I know a TALISMAN which never fails to open the gates of Divine Mercy. I know a RIVER which will carry us into the Promised Land. I know a PALM TREE which will overshadow and shelter us from the burning heat of our earthly exile. I know a SPRING whose refreshing waters slake our thirst in the desert of this life. I know a STAR which will guide us as the pillar of cloud guided Israel, across the sandy ocean of our existence to the end of the journey. I know a DEW which God sheds from ...

Mass Readings: April 30

A STUBBORN STREAK

"He took them to task for their disbelief and their stubbornness, since they had put no faith in those who had seen Him after He had been raised." –Mark 16:14

Everyone is a believer and unbeliever, open and stubborn. We can believe Jesus and His Church and disbelieve the voices of Satan and the world, or we can do the opposite. We can be open to the L...

BALTIMORE, MD. (Catholic Online) - The sacred liturgy is no less than the very work of Almighty God through which Christ continues the work of our redemption (cf CCC 1069). This is a truth that is so profound that the Church is rightly moved to refer to Holy Mass as a "sacred mystery."

Bask in that glorious reality indeed, but let's not be naïve. It also happens to be the epicenter of Satan's war against all that is good and holy. Scandalized? Don't be.

The Council Fathers tells us th...

Nor is the sacrament itself diminished by being divided, any more than is fire, to take an example. If you had a burning lamp and all the world came to you for light, the light of your lamp would not be diminished by the sharing, yet each person who shared it would have the whole light. True, each one's light would be more or less intense depending on what sort of material each brought to receive the fire. I give you this example so that you may better understand me. Imagine that ma...

Mass Readings: April 29

JUMPING SHIP

"Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going out to fish.' " –John 21:3

Peter had given up on Easter. He had even given up on Christ. Although Jesus had initially called Peter to be a fisher of men and no longer a fisherman (Mk 1:17), Peter decided to go back into the commercial fishing business. Peter went back to B.C., that is, to his state before He had ev...

If the Blessed Mother and St. John at the foot of the Cross had closed their eyes when Our Lord was offering Himself for the sins of the world, the spiritual effects on them would have been no different from those which we may receive as we assist at the Sacrifice of the Mass. But if their eyes were open, there would have been this difference: they would have seen the sacrifice offered in bloodshed with blood pouring from gaping holes in hands and feet and side. In the Mass, we see i...

Mass Readings: April 28

THE GRATEFUL DEAD?

"You disowned the Holy and Just One and preferred instead to be granted the release of a murderer." –Acts 3:14

Satan deals death and introduced death into the human race (Catechism, 407). You'd think getting humans to accept death would be a hard sell for Satan, but it's actually easy for him. All he must do is divert people's attention away from Jesus,...

She draws as close as she can to the altar. There she kneels, head erect, hands joined, body motionless, eyes riveted on the host or on the tabernacle door. She looks at Jesus, speaks to him, calls on him; she also keeps silent and listens to him. Her prayer is absorption in the divine. She tells her divine Master that she wants to be "a living victim"; she envies the candle on the altar which is consumed as it burns, shedding light and giving off the mystical perfume of wax; she wo...

Mass Readings: April 27

DIVINE APPOINTMENT

"They recounted what had happened on the road and how they had come to know Him in the breaking of bread." –Luke 24:35

Alleluia! Jesus lives forever! The tomb is empty! The stone is rolled away! Jesus has risen from the grave! Alleluia!

Many people, even Christians, find the above praises odd. For them, Easter ended Sunday or never actually began. Ea...

The writings of the Fathers of the Church reveal the wonderfully pluriform nature of their reflections on the Eucharist, a plurality of approaches that highlights the many aspects of the Sacrament itself. They all worked from two apparently fundamental data of faith: the Presence of Christ himself in the Sacrament and the sacrificial aspect of the Sacrament. The Presence was the Flesh born of Mary, and so the Eucharist was to be adored. With increasing perception they mentioned and ...

Mass Readings: April 26

EASTER EXPRESS

"Mary Magdalene went to the disciples. 'I have seen the Lord!' she announced." –John 20:18

The apostles took fifty days to be confirmed in the risen Christ and have Easter. For almost two months Jesus "opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45), opened their eyes in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:31), and appeared to the...

If only we had the humility to realize that He alone is Goodness and makes us good. As soon as we come into His Presence in the Eucharist, our souls respond to the power before them like a sunflower turning toward the sun.

