Iconologos: Recent Episodes
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You are a sacred person. The sacramental, salvation, the sacred work of God goes forward through you.
If you are in Christ by baptism, are you all in with him this Lent? The start by knowing that he is in you.
For the nuptial Mass of Augustine Hizovic and Keelan Scharbach. The primary purpose of marriage is growth in holiness.
A testimony to the joyful hope of Pope Benedict XVI as we commend his soul to the Heavenly Father.
Is the depiction of Mary crushing the head of the serpent a pious tradition or the Scriptural heart of the Immaculate Conception?
St. John says that we are children of God, yet we are still purifying ourselves as he is pure. The saints model how to become more fully what we already are.
Paul says that God alone is immortal, yet he tells Timothy to take hold of eternal life. The apparent paradox is resolved as the transcendence of God becomes immanent in Christ.
Suffering is a fact of life in the fallen world, but the radical difference of Christianity is that we learn to embrace suffering through the cross. The more we grow in holiness, the more we learn to find redemption in suffering. With this can even come, paradoxically, a deeper measure of joy. In this next ChristLife gathering for young adults, we consider how "for those who love God, all things work together for the good" (Rom 8:28), and how this even includes our suffering.
Fr. Albert Scharbach is an Ordinariate priest and pastor of Mount Calvary Catholic Church in Baltimore. He's the father of nine children and recently experienced the tragic death of his oldest son. Yet even this loss proved to him that nothing is beyond the reach of God's redemption. Moreover, he will share how this is proved over and over in the trials and tribulations of daily life
When Jesus calls us to carry the cross, he proves himself not with an either-or proposition, as the Lord of the both-and way.
Jeremiah sang of God’s faithfulness in a dungeon. Likewise, Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before him.” God is there for us, even when we can’t see him—especially when we can’t see him.
Jeremiah sang of God’s faithfulness in a dungeon. Likewise, Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before him.” God is there for us, even when we can’t see him.
On the second anniversary of his death, we remember Isaac Scharbach and how he shed God’s evangelizing light while living the law of love. Matthew 5:13-19
Through the New Testament, the three Persons of the Trinity are spoken as in one breath, a unity of activity. This is the outpouring of love in which we participate. We return to that first love in order to share it with fuller understanding.
Varieties of gifts and the same God who inspires them all. Ministry in menial tasks and the end of the Tower of Babel.
We can make St. Stephen’s prayer our own—and receive the grace to follow the footsteps of our Lord.
These words from Revelation point to the end of the story. Eternity breaks into time in order to strengthen is in the midst of the story.
These words may resonate, but do they ring true throughout our lives? How to respond when the voice of men speaks louder than God.
The victim becomes the victor through his wounds. In his mercy, he gives us victory through our wounds. We extend this mercy to the world.
Eyes open to truth means eyes open to hope in a worldview reordered by the Resurrection.
The fulfillment of the Lamb. The One who heals us. The One who takes away the sins of the world, even as he leads us through doxological contrition.
We know more about the messiah than those who first praised him with palms. But do we see him fully as he is? May God expand our perception and change our expectation so that our lives proclaim him more fully.
We’re called to the full joy of the Prodigal Son. We get there by receiving grace and sharing it.
Where does loss and disappointment hurt the most right now? Let your trials be transformed by the truth of the Transfiguration.
As we go through temptations in our own desert wanderings, we feel called to prove our faithfulness—that is, to show that we are ‘all in’ with God. But Jesus became like us so that when we are ‘all in,’ God proves himself to us.
We mourn for our wandering away from God, but returning leads to rejoicing as we find our fullness in Him.
Ephesians 5 shows us how Mary is a model of the overarching purpose of marriage. This is what enables us to bear fruit in child rearing and grow closer as companions.
John the Baptist calls us to return and renewal through generous lives. We can do this when we rejoice in his gifts.
St. Isaac the Syrian said “This life was given to you for repentance.” Is that what life is all about? We can say so—with joy—if we rethink repentance according to the words of St. John the Baptist in Luke 3:1-6.
Why did Michaelangelo honor the pagan temple built by Agrippa? This has everything to do with All Saints Day. Includes final blessing and hymn at the end.
