There is no shortage of bad news in the Catholic Church today. Scandal, Catholic-in-name-only politicians and policy makers, reduced mass attendance, especially among the young, and on and on and on. Are you finally ready for some “Good News?” We thought so. That’s why Saint Joseph Communications has produced a Special Edition of Scott Hahn’s popular DVD The Splendor of the Church.
External Attraction
When renowned convert Scott Hahn began to study Catholicism, he quickly discovered an authentic splendor about the Catholic Church. At first he was attracted by the Church’s artwork, architecture, intellectual and cultural achievements, humanitarian services, miraculous elements and the heroic virtues of the Saints. But looking closer he found an even more exciting interior splendor, especially in liturgy and worship. Here Hahn discovered the amazing fulfillment of the Old Covenant Passover in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Special Edition
As you watch this new Special Edition of The Splendor of the Church, you will accompany Scott Hahn as he began to uncover the true interior splendor within the Catholic Church. You will share his contagious joy of discovery as he describes his journey through Scripture to find that Jesus is the cause of the prerogatives of Mary, that it is Jesus who established the Church, that it is Jesus who guarantees the papacy, and so much more. Plus in this newly mastered Special Edition you will see on-screen images of the many treasures of art and architecture Scott describes from his meeting with Pope John Paul II in Rome and more.
A Message to the Church
This inspiring presentation also includes a special message for Catholics in America to always love the Church and thereby avoid the path of the Biblical Church of Ephesus that “turned aside from their first love.” The message and spirit of this remarkable presentation is as fresh and encouraging as it was when it was taped in the 1990s. And this new Special Edition makes it more of a joy to watch and share than ever before! Rediscover why the true splendor of the Church, the mystery of Christ Himself, must be reclaimed, and proclaimed, today and always.
REDISCOVER!
What the Church teaches about her external splendors
What it is about the Church that sets her apart from all denominations
How the Catholic Church is the “family of God”
Why Catholic missionaries were so successful among the barbarians of Europe
What is the theme of the Mystery of Christ
Why externals matter in liturgy and worship
Why Our Lord’s words to the Church in Ephesus are crucial for Catholics today
How faith means obedience to the truth taught by the Church
No duty is more incumbent on a Catholic sovereign than to preserve and increase the Christian faith and religion and the proofs thereof, and to transmit them preserved thus inviolate to posterity, by his example in preventing them from being destroyed by any assailant of the Faith or in any wise impaired.
So, when we learned that the pest of Martin Luther's heresy had appeared in Germany and was raging everywhere, without let or hindrance, to such an extent that many, infected with its poison, were falling away, especially those whose furious hatred rather than their zeal for Christian Truth had prepared them to believe all its subtleties and lies; we were so deeply grieved at this heinous crime of the German nation (for whom we have no light regard), and for the sake of the Holy Apostolic See, that we bent all our thoughts and energies on uprooting in every possible way, this cockle, this heresy from the Lord's flock.
When we perceived that this deadly venom had advanced so far and had seized upon the weak and ill-disposed minds of so many, that it could not easily be overcome by a single effort, we deemed that nothing could be more efficient in destroying the contagion than to declare these errors worthy of condemnation, after they had been examined by a convocation of learned and scholarly men from all parts of our realm.
This course of action we likewise recommended to a number of others. In the first place, we earnestly entreated His Imperial Majesty, through our fraternal love for him, and all the electoral princes, to bethink them of their Christian duty and their lofty station and to destroy this pernicious man, together with his scandalous and heretical publications, after his refusal to return to God.
But convinced that, in our ardour for the welfare of Christendom, in our zeal for the Catholic Faith and our devotion to the Apostolic See, we had not yet done enough, we determined to show by our own writings our attitude towards Luther and our opinion of his vile books; to manifest more openly to all the world that we shall ever defend and uphold the Holy Roman Church, not only by force of arms but by the resources of our intelligence and our services as a Christian.
For this reason we have thought that this first attempt of our modest ability and learning could not be more worthily dedicated than to your Holiness, both as a token of our filial reverence and an acknowledgment of your careful solicitude for the weal of Christendom.
We feel assured that our first fruits will be enhanced in value if it be approved by the wholesome judgment of your Blessedness. May you live long and happily!
From our RoyalPalace at Greenwich, the twenty-first day of May, 1521.
Your Holiness' most devoted and humble son, Henry, by the grace of God King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland.
