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November 21, 2009                                   Memorial of the Presentation                                    of the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Mc 6:1-13 As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces,he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais,famous for its wealth in silver and gold,and that its temple was very rich,containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weaponsleft there by Alexander, son of Philip,king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city.But he could not do so,because his plan became known to the people of the citywho rose up in battle against him.So...

Part Three:  The Will of God Eighth Commandment Table of Contents     In both versions of the Decalogue, the wording of the Eighth Commandment is the same: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20). Throughout the Old Testament, the full meaning of this commandment includes both the prohibition against telling a lie and the precept of telling the truth. Thus, “Lips that tell the truth abide firm forever; the tongue that lies lasts only for a moment. Lips that lie are abhorrent to Yahweh; dear to Him those who speak the truth” (Proverbs 12:19, 19:22).The...

Featured Term (selected at random):WAKE A watch or vigil. The term was originally applied to the all-night vigil in Anglo-Saxon times before certain major holidays. By the sixteenth century it was used of the holiday itself, and of the fair held to honor a local saint. In some countries, e.g., Ireland, a wake is the watch over the body of the deceased before burial. And more commonly a wake is the period, one or two days before the funeral, when mourners may visit the body of the deceased and offer their condolences to the bereaved. THe Church now provides for...

November 20, 2009                                        Friday of the Thirty-third Week                             in Ordinary Time     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59 Judas and his brothers said,“Now that our enemies have been crushed,let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month,that is, the month of Chislev,in the year one hundred and forty-eight,they arose and offered sacrifice according to the lawon the new altar of burnt offerings that they had made....

Part Three:  The Will of God Seventh and Tenth Commandments Table of Contents     The biblical precept of the Seventh Commandment, like the Sixth, is a short imperative, “You shall not steal.” It is the same in both versions of the Decalogue. The Tenth Commandment, as already seen, is that part of the Ten Commandments which forbids coveting what belongs to someone else, whether his house, servant, ox, donkey, or anything else. Deuteronomy distinguishes between coveting “your neighbor’s wife,” and “setting your heart” on other possessions, including the neighbor’s field (Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19). Like the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, the...

Featured Term (selected at random):EPISCOPAL CURIA The group of persons who assist a bishop, or the prelate taking the place of a bishop, in the administration of a diocese. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

November 19, 2009                                    Thursday of the Thirty-third Week                                     in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Mc 2:15-29 The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasycame to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.Many of Israel joined them,but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias:“You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city,supported by sons and kin.Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command,as all the Gentiles and the men of Judahand...

Part Three:  The Will of God Sixth and Ninth Commandments Table of Contents     In the Catholic version of the Decalogue, the Sixth and Ninth Commandments are coupled together. They both prescribe the practice of chastity. The biblical text for the Sixth Commandment is simply “You shall not commit adultery” in both Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18. But the Ninth Commandment is part of a longer prohibition of covetousness. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his servant, man or woman, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that is his (Exodus...

A Reality Check from the Discipleship Front November 19th, 2009 by Archbishop Charles Chaput What the hell don’t you understand about the term separation of Church and State. Keep your evil hands off of our Health Care Bill. Mind your own business. We don’t care about your beliefs, and if you want to meddle in our affairs, we will be coming for you. If that’s how you want to play, we will come for your pedophile priests, your ill-gotten money you stole for decades. The Catholic church is just another organized crime syndicate that should be put out of business....

NEWS AND EVENTS: September 15, 2009 Marian visionary Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas to be Beatified November 22 VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that the following rites of beatification, approved by the Holy Father, will take place over the coming months:- Servant of God Eustachio Kugler (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God: at 2 p.m. on Sunday 4 October in the cathedral of Regensburg, Germany.- Servant of God Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal and archbishop, founder of the...

Featured Term (selected at random):ISAIAH Author of the longest prophetic book in the Old Testament, he was the son of Amoz, born about 760 B.C. in Jerusalem. His writing paralleled the reigns of three Judaean kings, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. His mission was to proclaim the fall of Israel and Judah and the punishment that would befall the nation because of its sinfulness. The beauty of his style and the consistent nobility of his message made him one of the most revered of biblical writers. Constantly he pleaded with his people to place their trust in God and not in...

November 18, 2009                                 Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 12 Mc 7:1, 20-31 It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrestedand tortured with whips and scourges by the king,to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother,who saw her seven sons perish in a single day,yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly...

Part Three:  The Will of God Fifth Commandment Table of Contents     The wording of the Fifth Commandment is identical in the two biblical texts of the Decalogue, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 20:5-17). Already in the Old Testament the prohibition was understood to mean “You shall not murder.” Always understood was that it was forbidden to kill an innocent person.The first recorded crime in the moral degradation after the Fall was the murder of Abel by his envious brother Cain (Genesis 4:1-16). Cain’s punishment by God reveals the gravity of the sin of murder. Several times, the prophets...

