Blogposts

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before you. We are yours, and yours we wish to be; but to be more surely united with you, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known you; many, too, despising your precepts, have rejected you. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to your Sacred Heart. Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken you, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned you; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

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To correct the sinner is one of the spiritual works of mercy. Fraternal correction is so important to the health of individuals, the family, the Church, and even nations, that some further reflection is in order. The correction of a sinner is complex and difficult to accomplish well. Many avoid it entirely, especially due to these hypersensitive times, when some people base their very identity on their sins. Many take correction very personally, even labeling it “hate speech.” Those who dare to correct are often shamed for doing so and accused of “judging.”

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In November the parish priest is counseled to teach about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, hell. The absolute definition of death is the separation of the immortal soul from the body. This is a temporary situation. Upon death, that person is judged immediately. This is called the particular judgment, that is, particular to that person. There will be a general judgment, when Christ returns to judge all the living and the dead. Evil will be completely defeated and Christ’s kingdom completely established. This is also known as the Day of the Lord or simply “the Day.” At that time human beings will be reunited with their bodies in the general resurrection: some to eternal life, some to eternal punishment. This judgment will come at the end of the world and only God knows the day and the hour.

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Some doctrinal principles: It is a divinely revealed truth that sins bring punishments inflicted by God’s sanctity and justice. These must be expiated either on this earth through the sorrows, miseries, and trials of life, and above all through death, or else through purifying penalties in the life beyond. Moreover, they are to be expiated either by the sinner himself or also by others who make reparation, as far as possible, in his stead.

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For he (Christ) must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26

What is meant by the social reign of Christ the King? It means: 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. The principal doctrine of the "social reign of Christ" means that the construction of human society will not be able to achieve its own natural ends without being ordained to Jesus Christ, Creator, and Savior.

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Stepinac was the eighth of twelve children of wealthy farmers, Barbara Penic and Josip Stepinac. Upon graduation from the Gymnasium in Zagreb (1916), he was drafted into the Austrian army. As second lieutenant he fought on the Italian front (1917–18). Taken prisoner by the Italians (September 1918), he joined the South Slav volunteers to fight against the Hapsburg rulers. Returning to Croatia (1919), by then a part of Yugoslavia, he studied agriculture in Zagreb. In 1924 he enrolled in the German College, Rome, and attended classes at the Gregorian University. In 1930, he obtained doctorates in philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest in Rome (October 26).

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It is for Thee that this dense host of countless princes engage in battle: but it is victorious Michael, the standard bearer of salvation, who unfurls the standard of the Cross. He casts the dreadful head of the dragon into lowest hell and lightning like he hurls from the heavenly ramparts the leader with his rebels.

May Gabriel the strong Angel come to put to flight our ancient enemies and revisit the temples dear to heaven which the Conqueror has established throughout the world.

As the physician of our salvation may the Angel Raphael come down from heaven, that he may heal all who are sick and give guidance in the uncertain affairs of life.

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Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to which the entire month of June is consecrated, carries with it undoubtedly socio-political meanings which, although everything possible has been done in the last half century to condemn them to oblivion, are indelibly part of the history of this worship and are rooted in it. The worship of the Sacred Heart is a worship of adoration of the Lord Jesus with particular emphasis on his holy and true humanity, hence the hostility with which the Jansenists opposed it in the eighteenth century, considering it not very "spiritual" and even idolatrous.

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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 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.

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Frank Furedi wrote a book called The Therapy Culture. He argues that in recent decades virtually every sphere of life has become subject to a new emotional culture. Increasing vulnerability is presented as the defining feature of people's psychology. Terms like people 'at risk', 'scarred for life' or 'emotional damage' evoke a unique sense of powerlessness. Through framing the problem of everyday life through the prism of emotions, therapeutic culture incites people to feel powerless and ill. He is on to something important.

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These nineteen martyrs of Algeria, so dear to Pope Leo …Very few people know that May 8, the day of Pope Leo's election, was the day of the liturgical memory of these martyrs and that it was in Numidia, present-day Algeria, that (St) Augustine was born and lived, and Leo defined himself as his "son."… The martyrs of Algeria whose memory is celebrated are the nineteen people depicted on the icon reproduced above, painted by Sister Odile, a nun of the Little Sisters of Nazareth, all massacred between 1994 and 1996, at the height of the "black decade" of the civil war which left 150,000 dead in Algeria.

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