Ave Maria Press

Cover Image: Marie with another long-time worker/volunteer for The Fatima Center, Bernadine Dumelie (December 2010). In your charity, please pray for Marie Corpe, a long-time Fatima Center volunteer and employee (since 2001). She has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Marie worked closely with Fr. Gruner for many years, including making and answering many phone [...]

The Solemnity of the Mother of God is a Catholic feast day honoring Mary as the mother of Jesus and the mother of all believers.

The upcoming year, 2025, marks a Holy Year, a year of the Jubilee Indulgence. This is a beautiful and very special observance which every Catholic should take to heart. The roots of this observance go back to Old Testament times when by the command of God, on every 50th year, properties and even personal liberty [...]

Christmas – Feast of the Incarnation In celebrating Christmas, we celebrate the Mystery that the Son of God “for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven. And He became flesh by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man” (Nicene Creed). He was born in Bethlehem, a name which [...]

 “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart: And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.” – Deuteronomy 6:4, 6, 9 Our Heartfelt Thanks As we come to the close of the [...]

Blessing the Christian Home The Fatima Center strives to send correspondence to our supporters by mail at least once every month. This month we mailed out a Christmas greeting card and a prayer card with an abbreviated form of the Epiphany Tradition of “Chalking the Doors.” The complete rite for the Epiphany House Blessing can [...]

Christianity Is a Religion of Sacrifice That Christianity is a religion of Sacrifice is indisputable when considering the importance and constant presence of altars in all true Christian worship. Joseph de Maistre (18th-century philosopher) famously remarked, “Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.” And that is most true in the Catholic Religion, which offers [...]

With the onset of Advent, we begin a new liturgical year. The term ‘advent’ comes from the Latin ‘Adventus Domini’ – that is, “the Coming of the Lord.” It is linked to the Hebrew term “Maranatha” (see 1 Cor 16:22). Scriptural scholars have long debated if that then should be interpreted in the subjunctive or [...]

In the first part, we explained that the liturgical year consists of both a temporal and a sanctoral cycle. The Temporal Cycle includes the Feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost and their associated cycles. The dates in this cycle are somewhat flexible because they are based on the date of Easter (Christmas is a notable [...]

The New Liturgical Year begins on the First Sunday of Advent. Thus, we just began the new liturgical year on December 1, 2024. With the New Year comes another opportunity to go deeper into the Church’s Liturgy. While those who are new to Tradition often are amazed at the additional saints’ Feast days in the [...]

A Key Difference Between Sacraments and Sacramentals The Church teaches that the Sacraments work ex opere operato (Latin meaning “from the work performed”), which was defined by the Council of Trent.[1] Provided there is no obstacle placed in the way (e.g., improper matter was used, the wrong words were said, the minister did not have [...]

Year-Round Friday Abstinence Is Required (Not Just in Lent!) As Catholics, we are still bound to either abstain from meat or do some other act of penance each Friday of the entire year. Abstinence should always be what we choose to do since this underscored Christian culture for nearly 2,000 years, mandatory Friday abstinence having [...]