Thursday 28th March 2024

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“O Crux, Ave Spes Unica”… The Cross, The Only Hope Of The World

April 26, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on “O Crux, Ave Spes Unica”… The Cross, The Only Hope Of The World

By FR. RANIERO CANTALAMESSA, OFM Cap. (Editor’s Note: Here is the Good Friday 2017 homily delivered in St. Peter’s Basilica by Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household. ZENIT News Agency made this text available; all rights reserved.) + + + We have listened to the story of the Passion of Christ. Apparently nothing more than the account of a violent death and news of violent deaths are rarely missing in any evening news. Even in recent days there were many of them, including those of 38 Christians Copts in Egypt killed on Palm Sunday. These kinds of reports follow each other at such speed that we forget one day those of the day before. Why then are…Continue Reading

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

April 24, 2017 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

Our Savior And Redeemer… Christ The King

April 23, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Our Savior And Redeemer… Christ The King

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 4 A few years ago a low-budget movie caused a sensation among faithful Catholics: It was titled For Greater Glory. Although the story was not complete, it portrayed important aspects of the oppression of the Church in Mexico by the pro-Communist and Masonic government of an extremely evil man, named Plutarco Calles. The resistance led by good Catholic Mexicans was at first pacific, through petition and demonstrations. Later on, the diabolical determination of the government to eliminate the Church in Mexico led those faithful Catholics to defend themselves through guerrilla warfare that caused great casualties among the government troops, and also gave the Church many martyrs. Today there is a shrine being completed in…Continue Reading

Holy Communion

April 22, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Holy Communion

By DON FIER The Holy Eucharist, as we saw last week, is a sacrament three times over. As St. John Paul II pointed out in his first encyclical Redemptor Hominis, not only is it a Sacrifice-Sacrament and a Presence-Sacrament, but also a Communion-Sacrament. In this third dimension, the Eucharist is rightly referred to as the Paschal Banquet “in as much as Christ sacramentally makes present his Passover and gives us his Body and Blood, offered as food and drink, uniting us to himself and to one another in his sacrifice” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 287). We also saw last week that the altar at which the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered is the center…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

April 21, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. When I was young, the Fifth Sunday of Lent was Passion Sunday and the Sixth Sunday was Palm Sunday. Now the Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. Why the change? — T.L.H., Massachusetts. A. The change came about in 1970 when the two feast days were combined into one. According to the document Paschales Solemnitatis, which explains the feasts connected with Easter, “Holy Week begins on ‘Passion (or Palm) Sunday,’ which joins the foretelling of Christ’s regal triumph and the proclamation of the Passion. The connection between both aspects of the Paschal Mystery should be shown and explained in the celebration and catechesis of this day.” Prior to 1970, the Gospel read…Continue Reading

On The Road To Emmaus

April 20, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on On The Road To Emmaus

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Third Sunday Of Easter (YR A) Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33 1 Peter 1:17-21 Luke 24:13-35 The passage we hear in the Gospel today about the two disciples of our Lord going to Emmaus is one of the favorites of many people. The charity of the two disciples is almost as amazing as their blindness. I have often wondered what could have been so important that these men would have left Jerusalem on the very day of the Resurrection. It might be even slightly understandable if they had no idea that the Resurrection had taken place, but they state emphatically that some women went to the tomb and reported seeing the angels who told them that Jesus…Continue Reading

Pope Francis’ Homily At Chrism Mass . . . The Gospel Is Good News Because It Is A Message Of Joy

April 19, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Pope Francis’ Homily At Chrism Mass . . . The Gospel Is Good News Because It Is A Message Of Joy

(Editor’s Note: “Dear priests, as we contemplate and drink from these three new wineskins, may the Good News find in us that ‘contagious fullness’ which our Lady radiates with her whole being, the ‘inclusive concreteness’ of the story of the Samaritan woman, and the ‘utter meekness’ whereby the Holy Spirit ceaselessly wells up and flows forth from the pierced heart of Jesus our Lord,” said Pope Francis in his homily for the Chrism Mass, celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica the morning of April 10, Holy Thursday. (ZENIT News Agency carried the Vatican-provided English translation of the text of the Pope’s Chrism Mass homily, given below. All rights reserved. (The Wanderer went to press this week on April 13, Holy Thursday.)…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Paschaltide Renewal Of Baptism, Rejection Of Evil

April 17, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Paschaltide Renewal Of Baptism, Rejection Of Evil

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “The Lord is risen, Alleluia! He is truly risen, Alleluia!” Many know very well that Baptism is an Easter sacrament, as explained by this prayer of the Easter vigil: “. . . Because as the Apostle teaches, we are baptized into His death and buried together with Christ: and as Christ rose from the dead, so we too must walk in newness of life; knowing that our old man hath been crucified together with Christ so that we shall no longer be in servitude to sin. Let us look upon ourselves therefore as dead indeed to sin but living to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Many, however, may not stop to think that renunciation…Continue Reading

Our Savior And Redeemer . . . Answering Objections Concerning Christ’s Knowledge And Will

April 16, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Our Savior And Redeemer . . . Answering Objections Concerning Christ’s Knowledge And Will

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 3 St. Peter, in his first epistle, teaches us to always be ready to satisfy everyone that asks for a reason of that hope which is in us (1 Peter 3:15). This is the very raison d’être of apologetics: to give the right answer to those who ask about our hope, our faith. And, I must add, that also includes answering objections to the faith. In this article, as in others before, we answer objections that have been raised against the Catholic faith. In this case, against the knowledge and the will of Christ. First objection: “If Jesus was perfect from the beginning, what is meant by the words in the Gospel: ‘And Jesus…Continue Reading

The Eucharist: Paschal Banquet

April 15, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Eucharist: Paschal Banquet

By DON FIER Over the past two weeks we have examined, in an abbreviated manner, the history of belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Except for occasional aberrations such as that of Berengarius of Tours in the 11th century and John Wycliffe in the 14th century, we saw that the first 1,500 years of the Church’s existence was marked, for the most part, by unanimity of belief in this fundamental dogma of the Catholic faith. But widespread doubts and even outright denials regarding belief in the substantial and abiding presence of Christ in the consecrated Species were to rock the 16th-century Church in the form of the Protestant Revolution. Two bedrock beliefs rarely before questioned…Continue Reading