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Posted on June 16, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope On the Power of One Small Prayer Praying the rosary today I marveled once again at the Fatima prayer, which is recited at the end of each decade:O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy!I have often wondered how God reacts to a prayer like this. I am awed by the power of this simple prayer, even if said in a distracted way. God is surely pleased that we ask for...

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Of Hidden Manna and a Shining Stone: A Meditation on a Text From Revelation In the Office of Readings for Corpus Christi there is an antiphon rich in meaning yet at the same time mysterious:I will give to the one who is victorious the hidden bread and a new name (Antiphon 1 from Lauds).It is drawn from a longer text in the Book of Revelation, in the letter to the Church at Pergamum:He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one...

Is the great American experiment coming to a horrific conclusion and an EXPONENTIAL lawless end? You better believe that this is the question many Americans are asking themselves today in great fear. One cannot help to follow what is taking place in our nation and not see the EXPONENTIALLY rooted problems which are springing forth from EXPONENTIAL lawlessness. Perhaps you are a "conservative utopian", one who is unregenerate to Almighty God in RIGHTEOUSNESS, and have faith in the impossible and are optimistic about the unattainable? Fight your "good fight of conservatism" my dear friend but do not trust in it...

Pastor Rod Parsley at World Harvest Church in Ohio. | (Photo: Facebook/World Harvest Church)Televangelist Rod Parsley, who leads the Columbus, Ohio-based World Harvest Church, has come under fire for a recent message he shared on social media in which he urged people not to hate America’s slaveholding founding fathers as a national conversation rages around the removal of confederate monuments.The message appeared to have been shared by Parsley on Facebook last week but the content is now restricted according to Facebook. Gospel recording artist and songwriter Ted Winn ll reposted the message on his Facebook page and it has since...

Posted on June 14, 2020June 14, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope On the Ministry of Angels in Creation The conclusion of the Book of Tobit features the Archangel Raphael revealing himself to Tobit and others and explaining his ministry to them. This post I write is not a full angelology, it is just a grateful reflection for God, his angels and his creation. Book-length treatments are necessary for a good angelology. If you are looking for a readable, and brief account of angelology I might recommend The Angels and Their Mission According to the Fathers of the Church, by...

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Are You a Mouse or a Man? A Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi In many places this Sunday, the (moved) Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Our Lord is celebrated.While you may puzzle over my title for todayÂ’s blog, allow me to delay the explanation to a bit later. On a solemn feast like this, many things might be preached and taught. LetÂ’s look at three areas for reflection: the Reality of the Eucharist, the Requirement of the Eucharist, and the Remembrance of the...

A joyous event was held at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in the Vologda Metropolia recently, as an episcopal service was held in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit for the first time in more than a century since the monastery was closed by the godless soviets. The monastery was closed in 1918 and used as a military garage, and later housed the provincial department of the NKVD and KGB. The surviving cells and the rebuilt cathedral belonged to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs until October 2018, when the cathedral was returned to the Church. The liturgical life...

Here is the Bing page "EVE'S CREATION IN ART" showing various painters' conceptions of God's creation of Eve. Several are serious works worthy of interest. Some examples: Barkley Simpson Bradi Barth Michaelangelo Buonarotti Unknown Unknown Unknown Isaak van Oosten

Ancient catacombs under the site where Christ lived with His Most Pure Mother and St. Joseph for three years in Cairo were blessed and reopened yesterday, with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The Patriarchate of Alexandria had decided several months ago to renovate the St. George Catacombs and to create a meeting place of religion, culture, and history, and yesterday, Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria blessed the renovated space and consecrated the new chapel dedicated to St. Fanourios located within the catacombs, several meters below the ground, reports Romfea. “A dream came true today,” the Patriarch said during the service,...

At Mass in memory of those killed in Tiananmen, Msgr. Joseph Ha, auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong, prayed "that they may find eternal peace in the afterlife, for justice to be done". Hong Kong has had many "June 4ths". Loving God and one's neighbor means that "the value of man is far more important than any other institutional value: the people before the government; the truth before interests". "Could this be the last commemoration mass in memory of June 4th? I do not know"Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Among the moments scheduled to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre...

