Wednesday 28th September 2022

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Whom Will You Serve?

September 12, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Whom Will You Serve?

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Amos 8:4-71 Tim. 2:1-8Luke 16:1-13 In the Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters. He goes even further to say that if we try to do so, we will either hate the one and love the other, or we will be devoted to one and despise the other. In the context of the reading, our Lord addresses one of the most common false gods: money. He says explicitly, we cannot serve both God and mammon.In a society like ours, money is a necessity. By itself, money is not evil. However, St. James tells us that the love of money is the root of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 9, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. In chapter 19 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus forbids divorce, saying that “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” When asked why Moses permitted divorce, Jesus responded, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” What did Jesus mean by saying “unless the marriage is unlawful”? — W.R., via e-mail.A. Since Jesus unequivocally condemns divorce in Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18, He can hardly be permitting it in the passage from Matt. 19:9. What He was probably discussing was an illicit sexual union, such as…Continue Reading

Salvation Is The Highest Law Of The Church

September 8, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Salvation Is The Highest Law Of The Church

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK On the last Sunday of August the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan came around again in the traditional Missale. The man of the parable who is robbed and left for dead represents humanity, sinful and subject to death without divine intervention. Christ is the Good Samaritan who in mercy picks us up in our weakness and helplessness, takes us to the inn and leaves us in the charge of the innkeeper who will render an account of his care when the Samaritan returns.The sterling teaching of the Church and the balm of the sacraments are the means of caring for the souls entrusted to the mercy of the ecclesial “innkeepers,” our bishops. How they…Continue Reading

Love And Lament Alike

September 7, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Love And Lament Alike

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this “Brief Reflection for All Who Care About the Church” on August 29. It is reprinted here with permission.) + + As a priest and pastor I work very closely with others: clergy, religious, laity who work for the Church, and laity who volunteer. We all work for the Church because we love her and her people.At times, though, there is disappointment, hurt, or even disillusionment. Perhaps these feelings result from issues in the wider Church: sexual abuse by clergy, the lack of courage and leadership from some bishops and priests, the scandal of dissent at the highest levels, questionable partnerships with anti-life and anti-Catholic organizations, the breakdown of discipline,…Continue Reading

Rejoicing Over One Repentant Sinner

September 5, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Rejoicing Over One Repentant Sinner

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-141 Tim. 1:12-17Luke 15:1-32 In the readings today, we hear about sinners, the righteous, and the hope for sinners to become righteous. We begin with the second reading where St. Paul declares himself to the be worst sinner of all. What is most amazing about this confession is that St. Paul was living an exemplary Jewish life and for this reason was filled with a sense of self-righteousness. More to the point, St. Paul says he was once a blasphemer. We can all understand that his self-righteousness was arrogance, as he admits. We also know he persecuted the Church. But for a man who would have…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 2, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This series on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 2) Everything that God created was good, but His creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve, was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). They were created in a state of holiness and immortality, but Satan tempted them to disobey God, saying that eating the forbidden fruit would make them “like gods” (Gen. 3:5) who would know what is good and what is evil. God punished Adam and Eve by expelling them from the Garden of Eden,…Continue Reading

Receiving Communion Means Obedience To Fullness Of Faith

September 1, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Receiving Communion Means Obedience To Fullness Of Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The faith which Christ proposes offers true freedom. “For freedom Christ has set us free,” as St. Paul teaches.The Church continues the preaching of the good news about this new life which the Lord offers, and without which no human person is freed from the bondage of unbelief or enslavement to idols.Almighty God created us in the freedom of His loving initiative. He created us in His image and thus endowed us with free will.The initiative of salvation is a free encounter with God Incarnate in Jesus Christ. Faith in Him is a continuing choice to conform our lives to His incarnate Revelation of the truth about love.Of course there are false prophets. The Lord…Continue Reading

Stages Of Persecution

August 31, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Stages Of Persecution

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on August 17. It is reprinted here with permission.) + + With the recent article in The Atlantic linking the rosary to extremist gun culture we see a gross misunderstanding in the nature of spiritual warfare and its true target, Satan. The rosary is a weapon, but a spiritual one. While it is possible that the author simply misunderstands our allegorical references to warfare, I rather doubt he is that dumb. Rather, I suspect that this is an attempt to stereotype, and vilify, Catholics, especially traditional ones. These are tactics used to lay a groundwork for the marginalization and persecution of the faithful and the criminalization of their…Continue Reading

We Cannot Serve Two Masters

August 29, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on We Cannot Serve Two Masters

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18bPhilemon 9-10, 12-17Luke 14:25-33 In the first reading the question is asked about who can know God’s counsel or conceive what God intends? As we have seen so many times, what God has revealed to us in Scripture seems very clear and we assume we know what it means and how it will be fulfilled. Then, when the fulfillment happens, very frequently it catches us completely off guard. It was fulfilled exactly the way God said it would be, but what He said and how we interpreted what He said prove to be very different.If we look just at the readings today, even the most basic and…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 26, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Responding to a recent question about why the acclamation “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” is no longer used at Mass, R.M.W. of New York offers this explanation:“Although it is certainly theologically sound (quite sound, in fact!), as well as emotionally stirring, the reason ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again’ was removed is because it is not actually a part of the text of the Roman Missal, but was an illicit addition to the previous English edition (the Sacramentary of 1975), along with ‘Dying you destroyed our death. rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory,’ as well as all of the ‘Alternative Opening Prayers.’“In keeping with the…Continue Reading