Blogposts

Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

Our contemporaries, including many Christians, reject the notion of hell as something incompatible with God’s love and mercy. In fact there have been those who have maintained that at the end even Satan will be reconciled to God, a theory called apocatastasis, meaning a restoration to the original state, that the Church has rejected as contrary to the teachings of the Faith.

Sad to say strange things, sometimes non-Catholic things, are increasingly said at Catholic funeral Masses today sometimes by clergy and sometimes by laity in a eulogy. Clergy proclaim erroneously that the deceased is in Heaven so that the funeral Mass is used as a canonization ceremony or a eulogy proclaims the whole Mass is a eulogy celebrating the life of the deceased. The funeral Mass, or for that matter, any Mass is not a human celebration of us but the supreme and perfect worship of God through Jesus Christ offering Himself on our behalf as Priest, Offering, and Altar.

A recent article notes: A rainbow is an optical illusion. The latter term means: an image seen by the eye that differs from what is actually there. The rainbow occurs when sunlight hits water droplets, be they raindrops, mist from a waterfall, or fog. In order to be visible, the rainbow must be directly in front of the viewer, and the sun must be behind him….. Even though it seems to be an arc, a rainbow is actually a circle. An observer only sees the half above the horizon. Since the rainbow is an optical illusion, every viewer sees a different one. Vantage points and horizons differ.

Importance: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is intimately associated with the most fundamental teachings of the Gospel: (1) Jesus is the revelation of the Father’s infinite love in Person. (2) As true God and true Man he has a personal interest in every human being. (3)This love was seen from the very outset to be symbolized in Christ’s human heart.

Why do people exit the church before Mass ends usually right after Communion? Sadly, it’s a long existing phenomenon in many parishes. Obviously there are real emergencies that can take place where people have to leave church early. That’s not the issue here. St Philip Neri, a 16th century saint, assigned two Mass servers to accompany a man, down the street, who left church after Communion, with lighted candles .The man, of course, returned demanding an explanation, which gave the saint a chance to explain the importance of taking time to thank God for the gift of the Eucharist. The final blessing and dismissal send us forth to transmit what we have received to our brothers and sisters.

Let us now consider what the Apostle's spiritual preparation for preaching was. The three qualities of his equipment most worthy of note are these: First of all he was a man who always fully conformed himself to God's will. There can be no doubt that he made such progress in the apostolate because he conformed with such perfect submission to the will of God. Wherefore like St. Paul, every preacher devoted to the salvation of souls should be first of all so zealous for God's service as to feel no concern about who his hearers are to be, what success he will have, or what fruits he is to reap.

Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the Spirit-Comforter. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served.

To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. (emphasis added) Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Second Vatican Council

Importance: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is intimately associated with the most fundamental teachings of the Gospel: (1) Jesus is the revelation of the Father’s infinite love in Person. (2) As true God and true Man he has a personal interest in every human being. (3)This love was seen from the very outset to be symbolized in Christ’s human heart. The earliest Christians contemplated the crucified Savior with deep veneration and love. They meditated on his wounds with a special emphasis upon the wound in his side. At a later date under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they came to see in the opened side the wounded Heart of the Lamb of God.

Register your opposition to the assisted suicide bill being proposed here in New York.

Encyclical Letter On Atheistic Communism

A bedrock principle of Catholic social teaching is the obligation to “work for the common good.” The common good is defined as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine #164

St. Paul refers in his writings to the fundamental event of his life, which we read about in today’s first reading at Mass. It had remained forever ingrained in his mind. Then on his journey, when he was nearly at Damascus, a light from heaven shone suddenly about him. He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are You, Lord?’ he asked. And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you persecute. ’In this first revelation, Jesus shows himself as personally and intimately united to his disciples whom Paul is persecuting. Later on, the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, one of the central topics in his preaching, would show this profound unity among Christians, on account of their being united to their Head, who is Christ.

The recent document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) Dignitas Infinita states that death penalty violates the inalienable dignity of every person regardless of circumstances. Catholic philosopher Edward Feser, an expert on the subject of the Church’s teaching and capital punishment says the following: …This simply cannot be reconciled with scripture and the consistent teaching of all popes who have spoken on the matter prior to Pope Francis. That includes Pope St. John Paul II, despite his well-known opposition to capital punishment.

The life of the first Christians and their witness to the world make known to us their quality and their character. Their norm of conduct was not to take the easy way out, or opt for the more comfortable line or the more popular decision but rather did they seek to fulfill completely the will of God. They ignored the danger of death…they forgot how few they were, they never noticed how many were against them or the power or strength or wisdom of their enemies. Their power was greater than all of that: theirs was the power of him who had died on the Cross and risen again. They had their gaze riveted on Christ, who gave his life for all men. They were not seeking their own personal glory, nor the applause of their fellow citizens. They always acted with a right intention, because they had their eyes fixed on the Lord. That is what allows St. Stephen to say at the moment of his martyrdom: Lord do not take their sin into account…

We have heard the passage from the Acts of the Apostles (20:17-38) in which Saint Paul speaks to the presbyters of Ephesus, intentionally recounted by Saint Luke as the testament of the apostle, as a discourse destined not only for the presbyters of Ephesus, but for the presbyters of all time. Saint Paul is speaking not only with those who were present in that place, he is really speaking with us, so let us try to understand a little of what he is saying to us, at this time. [...]