Patience, Endurance, Charity, Prayer and Conversion
These five words where so much lived out in the life of St. Monica.
Patience - The waiting must have been terrible for St. Monica who watched her son, St. Augustine drift into paganism and eventually come back to the Catholic faith.
Endurance - Being given in marriage to a cruel, pagan man whom she didn't know or love. Knowing that she must obey her parents and their choice for her suitor.
Charity - She had been taught to love the poor and the suffering, and to serve them at her own expense and inconvenience, and the service of others makes one unselfish. She showed this charity to her servants and to her aging mother-in-law who was a very controlling woman.
Prayer - The unceasing prayers of St. Monica helped many including her husband, Patricius; his mother, her children - Navigius, Perpetua and her eldest son, Augustine; who came back to the faith and was baptized at the age of 33 by St. Ambrose. Never underestimate the power of prayer.
Conversion - Her personal and continual interior conversion and spiritual renewal graced her with dependence upon constant prayer and intercession for her family members.
To these five words we need to add Obedience and Trust. Without obedience to God's will and trust in His most infinite mercy St. Monica would never have been able to remain faithful in patience, endurance, charity, prayer and conversion.
Prayers Of St. Monica
To you I fly for aid and for instructions, St. Monica, wondrous exemplar of unswerving prayer for children. Into your loving arms I place my children, that through your powerful intercession they may obtain the graces for genuine conversion to Christ Our Lord. To you I also humbly appeal, matron of matrons, to ask our Lord to grant me the same spirit of ceaseless prayer He granted to you. All this I ask through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen. ++
O God, Who observed the devout tears and pleading of St. Monica and granted to her prayers the conversion of her husband and the penitential return of her son, Augustine, grant us the grace to implore Thee also with earnest zeal, so that we may obtain, as she did, the salvation of our own soul and the souls of those belonging to us. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. + +
O holy Monica, by your patience and prayers you obtained from God the conversion of your husband and the grace to live in peace with him; obtain for us, we beseech you, the blessing of Almighty God, so that true harmony and peace may reign also in our homes, and that all the members of our families may attain eternal life. Amen. ++
O holy Monica, by your burning tears and unceasing prayers you saved your son from eternal damnation. Obtain for us the grace ever to comprehend what is most conducive to the salvation of our children, so that we may effectively restrain them from sin and lead them by virtue and piety to Heaven! Amen. ++
In your mercy, Lord, you received the tears of St. Monica as she wept for hers on. At the intercession of both mother and son, give us grace to weep for sin and to obtain Your Forgiveness. Amen. ++
Exemplary Mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray. Amen. ++
Advent, it seems as though we were here not so very long ago. Oh how the days fly by; this gift of life not deserved but given freely by our most loving and generous heavenly Father, is much too short. As I begin this post, I do so my dear brother and sister grandparents; who like I, have children fallen away from the Faith. These children and grandchildren are like sheep who have no Shepherd. They have no concept of their heritage in faith or their religious roots. They simply don't know; what they don't know!
This is where my circumstances enter the picture. I was raised as a Methodist and did not convert to Catholicism until my oldest son was 10 years old. The relationship I had with my Mother...if anything was strengthened with my conversion. I did things with Mom at her Church and she did things with me at my Church, we had long discussions about the differences in our respective beliefs. I came to really “know” my Mother through the openness she and I shared in these discussions and I believe she came to know me in a more intimate way as well. Not only this, but I came to a much deeper awareness of the love and respect, God commanded me to show her out of love for Him. I came to understand if I could not love and honor the parents I could see, it was impossible to love the God I could not see. I began to understand how my relationship with my mother and even my deceased father had a direct parallel relationship to my spiritual life.
Being a convert to Catholicism the wonderful ancient Christian customs for the season of Advent were not something I was aware of as I was raising my children and it saddens me I did not have the opportunity to pass them on to my sons. But in keeping my heart, mind and soul open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit I am implementing these and other spiritually deep and rich traditions as the Lord guides me in spiritual maturation in my pilgrim journey on earth.
So what does any of this have to do with the holy season of Advent and the title to this blog post? The answer in a word - everything. Now let me explain how I see this fitting into my vocation as a Catholic mother and grandmother, in my particular circumstances.
