Wednesday 8th July 2020

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Fulfill The Word Of God

July 7, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Fulfill The Word Of God

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11Romans 8:18-23Matt. 13:1-23 In the first reading God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His word will not return to Him void; rather, it will do His will, achieving the end for which He sent it. This word can be understood in two ways: Jesus, the Word made flesh, or the Word of God spoken to us through the Scriptures.We know that Jesus fulfilled the purpose for which He was sent. He taught, He suffered, He died, and He rose from the dead, thus achieving the redemption of the human race and the salvation of our souls. Having fulfilled perfectly the will of His Father, He…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . For The New Evangelization . . . We Need Epiphanies Of Beauty

July 6, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . For The New Evangelization . . . We Need Epiphanies Of Beauty

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND Part 1 Pope St. John Paul II On Beauty On Easter Sunday in 1999, Pope St. John Paul II issued a reflective letter addressed specifically to artists. He referred to artists as “Images of the Creator.” He wrote that “to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God.”The late Pope explained to the artists he addressed in the same letter, “Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

July 3, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: More thoughtful insights from Fr. George Rutler of the Church of St. Michael in New York City: “Robert Gould Shaw was born into an abolitionist Unitarian family in Boston in 1837. . . . During the Civil War, he was eventually promoted to colonel and, following the Emancipation Proclamation, he led New England’s first all-black military unit, the 54th Regiment. Shaw insisted on equal pay and opposed any form of discrimination. Two of his soldiers were sons of Frederick Douglass.“In 1863, storming Fort Wagner in South Carolina, Colonel Shaw led his regiment’, which suffered heavy losses while he died from several wounds defending the nation and racial justice. Saint-Gaudens sculpted a bronze relief of Shaw and his troops,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Stop Complaining And Start TLM-ing

July 1, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Stop Complaining And Start TLM-ing

By Fr. KEVIN M. CUSICK The Church is in a deplorable state, we all agree. At least those with eyes to see. Attendance is plummeting through the floor after the devastation of COVID in what were once the largest parishes.The elderly are being told by their doctors to not return to Mass. In many parishes the retired individuals were keeping the church doors open through their financial and active support as volunteers. They peopled the daily worship in addition to Sunday Masses.Financial woes continue to plague what were our largest parishes, burdened sometimes with aging physical plants and closed school buildings. Schools are increasingly closing after the financial collapse that overwhelmed the Church in the wake of the Chinese plague…Continue Reading

The Yoke Of Jesus Is Love

June 30, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Yoke Of Jesus Is Love

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fourteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings:Zech. 9:9-10Romans 8:9, 11-13Matt. 11:25-30 In the Gospel reading our Lord invites those who labor and are burdened to come to Him for rest.Given this statement, what follows seems to make no sense. Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him because He is meek and humble of heart. If we are burdened, how is it that taking His yoke upon us will give us rest? Beyond that, what difference does it make that He is meek and humble of heart? Does it really make us feel better that His yoke is easy and His burden light?First, our Lord tells us to take His…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . Solidarity, Subsidiarity, And Economic Concerns

June 29, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . Solidarity, Subsidiarity, And Economic Concerns

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND Part 3 In one of the Missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul to the Greek city of Ephesus, recorded in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, he encountered some of the Disciples of John the Baptizer (see Acts 19:1-10). He asked them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” The Apostle Paul catechized them and laid his hands upon them, so they encountered the living presence of the Holy Spirit.That passage comes to my mind as I try to assist Catholics (and other Christians) in informing their consciences in accordance with authentic Catholic Social Teaching.…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

June 26, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: A churchgoer wrote a letter to the local newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 2,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So I think I’m wasting my time, and the preachers are wasting theirs, by giving sermons at all.” There were many letters responding to this one, but this was the best one:“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time, my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single…Continue Reading

Like a New Columbus . . . The Church Must Replant The Faith

June 24, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Like a New Columbus . . . The Church Must Replant The Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Our annual Corpus Christi procession has grown in size and grandeur in the ten years since I resurrected it. Now akin to a spiritual army in battle array, with banners flying, priest and faithful advance triumphant and victorious upon the field of engagement against an unbelieving world. This is a far cry from its dried and neglected roots after years of desuetude. Processions, and anything beyond the mere Sunday obligation to attend Mass only, had been forgotten or relegated to the increasing number of “options” that seemed to promise a new and exhilarating freedom from obligations generally after the malaise that came with the advent of the “new and improved” Church of Vatican II. The…Continue Reading

Be Confident In The Power Of Prayer

June 23, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Be Confident In The Power Of Prayer

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Thirteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: 2 Kings 4:11, 14-16a Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 Matt. 10:37-42 In the Gospel reading today our Lord tells us that “anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet, will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.” In the first reading we hear about a woman who received the Prophet Elisha, knowing him to be a holy man of God. The charity she demonstrated in offering Elisha dinner then, after some time, deciding to make a room for him so he could stay there any time he was passing by that way, was…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

June 19, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: We are in the process of reducing our supply of books and are offering them to interested readers at a substantial discount. The books available, all in mint condition, are Catholic Replies and Catholic Replies 2 (both $17.95), All Generations Will Call Me Blessed and Who Do You Say That I Am? (both $10.95), and Catholicism & Reason (Apologetics), Catholicism & Scripture (Salvation History), and Catholicism & Life (Commandments and Sacraments), each $14.95. The books can be had for 50 percent off for 1 to 25 books, 60 percent off for 26 to 50 books, and 70 percent off for over 50 books. You can learn more about each of these books by visiting www.crpublications.com. Don’t order from…Continue Reading