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ALL ABOUT LENT James Akin Q: What is Lent? A: Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). [This traditional ennumeration does not precisely coincide with the calendar according to the liturgical reform. In order to give special prominence to the Sacred Triduum (Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) the current calendar counts Lent as only from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, up to the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Even so, Lenten practices are properly maintained up to...

Featured Term selected at random:FERULE (ferula) The long rod with which until recently priests of the Vatican Sacred Penitentiary lightly touched penitents. Pope Benedict XIV granted a twenty day's indulgence for observing this symbolic rite. A ferule was also the cane with a short transverse on top with which clergy and the people would support themselves during liturgical services before sitting down was allowed. Maronite monks and dissident Ethiopians and Coptics still use such a staff in choir. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

CONFESSION " Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained" - John 20:22"He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy" - Prov 28:13 "My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me" - Josh 7:19   The Biblical TeachingThe Catholic Priest forgives sinners of their sins in the name of Jesus Christ, by the Authority given to priest...

You are Going to Die – An After Ash Wednesday Reflection By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt Ash Wednesday Masses we heard the ancient acclamation, as ashes are imposed, Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.The  beginning of the Lenten season puts before us an urgent plea that we should be sober and watchful of our soul and its condition, for the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor 7:31).Simply put, we are going to die and we need to be made ready to meet our God. Recall some of the urgency present in the...

February 19, 2015Thursday after Ash Wednesday    Reading 1 Dt 30:15-20 Moses said to the people:“Today I have set before youlife and prosperity, death and doom.If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,which I enjoin on you today,loving him, and walking in his ways,and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,you will live and grow numerous,and the LORD, your God,will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,I tell you now that you will certainly perish;you will...

You wouldn’t think that anyone would fight about Ash Wednesday and Lent. For Catholics it’s part of what we do. For others it’s something they can use or not as they find it helpful, and increasing numbers do. Down-the-line Evangelical churches have started to hold special services for Ash Wednesday complete with ashes and to treat the Sundays after it as Sundays in Lent. Rather severely anti-sacramental Evangelicals now speak of giving things up and fasting on Fridays. I find this cheering, but my friend Carl Trueman doesn’t. Carl teaches Church history at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, the...

VATICAN CITY — “African values are not on sale,” the new Chairman of Communications for the African bishops has said. But Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria, is convinced they are under threat from what Pope Francis has called an “ideological colonization” that is seeking to destroy the family. It's so bad, he says, that the United States has made clear it will not help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram terror group unless the country modify its laws regarding homosexuality, family planning and birth-control.

BAPTISM[Prophecy] Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. - Ezekiel 36:25  Baptism is the First Sacrament, without it, no other sacrament can be validly received. The Old Covenant was entered into through circumcision; the New Covenant is entered into through Baptism. "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of GOD...Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of WATER AND THE HOLY GHOST, he cannot enter...

Featured Term selected at random:REPENTANCE Voluntary sorrow because it offends God, for having done something wrong, together with the resolve to amend one's conduct by taking the necessary means to avoid the occasions of sin. To repent is to be sorry for sin with self-condemnation. (Etym. Latin repoenitere, to be very sorry, regret intensely.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A prominent American Catholic gay rights group was given VIP treatment for the first time at an audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday, a move members saw as a sign of change in the Roman Catholic Church. "This is a sign of movement that's due to the Francis effect," said Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, which ministers to homosexual Catholics and promotes gay rights in the 1.2 billion-member Church. Gramick and executive director Francis DeBernardo led a pilgrimage of 50 homosexual Catholics to the audience in St. Peter's Square. They told Reuters in...

On the “Outrage” of the Flood and the Purposes of God By: Msgr. Charles PopeTo the modern mind, the story of Noah and the flood is  a dark tale and one that is hard to equate with the “loving God” (i.e., the “kind” God of our notions). Why would God regret what He had done and want to kill everything He had made?Now never mind that we do this all the time when we harvest a field, or prune our roses or slaughter animals to feed ourselves, etc. When we do these things, we understand why we do them and so...

