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How many times, in movies about intrigue, have you seen a scene in which a spy is given a secret, written in code, and which, the agent having deciphered it eats it? Well, maybe the answer is: not very many times in the Digital Age. But, trust me, it was common motif in its day.Now that sort of fact snack wasn’t particularly nutritious. But there is in Judeo-Christian literature stories – two in the Bible and others from tradition – of prophets and holy men being given words to eat by angels (or Our Lady), scrolls the consumption and...

Featured Term (selected at random):DIVINE FRIENDSHIP The state of grace by which a person is loved by God, becomes an heir of heaven, and on reaching the age of discretion loves God by sincerely doing the divine will. The basis of divine friendship is a sharing in the divine nature bestowed by God. There is friendship because God's love of man is reciprocated by man's love of God. The theological virtue of charity, which is inseparably connected with the state of grace, enables the justified person to love God in return for the benevolent love of God. All items in...

I am currently reading The Day Satan Called by Bill Scott.... somewhat interesting, but at this point (about a quarter into it) not very well-written or even believable. I'm interested in your opinions or suggestions for non-fictional accounts of demonic possession, Satanism, and the like -- I'm considering Malachi Martin's Hostages of the Devil. I'd also be interested in your thoughts on these topics as they relate to ouija boards, Enneagram charts, or even yoga, as well as any personal experiences you may have with said topics. I'm especially concerned with a Roman Catholic or Orthodox point of view but...

(Vatican Radio) “Let us say ‘Yes’ to life and not death.” These were the words of Pope Francis during his homily on Sunday morning for Evangelium Vitae Day, a day celebrating the Gospel of Life. An estimated 200,000 people were in Saint Peter’s Square for Holy Mass and the Angelus that followed with Pope Francis to mark the Year of Faith event dedicated to the Gospel of Life. In his homily, the Pope noted how the Scriptures continuously tell us how God is the Living One who bestows life. However, he said that “all too often, people do not...

I belong to an evangelical Christian church. I subscribe to its tenets. Among them, that there is but one true God. That He created man in His image. That man sinned against his Creator and is, therefore, fallen. That God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Yet, there is one doctrine of the church with which I have long struggled: That once someone is “saved,” they are always saved. That if a person but calls upon the name of the...

Featured Term (selected at random):APOSTOLIC SCHOOLS Schools for boys or young men of insufficient means who desire to become missionary priests or brothers or who wish to become secular priests and labor in missionary lands. These schools are supported by the faithful augmented by voluntary contributions of parents and friends. The first such school was opened by the Jesuits in France in 1865. within ten years more apostolic schools were opened, not only in France but elsewhere. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Q: I’m trying to figure out what is really going on in the case of Fr. Bourgeois, who was kicked out of the Maryknolls last year. The stories I read suggested that he was excommunicated and is no longer a priest, right? If that’s true, then why is he now saying publicly that he’s going to appeal to Pope Francis to reinstate him as a Maryknoll priest again? Can the new Pope even do that? —Ryan

Question: I have a few questions for you about the "OPC." First, do you teach apostolic succession, and, if so, do you believe ministers outside of the OPC are not really ministers? Second, do you believe that the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" are for today, i.e., are healing, tongues, prophetic revelation, and miracles as led by the Holy Spirit actively manifest in our modern churches? Finally, how are you different from the Roman Catholic Church? Answer: Thank you for your questions. Let me take them one at a time. 1. "Do you teach apostolic succession, and, if so, do...

Featured Term (selected at random):   REGENIA COELI Easter anthem, of unknown authorship, dating from the twelfth century. It has been part of the Liturgy of the Hours, to be said during the Easter season at Compline. It takes the place of the Angelus in Eastertide. The prayer reads: "O Queen of heaven rejoice Alleluia. For He whom you did merit to bear, Alleluia. Has risen as He said, Alleluia. Pray for us to God, Alleluia. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia. For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia. Let us pray: O God, who by the...

