The Narrow Gate Blog

This article was originally published at ncregister.com The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is celebrated throughout the world on the Friday following the Feast of Corpus Christi.Every year, 19 days after Pentecost, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But where did that tradition originate?Devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus has its origins in the eleventh century, when pious Christians meditated on the Five Wounds of Christ. There grew up among the faithf …

This article first appeared at: stpaulcenter.com Every year in Lent the Church directs our thoughts to Jesus on the Cross. This is the sacred center of everything we believe and celebrate as Catholic Christians. Take away the Cross and you take away our salvation. Take away our salvation and everything “good” about the good news of the gospel evaporates.Most of us sense the importance of Jesus on the Cross, but how many of us really understand what was taking place? I would guess that very few c …

This article first appeared at: catholic.com The (Catholic) Eucharist appears in a striking and mystical way in the book of Revelation.On Easter morning, two disciples of Jesus are on their way from Jerusalem back to Emmaus. They might be husband and wife, but the text doesn’t say for certain. St. Luke names only one of the two: Cleopas. If they are a married couple, they might be Jesus’ aunt and uncle. (Hegesippus, a Christian writer from the second century, references “the Lord’s uncle, Clopas …