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On Temptation

March 16, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on On Temptation

VATICAN CITY (ZENIT) — Here is the Holy Father’s address before and after the recitation of the angelus to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on March 9. Dear brothers and sisters, hello! The Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent presents us every year with an episode about the temptations of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and, after the baptism in the Jordan, drove him to confront Satan openly in the desert for 40 days before beginning His public mission. The tempter tries to lead Jesus away from the Father’s plan, that is, from the path of sacrifice, of the love that offers itself in expiation. He wants to lead Jesus down an easy road,…Continue Reading

Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Luther, The Enemy Of The Bible?

March 15, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Luther, The Enemy Of The Bible?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 6 I suppose that everyone knows that the Pentateuch is the five first books of the Old Testament, traditionally attributed to Moses as their author. What did Luther have to say about them? — “We have no wish either to see or hear Moses.” Only Moses? Oh, no. Here are his opinions on other books: “The book of Esther I toss into the Elbe. I am such an enemy of this book of Esther that I wish it did not exist, for it Judaizes too much and has in it a great deal of heathenish naughtiness.” “The history of Jonah is so monstrous that it is absolutely incredible.” “Esdras I would not translate, because…Continue Reading

The Creeds

March 14, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Creeds

By DON FIER In last week’s column, we laid the groundwork to begin an in-depth exposition of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that we, as Catholic Christians, are called to believe: the one, true faith we profess in the Creeds of the Church. For it is in the formulas of the Creeds that, “through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples, and nations, the Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father” (CCC, n. 172). Why is this so absolutely essential? Precisely, it is because “communion in faith needs a common language of faith,…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 13, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. In Matt. 10:38, we read Jesus’ words, “and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” This is repeated in Mark 8:34 and Luke 9:23. The only reference to a cross that I could find in the Old Testament is in Gen. 40:19, where Joseph is interpreting a dream of the Pharaoh’s baker that within three days the Pharaoh will have the baker hanging on a tree and the birds will tear his flesh. Without any other particular history of the “cross” that the apostles and others at the time would have been familiar with, what would have been their understanding of taking up one’s cross? — L.E., via e-mail. A.…Continue Reading

Do Not Doubt God’s Presence

March 12, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Do Not Doubt God’s Presence

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Third Sunday Of Lent (YR A) Readings: Exodus 17:3-7 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42 In the first reading today we hear about the events that took place at Meribah in the desert where the people of Israel tested God and grumbled against Him because they did not have water to drink. Any of us could understand that if we were in the desert and we were out of water, we might be tempted to grumble against the Lord as well. Sadly, for so many people today it does not require being out in the desert and suffering from thirst before we complain against God. We complain about the smallest and most ridiculous things. We, too, seem…Continue Reading

The Time Of Lent . . . A Path To Holiness

March 11, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Time Of Lent . . . A Path To Holiness

By MOST REV. DAVID M. O’CONNELL, CM (Editor’s Note: Bishop David M. O’Connell heads the Diocese of Trenton, N.J. This message to his flock on how to make a good Lent is reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved.) +    +    + When I was a boy growing up in a Catholic family, Lent was a big deal. Ash Wednesday was the beginning of a special time of the year unlike any other. My Mom, like her German mother before her, would make doughnuts on the Tuesday before — “Faschnaut Day” — clearing out kitchen cabinets and the icebox to make way for the forty days of sacrifice and penance that stretched out ahead of us. Those doughnuts were great…Continue Reading

On The Season Of Lent

March 9, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on On The Season Of Lent

VATICAN CITY (ZENIT) Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s address during his weekly general audience on March 5. Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today, Ash Wednesday, the forty-day lenten itinerary begins, which will lead us to the Easter Triduum, memorial of the Passion, deathm and Resurrection of the Lord, heart and center of the mystery of our salvation. Lent prepares us for this moment that is so important, for this “intense” time, a turning point which can foster a change in each one of us, a conversion. We all have the need to become better, to change for the better. Lent helps us and thus [allows us] to come out of our weary habits and lazy addiction…Continue Reading

Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Unscriptural, Unhistorical, Unreasonable, Unworkable

March 8, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… Unscriptural, Unhistorical, Unreasonable, Unworkable

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 5 Sola Scriptura is wrong not only because it produced a cacophony of contradictory doctrines, creeds, sects, and denominations, where everyone, Bible in hand, defends his own interpretations. It is wrong not only because it is unscriptural from more than one point of view. It is also wrong because it is unhistorical, unreasonable, and unworkable. Why unhistorical? Because nobody ever taught this doctrine until nearly 1,400 years after the Church was founded on Pentecost Day. I mean really nobody. No early Christian writer ever mentioned, alluded to, or hinted at it until Wycliffe concocted the idea and a defrocked monk dogmatized it to justify his subjective moral choices. If Jesus and the apostles had…Continue Reading

I Believe — We Believe

March 7, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on I Believe — We Believe

By DON FIER Over the past three weeks of this series on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), we have been reflectively examining the characteristics of the indescribably wonderful gift of faith that Almighty God has so generously availed mankind. As so adeptly summarized in the Compendium of the CCC, we know that faith is “the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. It is a free gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek it. The act of faith is a human act, that is, an act of the intellect of a person — prompted by the will moved by God — who freely assents to divine truth. Faith is also certain because it is…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 6, 2014 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Regarding giving Communion to a non-Catholic, D.O. of Maryland illustrates beautifully why this is not a good idea by recounting a conversation that she had with a Jewish friend who was in the habit of going to Communion every time she went to Mass: Because my friend was Jewish, I told her that I intended to go to a Saturday morning service at a synagogue and to speak from the Torah to the congregation. She told me that I could not do that. “Why not?” I asked. “Because you don’t know Hebrew,” she said. “You can coach me on the verse that I choose,” I answered. “You can’t,” she replied. “Why not?” I kept asking. “Because you’re not Jewish.” “I’ll…Continue Reading