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Proverb 23 (NKJV) Listen to Your Father 01 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, 00 Consider carefully what is before you; 02 And put a knife to your throat 00 If you are a man given to appetite. 03 Do not desire his delicacies, 00 For they are deceptive food. 04 Do not overwork to be rich; 00 Because of your own understanding, cease! 05 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? 00 For riches certainly make themselves wings; 00 They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. 06 Do not eat the...

Franciscan Media Image: San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Church | photo by Judgefloro Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions Saint of the Day for September 22 (1600 – September 29 or 30, 1637)  Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions’ Story Lorenzo was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them, and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He...

The Purpose of Exile By Philip Cottraux Assyria. The terror of the ancient world is still infamous for their extreme brutality. When the Assyrians would conquer a city, they were known to have “child fires,” lining up the city’s children and forcing the parents to watch while they burned them en masse. They would flay survivors of defeated armies alive and adorn the walls of Nineveh with the skins. Inside, the streets were decorated with “head pyramids,” large piles of decapitated heads of conquered people. Lines of dismembered limbs were strewn from building to building, adorning the city like gruesome...

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.(Deuteronomy 32:22-24)The doctrine of the Divine judgment of sinners is terrible to truly contemplate. So terrible that many evangelicals are retreating from it...

Mental reservation Deception, even for very good reason, is always a sin, but we can still rely on God’s abundant mercy Msgr. Charles Pope September 23, 2018 Question: As a product of Jesuit education, I learned that if someone is not entitled to know the truth, then it is permissible to lie in order that the truth not be revealed to them, especially if they will use that information to harm others. Is this a valid view? — Ed Siering, Muscatine, Iowa Answer: If someone is not entitled to know the truth or facts about a certain situation, the clear...

Proverb 22 (NKJV) The Value of a Good Name 01 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, 00 Loving favor rather than silver and gold. 02 The rich and the poor have this in common, 00 The LORD is the maker of them all. 03 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, 00 But the simple pass on and are punished. 04 By humility and the fear of the LORD 00 Are riches and honor and life. 05 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; 00 He who guards his soul...

Franciscan Media Image: St. Matthew and the Angel | Guido Reni Saint Matthew Saint of the Day for September 21 (c. 1st Century)  Saint Matthew’s Story Matthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces, collecting taxes from other Jews. The Romans were not scrupulous about what the “tax farmers” got for themselves. Hence the latter, known as “publicans,” were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The Pharisees lumped them with “sinners” (see Matthew 9:11-13). So it was shocking to them to hear Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers.Matthew...

Knowing the Bad News Unlocks the Good News Msgr. Charles Pope • September 20, 2018 • Christ in the House of Simon, Dirk Bouts (1440)Some people suggest that the Church should speak less of sin and instead emphasize positive things. After all, it is said that one can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. In that vein, we in the Church have been collectively de-emphasizing sin to a large degree for decades, and yet our churches have been getting emptier and emptier. Maybe this is because people are just a little more complicated than the flies in...

Proverb 21 (NKJV) The LORD Considers the Heart 01 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, 00 Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. 02 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, 00 But the LORD weighs the hearts. 03 To do righteousness and justice 00 Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. 04 A haughty look, a proud heart, 00 And the plowing of the wicked are sin. 05 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, 00 But those of everyone who is hasty,...

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. ( Psalm 7:9-13)The Judeo/Christian teaching of a God of Holy wrath has by and large been rejected...

The Church of England should avoid only calling God "he", a bishop has said, as a survey found that young Christians think God is male. Research by YouGov found that almost half of 18-24 year-old Christians believed God to be male, with just one in three over-65s believing the same. The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester, the Church of England's first female diocesan bishop, said: "I don't want young girls or young boys to hear us constantly refer to God as he," adding that it was important to be "mindful of our language". She raised concerns that non-Christians...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has published a wide-ranging criticism of the Instrumentum Laboris (a kind of introduction or preamble) for the upcoming Synod on the Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. In an introductory paragraph, Chaput explains that the analysis was “received from a respected North American theologian”. The article, which appears in First Things, warns that the Instrumentum veers dangerously close to heresy – specifically the heresies of naturalism, Lutheranism, and relativism. It begins by criticizing its “naturalist” understanding of modern sexual dysfunction: widespread promiscuity, online pornography, and the like. “The document laments only its ‘disfiguring the...

New York City, N.Y., Sep 1, 2017 / 01:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic outreach to LGBT individuals must always include the truth about Catholic teaching and chastity, Cardinal Robert Sarah said in an article responding to Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin. “The Catholic Church has been criticized by many, including some of its own followers, for its pastoral response to the LGBT community,” Cardinal Sarah wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal Sept. 1. “This criticism deserves a reply, not so much to defend the Church’s practices reflexively, but to determine whether we, as the Lord’s disciples, are...

Franciscan Media Image: Saint Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions | CNS Photo Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions Saint of the Day for September 20 (August 21, 1821 – September 16, 1846; Companions d. between 1839 – 1867)    Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions’ Story The first native Korean priest, Andrew Kim Taegon was the son of Christian converts. Following his baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years, he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year...

All God’s Children and Nothing Greater Msgr. Charles Pope • September 19, 2018 • We often get anxious about rather petty notions related to our ranking relative to one another. On this topic, the Lord teaches an important lesson in the Gospel of Luke:An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest.Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who...

"Take the helmet of salvation" (Eph. 6:17). Discouragement and doubt are deflected when you know you’re secure in Christ. The Roman soldier's helmet was a crucial piece of armor designed to deflect blows to the head—especially the potentially lethal blow of a broadsword. Soldiers of that day carried a swift and precise dagger designed for close- quarter hand-to-hand combat. But they also carried a giant broadsword, which was a two-edged, three to four-foot long sword. It had a massive handle that, similar to a baseball bat, was held with both hands. With it they could take broad swipes from side...

“In order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). If the Holy Spirit resides within us, we will be able to fulfill the demands of God’s law. Augustine once said, “Grace was given, in order that the law might be fulfilled.” When God saves us He, by His Spirit, creates within us the ability to obey His perfect law. Because we now live “according to the Spirit”—walking by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit—we are able to do the...

Proverb A Day, Christ, God Proverb 20 (NKJV) Wine Is a Mocker 01 Wine is a mocker, 00 Strong drink is a brawler, 00 And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 02 The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; 00 Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life. 03 It is honorable for a man to stop striving, 00 Since any fool can start a quarrel. 04 The lazy man will not plow because of winter; 00 He will beg during harvest and have nothing. 05 Counsel in the heart...

Proverb A Day, Christ, God Proverb 20 (NKJV) Wine Is a Mocker 01 Wine is a mocker, 00 Strong drink is a brawler, 00 And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 02 The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; 00 Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life. 03 It is honorable for a man to stop striving, 00 Since any fool can start a quarrel. 04 The lazy man will not plow because of winter; 00 He will beg during harvest and have nothing. 05 Counsel in the heart...

Developments & Reactions This post continues our coverage of the ongoing ecclesiastical Chernobyl unleashed by the accusations of the former Vatican nuncio to the United States, “Abp.” Carlo Viganò, which were first published on Aug. 25 and have the potential not only to bring an end to the Francis “pontificate” but even to throw the entire Vatican II Sect into unprecedented chaos: Friday, Sep. 14, 2018 Developments In his homily for the day, Francis delivered Part 3 of his “Great Accuser” theme — video report here “Cardinal” Donald Wuerl’s homily for the opening of his “season of healing” in Washington,...