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Easter VigilSeven OT Readings: Gen 1:1—2:2; Gen 22:1-18; Exod 14:15—15:1; Isa 54:5-14; Isa 55:1-11; Bar 3:9-15, 3:32—4:4; Ezek 36:16-17a, 18-28.When my friend went to the Easter Vigil for the first time and started hearing the many readings, he thought for a moment that they were going to read the whole Bible! At Easter, we might expect a lot of New Testament texts, but instead the Church presents us with seven Old Testament readings and eight responsorial psalms. That’s 15 Old Testament texts in one sitting—talk about an Old Testament extravaganza! Interestingly, on Easter morning, zero Old Testament texts are...

When Jeb Bush stepped up this month to declare illegal immigration “an act of love,” he provoked precisely the conservative pile-on you’d expect. The right’s favorite crabby uncle, Charles Krauthammer, dourly pronounced the comments “bizarre.”. Rep. Raul Labrador accused Jebbie of pandering. Noted intellectual Donald Trump declared Bush’s thinking “ridiculous” and “dangerous.” And God help anyone who ventured onto sites like RedState.com. Most perfectly, fake-winger Stephen Colbert eulogized, “He will be missed.” In the midst of all the huffing and grumping, it was easy to miss the smaller, quieter sounds of satisfaction emanating from some of Bush’s fellow Catholics, particularly...

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE CROSS(The 7 last words of Jesus Christ on Calvary as recorded by the Four Gospelsprovided here in English and Latin)   The Seven Last "Words" of Jesus Christ from the cross are actually 7 short phrases that Jesus uttered on Calvary that serve as an excellent holy week meditation.  To find all of the seven last words of Jesus Christ, one must read all the gospels since none of the evangelists records all 7 last words.  The sayings would have been originally uttered by Jesus in the Aramaic language, but only one...

Featured Term (selected at random:HEROD ANTIPAS Son of Herod the Great. He was Tetrarch of Galilee from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. Since his regime roughly paralleled the life of Jesus, he is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Herod. Because of Herod's devious methods, Jesus referred to him as "that fox" (Luke 13:32). He broke the law by marrying his niece, Herodias, who was already married to his half-brother (the beheading of John the Baptist was the aftermath of John's denunciation of this unholy marriage). The curiosity of Herod Antipas was stirred by the accounts...

Tucked away in a central Parisian museum that was once a railway station, there hangs an Easter painting quite unlike any Gospel masterpiece created before or after it. It is not painted by a Rembrandt or a Rubens or the patron saint of artists, Fra Angelico. The painting is the work of a little-known Swiss painter. For those who make a trip to see it, viewing the canvas is a special spiritual experience in their lives.The work does not even show the risen Jesus. It merely portrays two witnesses, Jesus’ oldest and youngest apostle. The youngest who was the...

Did Jesus have a wife? According to Karen L. King, an academic from Harvard, the answer might exist in the fragment of an ancient Coptic manuscript. On this slip of papyrus, Jesus is quoted as saying “my wife,” and because of that, King notes, “this fragment seems to be the first case where we have a married Jesus who appears to be affirming that women who are mothers and wives can be his disciples.” This story broke in 2012 and was immediately qualified by protests from other academics, who claimed the textual fragment King cited was likely a forgery. These...

ROME - Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 disabled and elderly people Thursday - women and non-Catholics among them - in a pre-Easter ritual designed to show his willingness to serve others like a "slave."

One of the most remarkable aspects of the crucifixion of Jesus is his humble reserve. As God he has all power to end his suffering and humiliation in an instant. He had already reminded Peter, Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”(Matt26:52-54)And now as he hung on the Cross, Satan and the crowds give him one last and final temptation, the call  to come down from the...

April 18, 2014Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday)    Reading 1 Is 52:13-53:12 See, my servant shall prosper,he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.Even as many were amazed at himCso marred was his look beyond human semblanceand his appearance beyond that of the sons of manCso shall he startle many nations,because of him kings shall stand speechless;for those who have not been told shall see,those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard?To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?He grew up like a sapling before him,like...

Let us read the words of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (26:26-28), adding the words of the other sacred authors on the same subject: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and when he had given thanks (1 Cor. 11:24), broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22:19). And he took a cup after supper (Luke 22:20), and when he had given thanks he gave it to them,...

