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The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… More On The Sacrifices Of The Old Law

April 8, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 23 Even though the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the Old Law of Moses are not relevant to Christians, because the New Covenant was established on the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, it is important for those who want to know more about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to become acquainted with the ceremonies that prefigured it, in the Old Testament. Then we realize that the Catholic rituals are not fanciful rites invented by some medieval Pope or early Christian writer, but reflect and develop the Mind of God Our Lord as expressed in the books of the Old Testament. Anyone who wants to delve more deeply into those beautiful…Continue Reading

The Dignity Of The Human Person

April 7, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By DON FIER Last week marked a transition point in our consideration of the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). After having dedicated approximately five years and precisely 267 columns of the “Learn the Faith” section of The Wanderer to the Faith professed as articulated in the Creed and the Faith celebrated in the Church’s sacraments and liturgy, our focus turned to the faith lived, that is, to the Christian moral life. Consistent with a foundational principle of the Second Vatican Council — the universal call to holiness, particularly as underscored in paragraphs 39-42 of Lumen Gentium — Part Three of the Catechism provides for us a roadmap of how Christians are to live their lives so…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

April 6, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

Q. On the feast of St. Joseph, the meditation in Magnificat was by Pope Francis. He said that “Joseph and Mary were dwelling in Nazareth; they were not yet living together because they were not yet married.” I thought that Mary and Joseph were married when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. Isn’t that what “betrothed” means? — R.D., Missouri. A. That they were married was affirmed by Pope St. John Paul II in his 1989 apostolic exhortation Guardian of the Redeemer (n. 18): “After all,” said the late Holy Father, “the ‘just’ man of Nazareth possesses the clear characteristics of a husband. Luke refers to Mary as ‘a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph’ (Luke 1:27).…Continue Reading

Pope John Paul II: Canonization Mass For Sr. Faustina… Divine Mercy Sunday And The Two Rays From Jesus’ Heart

April 4, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

(Editor’s Note: Pope John Paul II gave the homily below for the canonization of Sr. Mary Faustina Kowalska, Sunday, April 30, 2000, in St. Peter’s Square. St. Faustina is the saint of divine mercy, who recorded these words that Jesus spoke to her: “Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy.” (Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated this year on April 8. (This text is found on vatican.va. All rights reserved.) + + + “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). So the Church sings on the Octave of Easter, as if receiving from Christ’s lips these words of…Continue Reading

Unity Of Mind And Heart With Jesus

April 3, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Divine Mercy Sunday (YR B) Readings: Acts: 4:32-35 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31 In the Gospel reading today we hear about two different aspects of Divine Mercy. First, we hear our Lord granting the apostles the authority to forgive sins. This is truly the essence of Divine Mercy. We often think of mercy as letting someone off the hook because we see movies where an outlaw is begging for mercy when justice is about to be levied against him. While this may invoke a merciful disposition on the part of the person imposing the act of justice, mercy is not the opposite of justice nor is it a failure to impose justice when the law has…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Teenage Led “Gun-Grab” A Lesson For The Church

April 2, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “Christ is risen, Alleluia!” “He is truly risen, Alleluia!” A truly joyful and holy Easter to you and yours on behalf of all of us at The Wanderer. In the Easter season, we reaffirm the contact with the risen Lord that comes to us through our Church in both the sacraments and the word. Only the whole Christ saves us, and thus we must never separate any one element of truth in Him from the other. There is no grace of sacrament without acceptance also of Scripture and the Magisterium. The voices and faces of the March for Our Lives movement created a parable for our experience in the Church. The young people advocating the…Continue Reading

The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… Prefigured In The Sacrifices Of The Old Law

April 1, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 22 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most outstanding reality of God’s Presence among us this side of the Pearly Gates of eternity. We must endeavor to know everything we can about it, so as to benefit from its graces to the best of our ability, with God’s help. But before we begin this study on the Sacrifice of the Mass, it is important to investigate the Jewish sacrifices. This is so because, just like them, the Mass is a true sacrifice under the form of a sacred rite: It is an outward means of worship appointed by God for frequent and public use. The Sacrifice of Calvary, as offered by Christ…Continue Reading

Life In Christ And In The Spirit

March 31, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By DON FIER Having completed our journey through the first two major parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) — The Profession of Faith” (which considered each of the 12 articles of faith that make up the Creed) and “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery” (which examined the Church’s liturgical and sacramental life) — we will now reflect on the teachings presented in Part Three. Entitled “Life in Christ” and textually comprising about 27 percent of the Catechism, this section is principally concerned with Christian morality. Central to its content is a detailed treatment of the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue. In its essence, this portion of the Catechism provides instruction on how Christians are called to live…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 30, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

Editor’s Note: In a recent reply about why Jesus would give “strict orders” not to reveal that He had brought the daughter of Jairus back to life, we said that Jesus was hoping to keep His Messiahship hidden until He was ready to make it known. J.G.B. of Alabama said that “your answer is good,” but that he would add the following comments: “Jesus had in mind . . . that His identity should not be that of someone self-aggrandizing and seeking followers for worldly reasons, namely, that He is a miracle worker and that His mission is one of a temporal sort of salvation. To publicize that Jesus is a miracle worker is to understate the core of His…Continue Reading

Easter Vigil Homily 2006…. Pope Benedict XVI: What Does Christ’s Resurrection Mean For Us?

March 28, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

(Editor’s Note: Pope Benedict XVI gave this homily on Holy Saturday, April 15, 2006, his first Easter as Pope. (The now Pope Emeritus spoke about the Resurrection as “an explosion of light, an explosion of light” that ushers in a new dimension of being. This event comes to us, said Benedict, through faith and Baptism. “For this reason Baptism is part of the Easter Vigil, as we see clearly in our celebration today, when the sacraments of Christian initiation will be conferred on a group of adults from various countries.” (The text of this homily is found at vatican.va. All rights reserved.) + + + “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here”…Continue Reading

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