His silent Presence, hidden in the tabernacle, says to each one of us, "I love you. Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will refresh you. Come to the fountain of life and drink. Tell Me your problems. Listen to My voice. I tug at your heart, guidi...

Mass Readings: April 25

THE BETTER HALF

"They hurried away from the tomb half-overjoyed, half-fearful." –Matthew 28:8

"Jesus said to them: 'Do not be afraid!' " –Matthew 28:10

When the first followers of Jesus learned that He had risen, some were half-fearful and half-overjoyed (Mt 28:8). This divided reaction still occurs today. When we first encounter the risen Jesus, we rejoice wi...

"If souls but understood the Treasure they possess in the Divine Eucharist, it would be necessary to encircle the tabernacles with the strongest ramparts for, in the delirium of a devouring and holy hunger, they would press forward themselves to feed on the Bread of Angels. The Churches would overflow with adorers consumed with love for the Divine prisoner no less by night than by day." - Bl. Dina Belanger

Let us gaze upon the ardent soul of the one whom the Church now venerates as...

Mass Readings: April 24

DEEP-KNEE BENDS

"He saw and believed." –John 20:8

Happy Resurrection Day! Alleluia! Jesus is risen! Alleluia!

While John was waiting at Jesus' tomb for Peter to arrive, the Bible says he "bent down to peer in" (Jn 20:5). This is not a trivial detail; it indicates the spiritual posture of those who believe in the risen Jesus. If we ar...

Pope John Paul II said that "Our essential commitment in life is to persevere and advance constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to grow spiritually in the climate of the Holy Eucharist."

On December 1, 1981 Pope John Paul II began perpetual adoration in a chapel at St. Peter's and appealed with these encouraging words for all parishes to do the same: "...every member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that this sacrament of love shall be at the center of th...

Mass Readings: April 23

VICTORY GARDEN

"In the place where He had been crucified there was a garden." –John 19:41

Holy Saturday is a unique day liturgically. During the day, there is no Mass and no Eucharist. Jesus isn't in the tabernacle; He's in the tomb. The agony and apparent defeat of the cross is etched deeply in our minds. Baptized into Jesus' d...

One of the great apparitions of Our Lady was in the Irish village of Knock. On August 21, 1879, surrounded by light, wearing a brilliant golden crown, and a long white gown covered by a dazzling white cloak, she appeared. On her right appeared St. Joseph inclining reverently towards her; on her left St. John the Evangelist, attired as a bishop and holding a book, his hand raised as if preaching. To St. John's left was an altar on which stood a lamb, surrounded by angels' wings, a sy...

Mass Readings: April 22

FINISHING TOUCH

"If He gives His life as an offering for sin, He shall see His descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through Him." –Isaiah 53:10

This Good Friday will be "good" if we repent of our sins, totally commit ourselves to Jesus, and lead others to Christ. Good Friday will ...

I believe that the importance of this point of doctrine, its religious significance, is very significant... How can man, earthbound and sinful as he is, succeed in reaching the throne of God? And then the miracle occurs, God himself takes our place and fulfills the sacrifice. Even before this happened we could offer him only what we had already received from him, somewhat in the way children can only celebrate their parents' birthdays by offering flowers gathered from their father's ...

Mass Readings: April 21

THE BLOOD-COVENANT

"This cup is the new covenant in My blood." –1 Corinthians 11:25

Holy Communion is not only communion with the Lord but also with each other. When we receive Holy Communion, we commit ourselves to serve each other, to wash each other's feet (see Jn 13:5). We make a covenant in Jesus' blood even to lay down ...

Sister Emmerich herself speaks as follows:– "I very often saw blood flowing from the cross on the Sacred Host; I saw it distinctly. Sometimes Our Lord, in the form of an Infant, appeared like a lightning-flash in the Sacred Host. At the moment of communicating, I used to see my Saviour like a bridegroom standing by me and, when I had received He disappeared, leaving me filled with the sweet sense of His presence. He pervades the whole soul of the communicant just as sugar is disso...

Mass Readings: April 20

THE KISS OF DEATH

"One of you is about to betray Me." –Matthew 26:21

It's easy to picture Jesus saying: "I gave My back to those who beat Me, My cheeks to those who plucked My beard" (Is 50:6). Jesus could also say that He gave His cheeks to those who kissed Him in betrayal (Lk 22:48). He did not shield His face from buffets, spitting, and kisses of ...

