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[Catholic Caucus] Penance! Penance! Penance! — She came to Bernadette | Reject the "Cult of the Body"In many ways the nineteenth century was to become, after the turmoil of the Revolution, a century of Marian favors. To mention but a single instance, everyone is familiar today with the "miraculous medal." This medal, with its image of "Mary conceived without sin," was revealed to a humble daughter of Saint Vincent de Paul... . A few years later, from February 11 to July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary was pleased, as a new favor, to manifest herself in the territory...

In the traditional Roman calendar this Sunday is called Septuagesima, Latin for the “Seventieth” day before Easter. The number 70 is more symbolic than arithmetical...For example, Septuagesima is the 63rd day before Easter and, therefore, it in the 7th (septimus) decade or 10-day period before Easter The Sundays which follow are Sexagesima (“sixtieth”) and Quinquagesima (“fiftieth”) before Ash Wednesday brings in Lent, called in Latin Quadragesima, “Fortieth”. These ancient pre-Lenten Sundays prepare us for the discipline of Lent, which once was far stricter. Sometimes I talk about “situational awareness”. That involves more than just looking around right here and right...

Full title: "He excluded from the altar all who had perpetrated crime or formed evil resolutions" — A 5th century account of participation in Holy Communion There is an interesting passage in the Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, written about AD 445, regarding two priest-monks in Egypt. These two, Dioscorus and Eulogius, appear as part of a list of holy men who flourished during the reign of the emperor Valens (AD 364-378) who “devoted themselves to a life of philosophy.” (Note that when Sozomen says, “philosophy”, he means ascetic Christian theology.) For each holy man on the list, Sozomen provides a...

The Difference Between Penance and Punishment Msgr. Charles Pope • July 15, 2018 • There is an old rabbinic story that speaks to the danger of being “unbroken.” It also illustrates the difference between penance and punishment. I am relating this story from memory and may have adapted it somewhat over the years, so if you know it in a different way, please be merciful! Here is (my version of) the story:There once was a man who had violated the Sabbath against his will, because his carriage had broken down. Although he ran, striving to reach town before sundown,...

Some Thoughts on Sin, Contrition and Repentance from C.S. Lewis Msgr. Charles Pope • March 11, 2018 • C.S. Lewis is revered for his solid insight and for his ability to look beyond the ordinary understanding of things. Although he was not a Catholic, I would like to present several of his thoughts on sin, contrition, and repentance as part of our Lenten consideration of these matters. The quotes below are all drawn from a collection of passages from Lewis’ writings entitled The Business of Heaven. The page numbers in my citations refer to that book. On contrition and...

Preparing for Judgment Msgr. Charles Pope • November 12, 2017 • This is the sixth in a series on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.In the past two articles we have recalled the reality of the judgment that is upon us when we die and we have surveyed the parables in which Jesus urgently warns us of it. In this post we consider something of a plan to prepare for judgment.You are going to die and you don’t get to say when. This should inspire a sober, urgent, and daily preparation for death and judgment. Yet...

Bless me, FatherMsgr. Charles Pope Question: In confession recently the priest told me I should not say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned”; instead I should say, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” Is he right?— Name, location withheld Answer: The opening of confession with the expression “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned” is a widespread custom in the United States and in some other regions. In different parts of the world, there are other expressions used to begin the confession.The insistence that you should say “Forgive me, Father” is puzzling and requires something of you that...

Confession of sins We are to name and number our mortal sins during confession, which has its roots in sacred Scripture Msgr. Charles Pope 9/27/2017 Question: As a child, I was taught to confess my sins individually by name and the number of times committed. Is this practice legally required? Some confessors say this amount of detail is unnecessary. Also, how did the confession ritual of the Church get established? There is no biblical record that I know of.— Glen Morton, Peoria, Illinois Answer: Confessing sins in kind (by name) and number is required only for mortal sins. For lesser (venial) sins...

A Lenten retreat on the message of Fatima.

Along with Friday fish-fries, the weekly Stations and giving up something (or doing something more), recent years have brought a new tradition of Lent: the Pope going into overdrive to plug his favorite sacrament. Yet even as The World's Most Coveted Pitchman again devoted the better part of a week this month (and amid the high exposure of his election anniversary, at that) to another round of all-Confession, all-the-time messaging – topped as usual by taking his own turn as a penitent during the season's annual penance service in St Peter's – in at least a hefty chunk of the trenches,...

