• The Crucifix Prayer

    Blessed are you, Lord God,
    Father all-holy,
    for your boundless love
    The tree, once the source of shame
    and death for humankind,
    has become the cross
    of our redemption and life.

    When his hour had come to
    return to you in glory,
    the Lord Jesus,
    Our King, our Priest, and our Teacher,
    freely mounted the scaffold of the cross
    and made it his royal throne,
    his altar of sacrifice, his pulpit of truth.

    On the cross,
    lifted above the earth,
    he triumphed over our age-old enemy.
    Cloaked in his own blood,
    he drew all things to himself.

    On the cross,
    he opened out his arms
    and offered you his life;
    the sacrifice of the New Law
    that gives to the sacraments
    their saving power.

    On the cross,
    he proved what he had prophesied:
    the grain of wheat must die
    to bring forth an abundant harvest.

    Father,
    we honour this cross as the sign
    of our redemption.
    May we reap the harvest of salvation
    planted in pain by Christ Jesus.
    May our sins be nailed to his cross,
    the power of life released,
    pride conquered,
    and weakness turned to strength.

    May the cross be our comfort in trouble,
    our refuge in the face of danger,
    our safeguard on life’s journey
    until you welcome us to
    our heavenly home.

    Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  • The Prayer of St. Ephrem

    {Making a prostration}

    O LORD, Master of my life,
    grant that I may not be infected with the
    spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness,
    with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

    {Making a prostration}

    Grant instead to me, your servant,
    the spirit of purity and of humility,
    the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

    {Making a third prostration}

    O Lord and King,
    grant me the grace of being aware of my sins
    and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren.
    For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.

    Amen.

    Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings,
    You have power over life and death.
    You know what is secret and hidden,
    and neither our thoughts nor our feelings
    are concealed from You.
    Cure me of duplicity;
    I have done evil before You.
    Now my life declines from day to day
    and my sins increase.
    O Lord, God of souls and bodies,
    You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh.
    Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
    and sustain me in my misery.
    Give me a grateful soul that I may
    never cease to recall Your benefits,
    O Lord most bountiful.
    Be not mindful of my many sins,
    but forgive me all my misdeeds.
    O Lord, disdain not my prayer –
    the prayer of a wretched sinner;
    sustain me with Your grace until the end,
    that it may protect me as in the past.
    It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom;
    blessed are they who follow her ways,
    for they shall receive the crown of glory.
    In spite of my unworthiness,
    I praise You and I glorify You,
    O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit.
    You have been my help and my protection.
    May the name of Your majesty be praised forever.
    To you, our God, be glory.
    Amen.

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  • PWJ: S4E103 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 2)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 2 of that Finale. Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/X4zq7Uk69KmYo1v3A

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  • PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

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  • PWJ: S4E101 – Bonus – “Jack vs Tollers”

    After the previously-planned interview fell through at the last minute, David sat down to record a solo episode to talk about his newborn son, Sidecar Day, blue flowers in Narnia, and also to make his tongue-in-cheek case as to why C.S. Lewis is better than J.R.R. Tolkien.

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  • PWJ: S4E100 – AH – “After Hours” with The Gray Havens

    The Gray Havens are an American Christian folk pop husband and wife duo, David and Licia Radford, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. On October 8th they will be releasing their new album, Blue Flower, so David Radford came on the show to talk to Andrew and David about how C.S. Lewis inspired their recent work.

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  • PWJ: S4E99 – AH – “After Hours” with Mike “Gomer” Gormley

    As we approach the end of Season 4, David is joined on the show by Michael “Gomer” Gormley. Among other things, they discuss Ted Lasso, tea, and the Atonement. Also, find out what Gomer would do if he ever became the Pope!

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  • PWJ: S4E98 – AH – “After Hours” with Patti Callahan

    New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan, returns to the show to talk about her forthcoming book, “Once Upon A Wardrobe”, which will be released on October 19th.

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  • PWJ: S4E97 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

    A few months ago, John and Greta from The Tolkien Road podcast did a series of episodes on religion in Tolkien’s Legendarium. David invited him onto the show to talk about those episodes and to encourage the Pints With Jack listeners to listen to them.

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  • PWJ: S4E96 – AH – “After Hours” with Rod Bennett

    Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.

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Is England in London? (Part 2)

Whenever Americans find out that I’m from England (and not from Australia), the conversation quickly turns to the subject of London.

For example, it’s usually assumed that I was born in London (I wasn’t) and that I’ve lived in London my whole life (I haven’t). When someone is telling me about his experience of London I’m often tempted to ask him what he means by “London” because, like most things in England, things are rarely straight-forward…

The Eastern Catholic Church: An Introduction

As the new school year begins, the Confirmation programme at Our Lady of the Rosary starts again. This Sunday will therefore be my last regular Sunday worshiping at an Eastern Rite parish :-(.

However, this Sunday is going to be extra special as my Mum will be coming with me to experience the Byzantine Divine Liturgy for the first time :-). Several other friends will also be coming for the first time. So, in case they check my blog before Sunday, here’s a little introduction to the Eastern Catholic Church:

Catholic Bibles: Bigger, Better.

Earlier this week, Joe at Shameless Popery produced an excellent couple of posts (Part 1 | Part 2) in response to an hour-long presentation by Evangelical Brian Edwards. In his lecture, Pastor Edwards attempts to prove why the Protestant canon is correct and why the Bible should only contain 66 books.

I strongly recommend you go and read Joe’s rebuttal. However, if you’re too lazy, here it is expressed in “meme” form…. 🙂

closed canon meme

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Institute of Catholic Culture

Today I would like to draw your attention to one of the best online sources for Catholic education, the Institute of Catholic Culture.

The Institute was founded by Rev. Franklyn McAfee and Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo. The activities of the institute are centered on the east coast of America, not too far away from where I used to live in Washington DC. However, their work and reach is extended through the magic of the Internet. Their website hosts a huge library of lectures on theology, philosophy, history, Scripture and many other topics. In fact, the website recently underwent a redesign and it is now even possible to watch the lectures live.

Institute Of Catholic Culture

I think I first encountered the Institute through Joe Heschmeyer, Catholic blogger extraordinaire and recent Kansas City seminarian. After he once mentioned the Institute I immediately began consuming all their talks, especially those on Sacred Scripture and the Early Church Fathers. So much great stuff! Here have been some of my favourite talks:

Lives of the Apostolic Fathers
Protestant Revolution | Kingdom of the Cults
Shadows of the Virgin | St. Augustine’s Just War Theory: Then & Now

Anyone who has attended the JP2 Group within the last two years will certainly be familiar with the Institute since I have mentioned them frequently and distributed many of their talks on CD.

The topics are varied, the content is solid and the speakers are engaging. So, if you wish to gain a better understanding of the Catholic faith and experience more of its riches, I would thoroughly recommend that you check out the Institute of Catholic Culture.

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