Category: Spirituality
Unlearning the Love of This World: Newman’s Sermons as Spiritual Reading during Lent
If you are anything like me, you have on at least one occasion squandered the holy season of Lent. The Church has established such times on the liturgical calendar so that we might enter more deeply into the mysteries of Christ’s life.
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The Cry of Repentance Versus the Bitter Cry of Regret
It’s easy to read this account from Scripture and to cast aspersions on Esau. “How could he have been so foolish?” we wonder. “I’d never act that rashly,” we tell ourselves. Yet how often in our own lives do we make a similar, yet graver mistake by squandering the gifts of God—in our case, the graces that we receive through the sacraments—in exchange for some lesser good?
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Unlearning Ourselves in Lent: Newman on Fasting
For Newman, the disciplines of Lent—in this case, fasting—are a way for the Christian to participate mystically in the life of Christ. By intensifying our self-denial for these forty days of Lent, we come to know, in part, what Christ experienced in full measure:
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Lent, the Season of Repentance
In reading Newman’s letters and diaries, it’s clear that he knew of divine mercy not as an abstract theological idea, but at a deeply personal level as a core part of his spiritual journey. Because he himself had experienced the grace of God in many profound ways, Newman was eager to encourage others to cast themselves before the mercy seat.
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Francis de Sales the Oratorian
There is something stirring about seeing two greats from different generations together in the same place. In the world of sports, for instance, some memorable photo-ops have come about this way—say, with a young Lebron James standing next to Bill Russell or with Derek Jeter warming up on the same baseball diamond as Cal Ripken Jr.
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Neither Death Nor Life: The Story of One Woman’s Trust in God
As news is now reaching us that the Vatican has reportedly approved a second miracle toward the canonization of John Henry Newman, it’s worth reflecting on the process that brought us to this point.
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National Institute for Newman Studies
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Recent Articles
Newman High: More Lessons for Secondary TeachersNovember 18, 2020John Thompson’s post entitled “Newman High: Some Notes on Newman for Secondary Educators,” raises some important and timely questions for those teaching at the pre-college levels. We write to share one resource and three additional lessons from Newman that may further help secondary educators strengthen their professional practice. […]
Newman and Elgar’s The Dream of GerontiusNovember 2, 2020Composed in 1900, a decade after the Cardinal’s death, Elgar’s Gerontius is not a collaboration but a new interpretation. What, then, did Newman’s poem mean to Elgar, and how did the composer articulate Newman’s vision musically? […]
Revisiting the Threefold Office of Christ in the ChurchOctober 22, 2020One of the most significant contributions of the Second Vatican Council lay in its appropriation of the tria munera—that is the threefold office of Christ as priest, prophet, and king—as an architectonic structure for reflection on the church. […]- It is Better for Sun and Moon to Drop from HeavenSeptember 11, 2020It’s one of Newman’s most notorious lines, and a claim I for one wish were untrue:”The Catholic Church holds it better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony […]
Newman, Probability, and TruthAugust 17, 2020The Grammar of Assent, published in 1870, represents Newman's last major work. As a religious epistemology, it provides systematically thought-through answers to questions that had preoccupied him since his early twenties […]