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Earlier this year, Ignatius Press brought out an English edition of a remarkable coffee-table book entitled Guadalupe Mysteries: Deciphering the Code. Authored by film director Grszegorz Górny and photographer Janusz Rosikoń, the 280-page oversize hardback book is printed in full color on high-gloss paper, complete with photographs, paintings, maps and charts to supplement the text on every page. Guadalupe Mysteries retells the history of Mary’s appearance to St. Juan Diego in 1531 in Mexico, the miraculous image she left on his tilma, the importance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the conversion of Mexico, and the extraordinary details of the...

Saint Sergius of Radonezh was born in the village of Varnitsa, near Rostov, on May 3, 1314. His parents were the pious and illustrious nobles Cyril and Maria (September 28). The Lord chose him while still in his mother’s womb. In the Life of St Sergius it is reported that even before the birth of her son, St Maria and those praying heard the thrice-repeated cry of the infant at the Divine Liturgy: before the reading of the Holy Gospel, during the Cherubic hymn, and when the priest pronounced: “Holy Things are for the Holy.” God gave Cyril and Maria...

Ignoring the Poor Is a Damnable Sin – A Homily for the 26th Sunday Msgr. Charles Pope • September 24, 2016 • The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus by Hendrick ter BrugghenIn the Gospel for today about the rich man and Lazarus the Lord gives us some important teachings on judgment and Hell. We live in times in which many consider the teachings on Hell to be untenable. They struggle to understand how a God described as loving, merciful, and forgiving can assign certain souls to Hell forever. Despite the fact that the Doctrine of Hell is taught...

Saint Juvenal, the Protomartyr of America, was born in 1761 in Nerchinsk, Siberia. His secular name was John Feodorovich Hovorukhin, and he was trained as a mining engineer. In a letter to Abbot Nazarius of Valaam (December 13, 1819), St Herman says that St Juvenal “had been an assistant at our monastery and was a former officer.” After his wife died in 1791, John entered a monastery at St Petersburg (St Herman’s Letter of December 13, 1819) and was tonsured with the name Juvenal. Three years later, he went to Alaska as a missionary. During 1794, the hieromonks Juvenal and...

Transgender Bathrooms? Q. What is the Church’s official teaching about transgender bathrooms? There does not seem to be a clear answer about all of this. Robert, via e-mail A. There is no such thing as being “transgendered” from any biblical or Catholic perspective. Thus there is no official teaching about something that doesn’t even exist, let alone about bathrooms. What we can do is apply Catholic principles to address the deep confusion that has arisen about something so clear and basic as one’s sex. The human person has a sex (not a gender), and God assigns that sex. Scripture says,...

It’s weird to think about, but a lot of the things we take for granted are almost shockingly recent inventions. The can opener didn’t exist until 1870—nearly a full century after canned food was first produced (people ate so much canned food that year, you guys). Doors have been around forever, but doorknobs weren’t invented until 1878 (and people were finally able to leave their houses). And grape juice?

September 23 (NC) The Conception of the Venerable Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John: The holy Prophet Malachi prophesied that before the Messiah’s birth His Forerunner would appear, and would indicate His coming. The Jews therefore in awaiting the Messiah also awaited the appearance of His Forerunner. In a city of the hills of Judea in the land of Palestine lived the righteous priest St Zachariah and his wife St Elizabeth, zealously observing the commandments of the Lord. The couple, however, had a misfortune: they remained childless in their old age, and they prayed unceasingly to God to...

The United States of America, under the leadership of President Barack Hussein Obama, has effectively abdicated all real current and future leadership within the Middle East arena. Worse still, this abdication of power and influence will knowingly benefit a growing key strategic enemy of America, Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This almost complete U.S. capitulation has been solidified by the recent signing of the tenuous Syrian ceasefire agreement, on September 9, 2016. This deal is an affront to U.S. regional power and a betrayal of key US allies within Syria. Under the terms of the now signed agreement the rebels in Syria,...

The Lies of the Devil and the Empty Promises of the World Msgr. Charles Pope • September 22, 2016 • One of the great illusions under which we labor is that if we only get just one more thing from this world, then we will be happy. Perhaps we think that if we just had a little more money, or a better job, or the latest iPhone, or if we were married to so-and-so, or if we lived in a better neighborhood, then we would be satisfied and content at last. But “at last” never seems to come even...

