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Catholic Replies

December 19, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Questions And Answers About Christmas Q. Do we know the exact year in which Jesus was born? A. No, we do not. In the sixth century, a monk named Dionysius Exiguus drew up a calendar that fixed the birth of Christ in the Roman year 753, but scholars today agree that Dionysius miscalculated by a few years. So it is probable that Jesus was born four or five years before the usually accepted year one of the Christian era. Q. Why was the Incarnation necessary? Why did Jesus become man? A. The Incarnation was necessary because Adam and Eve had committed an infinite offense against God. No mere human being could make up for that offense. The people of the…Continue Reading

The Law Of The Lord

December 18, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Law Of The Lord

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Feast Of The Holy Family (YR B) Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 Col. 3:12-21 Luke 2: 22-40 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. In a particular way this refers to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. However, it also refers to all families that are striving to live according to the ways of holiness and truth. It is incumbent upon us to consider these points because they are regularly denied or rejected in our day. To live according to the truth does not mean that we can look at and admit to what is happening within a household. Rather, it means the conformity of our minds to the truth as it is revealed by God. Regarding…Continue Reading

Pope’s Message For World Day of Peace . . . “No Longer Slaves, But Brothers”

December 17, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Pope’s Message For World Day of Peace . . . “No Longer Slaves, But Brothers”

VATICAN CITY (ZENIT) — Here is the text of Pope Francis’ message for the 48th World Day of Peace, which is celebrated on January 1, 2015. For a text with footnotes, go to www.zenit.org. + + + At the beginning of this New Year, which we welcome as God’s gracious gift to all humanity, I offer heartfelt wishes of peace to every man and woman, to all the world’s peoples and nations, to heads of state and government, and to religious leaders. In doing so, I pray for an end to wars, conflicts and the great suffering caused by human agency, by epidemics past and present, and by the devastation wrought by natural disasters. I pray especially that, on the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . True Joy Awards Intense Preparation For Christmas

December 15, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . True Joy Awards Intense Preparation For Christmas

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK With the arrival of these days of late Advent, we have already journeyed through the Solemnity of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and Gaudete, or joy, Sunday. We have taken the opportunity to deepen our love and devotion for our heavenly Mother in celebrating the singular prevenient grace of God that equipped her unique preparation for divine Motherhood. We have also broken out of the violet mood of early Advent, however briefly, with its overtones of the four last things, into the rose color of Gaudete Sunday. Our faith in the risen Incarnate Christ causes us to overflow even during this season of penitence and prayerful preparation with abiding joy. Perhaps your parish marked Gaudete Sunday…Continue Reading

Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Summing Up

December 14, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Summing Up

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 8 According to Sacred Scripture itself, the Bible is not, and was never meant to be, the only source of divine Revelation and sole rule of faith. Jesus neither wrote anything Himself nor commanded anybody to write. On the contrary, He commanded the apostles to preach, viva voce. He commanded the apostles to preach to all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them, and He promised to be with them to the end of time (Matt. 28:18-20). The apostles died without having preached to all nations. To fulfill Jesus’ commandment to preach to all of them, they entrusted their mission to other apostles such as Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas:…Continue Reading

The Canon Of Scripture

December 13, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Canon Of Scripture

By DON FIER For several weeks in this series we’ve been examining how God, in His loving Providence, has made Himself known to us. We’ve discussed the twofold means by which His divine Revelation has been transmitted to mankind — Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture — and how the two together are inseparable elements of a single Deposit of Faith. Most recently, we’ve examined how Sacred Scripture is read and interpreted through the eyes of the Church, that is, through the complementary use of the literal and spiritual senses of interpretation. The question we’ll now seek to answer is how the specific content to be included in the Bible was determined. In other words, how did the Canon of Scripture…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

December 12, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. I am enthralled by the story of St. Giuseppe Moscati, the first modern doctor to be declared a saint. Could you tell me more about him? — M.G.L., Arizona. A. Giuseppe Moscati was born in 1880, the seventh of nine children, to aristocratic Italian parents who settled in Naples, where his father was a renowned magistrate and a pious Catholic. His decision to study medicine instead of law was prompted by years of caring for his brother Alberto, who had sustained incurable head trauma after falling from a horse. Despite the agnostic and immoral atmosphere at the University of Naples, Giuseppe studied hard while continuing to practice his faith, and graduated from medical school with honors in 1903. He…Continue Reading

The Obedience Of Faith

December 11, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Obedience Of Faith

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER The Fourth Sunday Of Advent (YR B) Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 In the second reading today St. Paul gives glory to God, but the way he does it is quite interesting. The glory is given to Him who can strengthen you according to the Gospel, the proclamation of Jesus, the mystery kept secret for long ages and now manifested in order to bring about the obedience of faith. We know from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians that the mystery is that the Gentiles are now coheirs with the Jews and members of the same body. Now we have greater understanding of why he is glorifying God. Not only…Continue Reading

Text Of Joint Declaration Signed By Pope And Ecumenical Patriarch . . . “That The World May Believe”

December 10, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Text Of Joint Declaration Signed By Pope And Ecumenical Patriarch . . . “That The World May Believe”

VATICAN CITY (ZENIT) — Below is the Vatican-provided text of the joint declaration signed November 30 by Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul. In that declaration, the Pope and Patriarch declared: “We express our sincere and firm resolution, in obedience to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, to intensify our efforts to promote the full unity of all Christians, and above all between Catholics and Orthodox.” They also called for peace in the Middle East and proclaimed: “We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians.” All rights reserved. + + + Common Declaration We, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, express our profound gratitude to God for the gift of this new encounter enabling…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes . . . St. Juan Diego

December 9, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Heroes . . . St. Juan Diego

By CAROLE BRESLIN When a saint is formally canonized, it is not unusual for the reigning Pontiff to travel to the saint’s native land for his or her canonization. In 1984 Pope John Paul II visited Seoul, Korea, to canonize the 103 Korean martyrs. He visited Krakow, Poland, when he canonized Jadwiga of Poland on June 8, 1997. In 2002, he traveled to Mexico City on July 31 to canonize St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin upon whose tilma is the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The appearance of our Lady in the very center of the Western Hemisphere converted millions of natives to Catholicism. In 1492, before the arrival of Columbus, there were no Catholics. Twenty-five years later the Protestant…Continue Reading