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - Yesterday, I joined our beloved Priest in the Procession leading the faithful waving Palm branches into the Sanctuary. There, I had the privilege of participating in the reading of the Passion narrative. Every year, the experience becomes more profound.As we progress through Holy Week, the Scriptural readings at the Liturgies present us with the very real people whom Jesus chose to follow Him in the Redemptive work he was to accomplish on the tree at Ca...

If there is one mystery of faith around which revolves the whole Catholic liturgy, it is the Eucharist. Christian piety has been lavish in the titles it gives to this mystery, believing it is impossible to exhaust its depth of meaning. The name "Eucharist," or thanksgiving, is to be explained either by the fact that at its institution Christ "gave thanks," or by the fact that this is the supreme act of Christian gratitude to God. Early instances of this title occur in the Teaching of...

Mass Readings: April 19

ALL FOR JESUS

"You are My servant...through whom I show My glory." –Isaiah 49:3

I'm writing this teaching on my birthday, two years before you read it. So at Mass today, when I heard the passage: "The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb He gave me my name" (Is 49:1), it gave me chills to hear that He "formed me as His servant from the womb" (Is 4...

I am a twenty-four year old mother of two who God has worked a miracle with during Mass. I had been medicated for months for a debilitating depression that I had suffered with following a number of painful life experiences. My husband is a recovering alcoholic who had been both physically and emotionally abusive. In desperation I sought to receive love from an absentee parent who I had never known; I found my father after a 24 year separation. He also was unable to fill that need fo...

Mass Readings: April 18

AROMA THERAPY

"The house was filled with the ointment's fragrance." –John 12:3

My daughter has a bottle of perfume weighing four ounces. As a test, I asked her to fill the room with the perfume's fragrance. She only had to press the spray button twice and you could smell a strong fragrance clear across the room. Mary of Bethany poured the equivalent of four such b...

During three long weeks of trial I was able to have the tremendous consolation of daily Holy Communion. How sweet it was! Jesus spoilt me for a long time, much longer than He did His more faithful brides, for, after the influenza had gone, He came to me daily for several more months and the rest of the community didn't share this joy. I had not asked for any special treatment, but I was most happy to be united each day with my Beloved. I was also allowed to handle the sacred vessels ...

Mass Readings: April 17

SOUNDING BOARD

"The groups preceding Him as well as those following kept crying out: 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' " –Matthew 21:9

Today begins "Holy Week." The Lord wants this week to be unlike any other week in our lives – a week of grace, sorrow, repentance, and love. The week begins with the praises of Palm Sunday, chan...

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Last week I began a reflection on the Sacrament of Confession.  Lent provides an excellent opportunity for everyone to return to the regular use of the Sacrament where we experience God's mercy and forgiveness.  

Let us continue by taking a close look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is by far one of the most beautiful narratives of the Holy Bible and it will help us understand the Sacrament of Confession.

The co...

On February 11, 1858, the fourteen-year-old Bernadette and two friends went to gather firewood. They stopped near the Gave River to remove their shoes and wade across the small stream. They were near a natural grotto at a place called Massabielle. The other children waded into the icy stream and ran ahead, but Bernadette hesitated for fear that the cold water might bring on another asthma attack. Suddenly, she heard the sound of rushing wind and saw a bright light near the grotto. I...

Mass Readings: April 16

DYING TO BE ONE

"I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one Prince for them all." –Ezekiel 37:22

The Lord promised to make the two nations of Israel one nation under one prince, who would be a descendant of David. This promise is being more than fulfilled in Jesus, a Descendant of David. In fact, the Father's p...

The great Cardinal Mercier, a saintly and learned theologian, used to say: "Give me a priest fully appreciating the gift of his daily Mass, preparing it well, offering it devoutly, living the grace of his Mass; I tell you, this priest will be ready for canonization when he dies." I apply this statement to the faithful: Give me a Catholic fully realizing the doctrine of the Mass, really and truly living the grace of daily Mass, and I, too, will show you someone who will be a saint at ...

Mass Readings: April 15

JOHN THE BAPTIZER ON JESUS

"Whatever John said about this Man was true." –John 10:41

At the time of his birth, John the Baptizer was the greatest man ever born (Mt 11:11). Thus his words carried a lot of weight. John had a number of things to say about Jesus, and all of it was true (Jn 10:41). Let's examine the truths John has spoken about Jesus:

• Jesus is the Lamb o...