On Jesus’ Merciful Call of St. Matthew, a Great Sinner Msgr. Charles Pope • September 21, 2016 • On the Feast Day of St. Matthew (celebrated Wednesday of this week), we must acknowledge a great mercy in Jesus’ call. As a tax collector, Matthew was considered a great sinner. In fact, the term “tax collector” was a biblical euphemism for great sinner. Yet despite this, Jesus called him to be an Apostle.In our times many set mercy and the fact that we are sinners in in opposition to each other. But the Lord Jesus unites these realities together. For...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- The charred lump of a 2,000-year-old scroll sat in an Israeli archaeologist's storeroom for decades, too brittle to open. Now, new imaging technology has revealed what was written inside: the earliest evidence of a biblical text in its standardized form.

September 21/8 (traditional calendar) The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary: The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born at a time when people had reached such a degree of moral decay that it seemed altogether impossible to restore them. People often said that God must come into the world to restore faith and not permit the ruin of mankind. The Son of God chose to take on human nature for the salvation of mankind, and chose as His Mother the All-Pure Virgin Mary, who alone was worthy to give birth to the Source of purity...

Why Is Our Tolerance for Pain Greater Than It Is for Pleasure? Msgr. Charles Pope • September 20, 2016 • “The Garden of Eden” by Thomas ColeOne of the great mysteries of our life in this world is that we can endure more pain than pleasure. Indeed, we can endure only a little pleasure at a time. In fact, too much pleasure actually brings pain: sickness, hangovers, obesity, addiction, laziness, and even boredom. Yet we seem to be able to endure a lot of pain. Some of our pain, whether physical or emotional, can be very intense and go...

The American Left rejoices greatly in its new "lawless revolution" under Barack H. Obama that has finally over thrown our Founding Father's vision of America. Today the Left celebrates the birth of a new nation to replace our old one which was founded on the Laws of Nature and of Natures God. Almighty God and His moral absolutes for this physical world have been finally ousted from our schools, public squares, lives and three branches of government. Godlessness, secularism, technological tyranny, lawlessness, moral relativism and Big Government are now the new gods of America and as we look back at...

Even the most rookie evangelizer of the Catholic faith has come across the conversation-ending statement that religion is responsible for the majority of the wars and international atrocities throughout history.This comment is typically tossed out by people who have walked away from what they see as an authoritarian structure hellbent on the motto of “conversion or death.” They point to the Crusades and the Inquisition, or for that matter 9/11, and demand to know who would want to associate themselves with a religion that would carry out such terrifying actions in the name of a God who is supposed to...

One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Organized! A Biblical Picture of the Early Church in Miniature Msgr. Charles Pope • September 19, 2016 • I’d like to return to a brief Gospel that was read last week at daily Mass (Friday of the 24th Week of the Year). Though terse to the point of leaving a preacher wondering what to say, it actually paints a beautiful picture of the Church. Here is that short passage, followed by some commentary.And it came to pass that Jesus journeyed throughout the towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom...

Archaeologists believe they have found evidence of King David’s footprints in a mysterious two-gated city from 3,000 years ago, mentioned in the Bible’s story of David and Goliath The site is known by its modern name, Khirbet Qeiyafa, in Israel’s Elah Valley. After nearly seven years of excavations, the public can now explore the archaeological findings of Qeiyafa through “In the Valley of David and Goliath,” a new Bible Lands Museum exhibition that opened earlier this week in Jerusalem. The Qeiyafa findings have sparked debate and intrigued historians and archaeologists since they were first revealed. The city was discovered between...

The Church Must Be Light, That the World May See Msgr. Charles Pope • September 18, 2016 • In the Gospel today (Monday of the 25th Week of the Year) the Lord says,No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light (Lk 8:16).In other words, the Lord lit the light of the Church in order to give light to the world and to be seen. The world is in darkness; the moral darkness of these...

Archdiocese of Washington On Being Faithful in a Few Things before Being Ruler over Many Things Capital Catholic Happenings • September 17, 2016 • A Homily for the 25th Sunday of the YearIn today’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus gives a penetrating analysis of the state of the sinner and some very sobering advice to us would-be saints. Let’s look at the Gospel in two stages:I. ANALYSIS OF THE SINNER – In the opening lines of the Gospel, Jesus describes a sinful steward: DELUSION (of the sinner) – Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward …” Notice...

There has been a recent surge in conversions to Zoroastrianism among Kurds at home and abroad. Andaz Hawezi, chief of the Zoroastrian Temple in Sweden says thousands have joined the faith. In 2011 he was elected to lead the temple. Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions to which most Kurds trace their ancestral faith. Hawezi says not all the new converts or followers are Kurds. There are Arabs, Turks, Persian, Swedish, Polish, British and other nationalities. “We hope to come back to Kurdistan. That’s why we named the Temple Kurdish Zoroastrian.” Hawezi says. The Temple in Sweden is...