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Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: Santa Isabel de Portugal | Francisco de Zurbarán Saint Elizabeth of Portugal Saint of the Day for July 4 (1271 – July 4, 1336)  Saint Elizabeth of Portugal’s Story Elizabeth is usually depicted in royal garb with a dove or an olive branch. At her birth in 1271, her father Pedro III, future king of Aragon, was reconciled with his father James, the reigning monarch. This proved to be a portent of things to come. Under the healthful influences surrounding her early years, she quickly learned self-discipline and acquired a taste for spirituality.Thus fortunately...

Silence in Advent Prepares Us for the Joy of ChristmasConstance T. Hull The topic of silence has grown in popularity on social media in recent months. This is especially true in light of the various pieces written on Cardinal Sarah’s brilliant book, The Strength of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise. Silence is an important topic. We are inundated with noise. This noise is not only an assault on our auditory faculties, but on our senses as a whole. The world wants to keep us distracted, busy, and living with a constant din buzzing in our ears. Why? Noise is...

In Christ, the Son of Man, Our Total Victory Is Certain Msgr. Charles Pope • December 3, 2017 • At daily Mass last week, we read from an important passage in Daniel 7. It is important not only for its prophecy, but also because Jesus implicitly sets it an interpretive key for His own ministry and mission and for why He calls Himself the “Son of Man” so frequently. Let’s consider the passage from several different perspectives: its historical meaning, its Christological meaning and its present meaning.In a vision I, Daniel, saw during the night, the four winds of...

Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters destroyed by humanistic psychologyLOS ANGELES (ChurchMilitant.com) - Fifty years after breaking apart over defiance of their bishop, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) is nearing its end. For the past few years, the Tinseltown press has kept industry watchers abreast of the ongoing fight over the sisters' former convent in the exclusive L.A. district of Los Feliz. On one side are two of the five sisters who remain with the order, who have tried to sell the estate to Southern California businesswoman Dana Hollister. On the other, the archdiocese of Los Angeles,...

Arameans, an ancient people with a distinct culture, have been severely persecuted throughout Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria for more than 1,400 years.Faded-green plants grow alongside dusty roads in the Aramaic-Maronite village of Jish. Pink and red potted flowers decorate the doorsteps of most homes, and the intensity of the midday sun enhances their color. It’s been several months since I returned from a trip I took to Israel with an organization called Passages. During the trip, my group visited this particular village in the Galilee region to meet with a community of Arameans, an ancient people with a distinct...

Today as tensions between North Korea and the U.S. reach heights not seen since the 1950s, it is easy to forget that northern Korea used to be one of the Asian strongholds of Protestant Christianity. As Atlas Obscura recently explained, the city of Pyongyang became known to missionaries as the “Jerusalem of the East.” The city had great institutional strength for Protestantism, including Union Christian Hospital, Union Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Union Christian College, the first four-year college anywhere in Korea. One hundred ten years ago, Pyongyang saw the outbreak of a massive revival, the high point of the season...

Watch! A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent Msgr. Charles Pope • December 2, 2017 • The Sunday Gospel announces a critical Advent theme: While I want to comment primarily on the Reading from Isaiah, the Gospel admonition surely deserves some attention as well.Too many today hold the unbiblical idea that most if not all people are going to Heaven. For weeks now we have been reading parables in the Gospels in which the Lord Jesus warns that many (possibly even most) are not headed for Heaven. There are the wise and the foolish virgins, the industrious and...

Let God Find You – As Seen in a Touching Christmas Commercial Msgr. Charles Pope • December 1, 2017 • It may seem odd to say, “Let God find you.” After all, God knows just where we are. But there is something very respectful about a God who, as Jesus says in the Book of Revelation, stands at the door and knocks. Even back in the Garden of Eden, as sinful Adam and Eve hid, God walked through the garden and called, “Where are you?”Yes, God waits until we let him find us, until we open the door of...

The “Fruits” of Contraception Msgr. Charles Pope • November 30, 2017 • In our culture’s current self-examination on sexual harassment and sexual abuse, we would also do well to ponder how the “contraceptive mentality” has contributed to the many sexually related problems of the day. This view insists that there is no necessary connection between sex and having children; it separates what God has joined. This has led to a whirlwind of confusion about the nature and purpose of sexual intimacy as well as about marriage and family. Many treat sex lightly and frivolously; they falsely think that sex...

Advent: Five Ways to Live Out This Holy SeasonFr. Ed Broom, OMV Advent is just around the corner, which means time to prepare for Christmas — the birth of Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The joy of Christmas depends on the intensity with which we live out the Season of Advent. Let us follow these concrete suggestions and live out this Season of Advent with great joy, prayer, love and intensity. Let us live out this Advent as if it were to be the last in our lives. Indeed, it could be! Jesus constantly reminds us to be alert,...

