Tuesday 19th March 2024

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Sermon XXXIX: On Lent I

March 22, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Sermon XXXIX: On Lent I

By POPE ST. LEO I (AD 390-461) (Editor’s Note: This sermon was delivered during the Lenten fast by Pope Leo the Great, whose date of birth is cited as AD 400 as well as AD 390. This is a translation of a sermon from Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Second Series: volume XII, in the public domain. We have generally left the style and the spellings as they were given in the original text. (Pope Leo the Great, who reigned from 440 to 461, opposed the Pelagian, Manichaean, and Monophysite heresies and was a disciple of St. Augustine. Most famously, in 452 he turned Attila the Hun back from the gates of Rome, thus saving the city. Leo was a…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Contraception Dooms Secularism While Religion Grows

March 20, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Contraception Dooms Secularism While Religion Grows

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Is the Trump victory, with the accompanying new wave of sexual morality and respect for life, the first hint of a societal sea change born, ironically, of contraception? It turns out that religious people have more babies and thus pass on the faith while secularists are self-obsolescing. It’s “news” that seculars are dying out because they use contraception, the UK Catholic Herald featured in a recent report. Except that it isn’t news. In “Secularism faces global decline thanks to contraception, study claims,” the Herald reports on a story published in The Times of London, entitled, “Atheists Doomed by Their Faith in Contraception.” As the Herald noted: “The study said that secularists have tended to have…Continue Reading

What Is Faith?… Original Sin And Answering More Objections

March 19, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Is Faith?… Original Sin And Answering More Objections

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 29 In this article we continue providing replies to objections against the Bible narrative about the fall of our first parents. Fourth objection: If the serpent that tempted Eve was not a real serpent but an evil spirit disguised as a serpent, why did God punish the whole serpent tribe by cursing them from among all cattle and wild animals? It is not fair for the poor things! Reply: God’s sentence was not directed against a mere creeping animal but against a wicked spirit. He did not curse or punish the “serpent-tribe.” This is clear from what we read elsewhere in the Scriptures: Psalm 148, for example, calls on all creatures, living and lifeless,…Continue Reading

The Eucharist: Sacramental Sacrifice

March 18, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Eucharist: Sacramental Sacrifice

By DON FIER Part 3 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as we saw last week, is a true sacrifice in the fullest sense of the word “because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], n. 1366). The perfect sacrifice of Christ on Calvary becomes present and actual each time the Holy Eucharist is offered. “No less than on Calvary, Jesus offers His life to His heavenly Father,” explains Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ. “It is the same Priest (Jesus Christ) whose human life, united to the divine, offers Himself; furthermore, it is the same Victim (Jesus Christ) whose human life, united with the divinity, is sacrificed. The only difference is that,…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 17, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: At a time when some Catholics are afraid to stand up for their faith in the face of secular disdain and ridicule, Fr. George Rutler of the Church of St. Michael in New York City put things into perspective in a bulletin column the Sunday before Ash Wednesday: “Exactly two years ago this month, twenty young Coptic Christian Egyptians were kidnapped by Islamic State militants while on a work crew in Libya. They refused to renounce Christ and chanted in chorus, ‘Ya Rabbi Yassou!’ — ‘Oh my Lord Jesus!’ A black youth from Chad, Mathew Ayairga, not a Christian, was watching and, when asked by the captors, ‘Do you reject Christ?’ he replied, ‘Their God is my God.’…Continue Reading

Remain In The Light

March 16, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Remain In The Light

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fourth Sunday Of Lent (YR A) Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7 10-13 Eph. 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 In the second reading today, St. Paul says something very interesting. He says that we were once darkness, but we have now become light in the Lord. He goes on to say that we are to live as children of the light. Notice, however, in the first sentence, that he does not say that we were in darkness and we are now in the light; no, he says were darkness and have become light. I find this fascinating because it harks back to the beginning of creation when God separated the light from the darkness. People often wonder about this…Continue Reading

Ireland’s Archbishop Eamon Martin . . . “We Are Concerned About The Border And Return To Conflict”

March 15, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Ireland’s Archbishop Eamon Martin . . . “We Are Concerned About The Border And Return To Conflict”

By FEDERICO CENCI ROME (ZENIT) — The Most Rev. Eamon Martin, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, was recently received by Pope Francis for his ad limina visit. Archbishop Martin and the other bishops of Ireland spoke with the Pope about the many challenges their island nation faces today. In this interview with ZENIT, dated March 6, Archbishop Martin spoke in defense of the Eighth Amendment of Article 40 of Ireland’s Constitution, which sanctions the right to life of the unborn child. ZENIT published the text of this interview. All rights reserved. + + + “We are really worried,” said Archbishop Martin. Almost 20 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which sanctioned the end of the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… The “In Crowd” Is Out In The Cold

March 13, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… The “In Crowd” Is Out In The Cold

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK We had friends we envied when I was young. They always bought the latest things. A visit to their house was a real treat. You name it: air hockey, Pac-Man, they had it all. We thought we were deprived until we returned home and to playing with just our siblings again. And the lure dissipated until we got a fresh dose on the next visit. Then along came computers. I always wondered why you couldn’t just turn your computer on and get a blank screen and just start typing. That seemed to match the prominent keyboard that came with it. That’s just me, I guess. My needs are simple. It takes an inordinate amount of…Continue Reading

What Is Faith?. . . Answering Objections To The Doctrine Of Original Sin

March 12, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Is Faith?. . . Answering Objections To The Doctrine Of Original Sin

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 28 After having discussed original sin and its consequences for mankind, it is evident that lots of people will raise objections to the Catholic teaching on this subject. Sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of bad will, the fact remains that there are objections against every other aspect of Catholic teaching. Even the Founder of the Church Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in spite of His divine way of preaching, still had objections raised against Him. And He answered them. The Christian is another Christ, or at least is called to be. As Catholics, we are called to be apologists, to defend the faith once delivered unto the saints (Jude…Continue Reading

The Eucharist: Sacramental Sacrifice

March 11, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Eucharist: Sacramental Sacrifice

By DON FIER Part 2 As we began to unpack the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on the Holy Eucharist as a sacramental sacrifice last week, we saw an immediate emphasis given to the fact that “we offer to the Father what he has himself given us” (CCC, n. 1357). The gifts of His creation, bread and wine, which miraculously become the living Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Christ, are offered back to God the Father. The Catechism proceeds, then, to examine the critical importance of understanding the Eucharist as a sacrifice by considering three underlying aspects: thanksgiving, memorial, and presence. Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, in his…Continue Reading