Advent is a period of prayer in preparation for the coming of Christmas...the birth of Christ and in a deeper sense the preparation of the second coming of Our Lord, at our passing from this world into eternal life. We wait in joyful hope for both the celebration of Our Lord's birth and for our heavenly reward. This type of hope is confident that what is desired will certainly be attained. It is a hope that implies a desire, which seeks and pursues some future good that is not yet possessed. This hope recognizes that the object wanted is not easily obtained and that it requires effort to overcome whatever obstacles stand in the way. This hope recognizes we are sinners and are unworthy without the Mercy and Goodness of our Lord who moves us to prayer, repentance and conversion. This hope requires perseverance and patience.
Advent is a time to humbly reflect upon who we are and who God is; to recommit ourselves to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with all our mind and strength. If we are truly in love with Him we will naturally be inclined towardsimple obedience to Our Lord as evidenced by conformity to the teachings of His Holy Catholic Church.
Patient, humble, simple obedience...these are the key elements to helping our children. They are the key elements in allowing our Lord to work through us; and Mary is our perfect example of patient, humble, simple obedience.
"Speaking against the Magisterium of the Church is presented as courageous. In reality, however, it does not take courage for this, since you can always be sure of audience applause. . . .Rather it takes courage to adhere to the faith of the Church, even if it contradicts the 'scheme' of the contemporary world. It is this non-conformism of the faith that Paul calls an 'adult faith'."
Today the Church celebrates the First Sunday of Advent. This is the beginning of a new liturgical year. The Advent liturgy opens with that great yearning cry of the prophets of Israel to the Messiah and Redeemer whose advent they awaited. "Come!" God is not deaf to His people's cry. Fulfilling the promise of salvation made to our first parents at their fall He sent His Son into the world. And the application to all generations of mankind of the redemption that the Son of God made Man obtained for us by His passion continues until the end of time: it will conclude with the end of the world when the Messiah comes to complete His work and lead us into His kingdom. The history of the Church occupies the period between these two great events.
In the Mass of this Sunday the whole work of redemption is set before us, from its preparation in Israel's expectancy and its effect on our present lives down to its final fulfillment. The Church, in preparing us to celebrate at Christmas the birth of Him who came to snatch our souls from sin and transform them into the likeness of His own, invokes upon us and on all men the complete accomplishment of the mission of salvation that He came to perform upon this earth.
On the first Sunday of Advent, the traditional opening prayer (or Collect) prayed: "Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come." With this request to God to "stir up" His might, this day was traditionally called Stir-Up Sunday. Many families create a traditional plum pudding or fruit cake or some other recipe that all the family and guests can "stir-up." This activity of stirring-up the ingredients symbolizes our hearts that must be stirred in preparation for Christ's birth.
Collect: All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I have long been aware the Culture of Death we find ourselves surrounded by is much deeper and far more insidious than may appear on the surface to the average person. It is not difficult to identify the evil that defends and supports the murder of innocent pre-born children. It is also not difficult to identify the evil that defends and supports the so-called right to die or assisted suicide policy being pushed upon us by a segment of society which has no courage or strength to endure life's struggles with the blessing of faith and trust in Divine Providence and with dignity.
What may not be so apparent to most is the fact that any lack of respect for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is at the very center of this diabolic culture we find ourselves in today.
With a little bit of reflection one can consider Matthew 22:36-39...
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind and strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18).
...And discover, it does not take much more than a little common sense and the use of reason to be cognizant of this reality. Our Lord is clearly comparing our love for Him with our love for His children.
As Christians we should be well aware every single command is an expression of these two commandments. When we read the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) we see that the first three are about loving God and the other seven are about loving our neighbor. If we were to read every line of the Bible, we would be able to put each command in column A (love of God) or column B (love of neighbor). So these two commandments are without question the root of them all.
These two commandments are precisely the ones Christians of our day, as in the past keep breaking. For some it seems, if they observe these commandments at all; it is not an act of divine worship but rather of self-promotion. For some it seems, rather than observance of the law leading to love of neighbor, it leads to the scorn of those neighbors who fail to live up to the standards of some.
Jesus did not say to just love; he said we must love the Lord with our WHOLE heart and soul and with ALL our mind and strength; and Jesus says the second commandment is like the first. That’s because the kind of wholehearted love Jesus is talking about is charity (agape), which means loving God for his own sake and all others for His sake, and doing so not by human strength, but with the divine love that is poured into our heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). When we love others with charity, we love God through them. Our every loving act towards them becomes an expression of our love for God.