Ash Wednesday is upon us again! Here are 9 things you need to know and share . . . 1. What is Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday is the day that Lent begins (see: 9 things you need to know about Lent). The name comes from the fact that a particular rite is always celebrated on this Wednesday in which the faithful have ashes put on their foreheads. According to the Roman Missal: In the course of today’s Mass, ashes are blessed and distributed. These are made from the olive branches or branches of other trees that were blessed the previous...

February 18, 2015Ash Wednesday    Reading 1 Jl 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD,return to me with your whole heart,with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;Rend your hearts, not your garments,and return to the LORD, your God.For gracious and merciful is he,slow to anger, rich in kindness,and relenting in punishment.Perhaps he will again relentand leave behind him a blessing,Offerings and libationsfor the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion!proclaim a fast,call an assembly;Gather the people,notify the congregation;Assemble the elders,gather the childrenand the infants at the breast;Let the bridegroom quit his roomand the bride her chamber.Between the porch and the...

Remember That Thou Art Dust David Mills Ash Wednesday is the holy day on which you are asked to face the facts about yourself. Letting someone smear ashes on your forehead while telling you that you are dirt is a statement that you have seen and accepted the facts about yourself, and know they’re not in your favor. And, though this isn’t as obvious, it is also a declaration of the good news.The Church doesn’t give official explanations of what her rites mean, but here’s what I think what is being said through the imposition of ashes. Even if this...

What God can do through YOU Tomorrow it begins ... the next 40 Days for Life campaign, which kicks off in 252 cities across 19 countries around the world. If you haven’t done so already ... it’s time to find the location nearest you and sign up for the vigil!   God has provided many blessings through past 40 Days for Life campaigns: 9,699 babies saved from abortion 107 workers who have quit the abortion industry 60 closed abortion centers What results could be achieved during this campaign? That will be determined primarily by two things: 1.     God, who can do...

Featured Term selected at random:OCCASION OF SIN Any person, place, or thing that of its nature or because of human frailty can lead one to do wrong, thereby committing sin. If the danger is certain and probable, the occasion is proximate; if the danger is slight, the occasion becomes remote. It is voluntary if it can easily be avoided. There is no obligation to avoid a remote occasion unless there is probable danger of its becoming proximate. There is a positive obligation to avid a voluntary proximate occasion of sin even though the occasion of evildoing is due only to...

On October 31st 1517 Anno Domini a comically tonsured German monk, with an attitude and a mallet posted the Medieval equivalent of a snarky  blog post on the castle door at Wittenberg. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses voiced irrefragable concerns about doctrine, ecclesiastical abuses, and unbiblical doctrines. The paper was merely intended to spark debate and reform within the Roman Catholic Church.However, the spark blew a little further than the intramural playground of the Vatican. The white squall of God’s Spirit (with a little help from Guttenberg’s press and a Latin-German dictionary) ignited the hearts of the masses, as the...

Considering the Crusades in the Context of the Current Conflict with Radical Islamists By: Msgr. Charles PopeRecent and persistent attacks by radical Muslims, especially the most recent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians, have many asking what can or should be done to end such atrocities. Military actions by numerous countries, including our own, are already underway. Most feel quite justified in these actions and many are calling for more concerted efforts to eliminate ISIS and related zealots who seem to know no pity, no reason, and no limits. I do not write here to opine on the need for...

Basic issues have basic importance. Does God exist? If he does, what is he like? If he doesn’t, can an objective moral order survive his absence? It seems obvious that such questions are crucial to all aspects of life, including our life together in society. That conclusion has inconvenient implications. Christian societies, Muslim societies, and secularist societies are all different from each other. One excludes another, so we can’t favor them equally. It seems then that we must choose one over the others, or else live with a compromise that is likely to prove awkward and shifting—a situation, of course,...

February 17, 2015Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,and how no desire that his heart conceivedwas ever anything but evil,he regretted that he had made man on the earth,and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said:“I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,and not only the men,but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,for I am sorry that I made them.”But Noah found favor with the LORD. Then...