A Culture Without God Is Like a Ship Without a Pilot Msgr. Charles Pope • November 29, 2017 • In the Liturgy of the Hours this week we read a remarkable attributed to St. Macarius, a bishop of the early Church. I marvel at its vivid imagery, and yet at the same time, questions arise in my mind as to the general application of the text. In effect, the text states that if the soul does not have Christ living within, it falls into utter disrepair and a contemptible state.Allow me to have Bishop Macarius speak for himself and...

CM speaks with North Central Lieutenancy of Order of Holy Sepulchre CHICAGO (ChurchMilitant.com) - Members of a 900-year-old order of Catholic knights are fighting to preserve access to Christian sites in the Holy Land. Heirs to the first Crusaders, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is tasked with "all the activities and initiatives which are necessary to support the Christian presence in the Holy Land." On October 22, the North Central Lieutenancy (division) uanimously approved "Perpetual Preservation of Access to Christian Sites," a resolution of support for the Christian presence in Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Church Militant spoke...

Only What You Do for Christ Will Last – A Meditation on the Rise and Fall of Civilizations Msgr. Charles Pope • November 28, 2017 • In the readings for Tuesday of the 34th Week of the Year, both Daniel and Jesus speak of the destruction that is upon nations and empires of this world. Daniel spoke to the people of his time and indicated that the Jewish people would suffer from four oppressive kingdoms, which though unnamed we now know as Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Each of these kingdoms would eventually fall. The only sure kingdom is...

Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm (Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockholm) G.K. Chesterton believed that the medieval era (800-1400 AD) was the height of human civilization. The implication, of course, is that society has so degraded over the intervening centuries by abandoning the lofty goals and aspirational values taught when Christianity was an integrated part of Western society.However, it should be remembered that, during the Medieval Ages, according to Justo González’s 1984 book The Story of Christianity, only 50% of Europeans were Christians. Great swathes of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe hadn’t yet experienced the light of Christ and, of course,...

A promotional image from BBC drama 'Gunpowder' which focuses on the persecution of English Catholics during the Reformation (Image: Robert Viglaski/BBC/Kudos) Amid celebrations of the Reformation's 500th anniversary, we should remember the mass persecutions of 16thC EnglandMartin Luther was a theologian. If you read the Ninety-Five Theses he reputedly tacked up on the door of Wittenberg’s Schlosskirche in October 1517, it is clear his interest lay in the nature of sin, repentance, absolution, penance and salvation. Whatever else his wider agenda was – or became – his initial arguments were presented as scriptural debate on the revealed path to...

A Biblical Portrait of Christ Our Risen and Glorified King Msgr. Charles Pope • November 27, 2017 • Given that Sunday was the Feast of Christ the King and that we have begun to read the Book of Revelation in the Office of Readings, this is an opportune time to examine the glorious portrait of Jesus Christ presented in Revelation 1:8-20. It is a portrait of the risen Christ in all His glory. The vision is of a high Christology. The Christ that is encountered here is the Lord of glory, who has attained to His glorious kingdom and...

These saints were killed for their faith during a dark time in England's history. After King Henry VIII proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church in England and Wales, a violent wave of anti-Catholic persecution began — and lasted over a century. It started with the executions of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, but didn’t end there. Hundreds were killed between 1535 and 1679; the Church recognized the heroism of 40 martyrs from England and Wales in a canonization ceremony on October 25, 1970. (Later, a separate feast on May 4 was created to recognize the 284 canonized or beatified...

Catholic Traditions for Advent and Christmas MICHAELANN MARTIN Issue: How can families better live the spirit of Advent and Christmas in their homes? Response The Catholic Church has designated the four weeks preceding Christmas as Advent, a time to prepare the way of the Lord for His coming as our King and Savior. In addition, the Church teaches that: [w]hen the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviors first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second...

Kingdom of David and Solomon Supported by Growing Evidence The evidence is coming together to support the Biblical record of David and Solomon. An Israeli publication updates the latest finds.In Haaretz, an Israeli news site, you can watch Bible stories rise from the dust. For decades, liberals critics have said that Biblical kings David and Solomon were mythical heroes invented by later Bible writers. It’s hard to say that any more. Philippe Bohstrom has done a service to those who prefer to trust the Bible over man’s changing opinions, pulling together in one place the latest findings that support...

The Biblical Roots of the Liturgy Msgr. Charles Pope • November 26, 2017 • Catholics are often unaware just how biblical the Sacred Liturgy is. The design of our traditional churches; the use of candles, incense, and golden vessels; the postures of standing and kneeling; the altar; the singing of hymns; priests wearing albs and so forth are all depicted in the Scriptures. Some of these details were features of the ancient Jewish Temple, but most are reiterated in the Book of Revelation, which describes the liturgy of Heaven.The liturgy here on earth is modeled after the liturgy in...