Three Minutes with Newman: Recent Episodes
Cardinal John Henry Newman
Jesus is our Peace. He calls us to be peacemakers and put an end to war. Let us pray many rosaries asking Our Lady of Fatima to obtain peace for Ukraine.
Knowing the difference between forgiveness and pardon will give us even greater resolve to change and atone for past sins.
Christmas comes with sorrows and joys, but especially with great joy from the birth of Our Savior.
For Newman, prayer is conversation with God, but it is a divine conversation which prepares us for heaven.
In this time of Advent, we should be watchmen of the kind who gaze toward heaven, waiting for Our Lord.
St. John Henry reflects on the uniqueness of the soul of each human created by God, and on doctrine of judgment after death.
We must have an active faith that can see through – not over, or around or in spite of our difficulties – to our final home.
In the poem Sleeplessness, John Henry Newman writes about trusting in God, and putting aside our pride and self reliance.
For Newman, prayer is conversation with God, but it is a divine conversation which prepares us for heaven.
We must have an active faith that can see through – not over, or around or in spite of our difficulties – to our final home.
In the poem Sleeplessness, John Henry Newman writes about trusting in God, and putting aside our pride and self reliance.
Christmas comes with sorrows and joys, but especially with great joy from the birth of Our Savior.
Knowing the difference between forgiveness and pardon will give us even greater resolve to change and atone for past sins.
In this time of Advent, we should be watchmen of the kind who gaze toward heaven, waiting for Our Lord.
St. John Henry reflects on the uniqueness of the soul of each human created by God, and on doctrine of judgment after death.
John Henry Newman reminds us that God gives us angels not only to protect us from evil but to guide us to heaven.
John Henry Newman warns against the danger of self-righteousness, and its converse: shunning religious practices that might lead to self-conceit.
God requires much from us; don't shrink back, but go on with the courage of one who knows "If God be for me, who can be against me?"
The world God made has a natural law of cause and effect built into it. One act of love really benefits the whole of creation, and one sin harms the same whole. On the individual level, our personal sins, as well as our acts of love, mold our character moment by moment.
Unlike Balaam, our obedience to God should be borne out of the desire to not offend a Good Father, but to please Him out of love.
Obedience to God should not be merely dutiful. John H. Newman explains that this is one of the lessons we can learn from the history of Balaam.
“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”
The joy of Easter will make us bold witnesses to the miracle of God’s forgiveness, but love will spur us to learn more about the truth and to exhaust every means of becoming an effective evangelist.
Newman warned his Anglican bretheren of liberalism, taking the brighter side of the Gospel and neglecting the darker view of man's condition.
John Henry Newman suggest that we think of the worship of God foremost as a privilege even though it is a duty.
In a short poem titled "Our Future," St. John Henry Newman tells us how we should approach the future: by faith, which is impossible without grace.
In the Verses Christmas without Christ, John Henry Newman reminds that Christ is the only source of true joy.
When we live in the Spirit, we are able to put the ordinary circumstances of our days in their proper context.
We repeat the mystery of the Incarnation every Sunday at Mass, but do we let ourselves be moved by it?
Newman explains how the Gospel sheds light upon human suffering, teaching us that Christ turned punishment into a privilege, even bodily pain.
Newman explains King Jeroboam's disobedience and idolatry, and invites the Church to true worship, and a patient trusting in the Holy Spirit.
Saul had many gifts, but lacked the one necessary thing: fear of God. We also need it if we want to maintain our peace and trust in God.
St. John Henry Newman was declared a saint of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis on October 13, 2020. His feast day is celebrated liturgically on October 9.
Just as the created world is full of order and one thing depends on another, God has created angels who serve Him in many ways. And He has provided each person with a guardian angel to protect him on earth and lead him to heaven.
Use of talents and accomplishments and all things we do with our time, including leisure, should bring us closer to God.
Newman reminds us that Christ’s disciples should beware of the danger of riches and do everything for God’s glory.
Angels are the unseen powers behind nature. By contemplating them, we learn to fix our eyes on heaven.
Using the metaphor of a harp, Newman illustrates how we can give God praise by the music of our lives.
St. John Henry Newman tells why the celebration of Saint's days fell out of use, and why it is helpful for Christians to recover the practice of commemorating them.
Priests stand in the office of Christ. By virtue of this office, and not by worldly merit, they are exalted above all other ministers in order to serve God's people.
St. John Henry Newman teaches us that we must strive to be simple and prudent like Nathanael.
We guard the faith by sharing It. St. John Henry Newman shows us how simple this really is.
