Harpa Dei

Today, November 4, we commemorate St. Charles Borromeo, a great bishop and church reformer. The liturgy rightly praises God for this servant’s witness. However, I think it is important to make known certain saints who have fallen into oblivion, so that we may rejoice in them and give thanks to the Lord for their lives. […]

While reviewing the saints celebrated on November 3rd in the Calendar of Saints, I was particularly moved by the story of Saint Ida of Toggenburg, a thirteenth-century hermit. Her pious father, Count Hartmann, married her to Count Henry of Toggenburg when she was 17. She moved with her husband to Switzerland. This nobleman, owner of

2 Macc 12:43-45 Judas Maccabee took a collection from them individually, amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection. For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have

Rev 7:2-4,9-14 Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have

Blessed Elizabeth of Hungary—who, although related, should not be confused with Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia—was the daughter of King Andrew III. Orphaned at an early age, she suffered under the harsh yoke of a stepmother who rejected her: Queen Agnes of Habsburg. She was destined to marry Prince

Today we will talk about a lesser-known blessed in the Catholic Church: Blessed Stefana. She was born in the 17th century into a noble Calvinist family in Gex, France. At that time, there were great tensions between Catholics and various Protestant denominations. Stefana was said to be a cheerful and friendly girl, but she was

Lk 13:22-30 Jesus went teaching through towns and villages, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, Try your hardest to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed. Once the master

NOTE: Today we will listen to the Gospel of the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude according to the traditional lectionary. Jn 15: 17-25 At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “This I command you, to love one another. If the world hates you, you must realise that it hated me before it

Rom 8:12-17 ‘So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life. All who are guided by the

NOTE: We will return to the readings of the day on days when we do not meditate on the life of a saint. Lk 18:9-14 He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being upright and despised everyone else, ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee,