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Bishop Strickland . . . Faith And The Future… Our Faith And Life Together

September 28, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . Faith And The Future… Our Faith And Life Together

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND Part 2 We all have a need to belong, precisely because we are not solitary by nature. We were fashioned out of — and created for — relationship. The heart of the Christian Revelation is that God is not solitary either. God is a Trinity of Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who, in perfect love, is perfectly One.Jesus prayed for us to experience this kind of unity, beginning now — and being completed in the life to come. That beautiful prayer of Jesus is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John in its entirety. Here is an excerpt:“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 25, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: We are in the process of reducing our supply of books and are offering them to interested readers at a substantial discount. The books available, all in mint condition, are Catholic Replies and Catholic Replies 2 (both $17.95), All Generations Will Call Me Blessed and Who Do You Say That I Am? (both $10.95), and Catholicism & Reason (Apologetics), Catholicism & Scripture (Salvation History), and Catholicism & Life (Commandments and Sacraments), each $14.95. The books can be had for 50 percent off for 1 to 25 books, 60 percent off for 26 to 50 books, and 70 percent off for over 50 books. You can learn more about each of these books by visiting www.crpublications.com.Don’t order from the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… People Will Die: But Only Fear Sin

September 23, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… People Will Die: But Only Fear Sin

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The COVID-19 phenomenon is not just about a disease. It’s also about exposing the maladies afflicting our society and our world. And in the Church as well. “People will die,” we’re told.“People will die,” we’re told, if we don’t wear a mask, wash hands, anti-socially distance, and stay home. Some people, however, are dying because they are doing these things. COVID-19 is not the only threat humanity faces.I haven’t heard the same morally superior individuals who are militant about masks warn that people will die because of riots. And people have died because of riots. I haven’t heard the same social justice warriors who harangue on and on about physical health say anything about the…Continue Reading

The Freedom Of The Children Of God

September 22, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Freedom Of The Children Of God

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Ezek. 18:25-28Phil. 2:1-11Matt. 21:28-32 In the second reading today, St. Paul tells us we must have the same attitude as Christ. St. Paul goes on to explain that our Lord was humble and obedient. His humility was so great that He, who is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, was willing to take on the nature of a slave and His obedience was so profound that He was obedient even to the point of death on a cross.On the day of our Baptism, each of us vowed to reject Satan and to live our lives for the Lord. Most of us have probably not done a…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . Faith And The Future . . . Build On The Rock Of Jesus

September 21, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . Faith And The Future . . . Build On The Rock Of Jesus

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND Part 1 In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we read these words from Jesus to His disciples concerning how they should live their lives: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 18, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. We recently celebrated the feast of the Queenship of Mary, but a Protestant friend says that there is nothing in the Bible to justify calling Mary a queen. How do I answer this person? — T.L.H., via e-mail.A. As we have mentioned before, a belief does not have to be explicitly mentioned in the Bible to be true. Mary’s Queenship in Heaven makes sense if we look at the role of the queen mother in the Old Testament. Virtually every time a new king is introduced in First and Second Kings, his mother is mentioned (e.g., 1 Kings 14:21, 15:2, 22:42). Many kings in those days had multiple wives, making it difficult to choose one to be queen, so…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Catholics Can Go To Hell

September 16, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Catholics Can Go To Hell

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The presumption of heavenly reward has blotted out almost all use of reason for some souls when it comes to the real possibility of condemnation to Hell for all of eternity. Religion has become an exercise in make-believe for the many who, despite some level of catechesis, insist that a deceased relative or friend is “in Heaven.”The living, too, seem also to presume that, once baptized or confirmed, they have a reserved seat at the heavenly banquet and, despite their choices on Earth for good or evil, when the time comes that their worldly sojourn is through, they too will take their “rightful” throne with the saints in glory. This conflicts ever so slightly with…Continue Reading

Thinking As God Thinks

September 15, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Thinking As God Thinks

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, the Lord says through the Prophet Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” We recall from the readings a few weeks back that when Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him for saying He was going to be handed over and killed, Jesus said to Peter: “You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.”As human persons, one of the main problems we have is that we are very limited in our ability to see the “whole picture.” We are able to see only a very…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . The Right To Life: The Pre-Eminent Moral Mandate

September 14, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . The Right To Life: The Pre-Eminent Moral Mandate

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND The most important foundational teaching and principle of Catholic social teaching is that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death, because every man and woman is created in the Image of God. Further, there is a fundamental right to life, which is confirmed in the natural moral law, the Sacred Scriptures, and the unbroken Tradition of the Catholic Church. Every civil law must respect that fundamental human right to life, or such a law is an unjust law.Every human person is created in the Image of God. Because of that, they have an inherent dignity — at every age and stage of their lives. This truth is what informs our respect for…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

September 11, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. The Apostles’ Creed has the words “on the third day He rose again from the dead.” I have never understood why the word “again” is in the sentence. Christ rose once from the dead. Could you help me understand this? — A.K., via e-mail.A. Like many words, “again” can be understood in different ways. One common meaning, as the question implies, is that a certain action occurred at least once before and is now happening a second time. But that is not the meaning of “again” when we talk about the Resurrection, for Jesus rose from the dead only once, on the first Easter.Another meaning of “again,” according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is “back into a former position…Continue Reading