Newman would agree with Augustine’s summary of the doctrine of predestination found in “The Confessions”: “God who made us without us cannot save us without our cooperation.”
The Scriptures reveal history and our own lives to us, who are often blind to the miraculous in our midst.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is God taking up permanent residence in the heart of those who have been reborn by belief in Christ as Savior and baptism.
St. John Henry Newman reflects on the Ascension of the Lord into heaven in four meditations.
Cardinal Newman explains that at the time before Christ's birth the Jewish people awaited the Messiah or Christ, and Jewish women desired to be his mother. Mary, while remaining a virgin became his mother by divine grace.
Looking within ourselves for confidence in the state of our faith is a sure way to lose it.
Cardinal Newman considers that Christ showed himself to a few witnesses after his resurrection as the best means to propagate the Gospel.
Newman urges us to pray for others. In the face of Covid-19 we can unite ourselves to Christ in the Mass praying for the world, especially those suffering most.
In the face of the Covid 19 pandemia we must help the sick and take precautions not to fall ill and spread the illness. St. John Henry Newman reminds also of the need to pray to God.
Newman illustrates how God, who created an orderly universe, can choose how and when to alter His ordered creation, for our sake, literally “untuning the music of the spheres.
Cardinal Newman encouraged friends to publish their research and views, and to do so respectfully.
The Feast of the Epiphany is the beginning of Epiphanytide. Newman teaches us the importance of this season of Epiphany.
Watching is a definitive mark of being a Christian. We watch for Christ when we eagerly anticipate His coming in our daily relationship with Him.
Do you sometimes feel as though God has forgotten you? Cardinal Newman reminds us that God in his Providence not only sustains the world, He cares for each person.
St. John Henry Newman reminds us that even trials can be blessings and to give thanks for these special blessings which are medicine to the soul.
John Henry Newman first believed as an Anglican that after the death the souls of the faithful are at rest. Once a Catholic he believed that they are in Purgatory, a period or state of purification.
St. John Henry Newman wants us to realize that we are ever the prodigal son, in need of constant surrender throughout our lives, approaching our heavenly Father as a servant.
Barb Wyman describes the canonization of St. John Henry Newman, the atmosphere in Rome and the significance of the event.
Newman reminds us not to lose faith or to become discouraged; conversion is above all the work of God in our souls.
A brief explanation of what a canonization is and its meaning. Cardinal Newman who will be declared a saint of the Catholic Church on October 13, 2019, teaches that holiness is the end of Christian holiness. We are on a journey to heaven.
With the seemingly fleeting trance of time, Newman bids us to listen to the "still voice divine" that gives purpose to life and points to Heaven.
If you are feeling desolate and do not recognize Christ on the road, continue with prayers and the sacraments, for He will make Himself known to you again.
The history of Israel is marked by willfulness and doubt. Blessed Newman reminds us to be still and rest in God when encountering obstacles.
John Henry Newman draws lessons from the lives of Abraham and Lot for us to live with detachment from material goods and serve God with a perfect heart.
For John Henry Newman, “... the soul of man is made for the contemplation of its Maker; and that nothing short of that high contemplation is its happiness"
God's promises and his work in the world are one, but we need the eyes of faith to see this while living in the midst of the world.
Pope Francis had set the date of October 13, 2019, for the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The saints teach us how to live with faith in God.
Newman gives helpful suggestions for approaching the incomprehensible mystery of the Holy Trinity and invites us to worship the one and triune God.
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal, subtle force; He is the third Person of the Trinity and is closer to us than we are to ourselves.
For John Henry Newman the Ascension of Christ to heaven is a mystery which should move us to praise God, accepting that there are truths human reason cannot understand.
The Holy Innocents and our Lady teach us that only with the humility and sincerity of little children can we approach our loving Father.
John Henry Newman teaches that love for mankind begins with love for family and friends.
Cardinal Newman teaches us to worship God as our Creator and to address Him with the trust of children.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, not even death; for Love has dwelt in death, and risen from it.
Christ shed tears for Lazarus. John Henry Newman explains that it was the compassion of God, and His sorrow for the wrong done to His creation.
The Martyrs of the Church were exceptional because their love was more powerful than life. Their example humbles us and bids us to say yes to our Lord.
John Henry Newman explains how St. Paul's conversion gives us lessons of God's Providence and the power of grace to convert sinners as well as of our need for humility.
John Henry Newman invites us to 'sanctify the woes,' that is to accept sufferings as a way of penance for our sins.
Scripture describes the painful truth of life - it is full of suffering. Only by accepting reality as it is, and hoping in God, can we avoid disappointment.
