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Catechism Of the Catholic Church: Prologue

November 5, 2013 Don Fier, Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catechism Of the Catholic Church: Prologue

By DON FIER “Father, . . . this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). This Scripture verse, the opening words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), succinctly and beautifully expresses its very purpose. The CCC’s first paragraph goes on to expand on this teaching of Jesus Christ: “God, . . . in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in His own blessed life. . . . He calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all his strength. To accomplish this, . . . God sent His Son as Redeemer and Savior.”…Continue Reading

Is The Rosary A Prayer Of “Vain Repetitions”?

November 5, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Is The Rosary A Prayer Of “Vain Repetitions”?

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM When I allowed two Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW for short) in my house one Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to practice a bit of Catholic Apologetics. This is how it went: The older man noticed a rosary on the coffee table and said, “Roman Catholic. You are actually a Roman Catholic!” he repeated with a triumphant smile, as though he had discovered my darkest secret. He went on, “Surely you know that that object you’ve got there is used for vain repetitions, which Jesus condemned in the Bible.” “Is that so?” I asked, “Could you please show me where in the Bible Jesus condemned praying the rosary?” His Bible was already in his hands. Two…Continue Reading

Catechesis In The Twenty-First Century

October 29, 2013 Don Fier, Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catechesis In The Twenty-First Century

By DON FIER “In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool. It is one of the most important fruits of the Second Vatican Council.” With these words in his apostolic letter Porta Fidei announcing the upcoming Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013), Pope Benedict XVI stressed the incalculable importance that the Catechism needs to play for the faithful to truly understand what our precious Catholic faith professes. With the Holy Father’s words to serve as a fitting backdrop, this column is the introductory installment of a long-running series of articles by which The Wanderer intends to take…Continue Reading

Raiders Of The Lost Art

October 29, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Raiders Of The Lost Art

By Raymond De Souza, KM Who does not remember the action-packed first Indiana Jones movie — Raiders of the Lost Ark — that delighted adventure and archeology-lovers in the early 1980s? The idea of finding the Ark of the Covenant — the most sacred object in the ancient world — did certainly attract the attention of millions who were — and still are — puzzled about its loss in the Old Testament. The first Indiana Jones movie certainly did a great deal to reawaken the curiosity and desire among many to know what happened to the mysterious Ark. The challenging tune chosen for the movie (especially the trumpets, in my opinion) added a touch of enthusiasm second to none in…Continue Reading

The Humility Of The Tax Collector

October 14, 2013 Our Catholic Faith, Sunday Sermons Comments Off on The Humility Of The Tax Collector

  Thirtieth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 18:9-14 In the Gospel reading today the Pharisee prays, thanking the Lord that he is not like the rest of humanity. He goes on to list some of the ways of humanity that are not like himself: greedy, dishonest, and adulterous. What he failed to recognize is that he was like the vast majority of humanity in that he was weighed down with pride. Acknowledging his positive qualities this man assumed that he was, therefore, justified before God. Blind to his negative qualities, he placed himself above others and thought himself to be quite justified. In his comparisons he goes so far as…Continue Reading

Christ’s Temptations In The Desert

October 9, 2013 Don Fier, Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Christ’s Temptations In The Desert

By DON FIER As we saw in last week’s column, Jesus freely chose to receive the “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3) from John the Baptist to mark the transition between His hidden life of thirty years and His public ministry of three years. “To inaugurate His public life and to anticipate the ‘Baptism’ of His death,” explains the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “He Who was without sin accepted to be numbered among sinners” (n. 105). Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, then, signified His acceptance of the mission given to Him by the Father to be “the ‘Servant’ wholly consecrated to the redemptive work that He will accomplish by the ‘baptism’ of…Continue Reading

God Is Always Faithful

October 3, 2013 Our Catholic Faith, Sunday Sermons Comments Off on God Is Always Faithful

  He has made promises to us and He will remain faithful to what He has promised. On one hand, this seems so obvious because He is God and, therefore, He cannot change. But on the other hand, to know that there is someone who does not change, someone who is a Rock, someone who is always faithful is mind boggling to us.

Christ’s Temptations In The Desert

October 3, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Christ’s Temptations In The Desert

As recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward He was hungry” (Matt. 4:1–2). In other words, led by the Holy Spirit, Christ withdraws to the desert for a time of spiritual preparation and renewal for the work of His messianic mission. He rigorously fasts and prays for forty days and then, in a weakened state, allows Himself to be tempted by the evil one. Before analyzing the temptations of Jesus, at least two questions come to mind. First, is it significant that the time of preparation was forty days; secondly, how is it possible that…Continue Reading

So Why Didn’t The U.S. Bishops Insist On Bargaining?

September 11, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on So Why Didn’t The U.S. Bishops Insist On Bargaining?

PHOENIX — With Obama des- perate to win “immigration reform” that would lock in millions more votes for his Culture of Death, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bish- ops didn’t even demand hardball horse-trading to cut some funda- mental deals with him.The USCCB could have said something like, “As much as we both want open borders, we can’t help you on immigration until you publicly pull your knives out of our back on Obamacare.” Dream on. The bishops vow to do everything in their power this fall to help shove Obama’s “im- migration reform” through Con- gress — including pressuring Catholic congressmen — without the USCCB getting even minor concessions from the president on his immoral HHS mandate, which requires…Continue Reading

Christ Offered And Christ Who Offers The Eucharist

September 11, 2013 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Christ Offered And Christ Who Offers The Eucharist

Reception of the Holy Eucharist is never done for the purpose of strict satisfaction of an obligation imposed. Attendance at Sunday Mass is done for such a reason, in order to obey the divine precept to “keep the Lord’s Day holy.” Errors with regard to the difference between the celebration of the Liturgy and the sacrament which results from its celebration lead to further errors in the administration of the Eucharist. The “Communion call” to the sick and homebound is not an arbitrary case of “take-out” Eucharist, with more than one possible instance arbitrarily during a given week except in cases of the administration of viaticum.