Sunday 15th September 2019

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Do Everything Out Of Charity

August 27, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Do Everything Out Of Charity

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 Heb. 12:18-19, 22-24a Luke 14:1, 7-14 In the Gospel reading today our Lord tells us that whoever humbles himself will be exalted, but whoever exalts himself will be humbled. He tells the guests at the dinner to which He was invited to take the lowest place at the table. It may be that the host of the event will notice the person at the lowest place and invite him to sit at a more distinguished spot. Such an occurrence would result in the person gaining esteem from the others at table with him. It is important for us to recognize that these words came…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… The Spiritual Benefits Of My 90-Day Twitter Fast

August 26, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… The Spiritual Benefits Of My 90-Day Twitter Fast

  By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Doctors studying Alzheimer’s patients in searching for a cure have landed on fasting as a possible answer on how to eliminate the disease. It’s another case of Church tradition proved right for more than spiritual reasons. It turns out that if one skips a morning collation, waiting 12 hours before breaking one’s fast each day, the body uses more of the stored fat that aids in brain function, to include accessing memories which begins to fail in persons with the disease. The traditional Catholic fast from midnight, it turns out, is beneficial for physical as well as spiritual reasons. For years Catholics, obedient as they were to Church discipline surrounding reception of the Holy…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 23, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Are you looking for some solid Catholic books for your high school religious education program, books that have been found to be in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Then you should get copies of the five-volume Catholicism Series. The topics covered include the Creed and Apologetics (Catholicism & Reason), the Commandments and Sacraments (Catholicism & Life), Salvation History (Catholicism & Scripture), Marriage & Family (Catholicism & Society), and Medical-Moral Issues (Catholicism & Ethics). As co-author and publisher of this series, we are offering a 30 percent discount on the books, meaning they are available in any quantity for $10 each, plus shipping. Visit our website (www.crpublications.com) for more information or to place your order. We…Continue Reading

What’s At Stake… In The Purge At The John Paul II Institute

August 21, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on What’s At Stake… In The Purge At The John Paul II Institute

By FR. SHENAN J. BOQUET (Editor’s Note: Fr. Shenan Boquet is president of Human Life International. Fr. Boquet’s commentary below on the John Paul II Institute first appeared at HLI.org on August 12 and is reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved.) + + + Essence Of Battle Is Ideological In the past few weeks, a long-brewing skirmish over the identity and mission of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome erupted into open warfare. Things boiled over after the new administration of the Institute abruptly terminated two long-standing and key chairs of moral theology and suspended the entirety of the remaining faculty pending review. At the same time, the new leadership also…Continue Reading

Enter Through The Narrow Gate

August 20, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Enter Through The Narrow Gate

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Isaiah 66:18-21 Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13 Luke 13:22-30 In the first reading today we hear something that would seem unthinkable to the Jewish people who heard these words when Isaiah spoke them seven hundred years before our Lord came into the world. For generations after that these words must have caused a great deal of debate among the priests and theologians of the day. It is astounding enough that God would speak of gathering nations of every language to see His glory. To call these Gentiles “brothers and sisters” to the Jews would be unthinkable. To say some of them would be priests and Levites would be absolutely impossible…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Spiritual Materialism Cannot Save Your Soul

August 19, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Spiritual Materialism Cannot Save Your Soul

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Some call it cafeteria Catholic. It manifests itself as a demand to take one thing Christ handed down in the Church while rejecting others likewise handed down. The Eucharist is the Real Presence of the Lord and it is thus the source and summit of our faith. The sight of the faithful going forward at Mass and receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord is deeply rooted in Catholic experience. Which is awesome, considering who it is we thus receive! If we truly understood that the One greater than which cannot be imagined was before us, we might be seized by an immobilizing fear of offending Him and remain in our pews, bent knees…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 16, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: Regarding a recent discussion in this column of Communism and socialism, and the sway that these collectivist ideologies hold over many Democrat politicians today, D.M. of Virginia sent along an excerpt from Whittaker Chambers’ 1952 book Witness that accurately describes the nature of Communism and its impact on the world over the past century, when its practitioners caused the deaths of more than 100 million people. Chambers was a former Communist who brought down on his head the wrath of the left for exposing the Communist ties of Alger Hiss, who had become a high State Department official and adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt and was a member of the Washington elite in the 1940s. In describing himself…Continue Reading

Pope Benedict XVI . . . The Legacy Of John Paul II On Marriage And Family

August 14, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Pope Benedict XVI . . . The Legacy Of John Paul II On Marriage And Family

(Editor’s Note: Below is the address of Pope Benedict XVI to members of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family on the occasion of the institute’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Pope Benedict delivered this historic address on May 11, 2006 in the Hall of Blessings. (Following the address are some quotations from John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio, an apostolic exhortation dated November 22, 1981. Familiaris Consortio therefore also celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2006. (Both texts are from Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved.) + + + Your Eminences, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, Dear Brothers and Sisters, I meet you today with great joy on this twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of…Continue Reading

Live Truth In Charity

August 13, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Live Truth In Charity

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Jer. 38:4-6, 8-10 Heb. 12:1-4 Luke 12:49-53 In the Gospel reading today, Jesus says something quite startling. The Prince of Peace said: “Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” The division Jesus speaks of is about truth and charity. Some people want a false peace, a peace that exists only if we do not bring truth into the equation, if we do not make judgments about what is right and wrong. We are just supposed to be “nice” and allow evil to flourish while saying and doing nothing to counter it. We need to recognize the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Thou Shalt Not Kill

August 12, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Thou Shalt Not Kill

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Violence — whether perpetrated by means of a gun or any other weapon — and the anger and hatred which give rise to it do not have a color. The victims do: They come from a variety of backgrounds of various races, religions, and languages. This week the funerals of the slain continued. There is still hope for us if we can avoid becoming morally numb in the face of these killings which continue to mount adding victims upon victims. Perhaps seeing the bogeyman of white supremacy as the reason for the spate of gun violence is a distraction. The red flag bill now making its way through Congress may help to decrease violence while…Continue Reading