Blogposts

On Ash Wednesday the Opening Prayer of the Mass prays “we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service so that as we take up the battle against spiritual evils we may be armed with the weapons of self-restraint.” The Latin uses images from the Roman Army: praesidia and militia. The praesidium was a garrison of Roman soldiers.

Pre-Lent: Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sunday: 70, 60, 50 Days Before Easter: Feb 13, Feb 20, Feb 27

The Roman Rite

The Roman rite of the Catholic Church consists of two forms: the ordinary form and the extraordinary form. The ordinary form of the Roman rite exists from 1970 and was promulgated by Blessed Paul VI with a specific liturgical calendar. The extraordinary form of the Roman rite goes as far back as Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) although the present Missal was promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962. It reflects primarily the Missal of Pope St. Pius V after the Council of Trent from the 16th century.

1. What is the importance of marriage today? Marriage is the fundamental building block for all other human relationships. If there is a single cause for most of today’s evils, both religious and secular, it is the weakening of marriages and family.

All that we know of the Apparitions and the Message of Lourdes came to us from Bernadette. She alone saw the Lady and all depends on her testimony. Who is she, then? Three periods can be distinguished in her life: the obscurity of her childhood, a “public” life at the time of the Apparitions and of giving testimony; finally, a “hidden” life as religious at Nevers.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives the following definition of charity: “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (1822). How do we grow in this virtue, which is clearly connected to our moral life in the Church and the world, because it informs how we relate with others (CCC 1828)?

What is CUO? On October 3, 1899, the Rev. Lewis Thomas Wattson, an Episcopal clergyman later known as the Very Rev. Paul James Francis, S.A., arrived at Graymoor, N.Y. to establish a community of Episcopal Franciscans called the Friars of the Atonement. Father Paul grieved most because Christians seemed divided into warring sects and factions. He began to preach corporate reunion of the Episcopal Church with the Catholic Church. Because of this he was banned from the pulpits of the Episcopal churches. Father Paul went into the streets with his message. Father Paul was determined to carry on his work for the return of all separated Christians to communion with the Holy See.

I had been but a few moments in the church when I was suddenly seized with an unutterable agitation of mind. I raised my eyes, the building had disappeared from before me ; one single chapel had, so to speak, gathered and concentrated all the light ; and in the midst of this radiance I saw standing on the altar lofty, clothed with splendours, full of majesty and of sweetness, the Virgin Mary, just as she is represented on my medal. An irresistible force drew me towards her; the Virgin made me a sign with her hand that I should kneel down; and then she seemed to say, That will do! She spoke not a word, but I understood all.

— Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne

Here is important commentary by the distinguished theologian Cardinal Henri De Lubac on why the Church is called Catholic:

The Church which is “Jesus Christ spread abroad and communicated” completes—so far as it can be completed here below—the work of spiritual reunion which was made necessary by sin; that work which was begun at the Incarnation and was carried on up to Calvary. (The Incarnation means God the Son became Man. His Name is Jesus Christ.)

Catholic journalist Philip Lawler has written an essay called Justice Gorsuch in dissent against religious bigotry. You can read it here: www.catholicculture.org/commentary/justice-gorsuch-in-dissent-against-religious-bigotry 

Some bullet points from the essay:

“With the Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris, on atheistic communism and Christian social doctrine, Pope Pius XI offered a systematic criticism of communism, describing it as “intrinsically perverse,” and indicated that the principal means for correcting the evils perpetrated by it could be found in the renewal of Christian life, the practice of evangelical charity, the fulfillment of the duties of justice at both the interpersonal and social levels in relation to the common good, and the institutionalization of professional and interprofessional groups.”

—Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 92

There is a growing phenomenon of bishops mandating the COVID vaccines imitating mandates in the secular realm. What to make of this? The official position of the Church via the Sacred Congregation of the Faith is that taking this vaccine should be voluntary and not coerced. This position was approved by the Pope so that a real argument can be made that those bishops mandating the vaccines are issuing illicit decrees and need not be followed. Here’s what the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says:

After the devil had seduced Adam and Eve, God cursed the evil spirit and prophesied, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” The woman is Mary. Her seed is Christ. Ever since Eden there has been a deadly conflict between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan. Not to know this is not to understand the most fundamental warfare that’s been going on since the dawn of human history.

Sometimes a question arises with respect to the translation of the Angel Gabriel’s words at the Annunciation: why do some Bibles say Rejoice O highly favored daughter instead of Hail full of grace in reporting the words of the angel Gabriel at the annunciation. A number of years ago, the New American Bible translation was revised and the current translation says Hail full of grace because it is a superior translation of the Greek word used in St. Luke’s Gospel.