I AM OR I?

"I solemnly declare it: before Abraham came to be, I AM." –John 8:58

When Jesus called Himself I AM, that is, God, the people picked up rocks to throw at Him (Jn 8:59). Because they did not believe Jesus was God, they tried to kill Him for blaspheming.

In ten days, you will be asked whether you believe Jesus is God. On Easter Sunday, at every Mass in ...

There is a parish in Ottawa, Canada, where a priest was appointed. He had tried everything to attract people to church. Yet, the church was almost empty. There were only 20-30 people at Mass on Sunday. But the priest did not get discouraged. He invited those few people to Perpetual Adoration. He told them that we suffer because our brothers and our children are not here. So, let's do something! Let's have Eucharistic Adoration! So, they started that. After three years the small commu...

Mass Readings: April 13

A FREE LENT

"That is why, if the Son frees you, you will really be free." –John 8:36

Jesus is the only Way to true freedom. Thus, we would expect large numbers of Christians to be free in comparison to non-Christians. However, Christians often aren't clearly recognized as being the world's most free people. Some reasons for this are:

1. Non-Christians unknowingl...

The founder of the Order of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), St. Alphonsus Liguori (d. 1787), was often rapt in ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament and was frequently heard to exclaim, "O my God, my Love, O everlasting Love, I love Thee!" It is said that no other saint visited Jesus in the Eucharist as often as did St. Alphonsus. He encouraged frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament and even wrote a treatise called Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament of th...

Mass Readings: April 12

PUTTING WORDS IN OUR MOUTHS

"Because He spoke this way, many came to believe in Him." –John 8:30

More than anything else in the world, we want people to believe in Jesus. Therefore, we're interested in understanding what John meant when he said that many people believed in Jesus because He spoke in a certain way. What is "this way of speaking" that leads many to...

By Mark Miravalle, S.T.D.

Many Protestant Christians believe that Catholic devotion to Mary eclipses Jesus, or involves improper worship of a human creature. In this short article, Dr. Miravalle, whose wife Beth is a convert to the Catholic Church, explains a proper view of Catholic devotion to Mary.

We begin our inquiry into the person and role of Mary, Mother of Jesus, by addressing a most fundamental question: what is...

We read in the lives of different Saints, that as sometimes they were unable to go to the Church for Holy Communion, God made use of an angel, who, to satisfy their hunger for the Blessed Eucharist, acted instead of the priest and took the consecrated species to them. It appears that Our Savior Himself willed to take this great gift to Gemma; and that happened quite three times. Here is how it is told us by one who was an eyewitness: "On the morning of the Friday on which dear Gemma ...

Mass Readings: April 11

JESUS MAKES IT RIGHT FOR ALL

"Nor do I condemn you. You may go." –John 8:11

Today's Gospel account focuses on the woman caught in adultery, and Jesus refusing to condemn her. What about this woman's husband and children? Did anyone consider the impact upon their suddenly shattered lives? Did anyone care that they too were in pain? What about the parents...

The real light that led me to my Catholic home was the doctrine of transubstantiation–the change of the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of the body and blood of Our Lord at the consecration in the Mass. That is the doctrine which has proved a stumbling block and a rock of offence to so many souls. It has been mocked, derided and denounced by so many of the wise men of the world, as unreasonable, unphilosophical, a denial of the evidence of the senses and as alto...

Mass Readings: April 10

RAISING THE DEAD AND RAISING FAITH

"Whoever believes in Me, though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and believes in Me will never die." –John 11:26

Most people want to be present at the deathbed of people they love, but Jesus said He was glad not to have been present when His friend Lazarus died. Jesus was glad not to have ...

"The Blessed Sacrament is the invention of Love. It is life and fortitude for souls, a remedy for every fault, and viaticum for the last passage from time to eternity. In it sinners recover life for their souls; tepid souls true warmth; fervent souls, tranquility and the satisfaction of every longing... saintly souls, wings to fly towards perfection... pure souls sweet honey and rarest sustenance. Consecrated souls find in it a dwelling, their love and their life. In it they will se...