Featured Term (selected at random):UNITY The condition or state of oneness, especially among persons. What ultimately unites people is their common beliefs or convictions, and their common desires and affections. Union is the state of uniting different people. It is their state of mind agreeing on certain ideas and of will attaching its desires or love to certain objects that unify. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

November 17, 2009                                   Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, religious   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 12 Mc 6:18-31 Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes,a man of advanced age and noble appearance,was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement,he spat out the meat,and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture,as people ought to do who have the courage to reject the foodwhich it is unlawful to taste even for love of life. Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately,because...

Part Three:  The Will of God Fourth Commandment Table of Contents     The first three commandments pertain to our relationship with God. They oblige us to recognize God as our Lord and Master, to honor His Name in language and song, and to pay Him public homage as a people whom He has called to be His own. With the Fourth Commandment, we enter on a new relationship with God. If the first three commandments summarize what may be called “religion,” the last seven synthesize “morality.” From the fourth through the tenth precepts, our duties toward others are identified as the...

Featured Term (selected at random):FRUSTULUM The small portion of food, a few ounces, formerly permitted at breakfast on fast days. This was provided by canon law (Canon 1251), which permitted taking some food, morning and evening, in addition to the one full meal per day. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

November 16, 2009                                   Monday of the Thirty-third Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Mc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 [From the descendants of Alexander’s officers]there sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes,son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome.He became king in the year one hundred and thirty‑sevenof the kingdom of the Greeks. In those days there appeared in Israelmen who were breakers of the law,and they seduced many people, saying:“Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us;since we separated from them, many evils have...

November 15, 2009                                     Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Dn 12:1-3 In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of the Lord:"At that time there shall ariseMichael, the great prince,guardian of your people;it shall be a time unsurpassed in distresssince nations began until that time.At that time your people shall escape,everyone who is found written in the book. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake;some shall live forever,others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.“But the wise shall shine brightlylike...

November 14, 2009                                 Saturday of the Thirty-second Week                                     in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9 When peaceful stillness compassed everythingand the night in its swift course was half spent,Your all-powerful word, from heaven’s royal thronebounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree.And as he alighted, he filled every place with death;he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth. For all creation, in its several kinds, was being...

Part Three:  The Will of God Third Commandment Table of Contents     The longest biblical text in the Decalogue is for the Third Commandment. While both Exodus and Deuteronomy prescribe the Sabbath, the motive and the manner of its observance are different. Both passages, though lengthy, should be quoted in full.In Exodus, the Sabbath is a weekly commemoration of God’s creation. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do your work, but the seventh is a sabbath for Yahweh, your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son...

Featured Term (selected at random):VICTIM A living being offered in sacrifice to God. The sacrifice implies that the victim is actually or equivalently given up as an act of adoration or of expiation to the Divine Majesty. The destruction of the victim is its immolation; the voluntary surrender of the victim is the offering or oblation. Together they constitute the sacrifice. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

November 13, 2009                                 Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 13:1-9 All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is,and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;But either fire, or wind, or the swift air,or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water,or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods.Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought...

Part Three:  The Will of God Second Commandment Table of Contents     In both Exodus and Deuteronomy, the wording of the Second Commandment is the same. You shall not utter the name of Yahweh, your God, to misuse it, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters His name to misuse it (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11). The Second Commandment is really an expression of the preceding. It prescribes the respectful use of God’s name and forbids using the Divine Name irreverently. Implied in this precept is the duty to profess by verbal communication our belief in the one true...

Featured Term (selected at random):CASUALISM The theory that everything in the world exists or occurs by chance. Held by the Greek Epicurean philosophers and professed in practice by those who deny or ignore the existence of an all-wise and loving Providence. (Etym. Latin casualis, happening by chance.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

November 12, 2009                                 Memorial of Saint Josaphat, bishop and martyr   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 7:22b–8:1 In Wisdom is a spiritintelligent, holy, unique,Manifold, subtle, agile,clear, unstained, certain,Not baneful, loving the good, keen,unhampered, beneficent, kindly,Firm, secure, tranquil,all-powerful, all-seeing,And pervading all spirits,though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.For she is an aura of the might of Godand a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.For she is...

Featured Term (selected at random):MICHAL The younger daughter of King Saul (I Samuel 14:49). That deceitful monarch used his daughter in a desperate attempt to have David killed. He offered to let David marry Michal provided he would kill one hundred Philistines in battle. His plan was frustrated and the two were married (I Samuel 18:20-27). In another attempt by Saul, Michal, who truly loved David, helped him escape. This did not deter her from scolding him later when she thought he weakened the dignity of the kingship by dancing before the Ark. He was unmoved; he felt that the...

