Wednesday 17th August 2022

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What Can We Truly Give To God?

December 17, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What Can We Truly Give To God?

By CAROLE BRESLIN Gifts, gifts, and more gifts — that is the essence of the secular “Holiday” season. Christmas gifts — now that is an entirely different story. All things in our lives should be considered from a Catholic perspective. What is the ultimate gift that God has given to us? What is the only gift that we can give to God? What is a gift? What is it that makes a gift worthwhile? Even when it is past the time of giving gifts for Christmas Day, it is not past the time for considering the gifts we may yet give on a continuing basis. A gift involves an “alienation or giving up of the first owner’s right, and acceptance…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Tweeting The Advent Gospel

December 15, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Tweeting The Advent Gospel

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK (Editor’s Note: When space permits, Fr. Cusick will conclude his column with a Catechism reflection to go with the Sunday readings.) +    +    + Our sound-bite society may have found an almost perfect marriage with Twitter. Getting your message out in 140 characters or less, though, is nothing new. Some of our Lord’s most effective communication anticipated the need to get the attention of others quickly and effectively when there is much competition for their hearts and minds. And Pope Francis frequently uses Twitter! Among these urgent messages is the admonition to “stay awake,” to remain alert for the coming of the Lord. The First Sunday of Advent presents us with the alarming image of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

December 14, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Regarding a question about the suffering of animals, D.O. of West Virginia sent along the following comments: “Years ago I read a book by Lewis Thomas, MD, in which he commented about injured animals who commonly go into seclusion and calmly die. He suggested that studies be done to determine whether they are naturally able to produce sufficient endorphins to eliminate pain. I asked a local veterinarian about his experience with suffering animals, and he said it was a very strange thing because felines brought to him with the most severe injuries often do not indicate evidence of pain, but frequently are purring, which they normally do only when happy and contented. He said the only exception seems to…Continue Reading

Is Mary The Mother Of God… Or Only The Mother Of Jesus?

December 13, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Is Mary The Mother Of God… Or Only The Mother Of Jesus?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 3 Responding to a common misconception among separated brethren and ill-informed Catholics: What did the Early Christians believe about the Catholic doctrine on the divine Motherhood? Those men, women, and children who sacrificed everything for the true faith in Jesus — even their very own lives? They were imprisoned, tortured, murdered. Some were burned alive, racked, beheaded. Others were crucified, flayed alive, and eaten by wild beasts. And they preferred to die rather than to deny Jesus Christ and their belonging to His Church. Let us see three examples, taken exclusively from those heroes who lived before the Bible was put together as we know it in AD 397: St. Ephrem, who died in…Continue Reading

Interpretation Of Sacred Scripture And Tradition

December 12, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Interpretation Of Sacred Scripture And Tradition

By DON FIER Last week, we spoke of the two means by which God, in His infinite wisdom, has chosen to make known to mankind the saving message contained in His supernatural divine Revelation, namely, through Sacred Scripture (the written word) and Sacred Tradition (the spoken word). Taken together, they comprise the depositum fidei, or the Catholic “Deposit of Faith.” As expressed in the Compendium of the Catechism: “Tradition and Sacred Scripture are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ. They flow out of the same divine wellspring and together make up one sacred Deposit of Faith from which the Church derives her certainty…Continue Reading

Why Jesus Was Born

December 11, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Why Jesus Was Born

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fourth Sunday of Advent (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 7:10-14 Romans 1:1-7 Matt. 1:18-24 In the second reading today St. Paul speaks of Jesus as being descended from David according to the flesh. While professing Him also to be God, a point proven by the Resurrection, St. Paul wants to put his focus on the promises God had made to the people of Israel. There are a number of those promises which establish the human lineage of the Messiah. The first promise is in the Book of Genesis immediately after our first parents had sinned. So this demonstrates merely that the Messiah will be of the human race as the offspring of Adam and Eve. Then there…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Pope Francis Is Not Polite

December 8, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Pope Francis Is Not Polite

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK (Editor’s Note: When space permits, Fr. Cusick will conclude his column with a Catechism reflection to go with the Sunday readings.) +    +    + You’re shocked, I know. “What do you mean, Pope Francis is not polite?” you ask. You either agree with me, which may mean you are wrong, or you disagree with me, which may mean you are right. What do I mean by saying, “Pope Francis is not polite”? Pope Francis does not act or speak with regard to social conventions or human respect, but instead puts in first place his unique role of teaching and speaking for God as a prophet for the world. Pope Francis is not “polite” because the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

December 7, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: A friend asked us for some thoughts on the campaign to remove Christ from Christmas by doing such things as changing the local school calendar to read “Winter Recess” instead of “Christmas Recess.” Perhaps the following comments might be helpful to those of our readers who are faced with a similar situation. It is hard to believe that a country founded on Christian principles, that refers to God five times in the Declaration of Independence, would in recent years have succumbed to a campaign by a few individuals to remove the Founder of Christianity from the public square. It is hard to believe that fellow Americans would object to celebrating the birth of Christ on public property, or…Continue Reading

Is Mary The Mother Of God . . . Or Only The Mother Of Jesus?

December 6, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Is Mary The Mother Of God . . . Or Only The Mother Of Jesus?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 2 Responding to a common misconception among separated brethren and ill-informed Catholics: On the day of the Annunciation and the Incarnation, the Archangel St. Gabriel, “who stands in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19), inspired by the Holy Spirit, said to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. . . . The Holy One who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” — Luke 1:30, 35). Interesting: the…Continue Reading

Sacred Scripture And Sacred Tradition

December 5, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Sacred Scripture And Sacred Tradition

By DON FIER Over the past three weeks, our primary focus has been on God’s supernatural divine Revelation. We’ve examined how “by love God has revealed Himself and given Himself to man [and]…thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 66). We’ve seen that in the fullness of time God established an everlasting covenant with mankind by sending His Son as the “Father’s definitive Word, so there will be no further Revelation after Him” (CCC, n. 73). The stage is now set for us to look at God’s master plan for transmitting His Revelation to mankind throughout the ages. In other words, how…Continue Reading