Let us also reflect on Matthew 25:31-46 for a moment:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
What we notice in the reading of the sheep and the goats is not that the goats "go off to eternal punishment" for anything that they did; but rather, "'Amen, I say to you, what youdid not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' In other words the goats go off to eternal punishment for....omission....for failing to do what they ought.
From the very beginning of Genesis to the very end of Revelation, we see the story of a family; the universal family of God. We see the consequences of sin and the rewards of faithful, humble, obedience to the Will of God.
We can also see from these two readings from the Gospel of Matthew, that love does not just happen. In fact, love is a decision. Love is a decision to do the morally correct thing, it is a decision to do what we ought, it is a decision to be obedient to the Will of God.
Rather than go into any major acts of love at this point I'd like to just mention healthy communication and relationships; which is in fact an expression of Christian charity and therefore an expression (or omission; as the case may be) of our love for God.
Before we begin looking at healthy communication and relationships; lets look at some hindrances to healthy communication and relationships:
Indifference to the others problems, interests or needs.
Moodiness, grouchiness or; bad attitude.
Lack of courtesy, politeness; or consideration.
Feelings of superiority, insecurity; or jealousy.
Lack of planning, sincerity; or commitment.
Sense of being used, taking advantage of; or using the other.
Being impatient, taken for granted; or taking the other for granted.
Not treating the other with proper respect.
Insults, rudeness, sarcasm or; criticism.
Ridiculing, belittling, shunning; or ignoring.
Not listening; or not hearing what the other is saying.
Not giving to the other, the benefit of the doubt.
Being influenced by the opinion, thoughts, views; or feelings of another.
Pre-judging the others intentions, or meaning or; jumping to conclusions.
Accusing the other, bringing up old stuff, blaming; or bearing false witness.
Needing to be right, refusing to listen, cutting the other off, hanging up.
Not returning calls, e-mails, or letters.
Having a position of being offensive or defensive.
Pacifying, giving false assurance, telling the other what you think they want to hear.
Abruptly changing the subject; or minimizing the feelings of the other.
Contradictory words versus body language.
So just exactly what are some of the components of healthy communication?
Communication is both verbal (or written) and non-verbal, it is both seen and heard. Communication is an exchange of ideas and information, thoughts and feelings, opinions and facts depending on the situation. To have a healthy relationship and thus communicate in a healthy manner requires an intellectual and emotional comittment; as well as the position of mutual trust, well-being, honesty, openness, empathy, respect, acceptance and of being genuine. The genuine person is reliable, responsible, committed, helpful, spontaneous, non-defensive, consistent and willing to share openly.
The most important aspect of healthy communication is to make a decision to listen with the heart. To listen with the heart means:
I will make room in my heart beyond my feelings and beyond what I understand with my head. Listening with the heart means; I will be 'other-centered'. I put my own thoughts and feelings aside and try to take in the thoughts and feelings of the other. I go beyond the words to meet the real person who is trying to say something to me.
Some elements of listening with the heart:
A decision to listen.
An attitude of openness to listening.
The whole person is present listening.
The other, knows they are being listened to.
Clarifications and responses are given.
Listening is for the sake of the other.
Without a decision to do the morally correct thing, to do what we ought, and to be obedient to the Will of God; in our relationships with our husbands or wives, children or parents and all the other "neighbors" God puts in our lives, we risk being goats and being sent off to eternal punishment.
In conclusion, if we were more attentive to the commandments of our Lord. if we concerned ourselves with not offending Him in the little things, we would never have gotten to the point of allowing over 50 million pre-born children to be ripped from their mothers wombs or allowing adults to be deprived of food and hydration simply because they had lost value in the eyes of secular society.
The holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States with family gatherings and traditional foods. The Church also has a special liturgy for this day. The Entrance Antiphon sets the tone for our religious observance, "Sing and play music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:19-20). Eucharist means Thanksgiving and we should be especially grateful for this most sublime gift. We hope you will enjoy some of our recipes and suggestions for this day. Let's try to celebrate as Christians remembering to be temperate as we carve the turkey and eat the pies.
The following suggested petitions would make a nice addition to our meal prayers:
That the Church throughout the world will more vigorously thank the Lord for His kindness towards His children. Lord hear our prayer.
That the government of our beloved country will never forget to praise and thank the Almighty who is the generous Giver of each gift. Lord hear our prayer.
That those who suffer may recall that God still loves them and wants to lead them to unending peace in the next world. Lord hear our prayer.
