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d like all other prophets, and those who are ridiculing and rejecting him will be severely punished. Sura 12, “Joseph,” is another late Meccan sura. It was revealed, says Maududi, “when the Quraish” — the pagan Arabs of Mecca, and the tribe of which Muhammad was a member — “were considering the question of killing or exiling or imprisoning him.” It tells the story of the patriarch Joseph, again — as we saw in Sura 11 with the stories of other prophets — with a clear message relating to Muhammad and his opponents.Allah begins in verses 1-3 with another panegyric...

Which Do You Prefer: Melons and Leeks, or the Bread of Heaven? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 4, 2015 • The first reading for daily Mass on Monday (18th week of the year) was taken from the Book of Numbers. It features the Israelites grumbling about the manna in the wilderness:Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna (Numbers 11:4-5).While it is possible for us to marvel...

Shroud of Turin featuring positive (L) and negative (R) digital filters. Credit: Dianelos Georgoudis via Wikimedia Commons. Rome, Italy, Aug 4, 2015 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Shroud of Turin has different meanings for many people: some see it as an object of veneration, others a forgery, still others a medieval curiosity. For one Jewish scientist, however, the evidence has led him to see it as a meeting point between science and faith. “The Shroud challenges (many people's core beliefs) because there's a strong implication that there is something beyond the basic science going on here,” Barrie Schwortz, one...

Consider Answering This Question That Jesus Posed Msgr. Charles Pope • August 2, 2015 • In the midst of explaining a parable to the disciples, Jesus stopped and asked them a question:“Do you understand these things?” (Mt. 13:52)Now, rule number one in reading Scripture is when Jesus asks a question, you answer it. You don’t keep reading to see how the Apostles or disciples answered it. You stop, put down the Bible, and answer it yourself. I have deliberately not provided any context to the question Jesus asks above (you can look it up later if you’d like). But...

(The link is to a map supposedly showing the spread of world religions through time. Conveniently, It fails to show that Palestine, North Africa or the Middle East was Christianized prior to Mohammed, or, in fact, ever. This is the BS the machine is spreading as fact.) Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are five of the biggest religions in the world. Over the last few thousand years, these religious groups have shaped the course of history and had a profound influence on the trajectory of the human race. 

Come Over Here Where the Feast of the Lord is Going On – A Homily for the 18th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • August 1, 2015 • All of the readings in today’s Mass speak of human desire. The Israelites in the desert are hungry, so are the people by the lakeside with Jesus. And in the Epistle, St. Paul warns of corrupted desires. In all of the readings, God teaches us that our desires are ultimately directed to Him, who alone can truly satisfy us. Why is this? Because our desires are infinite, and no...

Priesthood. —The word priest (Germ. Priester; Fr. pretre; Ital. prete) is derived from the Greek presbuteros (the elder, as distinguished from neoteros, the younger), and is, in the hieratical sense, equivalent to the Latin sacerdos, the Greek iereus, and the Hebrew KHN. By the term is meant a (male) person called to the immediate service of the Deity and authorized to hold public worship, especially to offer sacrifice. In many instances the priest is the religious mediator between God (gods) and man and the appointed teacher of religious truths, especially when these include esoteric doctrines. To apply the word...

Access to heaven It is only through the blood of Christ that the gates of heaven have been opened allowing us to enter Msgr. Charles Pope 7/29/2015 Question: When Christ died on the cross, the heavy curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. What does this mean? Someone told me that this means we no longer need priests to intercede for us to the Father.— Name withheld, via email Answer: We most certainly do need to have a priest intercede for us. He is the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Scripture says of...

On the Biblical Roots and Requirements of Church Design Msgr. Charles Pope • July 30, 2015 • In yesterday’s readings at Mass we read about how Moses laid out the “tent of meeting” exactly according to the pattern God gave him up on the mountain. A millennium later John described a similar scene of the sanctuary in Heaven.Few Catholics today realize that God actually did indicate a good deal about how He expects our churches to be designed. And while some degree of variation is allowed and has existed, most modern churches have significantly departed from the instructions God gave....

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, joined by representatives of other Orthodox churches, recalled the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Vladimir, prince of Kievan Rus' and a key figure in the evangelization of the Slavic peoples. "We do not forget that the light of the Orthodox truth came to us from the shores of Bosporus, from Constantinople," Patriarch Kirill said on July 27 at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. "In spite of all difficult historical circumstances, this spiritual bond has never been broken. I believe that the ties existing between us will continue to strengthen the whole...