November 11, 2009                                   Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, bishop     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 6:1-11 Hear, O kings, and understand;learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse!Hearken, you who are in power over the multitudeand lord it over throngs of peoples!Because authority was given you by the Lordand sovereignty by the Most High,who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels.Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly,and did not keep the law,nor walk according to the will of God,Terribly and swiftly shall he come against...

Part Three:  The Will of God First Commandment Table of Contents     The wording of the First Commandment is exactly the same in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no gods except me (Exodus 20:1-3; Deuteronomy 5:6-7). There follow after this statement of the First Commandment, several verses of prohibition against carved images. The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church considers these verses an explanation of the first precept. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness...

  Featured Term (selected at random): THEOLOGICAL PLURALISM The multiplicity of theological positions present within the Catholic Church. These positions vary according to which premises or postulates are used in reflecting on the sources of revelation, according to the methodology employed, and according to the cultural tradition within which theology does its speculation. On the first bases, the two principal philosophical premises are the Platonic, stressed in Augustinianaism; and the Aristotelian, emphasized in Thomism. On the second level, theologies differ in terms of their mainly biblical, or doctrinal, or historical, or pastoral methodology. And on the third basis, the culture...

November 10, 2009                                    Memorial of Saint Leo the Great,                                     pope and doctor of the Church   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 2:23–3:9 God formed man to be imperishable;the image of his own nature he made them.But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world,and they who are in his possession experience it. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;and their...

Part Three:  The Will of God The Ten Commandments Table of Contents     The Ten Commandments are also called the Decalogue, from the Greek deka, ten, and logos, word. They are therefore the Ten Words of God which synthesize God’s covenant with His chosen people. They were divinely revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two tablets of stone. Moses broke the stone tablets in anger when he came down from the mountain and saw the people practicing idolatry. However, the tablets were later replaced and placed in the Ark of the Covenant.There are two versions of the Ten...

Dedication of St. John Lateran November 9th, 2009 by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. As a rebellious teenager, I thought that Catholics should stop wasting their money on expensive churches.  We ought to sell them all and buy food for the poor, I argued.Funny thing.  Jesus, who cared much for the poor, did not have this attitude.  As an adolescent he yearned to spend time in Herod’s sumptuous Temple (Luke 2).   As an adult, he defended its integrity against the moneychangers (John 2).  Francis of Assisi, who gave away all his possessions, begged for money to buy materials to restore ruined...

Featured Term (selected at random):PARAY LE MONIAL A city in central France where Christ appeared to Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, on december 27, 1763, as she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament. She saw his Sacred Heart surmounted by a cross and a crown of thorns surrounding it. Many other apparitions followed. The Church approved the Communion of Reparation on the First Friday of the Month, the Holy Hour, and a special feast dedicated each year to the Sacred Heart, as a result of Our Lord's requests of Margaret Mary. In 1873 when pilgrimages were revived, English Catholics...

November 9, 2009                                    Feast of the Dedication of the                                     Lateran Basilica in Rome   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 The angel brought meback to the entrance of the temple,and I saw water flowing outfrom beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,for the façade of the temple was toward the east;the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple,south of the altar.He led me outside by the north gate,and around to the outer gate facing the...

November 8, 2009                                 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 11 Kgs 17:10-16 In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath.As he arrived at the entrance of the city,a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,"Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink." She left to get it, and he called out after her,"Please bring along a bit of bread." She answered, "As the LORD, your God, lives,I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jarand a little...

Featured Term (selected at random):ACCLAMATION 1. One of the ways of electing a pope in which the cardinals unanimously, without consultation or balloting, proclaim one of the candidates Supreme Pontiff. 2. Liturgical acclamations at the coronation of a pope or the election of a bishop. Acclamations were sent as compliments to the emperors from the early Church councils and were found in the coronation rites of secular princes and kings. Sepulchral monuments carried them as inscriptions. Brief liturgical formulas such as "Deo gratias" (thanks to God) may be classified as acclamations. (Etym. Latin ac-, to + clamare, to cry out:...

November 7, 2009                                 Saturday of the Thirty-first Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27 Brothers and sisters:Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus,who risked their necks for my life,to whom not only I am grateful but also all the churches of the Gentiles;greet also the Church at their house.Greet my beloved Epaenetus,who was the firstfruits in Asia for Christ.Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.Greet Andronicus and Junia,my relatives and my fellow prisoners;they are prominent...