Mass Readings: April 9

COWARDICE AND APATHY

"Do not tell us you too have been taken in!" –John 7:46

The temple guards were very impressed with Jesus. They said: "No man ever spoke like that before" (Jn 7:46). Nicodemus knew Jesus was a Teacher Who came from God (Jn 3:2), and wanted to give Him a fair hearing (Jn 7:50ff). The chief priests and Pharisees admitted that many of the common ...

Two sacrifices of the Old Law were, before all others, representative of the Sacrifice of the Divine Redeemer. The first is that of Abraham, who, in obedience to God's command, offers his son Isaac as a holocaust; but God accepts his good-will, and spares the life of Isaac. The second very celebrated example, also in the time of Abraham, and more nearly figurative of the Eucharist, is the sacrifice of Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem).

Abraham was returning victorious, and bea...

Mass Readings: April 8

NOT WELCOME IN HIS OWN HOME

"After this, Jesus moved about within Galilee. He had decided not to travel in Judea because some of the Jews were looking for a chance to kill Him." –John 7:1

Why was Jesus, the Holy One, traveling about in "heathen Galilee" (Mt 4:15), the pagan territory? It was because His life was in danger in the "holy" territory. Jesus had...

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Joel Cheatwood, a senior Fox News executive who Beck hired away to his own company, will serve as the main liaison between the two networks. Both Beck and Fox News have been hinting that a split could be forthcoming.

The New York Times reported that Fox News was "contemplating life without" Beck. Later that month, Beck told his radio listeners that, no matter what happened, they would "continue to find each other."

The announcement ended months of spe...

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil.  And He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, He was hungry."  (Luke 4:1-2)

1. What is fasting?
      Fasting means that on certain days, you may eat --
   1. One full meal with meat (unless it is also a day of abstinence)
   2. Two small meals without meat.
   3. No food between meals.
   
   

   A fast day consists of 24 hours, from ...

"And one of them, a doctor of the law, asked Him, tempting Him:  'Master, which is the great commandment in the law?'  Jesus said to him:  'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.  And the second is like to this:  Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.'"  (Matthew 22:35-40)

1. What is charity...

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.  The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.  For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man:  But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison.  By it we bless God and the Father:  and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness...

"Thou shalt not steal."  (Exodus 20:15)

"A thief is better than a man that is always lying:  but both of them shall inherit destruction."  (Ecclesiasticus 20:27)

"He that stealeth any thing from his father, or from his mother:  and saith, 'This is no sin', is the partner of a murderer."  (Proverbs 28:24)

"Nor thieves, nor covetous... nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God."  (Corinthians 6:9-10)

"He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labor...

"But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  Now God hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up also by His power.  Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?  Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?  God forbid.  Or know you not, that he who is joined to a harlot, is made one body?  For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh.  But he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.  Fly fornic...

"And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth:  and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul."  (Genesis 2:7)

1. What is the Fifth Commandment?
      Thou shalt not kill.
   
   
2. What does the Fifth Commandment oblige you to do?
      To take care of your own life and the lives of others.
   
   
3. What are the mortal sins against the Fifth Commandment?
   1. Murder, the unjust killing of an innocent person.
   2. Abortion, deliberately causing the death of an unborn baby.
   3. Suicide, taki...

"Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his life; and if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in thy strength:  for the relieving of the father shall not be forgotten.  For good shall be repaid to thee for the sin of thy mother.  And in justice thou shalt be built up, and in the day of affliction thou shalt be remembered:  and thy sins shall melt away as the ice in the fair warm weather."  (Ecclesiasticus ...

"Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.  Six days shalt thou labor, and shalt do all thy works.  But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:  thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.  For in six days the Lord made Heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day:  therefore the Lord blessed th...

"Kings of the earth and all people:  princes and all judges of the earth:  Young men and maidens:  let the old with the younger, praise the name of the Lord:  for His name alone is exalted."  (Psalm 148:11-13)

"But [Our Lord] emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.  He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.  For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him ...

"Come let us praise the Lord with joy:  let us joyfully sing to God our savior.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  For in His hand are all the ends of the earth:  and the heights of the mountains are His.  For the sea is His, and He made it:  and His hands formed the dry land.  Come let us adore and fall down:  and weep before the Lord that made us.  For H...

"But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)

1. To give their children the necessary food, clothing and shelter.
      This obligation rests on both parents, whether living together or separated.  They must also keep their children from all danger to life and protect them from possible death.
   