That all Americans on Thanksgiving Day will be blessed with a fresh awareness of the loving Most Blessed Trinity from whom all good things come. Lord hear our prayer.
That those Americans who have no faith in God may be touched by grace this day and seek the Creator of the universe. Lord hear our prayer.
That the faithful departed will soon gather around God's altar in paradise where they will joyfully thank Him for ever. Lord hear our prayer.
The way to "enter" into God's Kingdom "does not permit shortcuts"; rather, "every person must freely welcome the truth of the love of God. He is Love and Truth and both love and truth never impose themselves: they knock at the door of the heart and mind and, wherever they may enter, they bring peace and joy. This is God's way of reigning; this is his project of salvation, a 'mystery' in the biblical sense of the word, which is a plan that is revealed little by little throughout history." — Pope Benedict XVI
The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man's thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. The feast is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ's royalty over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations.
Today's Mass establishes the titles for Christ's royalty over men: 1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe and hence wields a supreme power over all things; "All things were created by Him"; 2) Christ is our Redeemer, He purchased us by His precious Blood, and made us His property and possession; 3) Christ is Head of the Church, "holding in all things the primacy"; 4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as his special possession and dominion.
Today's Mass also describes the qualities of Christ's kingdom. This kingdom is: 1) supreme, extending not only to all peoples but also to their princes and kings; 2) universal, extending to all nations and to all places; 3) eternal, for "The Lord shall sit a King forever"; 4) spiritual, Christ's "kingdom is not of this world".
— Rt. Rev. Msgr. Rudolph G. Bandas
Before the reform of the Roman Calendar in 1969, this feast was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. Christ the King as Represented in the Liturgy The liturgy is an album in which every epoch of Church history immortalizes itself. Therein, accordingly, can be found the various pictures of Christ beloved during succeeding centuries. In its pages we see pictures of Jesus suffering and in agony; we see pictures of His Sacred Heart; yet these pictures are not proper to the nature of the liturgy as such; they resemble baroque altars in a gothic church. Classic liturgy knows but one Christ: the King, radiant, majestic, and divine.
With an ever-growing desire, all Advent awaits the "coming King"; in the chants of the breviary we find repeated again and again the two expressions "King" and "is coming." On Christmas the Church would greet, not the Child of Bethlehem, but the Rex Pacificus — "the King of peace gloriously reigning." Within a fortnight, there follows a feast which belongs to the greatest of the feasts of the Church year -- the Epiphany. As in ancient times oriental monarchs visited their principalities (theophany), so the divine King appears in His city, the Church; from its sacred precincts He casts His glance over all the world....On the final feast of the Christmas cycle, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holy Church meets her royal Bridegroom with virginal love: "Adorn your bridal chamber, O Sion, and receive Christ your King!" The burden of the Christmas cycle may be summed up in these words: Christ the King establishes His Kingdom of light upon earth!
If we now consider the Easter cycle, the luster of Christ's royal dignity is indeed somewhat veiled by His sufferings; nevertheless, it is not the suffering Jesus who is present to the eyes of the Church as much as Christ the royal Hero and Warrior who upon the battlefield of Golgotha struggles with the mighty and dies in triumph. Even during Lent and Passiontide the Church acclaims her King. The act of homage on Palm Sunday is intensely stirring; singing psalms in festal procession we accompany our Savior singing: Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe, "Glory, praise and honor be to Thee, Christ, O King!" It is true that on Good Friday the Church meditates upon the Man of Sorrows in agony upon the Cross, but at the same time, and perhaps more so, she beholds Him as King upon a royal throne. The hymn Vexilla Regis, "The royal banners forward go," is the more perfect expression of the spirit from which the Good Friday liturgy has arisen. Also characteristic is the verse from Psalm 95, Dicite in gentibus quia Dominus regnavit, to which the early Christians always added, a ligno, "Proclaim among the Gentiles: the Lord reigns from upon the tree of the Cross!" During Paschal time the Church is so occupied with her glorified Savior and Conqueror that kingship references become rarer; nevertheless, toward the end of the season we celebrate our King's triumph after completing the work of redemption, His royal enthronement on Ascension Thursday.
Neither in the time after Pentecost is the picture of Christ as King wholly absent from the liturgy. Corpus Christi is a royal festival: "Christ the King who rules the nations, come, let us adore" (Invit.). In the Greek Church the feast of the Transfiguration is the principal solemnity in honor of Christ's kingship, Summum Regem gloriae Christum adoremus (Invit.). Finally at the sunset of the ecclesiastical year, the Church awaits with burning desire the return of the King of Majesty.