The German Protestant Church (EKD) has apologised for the widespread destruction of religious images during the Reformation. “The Protestant Church rejects the destruction of images. Images have long since become an expression of Protestant piety,” Protestant Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber underlined at a meeting of delegations from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the EKD. The clerics met in Hamburg to discuss the word “image” from the Orthodox and Protestant points of view. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and EKD chairman Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm sent greetings and blessings to the Hamburg meeting. Destroying image was most common in the immediate aftermath of the...

Historians speculate that early settler leader could have been a Catholic spy Historians have discovered four bodies and a mystery Catholic reliquary under the first English Protestant church in America.In an extraordinary turn of events, graves have been discovered under what used to be the floor of America’s first Protestant church in Jamestown, Virginia – the church where Pocahontas married the English colonist John Rolfe.The graves include the bodies of Captain William West, who was killed by Indians, Rev Robert Hunt, Jamestown’s first Anglican minister and Sir Ferdinando Wainman, the first English knight buried in America. The grave of...

Hidden Jewels: Appreciating the Prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayer Msgr. Charles Pope • July 28, 2015 • In tomorrow’s blog I will be looking at a few of the “prefaces” we use at Mass (these occur just before the Holy, Holy, Holy (Sanctus)). As a preface to speaking about those prefaces tomorrow, today I would like to consider the purpose of the preface and the dialogue that precedes it.For, indeed, a short dialogue happens in the Mass just after the prayer over the gifts and before the singing of the Sanctus. It is called the “preface dialogue” and it is...

We are living at a time in which the monastic life is not only considered abnormal, but is even ridiculed and condemned. Even they who profess to teach the word of God, especially within Protestant Christianity, cynically condemn the monastic life as useless, isolationist, abnormal, and not in conformity with the teachings of Christ. They teach that they who enter monasteries and convents certainly are not the ideal Christians. The Early HistoryYet, history witnesses to us that the ascetic life, the life of monasticism has existed within the Church from the very beginning. Even before the Church had been established on...

Of Hunger and Hallucinations – How the Stages of Starvation Describe the Decaying West Msgr. Charles Pope • July 27, 2015 • Yesterday’s post dealt with the capacity of this world, by God’s promise, to provide sufficient food for us. While hunger does exist, it is due more to human sinfulness than insufficient resources.But even more prevalent these days than physical hunger is spiritual hunger, if not outright starvation. As is the case with physical hunger, the source of spiritual hunger is not God, who has given us abundant grace and truth; it is we who are the source. It...

July 27, 2015Everyone’s a Bit KnottySarah Maw When glancing over the myriad of Marian devotions in the Catholic Church, it’s easy to find yourself pondering: “How do I pick one? Can I pick only one? In the end, aren’t they all just prayers to Mary?” Yes, our Marian prayers do all end up in the same place, in God’s hands through Mary. But, the long list of devotions isn’t simply a way for Mary to accumulate as many awesome titles as possible. Each Marian devotion has a unique message behind it, directed to a specific audience, and is accompanied by...

Rome, Italy, Jul 21, 2015 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A recent discovery in the Catacomb of Saint Callixtus, an early Christian series of tombs beneath Rome which once held the bodies of 16 Popes, has been christened the “Orpheus cubicle” after the figure from Greek mythology. The small room, located in front of the Crypt of the Popes, was poorly conserved until a recent excavation by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology. The “Orpheus cubicle” is named for its painting of Orpheus with a lyre, surrounded by birds, sea monsters, and flowers, representing the whole of creation. Orpheus was...

Of Plenty, Population, and Trust: A Further Reflection on the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes Msgr. Charles Pope • July 26, 2015 • The multiplication of the loaves and fishes that we read about at Sunday Mass this week was a miracle so astonishing that it is recounted in all four Gospels. And a second, similar instance is recorded in another Gospel. In other words, this sort of miracle by Jesus is recounted five times within the four Gospels.There are many theological reasons for this. Clearly, Jesus was fulfilling the promise of Moses: that after him a greater One...

The source & nature of Church authority is one of the major issues that beginning Catholics have to examine and come to terms with. The Catholic Church makes an amazing claim: it teaches, governs, and sanctifies with the authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that this gift of Church authority is one of the jewels that Christ has given to us as an aid to our salvation. Keep three things in mind: There is a large amount of evidence in Scripture to support the Catholic Church’s claim to authority, as well as from early Church history. The nature and scope...

What Are Your Five Loaves and Two Fishes? A Homily for the 17th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • July 25, 2015 • We have in today’s gospel the very familiar miracle of the loaves and the fishes. One is tempted to say, “Oh, that one …” and then tune out. But the gospel today contains a personal appeal from the Lord’s lips to your (my) ears: “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”Immediately, objections begin to pop up in our minds. But let’s be still and allow the Lord to instruct us by...