He who did not spare his Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously given us all things? (Rom. 8:32)
Black vestments on All Souls’ Day can help our healing by acknowledging loss and lifting it up in the light of redemption.
In Mark 12, a scribe commends Jesus for his summary of the law. Jesus, in turn, says the scribe is not far from the Kingdom. So then how does the law make us close to the Kingdom? More importantly, how does our entry in the Kingdom become complete?
Mark 10:46-52 Jesus answers the prayer of Batimaeus. More importantly, he answers the prayer behind the prayer. This teaches us to have more integrity in what we ask of God.
Jesus challenges his hearers to receive his words about the Bread of Life. This calls for wonder and worship before intellectual ascent. When we receive what God sends down, then he lifts us up.
The light of life from the Mount of Transfiguration. One year anniversary of the funeral of Isaac Scharbach. St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church, Manchester, MD
There were 12 loaves left over, and God likewise gives above and beyond all your needs.
Grasp your true vocation as a man, which includes spiritual fatherhood. The grace of fatherhood is a pressing need when young children are in the home, but all men are called to be fathers. Fatherhood is intrinsic to our vocation as men, whether or not we have biological children ourselves. We're called to be confident in this grace and embrace it through both spiritual awareness and practical application.
The Book of Malachi includes this important prophecy: "He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers." That's the last verse of the Old Testament. The promise fulfilled in the New Testament, where Jesus makes God known more emphatically as Father. All our fatherhood derives from the Fatherhood of God and points to him. The character of God as Father is most clearly illustrated in the Prodigal Son parable. That will be our starting point as we look at fatherhood as a vocation to give mercy, to bless, and to provide. All this is a vocation to encouragement. To fulfill this role, God will build you up and encourage you in your own vocation as a father.
Simeon and Anna had good reason to say “How long, O Lord?” And so do we. But our longing is now in the light of God’s redemption.
Paul says, "The married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided." We see why these words are an inspiration not only for monasticism, but also for true Christian marriage.
Paul writes to the Romans: “O the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and inscrutable his ways!” This proves true for a Church led by Peter and his successors.
This Solemnity is a day to celebrate Mary’s "yes." It’s also an opportunity to renew our own yes to God.
Lartare means “rejoice.” Should we rejoice in the midst of crisis? How can we? With a Scriptural perspective of rejoicing, we can say with confidence, Laetare Sunday is not cancelled.
If we look closely at how Jesus approaches the the woman at the well, then we will have a better understanding of how God looks at us, which in turn will help us know how to view other sinners who have gone astray.
The Transfiguration is often seen to prefigure the Resurrection. While partly true, that view misses the crux of the passage, which is that the Transfiguration is a preparation for the cross. Here we see the majesty of the cross, which points us to our privilege of suffering with the King.
This talk is part of our 2020 Lenten speaker series, Scholar Saints. The talks follow our Friday Stations of the Cross and Benediction that begins at 6pm. A light meal and lecture begins at 7pm.
Trevor Lipscombe earned a doctorate in theoretical physics at the University of Oxford and was elected Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He coauthored "Albert Einstein: A Biography" which has been translated into ten languages. Trevor's book "The Physics of Rugby", published by the University of Nottingham Press, was selected as one of the best ten physics books of the year, and was long listed for Britain's best sports book of the year. He is the editor of the Ignatius Press Critical Edition of Saint John Henry Newman's novel "Loss and Gain." Over sixty of Trevor's articles have appeared in scholarly journals as well as in more popular places, such as Time Magazine. His next book, "Quicker Calculations," is currently in production with Oxford University Press and will be published next year. None of which has anything to do with Saint Albert the Great.
Jesus resists the temptation to deliver himself in his own strength. Instead, he trusts in the Father’s plan for deliverance, which will ultimately take place through the cross. This is the Scriptural principle of meekness in action—Jesus does not take a shortcut to power but trusts in God alone. The challenge for each of us is to likewise trust in the Father’s plan by being sons in the Son.
Part I of a three-part series on the message of the cross in our lives: - The meekness of the cross - The majesty of the cross - The morality of the cross
Did you know that Jesus makes God’s commands more stringent than they were before? Yes, most of us know that from reading the Sermon on the Mount, but most of us also find this hard to admit. But this is actually good good news, and the way to more fully healing the effects of the fall.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it’s saltiness be restored?
