Thursday 25th April 2024

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Conformed To Christ Crucified

April 7, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Conformed To Christ Crucified

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fourth Sunday Of Easter (YR C) Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52 Rev. 7:9, 14b-17 John 10:27-30 Today we celebrate what is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the Gospel is always about our Lord shepherding His flock. On one hand, it is exceedingly comforting to know that Jesus is my Shepherd. This is not anything new; after all, in the Old Testament times God was the Shepherd of Israel. That is, until Israel rejected God and wanted a human king instead. Now God comes to us in human form as our Shepherd, but still we do not seem to want to follow Him very well. Our Lord tells us in the Gospel reading today that His sheep…Continue Reading

Pope Francis . . . Easter Urbi Et Orbi: A Message Of Hope

April 6, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Pope Francis . . . Easter Urbi Et Orbi: A Message Of Hope

VATICAN CITY (News.Va) — Pope Francis delivered the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday, following Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Speaking to pilgrims and tourists gathered in the Square for the occasion, Pope Francis especially remembered the suffering peoples of Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, according to a Vatican Radio report. “The Easter message of the Risen Christ,” said the Pope, “a message of life for all humanity, echoes down the ages and invites us not to forget those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of migrants and refugees — including many children — fleeing from war, hunger, poverty, and social injustice.” The Holy Father also spoke directly to all people everywhere,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Just Plain Catholic Mother Angelica: RIP

April 4, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Just Plain Catholic Mother Angelica: RIP

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK When you ask for “vanilla” ice cream, you don’t specify shades of the flavor, such as strong vanilla or weak vanilla, old vanilla or new vanilla; you just ask for vanilla. Granted there are slight variations, such as vanilla bean ice cream where you can see some of the natural evidence for the flavor in the nearly microscopic brown shavings that guarantee a natural source. All the same, everybody knows what everybody else means by the word vanilla, and that when you ask for vanilla you aren’t interested in strawberry or chocolate unless you require all three flavors simultaneously in what is called Neapolitan ice cream. Although I lived in Naples for two years I…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course . . . Digging Deeper Into The Teaching On Infallibility

April 3, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course . . . Digging Deeper Into The Teaching On Infallibility

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 48 Delving into the magnificent teaching of papal infallibility is very enlightening. In so doing, we raise the veil of Jesus’ magnificent way of guiding His Church amidst the tempests of times and places. Let us raise the veil and see. This is the full text of the dogma, as defined by Vatican I: “It is a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra — i.e., when exercising his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians, he defines, by his supreme authority, a doctrine concerning faith or morals which must be held by the universal Church — he enjoys, through divine assistance, that infallibility promised to him in Blessed…Continue Reading

The Celebration Of The Christian Mystery

April 2, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Celebration Of The Christian Mystery

By DON FIER Having concluded our examination of Part One of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), in which we received in-depth instruction on what we as Catholic Christians profess to believe through faith, we now begin our journey through Part Two: “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery.” Similar in structure to the other three parts of the Catechism, it begins with a general section devoted to the sacramental economy, or “the communication (or ‘dispensation’) of the fruits of Christ’s Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church’s ‘sacramental’ liturgy” (CCC, n. 1076). This is followed by a second section which covers the celebration of each of the seven sacraments of the Church as well as the sacramentals. As…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

April 1, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. Why does the priest anoint the hands of a person when administering the Anointing of the Sick? — A.L., Massachusetts. A. In the old days, when the sacrament was known as Extreme Unction, the priest anointed all the bodily senses because it is through these senses that we commit sins. How many sins are due to a misuse of the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the hands, and the feet? During the anointing, the priest prayed that God would forgive any sins due to each sense. When the rite was revised in 1972, and the name changed to the Anointing of the Sick, indicating that it should be conferred not just on the dying but also on any baptized…Continue Reading

Jesus Is Truth And Love

March 31, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Jesus Is Truth And Love

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Third Sunday Of Easter (YR C) Readings: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41 Rev. 5:11-14 John 21:1-19 Human nature is a very fickle thing. Even those who do not think themselves to be politically correct will often find themselves changing their tune depending upon the circumstances or the people present. We find that in the first reading today when the high priest says to the apostles you “want to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Recall from the readings during Holy Week that they were the very ones saying “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” The story changes for the convenience of the speaker. While we are probably all guilty of this sort of behavior at…Continue Reading

Pope Francis’ Homily At Chrism Mass . . . “Let Us Ask Him To Cleanse Us Of All Sin”

March 30, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Pope Francis’ Homily At Chrism Mass . . . “Let Us Ask Him To Cleanse Us Of All Sin”

(Editor’s Note: Below is the Vatican-provided English translation of the Pope’s homily given at the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica the morning of March 24, Holy Thursday. The original text was in Italian. ZENIT News Agency made this text available; all rights reserved.) + + + After hearing Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah and say: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21), the congregation in the synagogue of Nazareth might well have burst into applause. They might have then wept for joy, as did the people when Nehemiah and Ezra the priest read from the book of the Law found while they were rebuilding the walls. But the Gospels tell us that Jesus’ townspeople…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . “You Seek Jesus Of Nazareth”

March 28, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . “You Seek Jesus Of Nazareth”

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “. . . The crucified. He has been raised; He is not here.” In the night-watch of vigil, enveloped in the darkness of death and confusion, a single gleam which pierced the gloom has spread to become a profuse glow, a fire great enough to embrace every soul all over the world. The Source of this light invites all to a new way of being that begins in the darkness of sin. The light leads us forward, away from the darkness of the tomb of yesterday with its broken hopes and shattered dreams. It is a Person who bears this new light which we proclaim, who has gone forth, in the words we have heard,…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course . . . How Does The Gift Of Infallibility Work?

March 27, 2016 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course . . . How Does The Gift Of Infallibility Work?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 47 The first fundamental thing to understand about papal infallibility is this: The Pope is not, has never been, and will never be infallible in everything he says or does or thinks or writes or whatever. Above all, infallibility has absolutely nothing to do with impeccability — Jesus and Mary were the only people who did not sin, never, not even once. No. They were impeccable, which, literally speaking, means sinless. Now, this is demonstrably not the case with the Popes. The Church has had good Popes and bad Popes; saintly Popes and sinful Popes; intelligent Popes and mediocre Popes. Infallibility does not mean that on a Sunday morning the Pope wakes up in…Continue Reading