William C. Michael

The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Catholic Church. If you desire to order your own devotional life and bring your own soul into harmony with the souls of the Pope, bishops, priests, monks, nuns and laymen throughout the world, pray the Liturgy of the Hours! Step 1. Purchase the Liturgy of the Hours There are many options for praying the Liturgy of the Hours, but only one allows you to learn how to pray the hours: that is the four volume set of prayer books. It is a significant investment, but this provides for everything … Continue

Routines can become comfortable and any suggestion of changes can be unpleasant. To me, the recitation of the traditional Rosary and its 15 mysteries is comfortable. I have recited them so many times and have enjoyed many great meditations while doing so. I love praying the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. the weekly routine is pleasant, even if I want to pray all 15 throughout the day, I can do so in an orderly way. But, in 2002, Pope John Paul introduced a fourth set of mysteries: the Luminous Mysteries. So, should we pray the Luminous Mysteries? Or, are we … Continue

The lesson below belongs to the Classical Liberal Arts Academy’s Greek Reading I course. In this course, we study the Gospel of St. John in the New Testament. Students wishing to master the lesson below are to complete translation exercises daily from Greek into English and English into Greek, until every Greek word and its English meaning are memorized. Text 21 καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν: τί οὖν; σύ Ἠλίας εἶ; καὶ λέγει: οὐκ εἰμί. ὁ προφήτης εἶ σύ; καὶ ἀπεκρίθη: οὔ. 22 εἶπαν οὖν αὐτῷ: τίς εἶ; ἵνα ἀπόκρισιν δῶμεν τοῖς πέμψασιν ἡμᾶς: τί λέγεις περὶ σεαυτοῦ; 23 ἔφη: ἐγὼ φωνὴ … Continue

When we read of the lives of wise men and saints, we find no talk of certificate or diplomas, no awards for complete studies. We read of men who “ponder the law of the Lord day and night”. This reality reveals to us the difference between artificial school studies and the pursuit of real wisdom, which is philosophy.

For most people, “study” refers to work done while enrolled in school. In modern schools, we are required to complete minimum requirements that serve the interests of secular government, but not of human life. College studies tend to be focused on the minimum requirements of degrees that are sought for professional interests and not real intellectual development or Christian perfection. The studies spoken of by wise men and saints through history have almost nothing to do with what is done in schools, and they are largely ignored in modern circles–as they always have been. In order for us to pursue … Continue

In modern consumer society, most people have no idea what substances are in their bodies at any time because they consume complex products in a way that men never did in world history. When modern men read ancient texts in natural philosophy or medicine, they can’t comprehend what they’re reading or how it could be helpful because they simply don’t think of food, drink and medicine as the ancients did. To get started with ancient Natural Philosophy and Medicine, we have a few things to learn first.

The precise date of Albert’s birth is not known. It is generally conceded that he was born into a knightly family sometime around the year 1200 in Germany. He was apparently in Italy in the year 1222 where he was present when a rather terrible earthquake struck in Lombardy. A year later he was still in Italy and studying at the University of Padua. The same year Jordan of Saxony received him into the Dominican order. He was sent to Cologne in order to complete his training for the order. He finished this training as well as a course of … Continue

To complete the objectives of this lesson, complete the following tasks: Lesson Thus far in Arithmetic, we have learned the different branches of Mathematics: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. We have learned about Unity and units. We have learned about Comparison: equalities, inequalities, majority and minority, and in the last lesson we learned the first axioms of Arithmetic and how Proofs work. If you are uncomfortable with these subjects, you should go back and review. In this lesson, we will move on to study how quantities are expressed with numbers and symbols. Our goal at this point in Arithmetic is … Continue