The Gift of Sorrow for Sin – A Meditation on the Mass for the Gift of Tears Msgr. Charles Pope • March 3, 2016 • Most 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 mild scrupulosity that is almost admirable. A sensitive conscience is a beautiful thing and bespeaks a kind of innocence that is rare today.Others have a more unhealthy form of scrupulosity, rooted too much in cringing fear of a God who is seen more as a punishing...

Mercy! So Great a Gift – Why Many Parishes Need to Reconsider When They Offer the Sacrament of Confession By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt tonight’s Chrism Mass, the Cardinal chose to focus his remarks to the more than 300 priests in attendance on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the power of mercy. What a magnificent gift the Lord gave His Church through the ministry of priests, that we can hear His blessed words, I absolve you from your sins … go in peace.My mind goes back to a beautiful story of St. John Paul II and a certain bishop (not of...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is inviting every parish around the world to open its doors for 24 hours this Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, so that the faithful might encounter Jesus Christ anew in the Sacrament of Confession and Eucharistic Adoration.  The Lenten initiative, organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, is called “24 Hours for the Lord.” It is intended also to be a time of reflection and prayer, an opportunity to  speak with a priest, and a chance to rediscover — or perhaps discover for the first time — the great mercy at the...

Call it truth in advertising–though not in reporting. Religion News Service's story on Pope Francis's Christmas address to the Curia bears a headline that aptly sums up its spin: "Pope Francis to Curia: Merry Christmas, you power-hungry hypocrites." The lede signals that we have before us the mainstream media's familiar "Francis as radical" meme: VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis launched a blistering attack on the Vatican bureaucracy on Monday (Dec. 22), outlining a “catalog of illnesses” that plague the church’s central administration, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and gossipy cliques. The pope’s traditional Christmas greeting to the cardinals, bishops and priests who...

VATICAN CITY — The secrecy of a confession is maintained so seriously and completely by the Catholic Church that a priest would be excommunicated for revealing the contents of a confession when ordered to testify by a court or even after the penitent dies, Vatican officials said.“No confessor can be dispensed from it, even if he would want to reveal the contents of a confession in order to prevent a serious and imminent evil,” said Msgr. Krzysztof Nykiel, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with matters of conscience.The penitentiary sponsored a conference at the Vatican Nov. 12-13...

Several times since the Council, the enemies of truth and dogma have tried to force the issue of communion for "remarried" divorcees, a magnificent coup for, in the name of a false notion of "mercy", destroying the theology of two of the most fundamental Sacraments, Matrimony and Penance, and cheapen the highest Sacrament, the Most Holy Eucharist. They do not care that the matter has been firmly established throughout the History of the Church. They do not care that the Pope they now praise as "Santo, Santo" explained thoroughly why it could not happen, following a Synod, in Familiaris Consortio:

I was explaining to a new Catholic recently that the color purple (violet) used in advent is akin to its use in Lent, in that both are considered penitential seasons. Hence we are to give special attention to our sins and our need for salvation. Traditionally Advent was a time we would, like Lent take part in penitential practices such as fasting and abstinence.Of course, in recent decades Advent has almost wholly lost any real penitential practices. There is no fasting or abstinence required, they are not really even mentioned. Confession is encouraged and the readings still retain a kind...

Mercy and Confession: 10 Tips on How to Confess Well by Fr. Ed Broom on July 23, 2013 ·   In the context of an Ignatian retreat it is always beneficial to prepare oneself to make an excellent Confession. To make a good confession demands prior preparation!  The better the prior preparation, the more abundant the graces and the more overflowing the river of peace in your soul! Following are ten short helps to make the best confession in your life!1.    IMPROVEMENT/UPGRADING THE RECEPTION.  As Catholics two of the most important actions we can accomplish are to go to Confession and to...

One of the greatest gifts of the Human person is the capacity to speak. It is also one of our greatest weaknesses. The Book of James says,We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect!, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and thus we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever...

The Baltimore Catechism Revised Edition (1941) Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer Contrition Lesson 30 from the Baltimore Cathechism 388. What is contrition? Contrition is sincere sorrow for having offended God, and hatred for the sins we have committed, with a firm purpose of sinning no more.Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord; and he will have mercy on him. (Isaiah 55:7)389. Will God forgive us any sin unless we have true contrition for it? God will not forgive us any sin, whether mortal or venial, unless we...