We will overlook further considerations in favor of a glance at the daily Offices. How often do we not begin Matins with an act of royal homage: "The King of apostles, of martyrs, of confessors, of virgins — come, let us adore" (Invit.). Lauds is often introduced with Dominus regnavit, "The Lord is King". Christ as King is also a first consideration at the threshold of each day; for morning after morning we renew our oath of fidelity at Prime: "To the King of ages be honor and glory." Every oration is concluded through our Mediator Christ Jesus "who lives and reigns forever." Yes, age-old liturgy beholds Christ reigning as King in His basilica (etym.: "the king's house"), upon the altar as His throne.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Almighty and merciful God, you break the power of evil and make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth acclaim your glory and never cease to praise you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (as it is known in the West), or The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (its name in the East), is a liturgical feast celebrated by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
The feast is associated with an event recounted not in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Infancy Narrative of James. According to that text, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they would bear a child. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary remained in the Temple until puberty, at which point she was assigned to Joseph as guardian. Later versions of the story (such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary) tell us that Mary was taken to the Temple at around the age of three in fulfillment of a vow. Tradition held that she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Mother of God.
The feast originated as a result of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary the New, built in the year 543 by the Byzantines under Emperor Justinian I near the site of the ruined Temple in Jerusalem. Although this basilica was destroyed by the SassanidPersians under Khosrau II after the Siege of Jerusalem (614), the feast continued to be celebrated throughout the East. The feast was celebrated in the monasteries of Southern Italy by the ninth century and was later introduced into the Papal Chapel in Avignon in the year 1372 by a decree of Pope Gregory XI.[1] It was included in the Roman Missal in 1472. But, as the fact of the "Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" is only a pious belief, but not a defined matter of faith, it was suppressed by Pope Pius V in 1568.[2] As a result, it did not appear in the Tridentine Calendar. Pope Sixtus V reintroduced it into the Roman Calendar in 1585.[3]Pope Clement VIII made this feast a Greater Double in 1597.[4] The feast also continued as a memorial in the Roman Calendar of 1969.
The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates it as one of its twelve Great Feasts, with the first documented celebration of the feast in any calendar being the mention of the Εἴσοδος τῆς Παναγίας Θεοτόκου (Entry of the All-Holy Theotokos - i.e. into the Temple) in the 11th-century Menology of the Eastern Roman (also known as Byzantine) emperor Basil II.
For the Roman Catholic Church, on the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "we celebrate that dedication of herself which Mary made to God from her very childhood under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who filled her with grace at her Immaculate Conception."[5]
November 21 is also a "Pro Orantibus" Day, a day of prayer for cloistered religious"totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and concealment."[6]
Eternal Father, we honor the holiness and glory of the Virgin Mary. May her prayers bring us the fullness of your life and love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The relic of ST. WILLIAM came to our home by way of a close friend who is a religious sister. She had been instrumental in my finally committing to establishing my prayer room specifically intended for prayer, meditation, contemplation, spiritual reading and journaling...anything of that nature. She asked around to some of the priests in the archdiocese who might have a relic available and explained my new prayer room. It was not more than a day or two and ST. WILLIAM came into my possession. He came with some information concerning his history and background, but of course I wanted to find out everything there was to know about him. I also wanted pictures.
After completing my research it was very obvious why ST. WILLIAM came to our home. To begin with, although his persecution seems to have been of a more cruel and severe nature...or maybe not, still the witness he portrayed in living a life of faith and prayer caused those around him to mock, reject and lie about him. However the example of prayer as his chief dependence; as well as his constancy, patience and meekness; are qualities this great holy man gives me to follow in my walk of martyrdom. A brief biography along with additional links follow.
He was born of an illustrious family in Paris, about the year 1105, and received his education in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, under his uncle Hugh, the abbot. By the regularity of his conduct, and the sanctity of his manners, he was the admiration of the whole community. Having finished his studies, he was ordained sub-deacon, and installed canon in the church of St. Genevieve-du-Mont. His assiduity in prayer, love of retirement and mortification, and exemplary life, seemed a troublesome censure of the slothful and worldly life of his colleagues; and what ought to have gained him their esteem and affection, served to provoke their envy and malice against him.