   
2. To give them good example....

"Then Tobias exhorted the virgin, and said to her:  'Sara, arise, and let us pray to God today, and tomorrow, and the next day:  because for these three nights we are joined to God:  and when the third night is over, we will be in our own wedlock.  For we are the children of saints, and we must not be joined together like heathens that know not God.'  So they both arose, and prayed earnestly both together that health might be given them, and Tobias said:  'Lord God of our father...

"Being subject one to another, in the fear of Christ.  Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord:  Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church.  He is the savior of His body.  Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things.
   "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it:  That He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in t...

I often see the Child Jesus during Holy Mass. He is extremely beautiful. He appears to be about one year old. Once, when I saw the same Child during Mass in our chapel, I was seized with a violent desire and an irresistible longing to approach the altar and take the Child Jesus. At that moment, the Christ Child was standing by me on the side of my kneeler, and He leaned with His two little hands against my shoulder, gracious and joyful, His look deep and penetrating. But when the pr...

Mass Readings: April 7

I DESIRE MERCY

"Then He spoke of exterminating them, but Moses, His chosen one, withstood Him in the breach to turn back His destructive wrath." –Psalm 106:23

The scene described in Psalm 106:23 above might leave the impression that God is angry, vengeful, and eager to punish. A more complete interpretation is that God is perfectly just. Sins, both personal and nati...

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) -  It is hard to believe it has been six years since the one whom I call with deep affection, "My Champion", the soon to be Blessed John Paul II, went home to the Father's house. I still feel the pain of loss as do millions around the world. Right before he died, Pope John Paul said, "I am happy. You should be, too. Let us pray together with joy."  As I grow older it has become so clear that he is the man who has most influenced my life, shaped my thought ...

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On Monday, April 4, 2011, President Barack Obama announced his re-election campaign with a You Tube video and massive email blast. The title of the video was "It Begins with us."  It presented a cross section of supporters who pledged their support. For example, there is a young man who was not able to vote in 2008 but will work to re-elect him; an Hispanic family seeking opportunities to live the American dream; and a white Southerner who doesn't agr...

CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - Fr. Roy Bourgeois is a Catholic Priest who was ordained to the priesthood in 1972.  He is also a member of the Maryknoll Order. From the beginning of his priestly ministry he worked with the poor and the oppressed. He took public and sometimes controversial stands against Latin American leaders who did not respect human dignity and seemed to have little concern for the oppressed or the poor. He founded the "School of the America's Watch" in 1990 to c...

One who thirsted eagerly for God was Charles de Foucald whose prodigal and shocking way of life provoked so much gossip in Paris that he was the butt of violent feelings and jokes among French soldiers.

Born September 15, 1858, of fabulous wealth, at one point of his shady life he stated: "I was so completely selfish, so completely vain, so completely irreligious, and utterly given over to wickedness, that I was only one step away from insanity."

God seemed to him to be infinitely...

Mass Readings: April 6

THE MOST REJECTED PERSON

"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.' Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." –Isaiah 49:14-15

The Israelites were so traumatized by their defeat at the hands of the Babylonian army and subsequent exile into Bab...

"But for fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.  Let the husband render the debt to his wife, and the wife also in like manner to the husband.  The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband.  And in like manner the husband also hath not power of his own body, but the wife.  Defraud not one another, except, perhaps, by consent, for a time, that you may give yourselves to p...

"And God created man to His own image:  to the image of God He created him:   male and female He created them.  And God blessed them, saying:  Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.'"  (Genesis 1:27-28)

1. Who made marriage?
      God made marriage and the laws concerning marriage.
   
   
2. When did God make marriage?
      When He created Adam and Eve.
   
   
3. Why did God make marriage?
      For two purposes:
   1. For bringing children into the world and rearing them...
   2. For ...

"Having therefore a great high priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God: let us hold fast our confession.  For we have not a high priest, who cannot have compassion on our infirmities:  but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.  Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace in seasonable aid.  For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that He may offer up gifts and sacrifices f...

"Is any man sick among you?  Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man:  and the Lord shall raise him up:  and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him."  (James 5:14-15)

1. What is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction?
      Extreme Unction is the Sacrament which gives health and strength to the soul and sometimes to the body to persons who are in danger of death.

   The ...

"Jesus saith to them:  'But whom do you say that I am?'  Simon Peter answered and said:  'Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.'  And Jesus answering, said to him:  'Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven.  And I say to thee:  That thou art Peter; and upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of Heave...