Part Three:  The Will of God Christian Morality Table of Contents     In order to reach heaven, we must have the grace of God. Beyond what we have when we enter this world, we need divine grace in order to reach everlasting life in the world to come. The main source of this grace is the sacraments, beginning with Baptism. And the most important of the sacraments to keep us spiritually alive and well is the Holy Eucharist.But the sacraments alone are not enough. We must cooperate with the graces we receive. God keeps giving us constant illuminations of the mind...

Featured Term (selected at random):CHRISTIAN LAW The revealed precepts of the New Testament. There is a sense in which the Christian dispensation superseded the laws of earlier revelation, since the ceremonial and judicial practices of the Israelites have ceased to be binding on the followers of Christ. Also the moral code of pre-Christian Judaism has been greatly elevated. But all of this, as Christ was careful to explain, does not mean that he came to "abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear,...

November 6, 2009                                     Friday of the Thirty-first Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 15:14-21 I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters,that you yourselves are full of goodness,filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you,because of the grace given me by Godto be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentilesin performing the priestly service of the Gospel of God,so that the...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Marriage Table of Contents     Marriage is not of human origin. It was instituted by God, as described in the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis.But when Christ came into the world He elevated the natural institution to the level of a sacrament. He wished to provide not only individuals with the means they need, as persons, to reach eternal life: He also wanted to give grace to His followers as social beings. Marriage is the foundation of the family, which is the bedrock of human society.In the Church’s own language, the sacrament of Marriage...

Featured Term (selected at random):MIGNE PATROLOGIA The most comprehensive editions of the Fathers of the Church and ecclesiastical writers in existence. Jacques Paul Migne (1800-75) had been a parish priest in Orléans, France, until 1844, when he began publishing the corpus of Latin authors up to Innocent III (217 volumes, 1844-55). Then followed the Greek writers to A.D. 1439 (162 volumes, with Latin translation, 1857-66). The two collections, Patrologia Latina (P.L.) and Patrologia Graeca (P.G.), although lacking the critical perfection of modern scholarship, are still a standard source for reference and quotation. All items in this dictionary are from Fr....

November 5, 2009                                    Thursday of the Thirty-first Week                                in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 14:7-12 Brothers and sisters:None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.For if we live, we live for the Lord,and if we die, we die for the Lord;so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.For this is why Christ died and came to life,that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.Why then do you judge your brother or sister?Or you, why do you look down on...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Holy Orders Table of Contents     Among the sacraments, none is more distinctively Catholic than the sacrament of Order. The plural, Orders, is commonly used because there are three levels of this one sacrament, namely the diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate. In the Church’s own language, this sacrament is described in the new Code of Canon Law. By divine institution, some among Christ’s faithful are, through the sacrament of Order, marked with an indelible character, and are thus constituted sacred ministers…. They are thereby consecrated and deputed so that each according to his own grade, they fulfill,...

Featured Term (selected at random):MOTU PROPRIO Words used in rescripts drawn up and issued by a pope on his own initiative, and not conditioned by any petitionary requests. The documents are always signed personally by a pope. See Also: PROPRIO MOTU All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.   PROPRIO MOTU More commonly motu proprio. Something done on one's own initiative or by one's own will. Said especially of certain papal documents written on the Pope's own authority, often to meet a special and urgent need in the...

November 4, 2009                                 Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 13:8-10 Brothers and sisters:Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;you shall not kill;you shall not steal;you shall not covet,and whatever other commandment there may be,are summed up in this saying, namely,You shall love your neighbor as yourself.Love does no evil to the neighbor;hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. Responsorial...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Anointing of the Sick Table of Contents     The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was already implied in Christ’s first mission to the twelve apostles. “So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them” (Mark 6:13). Some time during His public ministry, Christ personally instituted anointing “as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament” (Council of Trent, November 25, 1551). After the Lord’s ascension into heaven, anointing was commended to the faithful and promulgated by the Apostle James, “the...

Featured Term (selected at random):CELTIC CHURCH The name originally given to the Church in the British Isles before the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604) from Rome (596-97). It was founded by the second century, mainly among the poor, by missions from Rome and Gaul. By the fourth century, it was sufficiently established to send delegates to the Synod of Arles in 314 and the council of Ariminum in 359. All the evidence indicates that the Celtic Church was little affected by the major heresies of the age. It was in frequent contact with the Church of the...

November 3, 2009                                     Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 12:5-16ab Brothers and sisters:We, though many, are one Body in Christand individually parts of one another.Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,let us exercise them:if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;if ministry, in ministering;if one is a teacher, in teaching;if one exhorts, in exhortation;if one contributes, in generosity;if one is over others, with diligence;if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness....