Saint Cardinal John Henry Newman

Newman wishes to show how faith and reason work closely together. As St. Augustine had said centuries earlier faith seeks understanding.

Newman's love of Nature, his love of friends, his love of the Catholic Church were all because he loved God, for whom they were intimations.

Implicit faith, or trust in God and the Church, forms the foundation, while explicit reasoning enriches and defends belief.

Everywhere in our culture we are urged to be ourselves, to buck the system, to express our unique individuality, to break the glass ceiling, to stand up and stand out and stand apart. In obeying God, we will certainly do some of these things, and people around us may be offended. But there is no virtue in individual expression or in offending others, only in obedience to God.

Newman teaches that God who is faithful does not tempt men. We are moral agents responsible for our actions. We should not try to rid ourselves of responsibility, transferring our guilt for wrong acts to other agents.

With our Lord so close to us, residing in our souls, how can we be anything but joyful?

Newman writes, “the world overcomes us, not merely by appealing to our reason, or by exciting our passions, but by imposing on our imagination.”

St. John Henry Newman told boys that the rosary makes the Creed into a prayer.

In a recent conference titled "Newman, Tradition and Law" at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law various speakers discussed Newman's ideas on development of doctrine.

Newman examines the relation between reason and faith, and the usurpations or misuses of reason on the one hard and Church authority on the other.

Faith then is not the reasoning of a weak mind rather it is the reasoning of a divinely enlightened mind.

Today we celebrate the fifth anniversary of John Henry Newman's canonization which took place on October 13, 2019.

"Arguably no theologian has had a greater impact on the Catholic Church in the past 150 years than St. John Henry Newman."

Christian writer C.S. Lewis likened the process of sanctification to God building a house: “The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Newman’s beautiful poem, The Dream of Gerontius, is completed by the magnificent choral composition of Edward Elgar.

This vision of purgatory from St. John Henry Newman is one of the most beautiful insights in English literature, and could only have come from the mature mind of an eventual saint.

This gorgeous oratorio reaches a climax with the piercing notes of the refrain of Praise to the Holiest in the Height.

Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful; Most sure in all His ways!

The Soul (of Gerontius), we find, is comforted knowing that his Angel is clasping him. Gerontius, safely with his Angel, is ready to pass the demons and receive his judgment.

Death is not the end; it is a passage into the next part of the journey, which also must be accompanied by prayer. It’s a reminder to us that prayer is conversation with God and it continues throughout our whole life and into the next. As we think of our family and friends who have passed through the veil of death, we accompany them by praying. It’s our way of life, our first instinct and our last breath. It’s what marks us as Christians.

“The Dream of Gerontius” is St. John Henry Newman's longest poem which describes the dying moments of an old man (in Greek Geron), his coming before God's judgment, and his descent to purgatory.

St. John Henry Newman said that a great author "is one who has something to say and knows how to say it."

There is a clear picture that emerges from these glimpses into life at The Oratory School: Education was in service of man, not the other way around. Play found its proper place, not only as a balance to rigorous academic study, but as an important part of human development.

O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and Thou beatest for us still.

What is the doctrine of the Trinity? The Athanasian Creed, in common use around the sixth century, formulates it this way: "We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal."

The true light of Christ’s divinity was made visible to the Apostles at the Transfiguration.

We call His presence in this Holy Sacrament a spiritual presence, not as if ‘spiritual’ were but a name or mode of speech.

The sacrifice of the altar as a re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary is a “bloodless rite,” but nevertheless, like that sacrifice, it too is a “fire of Love,” and a “Fount of Light.”

With this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have the indwelling of Christ in our souls. Christ is born in us. The Holy Spirit makes us children of God, crying out Abba Father, and restores in us the likeness of Christ.

Preaching the truth means Jesus Christ is the goal in our conflicts with others - not winning the argument. This is why we can approach everyone with understanding, respect and patience, in other words, in a Christ-like way.

Though the invitation is open to all, not everyone responds to it in faith. Those who accept the call, embrace Christ, and live according to His teachings; they are the chosen ones.

John Henry Newman calls the Holy Mass the Gospel Feast and takes us through numerous biblical passages that prefigure this great Sacrament.

Newman wrote, “I have been accustomed to consider the action of the creator on and in the created universe, as parallel in a certain sense to that of the soul upon the body.”

Newman wrote, “I have been accustomed to consider the action of the creator on and in the created universe, as parallel in a certain sense to that of the soul upon the body.”

For a Christian, death is no longer defeat nor something to fear, rather it is the sign of Christ’s victory.

For a Christian, death is no longer defeat nor something to fear, rather it is the sign of Christ’s victory.

Today, on Good Friday, we remember our Lord’s crucifixion, not as though it was a wrinkle in His otherwise peaceful earthly life, but rather as the focus and the pattern of His life.

In Fasting a Source of Trial, Newman reminds that we must not forget its main purpose: to unite ourselves with Christ.

St. John Henry Newman’s sermon “The Mental Sufferings of Our Lord in his Passion” is a moving description of the spiritual sufferings of Christ during his passion. This meditation can help us to enter into Our Lord’s feelings in the face of sin and evil.

We need to remember our mortality, so that we may be ready to meet Our Lord each and every day. Lent and lenten mortifications have a role in this preparation. We must die to self daily, so that we may be brought to the glory of His resurrection.

For forty days we are in ‘spiritual circuit training’, with the goal of joining St Peter on his morning run to Christ’s tomb.

But our Lord is clear: He said “to all” that “if any” man, and in doing so both offers Himself to every man and leaves no room for half-hearted disciples.

In this ingenious poem, “Candlemas,” Saint John Henry Newman weaves together the entire liturgical year using the theme of light as the thread

Newman approached his teaching from an obviously Christian anthropology. He saw every young person from the start as a being in the image of God.

Do we treat time, which is always slipping through our hands, as the precious resource it is?

Dominic abundantly shared with John Henry the gifts inspired by the Saints he admired, who are recorded in his spiritual journal.

The first lines refer to Joseph being a Symbol, or typos, of Christ, the “Eternal Son.”

Let us join with all Christians in this Advent season, acknowledging the presence of Christ in the soul and wherever believers gather to pray.

Newman stresses that “The idea of a Christian, as set forth in Scripture, is something very definite.”

Aim at ‘seeing the King in His beauty’. All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.