Having in vain endeavored to prevail on this reformer of their chapter, as they called him, to resign his canonry, in order to remove him at a distance, they presented him to the curacy of Epinay, a church five leagues from Paris, depending on their chapter. But not long after, pope Eugenius III. coming to Paris, in 1147, and being informed of the irregular conduct of these canons, he commissioned the celebrated Suger, abbot of St. Denys, and prime minister to King Louis the Young, to expel them, and introduce in their room regular canons from the abbey of St. Victor: which was happily carried into execution, Eudo of St. Victor's being made the first abbot. St. William with joy embraced this institute, and was by his fervor and devotion a pattern to the most perfect. He was in a short time chosen sub-prior.
The perfect spirit of religion and regularity which he established in that community, was an illustrious proof of the incredible influence which the example of a prudent superior has over docile religious minds. His zeal for regular discipline he tempered with so much sweetness and modesty in his injunctions, that made all to love the precept itself, and to practise with cheerfulness whatever was prescribed them. The reputation of his wisdom and sanctity reached the ears of Absalon, bishop of Roschild, in Denmark, who, being one of the most holy prelates of his age, earnestly sought to allure him into his diocese. He sent the provost of his church, who seems to have been the learned historian Saxo the Grammarian, to Paris on this errand. A prospect of labors and dangers for the glory of God was a powerful motive with the saint, and he cheerfully undertook the voyage. The bishop appointed him abbot of Eskille, a monastery of regular canons which he had reformed. Here St. William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification; but had much to suffer from the persecutions of powerful men, from the extreme poverty of his house in a severe climate, and, above all, from a long succession of interior trials: but the most perfect victory over himself was the fruit of his constancy, patience, and meekness. On prayer was his chief dependence, and it proved his constant support.
During the thirty years of his abbacy, he had the comfort to see many walk with fervor in his steps. He never left off wearing his hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Penetrated with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, making himself a victim to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice, together with, and through the merits of the holy victim offered thereon: the dispositions in which every Christian ought to assist at it. He died on the 6th of April, 1203, and was canonized by Honorius III. in 1224. See his life by a disciple in Surius, and at large in Papebroke's Continuation of Bollandus, t. 1, Apr. p. 620. Also M. Gourdan in his MSS. Lives of Illustrious Men among the regular Canons at St. Victor's, in Paris, kept in the library of MSS. in that house, in fol. t. 2, pp. 324 and 814.
One assumes that The New York Times would have been glad to receive an Op-Ed article from the new Archbishop of New York.
The Archdiocese of New York is responsible for a very important part of the city's educational, medical, and charitable life. The newspaper refused to print it. Such censorship only whets the appetite to know what was thought not fit to print. There are many items that the Times, which claims to publish everything that's fit to print, has printed although they were not fit. There were, for instance, its mockery in 1920 of Goddard's hypothesis that rocket propulsion can take place in a vacuum, a denial of Stalin's forced famine in Ukraine and a whitewash of his show trials by its Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty, its advocacy of Fidel Castro, and its benign regard for the Soviet spy Alger Hiss. So there had to be some journalistic equivalent of a cerebral stroke to make the editors of the Times unable to print Archbishop Dolan's words.
A Prayer for PriestsIn this Year of the Priest, O God,
we ask Your blessing on those
You have called to priestly ministry.
May they, above all, be faithful and passionate
followers of Your beloved Son, Jesus.
May they be compassionate, as Jesus was,
toward all who seek spiritual comfort
and forgiveness.
May they open wide their hearts
to all in need of Your merciful embrace.
May they be teachers, as Jesus was,
steeped in Your Word and teaching, on fire
with it, and breaking it open for all who are
hungry for Your holy and transforming Word.
May they be prophets, as Jesus was,
speaking courageously for what is right and
true, proclaiming Your kingdom to all in need
of Your grace and giving voice to all Your
children, especially the poor and marginalized.
May they be prayerful, as Jesus was,
hearts burning within them and set upon You
above all.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
may they be the voice of praise and thanksgiving,
and of faith, hope, and love to all in their care.
St. John Vianney, beloved priest of God, pray
for us and for all your brother priests.
Library Document: "Dear Congressman Kennedy" CatholicCulture.org CatholicCulture.org has a document library, catechism, Catholic web site reviews, the liturgical year and many other resources! All are easily referenced. Catholic Culture is a well developed, primary resource for Catholics. Visit CatholicCulture.org to find out more.
