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The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… The Blessings Of The Mass

May 13, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… The Blessings Of The Mass

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 28 “What’s in it for me?” We sometimes hear this from lukewarm Catholics who have unfortunately lost the sense of the sacred and the purposes of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They expect to go to Mass to be entertained, to listen to music and funny comments from the priest, and hear some drops of religious ideas they may benefit from. They feel they have done their duty if they clap their hands in the end. They forget that we go to Mass to worship God, not ourselves. We do not celebrate our faith in church; we renew the Holy Sacrifices of the last Supper and Calvary, in a mystical and mysterious way.…Continue Reading

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness

May 12, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness

By DON FIER The meek, as referred to by our Lord in the third Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5), possess two qualities: meekness and gentleness. For as we saw last week, the Latin word mites from which meek is translated does not have an exact equivalent term in the English language. As portrayed in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, those who possess this attribute correspond to those “who appear powerless and insignificant in the eyes of the world. Far from being weak, however, the meek possess an inner strength to restrain anger and discouragement in the midst of adversity” (p. 14). The second attribute of the meek, gentleness, is described…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 11, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. What are we supposed to believe about the story of Jonah and his three days in the belly of a whale? Is it a parable or is it something that actually happened? — M.C., Wisconsin. A. Catholics are free to view this incident from the Old Testament as a parable, i.e., a story told to make a religious point, or one can believe that it actually happened. Surely, the same God who raised Lazarus after four days in the grave could also have raised Jonah after three days in the belly of a sea creature. In either case, Jesus thought the story of Jonah important enough to recall as a foreshadowing of His death and Resurrection when the Pharisees…Continue Reading

Some Elements… Participation In The Sacred Liturgy

May 9, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Some Elements… Participation In The Sacred Liturgy

By FRANCIS CARDINAL ARINZE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze offered these reflections in St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Diocese of Phoenix, AZ, on April 20, 2018.) + + + The Second Vatican Council desires that the participation of the faithful in liturgical celebrations be full, conscious, and active. Let us look into what is meant by such participation. How does it show itself in liturgical gestures, singing, and the observance of silence? In particular, what place is to be given to the reception of the sacraments, especially Penance and the Holy Eucharist? And what of the veneration of the Holy Eucharist outside Mass? We shall conclude with a brief reflection on the encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae, and liturgical participation as we…Continue Reading

God Is Love

May 8, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on God Is Love

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Seventh Sunday Of Easter (YR B) Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 1 John 4:11-16 John 17:11b-19 Twice in the readings today we hear the statement that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. In the first reading, St. Peter tells us that what the Holy Spirit had spoken through the mouth of David concerning Judas had to be fulfilled. Similarly in the Gospel, our Lord says that none of the apostles was lost “except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” The fact that both refer to the betrayal of Judas is secondary. What is important is the statement that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. Each one of us has to…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Faith Must Underlie Marriage

May 7, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Faith Must Underlie Marriage

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Military life, it hardly need be said, can be tough. Some join because of that, some despite it. I am not simply a priest who put a uniform on, having served as an Armor Officer, and it is a privilege and a blessing to do what one loves for men and women in uniform with a shared understanding of the sacrifice. The sailors and marines to whom I brought the Lord and His sacraments signed up for tough duty, including separation from spouse and family. My voluntary celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom gave me and our other priest chaplains deeper credibility since we embraced readily what they suffered involuntarily when deployed at sea…Continue Reading

The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… The Mass Is A True Sacrifice

May 6, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… The Mass Is A True Sacrifice

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 27 We have seen in previous articles that the sacrifices of the Old Law involved and required two specific elements: the Victim and the Priest. The Mass possesses both the requisites for a sacrifice: First of all, we have the Victim, whose life is sacrificed: Jesus Christ is the Victim, the Victim who declared Himself to be a perpetual Victim, capable of being offered to the end of time as He offered His Life at the Last Supper and on the cross. He did so by His very command to the apostles to do as He did, to consecrate as He consecrated. The second element is the priest, the one who offers the Victim…Continue Reading

Blessed Are The Meek

May 5, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Blessed Are The Meek

By DON FIER In the second Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4), Christ principally advocates sorrow for sin. As we saw last week, this disposition is in direct contrast to the attitude of the world which revels in seeking pleasure and the noise of empty laughter. As encapsulated by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, in The Question and Answer Catholic Catechism (QACC), our Lord “especially praises the mourning of repentance for one’s own sins and of reparation for the sins of others; and the mourning of sorrow over the loss, by death or separation, of someone who is loved” (n. 854). The comfort Christ promises to those who mourn is not like human…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 4, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: In a recent bulletin column, Fr. George Rutler of the Church of St. Michael in New York City compared the situation in the world and the Church today with the one that existed when Pope Innocent IV convened the First Council of Lyons in 1245. Fr. Rutler said that the Holy Father at that time “opened the Council with a sermon on the five wounds of the Church. They were: (1) public heresy growing out of personal immorality, (2) the persecution of Christians by Muslims, (3) schism in the Church, (4) the invasion of Christian countries by unbelievers, and (5) attempts of civil governments to control the Church. Does this sound familiar?” He said that in Pope Innocent’s…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke’s Talk On The Limits Of Papal Power

May 2, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Cardinal Burke’s Talk On The Limits Of Papal Power

By DIANE MONTAGNA Part 2 (Editor’s Note: Raymond Cardinal Burke gave the address below on April 7 at a conference in Rome called “Catholic Church: Where Are You Heading?” His Eminence gave his talk in memory of Joachim Cardinal Meisner. Given the length of the talk, we are publishing it in two parts; the first part appeared in last week’s issue. Also, we eliminated the footnotes, which can be found in LifeSiteNews’ report of April 13, www.lifesitenews.com. (LifeSiteNews is the original publisher of this interview. A number of LifeSite readers had expressed a desire to read Cardinal Burke’s text in full. The cardinal kindly supplied the Italian original and has approved this English translation.) + + + To conclude this…Continue Reading