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         It's Sunday morning and a throng of churchgoers file into the biggest building on the block. The stadium-style seating in the sanctuary surrounds an elevated stage, indicating a culture accustomed to entertainment and a hands-off approach to the preaching and teaching of God's word. No pulpit or Bible is in sight...only a stool and a large video screen.          The fliers had already been sent out into the neighborhood, and today the church is starting yet another topical sermon series—this time on marriage and family. The praise band finishes their last song...

I've written before on the subject of a partial-rapture.  In short, I disagree with the Gospel-deniers who promote it.  However, I actually do believe in a partial-rapture - not of Believers, but of Christendom.  All Believers who have thrown themselves on the mercy of God and are clinging to the Cross will be leaving very shortly.  However, there are a great many who label themselves "Christian" and yet have never accepted God's provision for their sins.  They talk incessantly of the Bible and good works and Jesus, yet they have no understanding of Jesus' primary message: You think you...

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi | Alessandro Rosi Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi Saint of the Day for May 24 (April 2, 1566 – May 25, 1607)  Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi’s Story Mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God while both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the “ecstatic saint.”Catherine de’ Pazzi was...

Some Basics on the Beatitudes Msgr. Charles Pope • June 13, 2017 • J.J. Tissot, Sermon of the BeatitudesWe began reading the Sermon on the Mount during daily Mass this week. One of the flawed ways of reading it is to see the Lord’s teaching merely as a list of moral demands that we must fulfill out of our own flesh or human ability. To do so is to miss the point.The better way to understand the Sermon on the Mount is to see that our Lord is painting a picture of the transformed human person. In effect, He...

It is kept in the Chapel of the Relics of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Asunción de Coria, Spain. The Cathedral of Coria, in Extremadura, Spain, took about 250 years to build. Its history is a long and complex one, and some studies indicate that some of the building elements composing the structure date from the first century.According to the doctoral thesis of Maria del Carmen Sanabria Sierra, writing  under the direction of the renowned art historian Victor Nieto Alcaide, the cathedral may have been the first Christian temple in the entire Iberian Peninsula. A Roman mosaic...

Living Life at the Angle of 45 Degrees Msgr. Charles Pope • June 12, 2017 • At an angle of 45°, we look both up and out, and this is a good paradigm for life. At 45° degrees, we can view both up: seeing and loving God, and out: seeing and loving our neighbor.At 90° (i.e., straight up or straight out) our field of vision misses either God or the people whom He loves. For example, if I look straight up (90°) I am looking toward God but not toward the people He loves; if I look straight forward...

In light of current events, I wish to share a true story about a hermit from Loreto, Italy and the premonition he was given by God.

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi | Alessandro Rosi Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi Saint of the Day for May 24 (April 2, 1566 – May 25, 1607)  Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi’s Story Mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God while both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the “ecstatic saint.”Catherine de’ Pazzi was...

One autumn evening, someone saw a burning brightness as if the church was on fire. A fire brigade was called in. It was no fire, however.

A Brief Reflection on the Ministry of the Angels Throughout Creation Msgr. Charles Pope • June 11, 2017 • The conclusion of the Book of Tobit on Saturday featured 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...

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: The great controversy between Christ and Satan during the Christian dispensation | from a book by White, Ellen Gould Harmon Saint Gregory VII Saint of the Day for May 23 (c. 1025 – May 25, 1085)  Saint Gregory VII’s Story The 10th century and the first half of the 11th were dark days for the Church, partly because the papacy was the pawn of various Roman families. In 1049, things began to change when Pope Leo IX, a reformer, was elected. He brought a young monk named Hildebrand to Rome as his counselor and...

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: The Translation of Saint Rita of Cascia | Nicolas PoussinSaint Rita of Cascia Saint of the Day for May 22 (1381 – May 22, 1457)  Saint Rita of Cascia’s Story Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After...

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: Photograph of Saint Cristóbal Magallanes Jara | Unknown Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions Saint of the Day for May 21 (d. between 1915 and 1937)  Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions’ Story Like Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, S.J., Cristóbal and his 24 companion martyrs lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico, one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people. Churches, schools, and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled. Cristóbal established a clandestine seminary at Totatiche, Jalisco. He and the other priests were forced to minister secretly to Catholics during the presidency...

The devil has a special place in his black heart for children. He delights in stealing their innocence, using those under his demonic influence to commit the most unspeakable acts against the under-aged. So it was in the time of Moses that Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys be put to the sword to cull the growing Hebrew population. So it was in the time of Jesus that Herod the Great ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger so that he would not be supplanted as King of the Jews. And so it...

First of all, today is the Feast Day of the Blessed Trinity, and so we would wish all of you a Happy Feast Day, and in particular we would wish the Eternal Father a Happy Father's Day! For those who are unaware or need to be reminded, belief in a Trinitarian God, that is Three Persons, One God, comes to us from our elder brothers and sisters in the faith, the Jews. The belief in the Trinitarian God as described is the universally accepted criteria to receive and accept the designation as a true Christian. So we Catholics should be...

The point of origin of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ. This page reviews the transmission of the Christian faith from Jesus Christ and the Apostles through the Traditions of the early Christian Church and the formation of the Canon of the New Testament of the Bible. God has revealed himself to man through Divine Revelation, by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. God chose to reveal himself to us so that we may become partakers of his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). God first made himself known by creating our first parents,...

*** Russia guards Christian heritage of the Old WorldMoscow, June 9, Interfax - Expert on Christian shrines Mikhail Arteyev believes that Russians' level of spirituality can be compared to Europeans of the Middle Ages. "I would say that Russia today is more like Europe of the Middle Ages, more than Europe itself, and it is wonderful. Today Russia is Europe's guardian," he said in his interview with Interfax-Religion. According to Arteyev, "all European greatest works of art, churches, culture in general were based mostly on Roman and church components." The interviewee of the agency believes that "mass Catholicism has blown...

One and One and One Are One - A Homily for Trinity Sunday Msgr. Charles Pope • June 10, 2017 • 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 well to...

With so much talk lately about the Gospels, I wonder, who wrote the Gospels and how do we know? To answer this question we must first be clear on how the Gospels were formed and what constitutes authorship. Citing Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), the Catechism has a very succinct presentation on the formation of the Gospels (cf. No. 125-127). The foundational premise is that Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy maintained and continues to maintain, that the four Gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John], whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on...

Jesus' birth While we remember one’s day of birth, it does not mean it is the most significant thing about them Catholic 5/17/2017 Question: Several years ago, a priest said in a sermon that Easter is a more important holy day than Christmas. This rather upset my young daughter, 8 at the time, who said that Jesus could not rise unless he had been born. Even several years later she will mention this and express irritation at the priest’s claim. Is there something I should say to her, or just leave this matter to the realm of opinion?— Name,...