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The Blessed Eucharist "He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works" - Psalm 110:4The sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearances, or accidents, of bread and wine. Unlike the other sacraments, it not only bestows grace, but contains the Author of Grace Himself. According to St. Thomas Aquinas (S.T. III, q.65 a. 3, C.), all the other Sacraments point to, or are servants of, the Blessed Eucharist. The Minister of this sacrament is the Priest or Bishop who consecrates the Blessed Eucharist at Mass. He is therefore...

The Gift of Sorrow for Sin – A Meditation on the “Mass for the Gift of Tears” in the Missal By: Msgr. Charles PopeMost pastors and confessors are aware that in any parish there are going to be a few who are scrupulous, even in times like these. Some have a kind of scrupulosity that is mild and almost admirable.  A sensitive conscience is a beautiful thing and bespeaks a kind of innocence that is rare today.Some others have a more unhealthy form of scrupulosity, rooted too much in cringing fear of a God who is seen more as a...

From the Martyrology today we have: "At Damascus, [in the year 743,] holy Peter Mavimeno. Some Arabs came to see him while he was ill, and to them he said, " Whoever does not embrace the Catholic Christian religion will be damned, as your false prophet Mohammed is," whereupon they killed him."

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...

The inspiration for the publication of "The Didache Bible" was an address given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, shown here in an October 2008 photo. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters) The Didache Bible (RSV, Second Catholic Edition): Ignatius Bible Edition, recently published by the Midwest Theological Forum with Ignatius Press, is a 1960-page study Bible featuring extensive commentaries, based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for each of the books of the Bible. The Didache Bible also includes over 100 apologetical inserts, over two dozen full-color biblical maps, and a 43-page glossary and a topical index. Rev. James...

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. joined Father Gerald Murray of New York on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday night to encourage Americans of all faiths to contact the White House and demand that the Obama administration call out radical Islam and take action to defeat the Islamic State terrorist organization. "This is part of a disturbing pattern," Jeffress said when asked by Bill O'Reilly what he made of Obama's initial refusal to call the ISIS beheading victims Coptic Christians [until he publicly acknowledged that the 21 Egyptian men were Christians and not just "citizens"...

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...

For the Church, Lent like Advent is a "powerful season" a season of waiting and preparing and therefore a time for sacrifice, repentance, and purification. But, in our hedonistic society of today these words seem to strike a rather discordant note. So, is it fair to ask : how do we speak today about sacrifice and how do we practice it ?? Lent lasts for 40 days - as many days as Jesus Christ spent in the desert before he took on his mission of salvation. 40 is a sacred number in the Bible : the Deluge lasted for 40...

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...

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.

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...

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2015 / 02:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Following an ecumenical meeting with Pope Francis on Monday, the moderator of the Church of Scotland said the gathering was significant, and could signal the end of its tensions with the Catholic Church. The Church of Scotland is an ecclesial community in the Calvinist and Presbyterian tradition. As its moderator, John Chalmers serves as the ecclesial community's official representative. “Scotland too has suffered in the past from a sectarian divide. Meetings like today marking our two churches and talking to each other on a very significant level means almost the...

In our Founding Father’s day, the practice of VIRTUE was a crown of honor, not a bigot’s badge of shame. My beloved, just look what we as a nation have become today! We are a nation of godless, narcissistic, self-gratifying, infanticidal murderers - pornographic, sexually deviant, perverse, callous, adulterous, drug addicts and drunks, using the First Amendment as a license to transgress natural laws and moral absolutes in the name of secular human rights. Our American families have been truly decimated and ravished beyond remedy! Our children are godless, desensitized, brain-washed and dumbed-down nimrods corrupted by Hollywood, the godless music...

"Yes, Father," said his young assistants, as wisps of sulfurous smoke rose from the earth nearby. They couldn't help musing about whether their master was about to descend into hell. The earth about them was gray and jagged, like sludge frozen into shards and knives, and it had cut the soles of their shoes badly. Rumbling came from below. But the master was like a boy sallying forth into an enchanted land. His weapons were his eyes and his mind, some measuring tools he had invented, and paper and pen to record his observations. Athanasius Kircher, the Jesuit polymath, climbed...

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...

Are There Still Apostles Today? by Nathan Busenitz Are there apostles in the church today?Just ask your average fan of TBN, many of whom consider popular televangelists like Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley, and Joel Osteen to be apostles. (Here’s one such example [see page 22].)Or, you could ask folks like Ron, Dennis, Gerald, Arsenio, Oscar, or Joanne. They not only believe in modern-day apostleship, they assert themselves to be apostles.A quick Google search reveals that self-proclaimed apostles abound online. Armed with a charismatic pneumatology and often an air of spiritual ambition, they put themselves on par with the earliest leaders of the church.So what are Bible-believing Christians to think about...

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...