Blogposts

Hollywood and Christianity

03-17-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

Any observer of films/TV programs coming from Hollywood today can see that Christianity and particularly Catholicism is often presented in a negative light. Why is that? Don Feder sought to answer that question in an essay years ago for Front Page Magazine. He asserted that Hollywood hates authentic Christians because the Faith is diametrically opposed to the worldview of a good many of the producers, actors, and directors who control Hollywood. What is that Hollywood worldview?

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Why Did Jesus Pray?

03-10-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

The omnipotent God does not need to ask for anything because He has the power to effect whatever He wills. Jesus was fully God, so why does He pray? If well understood, the answer to this question will shed light on many of the highest mysteries of the Faith. Understanding the principle that will be discussed in this short article is the key to understanding some of the most obscure doctrines, such as divine providence, predestination, and free will. Here is the principle that must be understood before answering why Christ prayed. (St.)Thomas says: Divine providence disposes not only what effects shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order these effects shall proceed. To put it another way, God determines not only what happens but also how it happens.

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The Battle Station, Station Days, Station Churches

03-03-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

Station days were days of fasting in the early Christian Church, associated with a procession to certain prescribed churches in Rome, where the Mass and Vespers would be celebrated to mark important days of the liturgical year. Station days grew out of the early Christian practice of visiting the tombs of the martyrs and celebrating the Eucharist at those sites. By the fourth century, the practice of carrying out an itinerary to various churches of the city began to develop during the days of Lent. In those days it became a tradition for the pope to visit a church in each part of the city and celebrate Mass with the congregation.

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Defilement in the Cathedral and Its Meaning

02-25-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

…. the radical subversion of normal human life in the name of a paranoid metaphysical delusion. Edward Feser (see below)

You may have read about or seen this on the internet. It was reported worldwide: At a funeral service on February 15 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, men dressed as women and women dressed as men turned out to honor Cecilia Gentili.

Gentili is a man who falsely claimed to be a woman. He was an illegal alien, a drug addict, prostitute, trans-activist and atheist .This was the correct depiction of what happened in the Cathedral on the website of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. https://www.catholicleague.org/trans-activists-defile-st-patricks-cathedral/ Catholic journalist Philip Lawler put it this way: The grotesque “funeral service” for Cecilia Gentilli was a carefully planned ploy to use a renowned Catholic church as the stage for an event glorifying sexual perversity. Sadly, it worked—and the cathedral was desecrated in the process. And because it was successful, we can all be sure that other LGBT activists will try it again. And again and again.

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Lent & Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

02-18-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

The primary purpose of the devotion is to make reparation for sins against the first three commandments: Denial of God, Blasphemy, and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days.

Devotion to the Holy Face was revealed by Jesus to Sr. Marie of St. Peter (1816-1848) a Carmelite nun of Tours in France. The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, based on the life and writings of Sr. Marie of St. Peter, was eventually approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885 who established the devotion as an Arch-confraternity for the whole world.

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Counterfeits……….

02-11-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

A common tactic of Satan is to imitate or counterfeit the things of God in order to make himself appear to be like God. What is commonly referred to as the “unholy trinity,” is described vividly in Revelation 12 and 13. . The Holy Trinity consists of God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Their counterfeits in the unholy trinity are Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. While the Holy Trinity is characterized by infinite truth, love, and goodness, the unholy trinity portrays the diametrically opposite traits of deception, hatred, and unadulterated evil. Satan is the anti-God, the Beast from the sea is the anti-Christ, and the beast from the earth or the False Prophet is the anti-Spirit. This unholy trinity will persecute believers and deceive many others, resulting in their eternal death. But God’s kingdom will prevail. Daniel 7:21–22 states, “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.”

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Why Pre-Lent or Shrovetide?

02-04-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

Pre-Lent in the West

Shrovetide, also known as the Pre-Lenten Season, is the Christian period of preparation before the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. The preparation marks seventy, sixty, and fifty days before Easter. Ash Wednesday begins the forty days of Lent. The word shrove is a form of the English word shrive, which means to give absolution for someone's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday was named after the custom of Christians to be "shriven" before the start of Lent.

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