Featured Term (selected at random):PLEROMA A Greek term used by St. Paul in the general sense of "filling up." It means the sum total of the blessings brought to the world by Christ (Romans 15:29; Ephesians 1:23; 3:19). Also applied to the fullness of divinity in Christ (Colossians 1:19), and the Church as the plentitude or complement of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). (Etym. Greek pler_ma, fullness.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Predestination and Calling Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 6th, 1859, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called."—Romans 8:30 HE GREAT BOOK OF GOD'S DECREES is fast closed against the curiosity of man. Vain man would be wise; he would break the seven seals thereof, and read the mysteries of eternity. But this cannot be; the time has not yet come when the book shall be opened, and even then the seals shall not be broken by mortal hand, but it shall be said, "The lion...

CHAPTER IV: THE WORLD INSIDE OUT The first fallacy about the Catholic Church is the idea that it is a church. I mean that it is a church in the sense in which the Nonconformist newspapers talk about The Churches. I do not intend any expression of contempt about The Churches; nor is it an expression of contempt to say that it would be more convenient to call them the sects. This is true in a much deeper and more sympathetic sense than may at first appear; but to begin with, it is certainly true in a perfectly plain and...

Is it rational to believe in God?  Many people think that faith and reason are opposites; that belief in God and tough-minded logical reasoning are like oil and water.  They are wrong.  Belief in God is far more rational than atheism.  Logic can show that there is a God.  If you look at the universe with common sense and an open mind, you'll find that it's full of God's fingerprints. A good place to start is with an argument by Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th century philosopher and theologian.  The argument starts with the not-very-startling observation that things move. ...

Featured Term (selected at random):WORD AND DEED Speech and action as objects of moral responsibility, whether of praise or blame. Between the two, deeds are more important, as testified by Christ (Matthew 7:21). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission

June 9, 2013 Ours has become a neo-pagan culture, and that can be even worse than a simple pagan culture By Father George Rutler Last week the Church celebrated the feast of the Martyrs of Uganda. In the late nineteenth century, French and English missionaries were welcomed by King Mutesa I of Buganda in the southern part of modern Uganda. His successor, Mwanga II, however, was a youth who became a persecutor of Christians and all foreigners. He especially opposed Christian morality, as it contradicted his affinity for unnatural vice which was abhorred by the local Buganda culture, but...

In a classic episode of "Seinfeld" entitled "The Outing," a student reporter is convinced that Jerry and George Costanza are gay. They strenuously deny being gay, while adding "not that there's anything wrong with that." The phrase almost immediately became part of the way Americans talk about homosexuality. The "Seinfeld" episode came to mind while reading recently about the brouhaha concerning Roy Hibbert of the NBA's Indiana Pacers. During a press conference, Hibbert used profanity and commented about being "stretched out" on the basketball court. And then he used the phrase "no homo." If you're unfamiliar with that phrase, you're...

Featured Term (selected at random):CHURCH TRIUMPHANT The Church of all those in heavenly glory who have triumphed over their evil inclinations, the seductions of the world, and the temptations of the evil spirit. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

At that time, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying...

Q. My co-worker, who is a pastor in a local church, gave me a whole bunch of handouts that he received at a training session. (The session was in preparation for a temple open house in our area.) He gave them to me and asked me to respond, but I don’t know where to start. A. (by Allen L. Wyatt) Thank you for sending the materials so I could look at them. They are the normal “shotgun approach” that we see among many anti-Mormons. They take everything they can, load it into a series of documents, and then fling it...

What does it really mean to say that "God is Love," and how is this revealed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus? On this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, Father Steve meditates on an image of the heart of Christ, explaining what it means to be held within this pierced yet radiant symbol of Divine love.  Hanging on the wall of one of the confessionals at my parish is an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The unknown artist has opted, as many have, for a soft Jesus, whose features are as bland and inoffensive as possible and whose heart...