BALTIMORE, MD, April 17, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-abortion grantee of Catholic Relief Services has been announced as the winner of the 2014 United Nations Population Award. The award is given to organizations that demonstrate outstanding effectiveness in population control efforts, including contraception, sterilization and abortion. The grantee, Jhpiego, is a non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. According to CRS’ 990s for 2012, the U.S. bishops’ organization gave Jhpiego a grant of $282,356 that year for “health.” As part of their work, the group has spearheaded national campaigns in the developing world to promote the abortifacient morning-after pill....

I’m not one of those twelve million readers who bought the book “Heaven is For Real” and torpedoed it to the New York Times’ Bestseller List. But I did check it out from the library and enjoyed both the story and the accounts of heaven. “Heaven is for real” is, in fact, only one among the many testimonies of near death experiences I’ve heard about from both Christians and non-Christians. With some suspect exceptions, most of the descriptions of heaven are fascinating and inspire me to work hard to aim for the ultimate prize. But that’s just the good news.On...

The significance of Holy ThursdayExcept for the Resurrection on Easter, Holy Thursday is possibly one of the most important, complex, and profound days of celebration in the Catholic Church. Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and the institution of the sacrament of the priesthood.During the Last Supper, Jesus offers himself as the Passover sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb, and teaches that every ordained priest is to follow the same sacrifice in the exact same way. Christ also bids farewell to his followers and prophesizes that one of them will...

HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances, saving only the Easter Vigil. It celebrates both the institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood (as distinct from the 'priesthood of all believers') for in this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day presents this same sacrifice, by Christ's authority and command, in exactly the same way. The Last Supper was also Christ's farewell to His assembled disciples, some of whom would betray,...

Featured Term (selected at random:BEATTY PAPYRI Manuscript of thirty leaves from the Gospels and Acts, dating from the third century, together with twenty more leaves from St. Paul and Revelation. Old Testament manuscripts in the same collection amount to 180 leaves from nine books, dating to the second century. The Beatty papyri substantiate the essential soundness of the existing biblical texts. No striking or fundamental variant is shown either in the Old or New Testament. The Beatty papyri were found near Hermopolis in Egypt, most of which were acquired by A. Chester Beatty (1875-1968) in 1931. All items in this...

Cuba has now made Good Friday an official national holiday after restoring that Catholic feast as an "exceptional" measure when Pope Benedict XVI visited the island in 2012. The new Labor Code, passed by the National Assembly in December, established Good Friday as a holiday "every year," Communist Party daily Granma said Tuesday.

The second reading from the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday is taken from an ancient homily on Christ’s descent into hell. It begins: “Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.” The King fell asleep when His soul was separated from His body on Good Friday afternoon. He remained asleep until His soul reanimated His body on Easter morning. But during the silence and stillness of the King’s sleep, He harrowed hell.Our Lord’s descent into hell is well attested to...

Some interesting history on this controversial rite, from David Gibson at Religion News Service, via NCR: Accounts of Christian foot-washing rituals go back as far as the sixth century. As Peter Jeffrey writes in his 1985 book, A New Commandment: Toward a Renewed Rite for the Washing of Feet, there were generally two forms: the “Mandatum Pauperam,” or washing of the feet of poor people, and the “Mandatum Fratrum,” the washing of the feet of “the brothers.”Neither were part of the Holy Thursday liturgy, and popes and clerics routinely washed the feet of poor people as a sign of service...

In the aftermath of the sexual revolution of 1960s — which espoused sex education, the contraceptive mentality, no-fault divorce, and legalized abortion on demand — an anti-life and anti-child philosophy has prevailed over much of Western civilization, where European nations are barely replacing their populations or suffering a decline in birth rate. In a culture of death that slaughters 1.5 million pre-born babies in the womb each year, permits infanticide in the procedure known as partial-birth abortion, and tolerates physician-assisted suicide in the name of mercy and a quality of life ethic, life is cheap and loses its sacredness. Whenever...

WAKEFIELD, RI, April 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another controversy has erupted at a Roman Catholic school after students and parents reacted with outrage to Church teaching on sexuality as presented at a school assembly. Father Francis “Rocky” Hoffman spoke to students at The Prout School in Wakefield, Rhode Island on April 4. During the course of his talk, he apparently made comments critical of homosexuality and divorce that some students found offensive. Fr. Rocky Hoffman The Diocese of Providence’s spokesman on the issue has seemed to agree with Hoffman’s critics. But Catholic observers suggest the controversy is part of a...