When I was researching my book Mystery of the Magi - The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men I discovered the extraordinary amount of legendary and mythical material surrounding the magi story. More than any other gospel story, the tale of the wise men who came to pay homage to the Christ child attracted elaboration [...]
One of the riveting themes within the Star Wars saga is the existence of monasticism. The Jedi Knights are also monks. Connecting with the warrior monks of Eastern religions, they also connect with the religious orders of knights in medieval Christendom. The Jedi clearly remind of the spiritual truths of the New Testament where St Paul [...]
Have you ever noticed that modernist Biblical scholars don't believe in the infallibility of the Bible, but they do believe in the infallibility of their own theories? The Biblical critics love to get down and pick over the New Testament. They've made an industry of it. There's form criticism and source criticism and literary criticism and [...]
What is it, from a priest's point of view that I love about celebrating the Mass ad orientem? A number of things: 1. I no longer have to worry about being in 'performance mode'. When I am facing the people, no matter how much I try, I am looking more at them and focussing more on [...]
from Guest blogger Paul Thigpen. Paul Thigpen PhD. is an editor at TAN books and the author of hundreds of article and dozens of books on the Catholic faith. His book of prophetic prophecy--The Burden-- is a powerful pointer to the perilous times we live in with a passionate call to repentance. Learn more about The Burden here. GHOSTS [...]
My family were attending a High School football game, and were sitting high up in the bleachers. My little sister Denise--a skinny little thing--was seven years old. When the home team scored a touchdown everyone stood up and cheered. She did too, and as she did, she slipped through the narrow gap between the seat of [...]
It is easy for us to assume that people are either insane or sane. In fact, the sane and the insane or only the extreme ends of a spectrum. Insane people are simply further gone than the rest of us. Saints are at the other end of the spectrum and are truly whole, truly human and [...]
St. Joseph of Cupertino was a misfit mystic. His life of asceticism was so extreme that some people would say he had an eating disorder, that he was emotionally or mentally ill.
Today's feast is The Exaltation of the Cross. The legend is that the Empress Helena, Constantine's mother, traveled to Jerusalem and discovered the true cross. The illustration for this post is the chapel of St Helena--the crypt of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The local Christians said she could have it, but said she must [...]
One of the creepiest things about religion is the tendency for those involved to drift into cult-like behaviors. That doesn't mean the devotees are all following the leader like zombie Moonies. Religious groups can drift into cult like behaviors without becoming full blown cults. How can you tell if a religious group is operating like a [...]