Featured Term (selected at random):LINUS A Christian in Rome, evidently a companion or follower of Paul, because in the conclusion of a letter Paul sent Timothy, Linus was one of four who sent greetings (II Timothy 4:21). According to Irenaeus, Linus succeeded Peter as Bishop of Rome. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):   EPISTOLARIUM A liturgical book containing the epistles that were to be said or sung by a subdeacon at a solemn High Mass. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):KABBALA A system of esoteric theosophy peculiar to Judaism in Europe after the twelfth century. When the Jews were expelled from Spain, they brought this belief to Palestine. According to the kabbalists, God, the Supreme, Endless, and Infinite One, manifests himself in ten potencies or sephiroths, which formed the first world creation, which in turn produced the second world; each world generating the next. The human was created by the sephiroth and his or her pre-existent soul returns to God through transmigration. The Messiah will be born at the end of time, and then the world...

Jesus Teaches that Regeneration Precedes Faith by John Hendryx ---------------------------- "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." (John 6:37) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe ...And he said, "This is why...

In the afterglow of the Feast of Corpus Christi we do well to reflect a bit further on the gift of Holy Communion with our Lord and the need to receive Him worthily by his grace. I celebrated with a local Latin Mass Community last Thursday, the actual day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, and in the context of that liturgy the sequence Hymn Lauda Sion was sung. In the magnificent Hymn by Aquinas, are these words of reminder and warning that we receive Christ is a worthy manner, free from mortal sin:Sumunt boni, sumunt mali: sorte tamen...

Featured Term (selected at random):ABBÉ Originally an abbot, but more commonly the term applied to a member of the diocesan clergy in French-speaking countries. Eventually abbé came to apply to all who were entitled to similar ecclesiastical dress, which could include clerics not in holy orders and engaged as tutors or in other occupations associated with the church. (Etym. Aramaic abba, father.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):EPHPHETA Imperative of the "to open" in Aramaic. Part of the ceremony of baptism where accepted by the bishops' conference. the celebrant touches the ears and lips of each child baptized, while saying, "May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, grant that you may soon be able to receive His word and profess the faith to the praise and glory of God the Father," to which all answer, "Amen." The ceremony resembles the curing of the deaf-mute (Mark 7:31-37). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John...

“This is the saddest story I have ever heard.”So begins one of the finest novels written in English in the last century, The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. It is not, however, the saddest story ever told. That distinction belongs to a tale told in Aramaic back in the first century, which was later set down in Greek. It is the story of the disciples telling Jesus, who loved them to the point of shedding his blood, that they will no longer remain with him.Do you know this story? It is the famous Discourse on the Bread of...

The church’s engagement with the culture involves a host of issues, controversies, and decisions–but no issue defines our current cultural crisis as clearly as homosexuality. Some churches and denominations have capitulated to the demands of the homosexual rights movement, and now accept homosexuality as a fully valid lifestyle. Other denominations are tottering on the brink, and without a massive conservative resistance, they are almost certain to abandon biblical truth and bless what the Bible condemns. Within a few short years, a major dividing line has become evident–with those churches endorsing homosexuality on one side, and those stubbornly resisting the cultural...

On this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, it’s good to remember the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas: Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the sacrament of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick I come to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal splendor; poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my uncleanness, give light to my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness....

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square after Pentecost Sunday Mass on May 19, 2013. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/ CNA. Vatican City, Jun 2, 2013 / 09:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The multiplication of the loaves and fish highlights our need to share our faith with others as part of a conversion to a deeper unity with Christ, Pope Francis says. “The feast of Corpus Christi asks us to convert to faith in Providence, to share the little that we are and that we have, and to not ever close ourselves in,� said Pope Francis June 2. During his Sunday...

