RC-V3 The Case for Christianity – The Resilient Church /w Mike Aquilina from Discerning Hearts on Vimeo.
Episode 3 – The Case for Christianity
So the early believers were misunderstood by both pagans and Jews. Wild rumors flew about the Christians’ secret ceremonies. Both pagans and Jews charged them with cannibalism, infanticide, and (of course) disloyalty to the emperor. We’ve just seen how Nero found the Christians a convenient target when someone had to be blamed for the fire in Rome. If people believed that the Christians were cannibals, it was easy to believe that they were arsonists, too.
But at the beginning of the second century, a movement of Christian teachers spoke up to set the record straight. These teachers are known as the “apologists.” Perhaps the greatest of their first generation was St. Justin, who was born about the year 100.
The apologists set out to give reasoned explanations of Christian doctrines. (An “apology” in this sense is not the admission of a fault, but a speech or writing that defends some idea.) They were not so much preachers as debaters. Amid a hostile and confused culture, they methodically explained and defended all that Christians really believed.
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From the writings of St. Peter Julian Eymard:
Episode 1 – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B., PhD. Materialism vs Gratitude is the subject addressed in our first episode. How to deal with things. “Do you really need it?” This is the question we are called to ask ourselves.
From the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:
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Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest yourself shining with light, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child Saint Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception!” O Mary Immaculate, inflame our hearts with one ray of the burning love of your pure heart Let them be consumed with love for Jesus and for you, in order that we may merit one day to enjoy your glorious eternity. O dispenser of His graces here below, take into your keeping and present to your Divine Son the petition for which we are making this novena.
Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes Day 3
Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes – Day 6
O Almighty God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary did prepare a worthy dwelling place for your Son, we humbly beseech you that as we contemplate the apparition of Our Lady in the Grotto of Lourdes, we may be blessed with health of mind and body. O most gracious Mother Mary, beloved Mother of Our Lord and Redeemer, look with favor upon us as you did that day on Bernadette and intercede with him for us that the favor we now so earnestly seek may be granted to us.
O Immaculate Mother of God, from heaven itself you came to appear to the little Bernadette in the rough Grotto of Lourdes! And as Bernadette knelt at your feet and the miraculous spring burst forth and as multitudes have knelt ever since before your shrine, O Mother of God, we kneel before you today to ask that in your mercy you plead with your Divine Son to grant the special favor we seek in this novena.
O glorious Mother of God, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly for the grace of a happy death. O Mother of our Divine Lord, as we conclude this novena for the special favor we seek at this time.