A Very Little Office of Compline: Night Prayer for Children By Bo Bonner. Tan Books. 40 pages. $14.95 Reviewed by Abigail Ulbrich “Then Vespers lights the lamps of praise / and Compline rests our pilgrim days. / Seven-a-Day I bow my chin / and once at night to conquer sin. …

Your Eucharistic Identity by Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. Ignatius Press. 168 pages. $17.95 Reviewed by Timothy O’Malley Throughout the country, a revival of adult initiation is underway. At the University of Notre Dame, for example, we have the largest number ever of students entering the Church. What happens after these …

Like many parents of young children, I prepare for Christmas in the weeks—or even months—before its arrival by keeping a list of my family’s wants and needs that can be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree. The significant time and energy invested to meet the day’s material expectations often …

Two of the most intriguing women characters in all of world literature are the eponymous protagonists of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina (1878) and Sigrid Undset’s trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter (1920, ’21, and ’22). Both novels deal with similar themes: Christian faith, wealthy families, stormy marriages, and the cultural and social …

This book review starts with a two-part quiz: In the New Testament (1) what is the earliest appearance of the words in the Consecration of the Eucharist, and (2) who said them? If your answer is (1) one of the synoptic Gospels as the earliest appearance and (2) Jesus—of course!—is …

It’s somewhat remarkable that with a storied career as a university professor and popular apologist, and having presented at countless conferences and authored more than a hundred books, Dr. Peter Kreeft, some 65 years after entering the Catholic Church, has finally published a personal spiritual autobiography. Several of Kreeft’s apologetics …

As Catholics, we do not make a hard separation between the sacred and the profane, nor do we see “secular” things as somehow inhabiting a different world from “religious” things. Yes, we can identify the conceptual difference between the secular and the religious for certain purposes, but these are two …

Have you heard of Polycarp, Justin, Tertullian, and Irenaeus? Although not exactly household names, they should be: they are among the early Church Fathers, who lived directly after the apostolic age. After the apostles, they are the first witnesses to the Christian faith. As St. Irenaeus said, they had “seen …

In the lengthy tradition of Christian theology, considerable attention has gone to understanding attributes of God that can be discerned through Scripture and natural revelation. For example, He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfect in justice, mercy, and holiness. There is also a long tradition of “apophatic” theology, also called “negative …

St. Phillip Neri said, “The best preparation for prayer is to read the lives of the saints … quietly and with recollection a little at a time. And to pause whenever you feel your heart touched with devotion.” Word on Fire’s new collection of sermons, commentaries, biographies, and other writings …