THE TESTIMONY OF A FORMER IRISH PRIEST Richard Peter Bennett E-mail: bereanbennett@juno.com Born Irish, in a family of eight, my early childhood was fulfilled and happy. My father was a colonel in the Irish Army until he retired when I was about nine. As a family, we loved to play, sing, and act, all within a military camp in Dublin. We were a typical Irish Roman Catholic family. My father sometimes knelt down to pray at his bedside in a solemn manner. My mother would talk to Jesus while sewing, washing dishes, or even smoking a cigarette. Most evenings we...

I was Protestant for a time. I sang modern Christian music and swayed and held up my hands and loved the other members of the church. I found it difficult when there were divisions in the congregation and when some of my “family” decided to “plant a church” of their own. The trust was broken and there were allegations of “sheep stealing.”In retrospect, I often wonder why it is “sheep stealing” to invite someone to another protestant church, but luring people away from the Catholic Church is encouraged. I always felt like something was missing there, but I didn’t know...

Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for June 2, 2013, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ | Carl E. Olson Readings:• Gen 14:18-20• Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4• 1 Cor 11:23-26• Lk 9:11b-17Shortly after my wife and I entered the Catholic Church in 1997, I had a conversation with an Evangelical friend that was as disconcerting as it was friendly. A.J., who I met in Bible college several years earlier, was curious about the Catholic doctrine that the Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. I say “curious” because A.J., unlike some of...

The Baltimore Catechism Revised Edition (1941) Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer The Our Father Lesson 38 from the Baltimore Cathechism490. Why is the Our Father the best of all prayers? The Our Father is the best of all prayers because it is the Lord's Prayer, taught us by Jesus Christ Himself, and because it is a prayer of perfect and unselfish love. See Matthew 6:9-13 for the Lord's Prayer. 491. Why is the Our Father a prayer of perfect and unselfish love? The Our Father is a prayer of perfect and unselfish love because in saying it we offer...

At the start of May, Union University was graced with the presence of notable evangelical theologians who commented on the issues of homosexuality, marriage, the church, and society. Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore joined the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Robert Gagnon at Union’s conference, “Salt and Light in the Public Square: Charles Colson’s Legacy and Vision.”Russell Moore prominently serves as the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s departing dean and will soon succeed retiring Richard Land as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Commenting on the marriage debate, Moore worried, “There are many people in America—including evangelicals—who...

Sovereign Grace and Man's Responsibility August 1, 1858 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892) "But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."—Romans 10:20-21. Doubtless these words primarily refer to the casting away of the Jews, and to the choosing of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were a people who sought not after God, but lived in idolatry; nevertheless, Jehovah was pleased in these...

WHY ARE OUR CATHOLIC LAITY SO ILLITERATE WHEN IT COMES TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH--BLAME THE TEXT BOOKS, BLAME THE TEACHING METHODS AND BLAME THE PARENTS, BUT BLAME THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND CATECHISTS TOO, BLAME EVERYONE INCLUDING SATAN, EXCEPT NO ONE TEACHES ABOUT HIM ANYMORE OTHER THAN POPE FRANCIS, DON'T BLAME HIM! Do our Catholic children and most adults know what these images teach? All of us know one of the elephants in the room of the Catholic Church. Our religious education programs are not handing on the essence of our Catholic Faith, our parents are befuddled about their role...

(Vatican Radio) Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of Pope Francis’ homily for Mass celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday 30 May 2013. Dear brothers and sisters, In the Gospel we have just heard, there is an expression of Jesus that always strikes me: “Give you them to eat. (Lk 9:13)” Starting from this sentence, I let myself be guided by three words: discipleship, fellowship and sharing. 1. First of all: who are those to whom we are to give to eat? The answer is found at the beginning of the Gospel: it is the crowd, the...

Featured Term (selected at random):   DEGRADATION A penalty by which a cleric is reduced to the lay state; a deprivation, an abasement. Its effects may be deposition and privation of a religious habit. It is permanent unless remitted by a superior after completion of conditions required as penance. It can only be imposed for things labeled criminal by law or if one continues giving scandal after deposition. It is real if accompanied by formalities prescribed by the Roman Pontifical, and verbal when inflicted by a person authorized to sentence. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John...