1. Examination of conscience.
      Kneel in church and ask God to help you know your sins.  Try to remember, as well as you can, what sins you have committed since your last Confession and how many times or how often you committed each one.  Tell God that you are sorry for your sins.  Then go over to the confessional booth and pray while waiting your turn to go in.
   
   
2. In the confessional.
   1. Kneel down and wait until the priest opens the little window.  Make the Sign of the Cross and say:  "Fo...

"Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them:  'Peace be to you.'  And when He had said this, he shewed them His hands and His side.  The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.  He said therefore to them again:  'Peace be to you.  As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.'  When He had said this, He breat...

"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a clean oblation:  for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."  (Malachias 1:11)

"And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple wa...

"I am the bread of life.  Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.  This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.  I am the living bread which came down from Heaven.  If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world."
   "The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying:  How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"
   "Then Jesus said to them: ...

"Now when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.  Who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.  For he was not as yet come upon any of them; but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost."  (Acts 8:14-17)

1. What is Confirmation?
      Confirmation is the Sacrament which gives you th...

"Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned...  For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just."  (Romans 5:12, 19)

Read the first three chapters of Genesis.

1. What is Original Sin?
       The sin committed by Adam, the father of the human race.  By Original Sin, Adam lost Sanctifying Grace.
   
   
2. Who were Adam and Eve?
       The first man and wom...

When, in the thirteenth century, the Waldenses and Albigenses... spread false doctrines concerning the Blessed Sacrament, divine Providence ordained that, in opposition to these errors, a public profession of faith should be made by all Christendom. The will of God was made known to an obscure and pious religious named Juliana who lived near Liege. This humble and devout person had been privileged to behold in her lifetime heavenly mysteries... In a vision she saw the full moon in i...

Mass Readings: April 5

DEPTH CHARGE

"The water had risen so high it had become a river." –Ezekiel 47:5

Ezekiel's miraculous river symbolizes the Christian life. Jesus promised: "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never be thirsty; no, the water I give shall become a fountain within him, leaping up to provide eternal life" (Jn 4:14).

"There's a river of life flowing out through...

KNOXVILLE, TN (Catho...

Today everything which concerns the Sacred Heart of Jesus has become familiar and doubly dear to me. My life seems destined to be spent in the light irradiating from the tabernacle, and it is to the heart of Jesus that I must look for a solution of all my troubles. I feel as if I would be ready to shed my blood for the cause of the Sacred Heart. My fondest wish is to be able to do something for that precious object of my love. At times the thought of my arrogance, of my unbelievable ...

Mass Readings: April 4

LET YOUR VOICE REJOICE

"There shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create." –Isaiah 65:18

Sadly, in our modern secular culture, there isn't always rejoicing and happiness in what God creates. Many groan when God creates a new life in the womb. The following comments are routinely heard these days: "You're pregnant again?" "That baby has birth defect...

When Christ promised that He would give His very Flesh to eat, the Jews protested because they imagined a natural and cannibalistic eating of Christ's Body. Christ refuted this notion of the manner in which His Flesh was to be received by saying that He would ascend into Heaven, not leaving His Body in its human form upon earth. But He did not say that they were not to eat His actual body. He would thus contradict Himself, for a little earlier He had said, "My flesh is meat indeed an...

Mass Readings: April 3

BAPTISM AND BLINDNESS

"So the man went off and washed, and came back able to see." –John 9:7

Three weeks from today will be Easter Sunday. On this most holy day, in every Catholic Church throughout the world, the Lord will call us to renew our baptismal promises by renouncing Satan and professing our faith in God the Father, Son, and Spir...

When Elizabeth Seton returned to New York she attended her own church as usual, but chose a side pew which faced the Catholic church opposite. She records that she constantly found herself speaking to the Blessed Sacrament there "instead of looking at the naked altar where I was, or minding the routine of prayers."

Later after she had become a Catholic, she burned with faith at no time more strongly than when she was about to receive Communion.

She wrote: "God is everywhere, in th...

We must start practicing what we have said as soon as we come out from Mass. We must really make the effort, each one within his or her own limits, to offer our "bodies" to our brethren, and that is to say, our time, energy and attention–in a word, our lives. When Jesus had pronounced the words: "Take... this is my body; take... this is my blood," he didn't allow much time to pass before doing what he had promised: a few hours later he gave his life and blood on the Cross. Otherwi...