John Henry Newman found consolation in Christ and the thought of heaven when Mary, his young sister, died unexpectedly.
John Henry Newman warns against a religion of the day that only looks at the bright and easy and ignores the demands of truth and God's commands.
Newman explains the sympathy between Jesus, Mary and Joseph comparing to three harps playing in perfect harmony, a model for all families.
Mary models humble reception of God as the path to true wisdom and greatness; but there are many things that tempt us to stray from this humble path.
This is a translation by Cardinal Newman of a hymn, “Conditor alme siderum,” traditionally sung during the Advent season.
In The Dream of Gerontius, Blessed Newman shows who our king and judge really is, and prepares our hearts for coming close to Him in Advent.
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This poem can help us on the Sunday that the Church honors Christ as Universal King showing us what type of king Jesus truly is: all-just and all-merciful.
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In The Dream of Gerontius, Blessed Newman helps us to consider the Last Things preparing for our encounter with Christ and our personal judgement.
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The end of a University education is the total integration of knowledge into the heart, mind, and soul of a well-cultivated person.
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Blessed Cardinal Newman describes the purification of the soul in Purgatory as being in a golden prison in preparation for Heaven.
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Times of Private Prayer: Conversing With God
When do you speak to God? Do you make time for prayer to God? We often eat meals with families and friends, watch sports events or listen to concerts, spend time reading blogs and newspapers. Yet, we fail to make time for God.
In sermon titled “Times of Prayer” Blessed John Henry Newman teaches us, together with the saints, of our need to pray to our Father God. For example: St. Augustine explains the Lord’s Prayer to Proba, a wealthy woman. St. Teresa of Ávila explains that it is a trusting conversation with the One who loves us. The Curé of Ars learns from a parishioner that to pray is to look at Him. St. Thérèse of Lisieux tells us that it is a glance of the heart, a look towards heaven. And St. Josemaría Escrivá reminds us that prayer is personal – about God and about you.
Prayer is a privilege but it is also a duty; it is not something optional like reading a novel or having a snack. Newman distinguishes between two types of prayer: “Public worship, indeed, from its very nature, requires places, times, and even set forms. But private prayer does not necessarily require set times, because we have no one to consult but ourselves, and we are always with ourselves; nor forms, for there is no one else whose thoughts are to keep pace with ours.”
Then he recounts examples of the prayers of Jesus, and of the saints in the bible, and reminds us of Jesus’ instruction: “when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:6).
Newman explains that “it is necessary to insist upon this duty of observing private prayer at stated times, because amid the cares and hurry of life men are very apt to neglect it: and it is a much more important duty than it is generally considered, even by those who perform it.” He suggests two reasons.
A first reason for private prayer is that it serves like impulses to the mind throughout the day, and by this means God ‘instructs and engages us in whatever is our duty.’ Newman notes that we should pray throughout the day, but we need to set aside time, “to make leisure time” at least in the morning and evening to spend with God. Regarding prayer in the evening he writes:
“A like reason may be assigned for evening prayer, viz. as affording us a time of looking back on the day past, and summing up (
Formal prayers are recited in public prayer, but not privately. Blessed Newman explains how these forms, some of them ancient, can aid personal devotion.
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The Church offers the student more than what studies alone can provide: the grace that cannot be acquired with books.
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Today we remember a Modern Day Father of the Church: Blessed John Henry Newman.
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Newman reminds us the importance of our guardian angel, the brother of our soul.
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Describing the essence of a University, John Henry Newman offers hope and wisdom for education.
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The present crisis in the Church is a crisis of the Church, that is, its members. Some have left or are leaving, and some remain but with little trust. And many are returning to the foundations of the faith and asking the simple but essential questions we all need to revisit, like, “what is the Church and can we trust it?”
The Church is too profound to be captured in a single image, but the word “church” itself translates “to call out of“ and means “a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose” (Catechism). The Church is the people of God, as foreshadowed in the children of Israel, and now fully expressed as the Body of Christ. The Church is the sheepfold, the cultivated field, the building of God, of which Christ is the cornerstone. She is mater et magistra – our mother and teacher – who cares for us. She is also the Bride of the Christ: “It is she whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly ‘nourishes and cherishes’” (Catechism).
