Tuesday 23rd April 2024

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A Leaven In The World… Ad Orientem “Starter Kit” For Your Parish Priest

April 6, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Ad Orientem “Starter Kit” For Your Parish Priest

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK For a properly formed priest, nothing he does is more important for the People of God than his proper and reverent celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As a newly ordained priest preparing for my first parish assignment in 1992, however, I braced myself to enter a liturgical “no-man’s land” where anything goes and in which my study of and my understanding of the liturgy were not valued and would be easily rejected. As one who valued the liturgy as the way to God which makes every church the “house of God and gate of Heaven,” I had to find a way to negotiate through a Catholic world disoriented away from the Lord…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

April 3, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. In one of the readings at daily Mass today, St. Paul said that “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated” (2 Cor. 12:7). Do we know what Paul was talking about? — J.G., Pennsylvania. A. There has been much speculation about this verse, but no definitive answer. Among the possibilities suggested are a sickness or a disability, a temptation, or perhaps some persistent or obnoxious opponent. In any case, the purpose of this “thorn” was probably to keep Paul humble so that he would not lose perspective or revel in his heavenly experiences. The “angel of Satan” was apparently a messenger from Satan…Continue Reading

Eternal Life And Divine Mercy

April 2, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Eternal Life And Divine Mercy

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Easter (YR B) Readings: Acts 4:32-35 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31 Today the Church celebrates the Octave Day of Easter. According to the Revelation of God to the Jewish people, the last day of the feast is the greatest of all of the days. We celebrated with great glory the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead a week ago. Each day of the Octave is a continual celebration of that same blessed event. But today, we not only continue the celebration of Easter, but now we have the added glory of celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday. As we look back to Good Friday, we know that it is the shedding of our Lord’s Precious…Continue Reading

John Paul II At World Youth Day In Denver . . . “The Outcome Of The Battle For Life Is Already Decided”

April 1, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on John Paul II At World Youth Day In Denver . . . “The Outcome Of The Battle For Life Is Already Decided”

(Editor’s Note: Pope John Paul II gave the following homily at the Mass at Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, for World Youth Day VIII, on Sunday, August 15, 1993, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. John Paul II died ten years ago on April 2, 2005 and we reprint his Denver WYD homily here to honor his life and work. The text came from the Vatican’s website; all rights reserved.) + + + “God who is mighty has done, great things for me” (Luke 1:49). + + + Beloved Young People and Dear Friends in Christ, Today the Church finds herself, with Mary, on the threshold of the house of Zechariah in Ain-Karim. With new life…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . The Lessons Of Holy Week On Faithful Love

March 30, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . The Lessons Of Holy Week On Faithful Love

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK As Holy Week is upon us once again, and we join in with the condemnation of the crowd, crying “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” we relive the betrayal of sin which marks every human life. We accompany the Lord Jesus Christ on His way of the cross and journey with Him all the way to Calvary. We stand with Mary and the few faithful disciples who did not abandon the Savior. We make reparation for our sins and ask for the grace that we may never sin again so as to risk losing the love of our divine Lord. That same drama of faith and betrayal is played out every day in the Church and in…Continue Reading

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

March 29, 2015 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

Divine Revelation: Gradual And Progressive

March 28, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Divine Revelation: Gradual And Progressive

By DON FIER We left off last week reflecting on God’s motive for revealing Himself to us in a supernatural manner. In a word, His sole motive was that of boundless love for mankind. God gratuitously and unconditionally chose to “communicate His own divine life to the men He freely created, in order to adopt them as His sons in His only-begotten Son” (CCC, n. 52). In the words of St. Paul, “[God] destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Eph. 1:5) in order that it might be possible for mankind to satisfy the innate desire for happiness that is written into our hearts and that can only be…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 27, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: As readers of this column know, we like to quote Fr. George Rutler from time to time because his weekly bulletin columns at the Church of St. Michael in New York City are sources of both information and inspiration. After starting his March 22 column by noting that history is “replete with the failures of famous figures,” such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, he said that these men were famous not for their failures but for their resiliency and courage to get up and fight again, qualities also demonstrated by Jesus on the way to Calvary. Here is Fr. Rutler: “Churchill said, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that…Continue Reading

We Have Been Raised With Christ

March 26, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on We Have Been Raised With Christ

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Easter Sunday (YR B) Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Col. 3:1-4 John 20:1-9 In the Gospel reading today, we hear about Peter and John entering the Lord’s grave after they had been informed by St. Mary Magdalen that Jesus had been taken away. We are told that when the Beloved Disciple saw the burial cloths there and the cloths that had covered our Lord’s head in a separate place, he believed. It is interesting that the next line says that they did not yet understand the Scriptures that said He would rise from the dead. Jesus Himself told the apostles that He had to be put to death, buried, and then rise again on the third day.…Continue Reading

Nothing To Toast Between China And The Vatican

March 25, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Nothing To Toast Between China And The Vatican

By FR. BERNARDO CERVELLERA (Editor’s Note: Fr. Bernardo Cervellera is a member of PIME [Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere], a society of apostolic life. He is the editor-in-chief of AsiaNews, a news service of PIME. (In the essay below, Fr. Cervellera noted China’s willingness, at least in words, “to enter into dialogue with the Vatican,” but decried its refusal “to compromise on episcopal elections remaining firmly in China’s hands, in the style of ‘self-appointed, self-election’.” (AsiaNews made Fr. Cervellera’s commentary available. All rights reserved.) + + + ROME (AsiaNews) — We do not know whether to laugh or cry, whether to toast or grieve over the statements expressed by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, published in the Global Times on…Continue Reading