phrase choirs of angels does not mean a number of angels singing, as they did to announce to the shepherds that the Savior had been born. Rather, we will be looking at different groups of angels and the hierarchy among them. The Church has nothing doctrinal, no official teaching, on the specifics of these groups of angels, other than that they exist, as named in the Bible and in Tradition. The Bible gives us the following names of the nine choirs: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Vir …

Church teaching, including Scripture and Tradition, holds that angels are purely spiritual beings. Yet we also believe that they occasionally appear to have physical bodies, as in the Scripture stories: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2). Angels do not need bodies for their interactions with God and one another; for that matter, they do not need bodies for their usual interactions with us, giving us spirit …

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Rev. 12:9). Notice that this verse does not say the demons were cast into hell, but rather to the earth. In the book of Job, when God asks Satan where he has come from, the latter replies, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it” (1:7; 2:2). We m …

"You probably think Santa Claus is real. Or that the Earth is flat. Maybe your ancestors thought Thor caused lightning and thunderstorms. Or that praying to a statue would bring healing. We have moved past that. Now, we live in an age of science. If you still believe in God, you must be a superstitious ignoramus."  This common attitude of internet atheists has led many away from faith. Believers must share the blame. A lot of Catholic Christians cannot give reasons for the hope that i …