Catholics Come Home "Epic" ( :120)
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I am a former Protestant minister. Like so many others who have trodden the path that leads to Rome by way of that country known as Protestantism, I never imagined I would one day convert to Catholicism.
By temperament and training I’m more of a pastor than a scholar, so the story of my conversion to the Catholic Church may lack the technical details in which theologians traffic and in which some readers delight. But I hope I will accurately explain why I did what I did, and why I believe with all my heart that all Protestants should do likewise.
I won’t dwell on the details of my early years, except to say that I was raised by two loving parents in a nominally Protestant home, and I went through most of the experiences that make up the childhood and adolescence of the typical American baby-boomer. I was taught to love Jesus and go to church on Sunday. I also managed to blunder into most of the dumb mistakes that other kids in my generation made. But after a season of teenage rebellion, when I was twenty years old, I experienced a radical re-conversion to Jesus Christ.
I turned away from the lures of the world and became serious about prayer and Bible study.
As a young adult, I made a recommitment to Christ, accepting him as my Lord and Savior, praying that he would help me fulfill the mission in life he had chosen for me.
The more I sought through prayer and study to follow Jesus and confirm my life to his will, the more I felt an aching sense of longing to devote my life entirely to serving him. Gradually, the way dawn’s first faint rays peek over a dark horizon, the conviction that the Lord was calling me to be a minister began to grow.
That conviction grew steadily stronger while I was in college and then afterwards during my job as an engineer. Eventually I couldn’t ignore the call. I was convinced the Lord wanted me to become a minister, so I quit my job and enrolled in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in suburban Boston. I acquired a master of divinity degree and was shortly thereafter ordained to the Protestant ministry....more
One of the more commonly shared experiences of Protestant converts to the Catholic Church is the discovery of verses “we never saw.” Even after years of studying, preaching, and teaching the Bible, sometimes from cover to cover, all of a sudden a verse “we never saw” appears as if by magic and becomes an “Aha!” mind-opening, life-altering messenger of spiritual “doom”! Sometimes it’s just recognizing an alternate, clearer meaning of a familiar verse, but often, as with some of the verses mentioned below, it literally seems as if some Catholic had snuck in during the night and somehow put that verse there in the text!
Dr. Kenneth J. Howell, PhD, Howell, a former Presbyterian minister and seminary professor, entered the Catholic Church in 1996.
As I knelt in St. Peter’s Cathedral at daily Mass, my heart struggled to know what God wanted me to do. The past year had opened my eyes to the beauties of the Mass and to the truths of the Catholic faith, but I just could not become a Catholic. How could I give up what I had worked so hard to achieve? Now that I was successful in what I had always wanted to do, wouldn’t it be foolish to walk away from it all? And what if my wife would not or could not follow me in my spiritual journey, should I jeopardize my marriage or put our children in confusion? I simply didn’t know what to do or where I was going in my life.
That day the Mass was the same as I had come to know it over the past year. What had seemed foreign and strange was now precious and inviting. So inviting was it that I felt as if a gigantic magnet was drawing me into something greater than myself. When we came to the Communion Rite, the priest held up the host for all to see and said these words, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper!”
I gave a talk to the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Youth on this very holy Mexican Martyr.
He is a example of the extreme courage we as Pro-Life Catholic Christians must follow. The political climate in Mexico at the turn of the 20th century is frighteningly similar to the current political climate in the US.
We must continue to pray, fast and courageously bear faithful witness to the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death.
Jesse Tree ~ Creation
The holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States with family gatherings and traditional foods. The Church also has a special liturgy for this day. The Entrance Antiphon sets the tone for our religious observance, "Sing and play music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:19-20). Eucharist means Thanksgiving and we should be especially grateful for this most sublime gift. We hope you will enjoy some of our recipes and suggestions for this day. Let's try to celebrate as Christians remembering to be temperate as we carve the turkey and eat the pies. 
The liturgy is an album in which every epoch of Church history immortalizes itself. Therein, accordingly, can be found the various pictures of Christ beloved during succeeding centuries. In its pages we see pictures of Jesus suffering and in agony; we see pictures of His Sacred Heart; yet these pictures are not proper to the nature of the liturgy as such; they resemble baroque altars in a gothic church. Classic liturgy knows but one Christ: the King, radiant, majestic, and divine.
I gave a talk to the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Youth on this very holy Mexican Martyr.