To be the salt of the earth means we embrace the wisdom of the cross. The cross is contrary to the wisdom of the world, however. Salt is a preservative and the worldly wise seek self preservation. But to be the salt of the earth according to the gospel means self denial. The cross shows us the way of love and how we can preserve the world with God’s savor—the wisdom of the cross.
St. John of the Cross helps us to understand the joy of Simeon through the pattern that we all are likewise called to follow: deprivation, determination, and then, at last, consolation.
Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee—in a land of darkness, light has dawned. For that light to shine in the Church it must be received unrefracted. And so God worked through Paul and Apollos.
Theosis, or divinitarion, is a foundational doctrine and the foundation of our faith. God calls you to embrace the full gospel of the Fathers. 8am homily.
Homily: Baptism of Christ Why It was fitting for Jesus to receive the baptism of repentance.
The journey of the Magi is the primary image of Epiphany. But how many people understand that this is a story of conversion? TS Eliot unpacks this in his immortal poem: "The journey of the Magi" in which he concludes, from the perspective of one of the Magi, "I will be glad for another death." This is what we can celebrate if we want to get the most out of the Epiphany season.
Christmas Eve Mass in the Night
The Shepherds were told that the child in the manger would be a ‘sign.’ What did that signify? The answer is our route to wonder, joy, and trust.
St. Joseph is an example of how to remain faithful when social pressure threatens our Christian integrity. He is also an example of authentic biblical masculinity.
Jesus says that those who are least in the kingdom of heaven are greater than John the Baptist. This in no way detracts from St. John's sanctity, but speaks of a new epoch inaugurated by our Lord. James (in the Epistle reading) speaks about the kind of people we are becoming in Christ and the patience that is appropriate as we grow more fully into who we are by virtue of Christ's redemption. Recording from the 8am Mass.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1).
The 'trees' we cultivate in life--that is, our expectations and plans--are all-too-often reduced to mere stumps. Isaiah said a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse. We can celebrate the 'stump' because the shoot -- the Plan B of God -- is more beautiful that what we had before.
We are tempted each day by works of darkness, which includes compromise in our hearts that can be difficult to detect. St. Paul calls us to live according to who we will be -- to live with the perspective of the coming Day of redemption -- in order to see the world through the eyes of Christ.
Colossians 1:12-24
Paul says that Jesus is the "image of the invisible God." How do we make him known to those who say they can't see him? Hint: We don't cease to proclaim him as the Lord of life and of all creation. He is the answer to the longing of every human heart and the proclamation of our redemption.
Based on Luke 21:16-19 and Roman 8:28
You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; 17 you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Do you have unshakeable hope in the time of tribulation or trial? This is what our Gospel reading encourages. It's expended on by Romans 8:28
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
The eternal dimension of what Paul means by "good" connects the two together.
2 Maccabees gives us an account of courageous martyrdom. Would you be able to die so well? That might sound like an unfair question, because you might think, "How could I know?" But if you live well now, then you will die well. No doubt, the martyrs in 2 Maccabees lived in such a way that heaven was more real to them than the world they were giving up. They already had life from above. If you and I can cultivate this kind of relationship with God now, then we will be able to die well when the time unexpectedly comes.
From 2 Maccabees 7: After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again." Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
Paired with Romans 8
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
We pray for the souls of the faithful departed even as we consider the fate of our own souls. The Dream of Gerontius by Saint John Henry Newman provides a way to understand our purification as we move, by God's grace, towards our own final purification.
The Pantheon was dedicated to 'all gods,' which the Venerable Bede rightly called demons. Yet this building was transformed into a church for venerating all martyrs. May we likewise be transformed by God's grace.
You've heard the physical law: what goes up must come down. But there's also a spiritual law: what goes down must come up. Our Epistle (2 Tim 3:14-4:2) tells us about what comes down, which is God's Word, and our Gospel reading (Luke 18:1-8) encourages us to send it back up. Isaiah 55 sets the background for this important dynamic in redemptive history as God accomplishes his work through our prayers.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." This refers to the crucifixion. How is it that the cross--an instrument of torture and shame--becomes something that draws people? Jesus draws people to himself when the power of the cross is present in our own lives.
Delivered on Holy Cross Day. The Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is our Feast of Title.