The Church is not an inanimate institution, nor is she a clerical service organization; she is the community of believers who are incorporated into Christ through Baptism When we say she is the people of God, we see that she is us – ordinary men and women trying to sanctify ourselves through our work; sinners in need of daily forgiveness. Moreover, the Church administers the sacraments, the visible signs that communicate an invisible grace, by which Christ gives supernatural life to men and heals their sins. Christ is truly present in the Holy Sacrament, and before this mystery of faith and love, Blessed Newman exclaims: “O my God, holiness becometh Thy House, and yet Thou dost make Thy abode in my breast. My Lord, my Saviour, to me Thou comest, hidden under the semblance of earthly things, yet in that very flesh and blood which Thou didst take from Mary.”
When we say she is our mother and teacher, we see that she is the men and women the Holy Spirit has chosen to be a conduit for His words, words that never fail even when the voices speaking do. In these uncertain times, when shepherds have failed to protect their sheep, many wonder if they can trust the Church. While individuals will fail, Christ has promised us that the Church will not fail. St. Matthew quotes our Lord as saying that He will build his Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (16:19). This indefectibility (inability to fail) He ensures especially to the Seat of Peter, the See of
In a recent article Rev. James Schall, SJ. asks if the present sexual abuse crisis is the greatest upheaval of the Church since the Protestant Reformation. I would argue that in some sense this crisis is worse. It is a very deep moral and doctrinal crisis connected with grave faults of commission and omission by the Church’s shepherds.
Many refer to the current crisis as a purification by God of His Church, a reality that reminds us of Jesus’ purification of the Temple. The instrument of this purification has been, as in 2002, the voice of the public media and the courts, rather than the Church’s bishops. God established in the Church an office for teaching, sanctifying,and governing. Many pastors have seriously failed in their duties. Each pastor needs to examine his own actions.
In light of the public silence of the overwhelming majority of US bishops to this crisis we must ask: What is the role of the faithful laity in this purification? Like the clergy they share, in their own way, in the triple gifts or Office of Christ. As baptized members of the Body of Christ the laity participate in Christ's priesthood, in His threefold office of teaching, sanctifying and governing. They must safeguard the faith and the spiritual life, and as much as possible, the material well-being of the faithful.
The laity not only teach the faith at home but in schools, universities, and seminaries. Lay people work in ecclesiastical tribunals and chanceries in ways sanctioned by canon law. And in living their own vocations they sanctify themselves and others: they sanctify the Church.
In a special way the laity strengthen and safeguard tradition. As Blessed Newman explained they serve as witness of what the Church believes and has always believed. Furthermore they do so by holding the clergy accountable, both in the daily exercise of their commission as well as in matters of greater importance.
No one in the Church is above the truth. No one is above the moral law. There are times when lay persons must speak the truth boldly to oppose grave abuses by the teachers of the faith. Two notable examples in Church history, although different in nature, are those of St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thomas More.
In the Gospel Jesus enjoins His followers to correct one another when necessary, and He specifies that when someone does not accept correction, that person should be denounced publicly. Jesus’ words are not addressed to the clergy; they are addressed to all of His followers.
The faithful laity are called to exercise a prophetic defense against evil actions in the Church. To correct bishops, the pope included, the laity must e
The Pilgrim Queen, was written in 1849 as a hymn for the Virgin Mary by Blessed John Henry Newman, after he had established the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. Newman's earlier poetry, before he converted to Catholicism, was written during the Oxford Movement, and is often complex and can be difficult to understand at first reading. The early poetry was written for a different purpose than his later poetry; these later poems he wrote expressly to be sung as hymns, with the intent that they be easy to understand, especially by children. These hymn poems are straightforward and exceedingly charming in their lyrical language. The Pilgrim Queen is a perfect example of Newman’s hymn poetry; the verses’ meanings need little explanation. The Pilgrim Queen can be sung to many hymn tunes since the syllable count in each line is regular. This Newman hymn is appropriate for the week in which we have just celebrated the Queenship of Mary.
In the poem, we find Mary waiting, when Jesus is discovered missing from the tomb. Notice the striking imagery used throughout. For example, Christ’s tomb is both “planted deep” and “raised high.” This tomb is called a “palace of ice” for when Christ was gone for the hours until His resurrection, much like on Good Friday when the tabernacles are empty, and His palace (either the tomb or tabernacles) is without Him, who is all Light. When summer came (that is, His resurrection) the ice “melted” away.
The Pilgrim Queen (A Song.)
THERE sat a Lady
all on the ground,
Rays of the morning
circled her round,
Save thee, and hail to thee,
Gracious and Fair,
In the chill twilight
what wouldst thou there?
"Here I sit desolate,"
sweetly said she,
"Though I'm a queen,
and my name is Marie:
Robbers have rifled
my garden and store,
Foes they have stolen
my heir from my bower.
"They said they could keep Him
far better tha