In a historic text, Archbishop Viganò agrees with Bishop Athanasius Schneider in his criticism of the Second Vatican Council.June 10, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The prominent Catholic prelate and speaker of truth, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, is casting off many of the false teachings that have crept into the Church during and since the Second Vatican Council. With this act of liberation, he sets the Church on a new path, cleared of falsehood and with the full Catholic truth in sight. In his new statement, Archbishop Vigano clearly distances himself from the controversial Abu Dhabi Statement. He says: “we know well...

Posts Posted on June 9, 2020 What is an Annulment and How Does it Differ From Divorce? There are some today who speak of annulment as “just another name for a Catholic divorce.” However, this is not correct. An annulment (more technically described as a “Declaration of Nullity”) is a recognition by the Church, based on evidence, that what may in fact have seemed to be a marriage, was not due to some intrinsic flaw at the time the vows we exchanged. A marriage may have been a civil marriage entered into in good faith by one or both...

As we remember with deep gratitude the devotion to duty and the sacrifices of the American, British, and Canadian forces that landed at Normandy 75 years ago and their accompanying paratrooper, air, naval, and French resistance forces, all of which played critical roles in the outcome, may we also acknowledge the sovereignty of Him who, operating on the grand scale, determines the “appointed times, and the boundaries” of nations (Acts 17:26); and, on the individual level, “looks from heaven . . . [and] sees all the sons of men” (Psalm 33:13). While the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings which...

Posts Posted on June 7, 2020 Another Glimpse of Extreme Secularism Last week on the blog we discussed the rise of vocal, extreme secularism, as exemplified by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (here). Extreme secularism is not merely a worldly attitude devoid of God, it is a position that actively denies that faith, prayer, and/or religious expression play a role worthy of recognition. Militant secularists go further, seeking to remove any religious practice or mention of God from the public square.This past week we saw another example of this extreme secularism in remarks made by Bill de Blasio, Mayor...

Posted on June 7, 2020June 7, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope One and One and One are One. A Homily for Trinity Sunday There is an old spiritual that says, “My God is so high you can’t get over Him. He’s so low you can’t get under Him. He’s so wide you can’t get around Him. You must come in, by and through the Lamb.”It’s not a bad way of saying that God is “other.” He is beyond what human words can describe, beyond what human thoughts can conjure. On the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we do...

As strange as this may seem, King Solomon is perhaps the greatest prefigure to the final Antichrist in the Bible. You may be thinking, blasphemy! How could God's chosen King of Israel (and wisest man who ever lived) be a prefigure to the Antichrist to come? The answer is that Solomon did not stay faithful to God his entire life. There was a period where he walked away from God and began to worship other gods. As every Christian knows, behind every false god is a demonic entity (1 Corinthians 10:20). Thankfully Solomon seems to have come back to his...

Here is the Bing page showing various painters' conceptions of God's creation of Adam. Several are serious works worthy of interest.

1 Corinthians 1:7 "So that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" God's word commands us to pray, seek (Luke 21:36), and wait assiduously and patiently for the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us His word to understand the coming "Beast" system and it's "Antichrist" leader. We are also given prefigures to the coming Antichrist system throughout the Bible. The next Biblical prefigure to the coming Antichrist is Nimrod. Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah, and son of Cush. After the Biblical flood, which is believed...

On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied soldiers clambered aboard heaving landing craft and braved six-foot swells, waves of machine-gun fire, and more than 6 million mines to claim a stretch of sand at a place called Normandy. Their mission was to carve out an Allied foothold on the edge of Nazi-occupied Europe for the army of more than one million that would follow them in the summer of 1944. This army would burst forth from the beachhead, rolling across Europe into the heart of Germany, liberating millions, toppling a genocidal regime, and ending a nightmare along the way. But it...

WARSAW, Poland -- Bosnian church leaders defended their decision to hold a Mass for civilians and former soldiers slaughtered by victorious communist forces in Yugoslavia, despite international condemnations and domestic protests. Msgr. Ivo Tomasevic, secretary-general of the Sarajevo-based bishops' conference, told Catholic News Service the Mass in Sarajevo's Sacred Heart Cathedral, led by Cardinal Vinko Puljic, marked the 75th anniversary of the massacre of mostly ethnic Croatian internees sent back to what was then Yugoslavia from a camp in Bleiburg, Austria. The annual Mass, held at Bleiburg since Yugoslavia's 1991 breakup, has been criticized by some European politicians for alleged...