Cardinal Rigali's weekly message: The Word Became Flesh
This Thanksgiving: Rekindling the fire of holiness
The Church has many good reasons why people should believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ and believe in the beauty and urgency of her own mission. But she has only one irrefutable argument for the truth of what she teaches – the personal example of her saints. Over this Thanksgiving weekend, or sometime during Advent, I have a homework assignment for you. I want you to rent or buy or borrow a copy of the 1966 film about Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons. I want you to watch it with your family. Here’s why. More was one of the most distinguished scholars of his time, a brilliant lawyer, a gifted diplomat and a skilled political leader. Jonathan Swift, the great Anglo-Irish writer, once described him as the “person of the greatest virtue this kingdom (of England) ever produced.”
A Time of Continuity and Grace
As the Church of Philadelphia prepares to receive its new Archbishop, we have a wonderful opportunity to reflect on this great time of grace and continuity. This is the topic of our reflection this week. The Human Desire to be Connected to Someone and SomethingStatistics show that some of the most frequently visited Internet sites […]
The Faith of the Church: Universal, Local and Personal
Jesus commands that the universal faith of the Church is to be preached locally and lived out personally. The celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. John Neumann gives us the opportunity to reflect on this command. The Church is truly “Catholic”We have recently celebrated the liturgical Solemnity of Pentecost, which recalls […]
2011 Lenten Pastoral Letter
February 28, 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters, The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! In the life of the Church, Lent is all about facing the reality of sin in the light of the victory of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. Each one of us knows that we are called […]
Prayer
By Cardinal Justin RigaliArchbishop of Philadelphia As we begin to prepare ourselves for the observance of Lent, we reflect this week on one of its principal themes: prayer.Simple yet profound In one sense, it seems unnecessary to devote a feature as long as this article to the concept of prayer, because prayer can be seen […]
The Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church
In conjunction with the upcoming World Youth Day to take place in Madrid a special Catechism for young people is being published, with a Preface written by Pope Benedict XVI. We take this as our topic this week. What is a catechism?At times, we may tend to think that a catechism is a compendium of […]
Love: The unique distinction of the human person
By Cardinal Justin RigaliArchbishop of Philadelphia At this time of year, we see many images of human love placed before us. Let us take this great and unique characteristic of human beings as our topic this week. In the spanine image He created themIn the period of human history, in which God has willed us […]
The name of Jesus
By Cardinal Justin RigaliArchbishop of PhiladelphiaWe have just concluded the month of January, during which the Church recalls in a special way the Holy Name of Jesus. Let us take that, along with the subject of names in general, as our topic this week.The importance of a nameMany of us have experienced the power of […]
Observing 200 years: Anniversary of the birth of St. John Neumann
By Cardinal Justin RigaliArchbishop of Philadelphia As we prepare to celebrate the 200th anniversary of St. John Neumann’s birth on March 28, we take this upcoming event as our topic this week. Consolation and challengeWhen I was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia in 2003, one of my first thoughts was that I would have a canonized […]
Being spanerted to myths
By Cardinal Justin Rigali Archbishop of Philadelphia As we once again approach the anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision of the United States Supreme Court legalizing abortion, we take this as our topic this week. Foreseen, but nonetheless tragic In St. Paul’s second Letter to Timothy, he writes: “For the time will come […]