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Two Mothers Rejoice! By Gretchen Filz - Posted on April 28, 2013 The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Two Mothers Rejoice! At the end of May we celebrate the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I’ve always found this feast day (which is also the Second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary) a really fun one.  One of the ways I like to look at the Feast of the Visitation is at its most simple, human level.This is a feast day when we remember two expectant mothers who came together to celebrate...

The president of Ohio State University said Notre Dame was never invited to join the Big Ten because the university's priests are not good partners, joking that 'those damn Catholics' can't be trusted, according to a recording of a meeting he attended late last year. Gordon Gee also took shots at schools in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Louisville, according to the recording of the December meeting of the school's Athletic Council that The Associated Press obtained under a public records request. The university called the statements inappropriate and said Gee is undergoing a 'remediation plan' because of...

Q: In the medieval and renaissance periods, the Church had many problems with nepotism. We hear nothing about this issue any more, but I’m wondering whether this is still a potential problem, at least in theory. Are there canons which prevent ecclesiastical officials from legally giving powerful church positions to their relatives? Or do bishops and cardinals avoid this unilaterally, without the need for actual laws? —Thierry

Pope Francis moves through the crowd at the April 3, 2013 general audience. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/CNA. Vatican City, May 29, 2013 / 07:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis began a new series of reflections by saying that although some people want Jesus but not the Church, “it is the Church that brings us Christ� and reunites us to God. “Even today, some say, ‘Christ yes, the Church no,’ like those who say, ‘I believe in God, but in priests, no.’ They say, ‘Christ: yes. Church: no.’ Nevertheless, it is the Church that brings us Christ and that brings us...

Featured Term (selected at random):MARISTS The Society of Mary, founded at Lyons in 1824 by the Venerable Jean Claude Marie Colin (1790-1875), and finally approved by Pope Pius IX on March 8, 1873. The congregation consists of priests and lay brothers, and its constitutions are based on those of St. Ignatius Loyola. Its aim is to foster devotion to the Blessed Virgin and engage in missionary and educational work. The Marist Sisters were also founded by Colin in 1816 for the education of young girls, and the third Order of the Society of Mary was established in 1850 for persons...

Many people today put Hell in opposition to the love of God. But Jesus combines them. Here is an important truth: No one loves you more than Jesus Christ. And yet, no one spoke of or taught on Hell and Judgment more than Jesus Christ. There is from him, warning after warning, parable after parable, that speak and warn, even shout judgment and the reality of Hell.No “heresy� of our day is more widespread or pernicious than the “heresy� that denies hell and the proclaimed truth of its existence and sad its frequency. I say “heresy� in quotes only because...

“But I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” Jeremiah:23:21-22 Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet” because of his tenderness of heart and the grief that possessed him on account of the defection of his people (Jeremiah:9:1). But he could also be very stern when rebuking iniquity. In these things he manifested the same spirit...

Featured Term (selected at random):SACRILEGE The deliberate violation of sacred things. Sacred things are persons, places, and objects set aside publicly and by the Church's authority for the worship of God. The violation implies that a sacred thing is desecrated precisely in its sacred character. It is a sin against the virtue of religion. Personal sacrilege is committed by laying violent hands on clerics or religious of either sex; by unlawfully citing them before secular courts, i.e., without just cause and without express permission of their ecclesiastical superiors; by unlawfully demanding of them the payment of civil taxes or military...

Featured Term (selected at random):APOSTOLIC CHURCHES A name used from the second to the fourth centuries to designate a diocese originally founded or ruled by an Apostle. Thus Rome was founded by St. Peter, Alexandria by St. Mark, Jerusalem by St. James the Less, and Athens by St. Paul. Later on "Apostolic Church" referred to the whole Catholic Church, whose apostolicity is especially identified with the apostolic see of Rome. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (NAS, Mark 12:28-31) In Jesus' teachings, our...