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Sin Can Be Attractive Bait, but There’s Always a Hook Msgr. Charles Pope • May 9, 2016 • Satan, it would seem, does not act in an arbitrary manner when trying to tempt us. Rather, he is more a master hunter carefully setting traps, or a skilled fisherman studying behavior in order to choose the most effective bait. Satan is calculating and clever.Sadly, most of us are far less calculating and clever in seeking to avoid temptation and sin. We often engage in the wishful thinking that no trouble will befall us. Our strategy seems to depend more on...

Jozef De Kesel, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and primate of Belgium, has spoken in favor of allowing the ordination of married men. In a wide-ranging interview with De Zondag, a Flemish publication, the 68-year old Archbishop was asked whether the Latin Rite should maintain priestly celibacy. He said in reply: “I am not in favor of the abolition of celibacy. A single life is not meaningless. I have consciously chosen it: it was also the way of life of Jesus. However, I do not think we can require that of all priests, especially at a time when sexuality plays a big...

“Immediately [Jesus] made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” - Mark 6:45–46 We are accustomed to understanding the shepherding language in Scripture in warm, pastoral terms of comfort. Certainly, that is appropriate, since the Bible often uses shepherding imagery in such a way (for example, Ps. 23). However, the language of shepherd and sheep also appears in reference to military leaders. It is applied to Assyrian generals in Nahum...

“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace . . . will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10). Successful endurance of present trials leads to greater focus on glorifying God in the future. Sufferings and trials teach us patience. However, in Heaven we won’t need to have patience, and therefore it is not the major long-term lesson God wants us to learn from trials. He is far more pleased if we grasp the truth that what we suffer now is directly related to our ability to glorify Him in eternity....

The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). Peter learned five lessons that every believer must also learn. We have seen that God uses our experiences to mold us into more effective Christians and leaders. Using Peter as our example, let's briefly look at five lessons we can learn from our experiences: submission, restraint, humility, sacrifice, and love. Leaders tend to be confident and aggressive, so they must learn to submit to authority. Jesus illustrated that by telling Peter to go fishing and look for a coin in the mouth of the first fish he caught (Matt....

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.(Luke 17:1-2)There are times when, although you already know about a bad societal trend, an event occurs which crystallizes all that you sense was wrong about it. I had one of those moments when I opened a Saturday edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, our local newspaper, and read an...

Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher, Than I’ve Ever Been Lifted Before! Msgr. Charles Pope • May 8, 2016 • I would like to develop something more concerning the Feast of the Ascension, which was celebrated on Thursday (or Sunday in some dioceses).I wonder if many of us have pondered the great glory of this feast for humanity. For indeed, as Jesus enters into the highest heavens and into the Holy of Holies, unto the very throne of God, He goes there just as God (which He had always done) but also as man. Mystically, we, as members of...

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.(Matthew 18:10)Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.(Luke 17:1-2)The world of pagan sexual anarchy that out blind leaders are intent on plunging us into,...

“To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). We can rejoice after enduring a trial because our hope in Heaven will be renewed. The joy a Christian experiences as a result of trials can be the best kind he will ever know. But so often we allow the everyday stress and strain of financial difficulties, health problems, unrealized goals, and many other trials to rob us of our joy in Christ. True joy stems from spiritual realities that are much greater than temporal circumstances. In today’s...

The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). Your present experiences contribute to your future leadership ability. Stan Carder is a dear brother in Christ and one of the pastors on our church staff. Before coming to Grace Church he pastored a church in Montana. While there, he was riding one night in a truck that was involved in a very serious accident. Stan suffered a broken neck and other major injuries. As a result he underwent months of arduous and painful therapy. That was one of the most difficult periods in Stan's life, yet God used...

What Does the Ascension Accomplish for Us? A Homily for the Feast of the Ascension Msgr. Charles Pope • May 7, 2016 • This marvelous feast is not merely about something that took place two thousand years ago. For although Christ our head has ascended, we the members of His body are ascending with Him. Because He ascended, we too have ascended. In my own life as a Christian, I am brought higher every year by the Lord, who is drawing me up with Him. This is not some mere slogan; it is something I am actually experiencing. An...

Remembering moms, dreams of motherhood lost Katie Scott | Catholic Herald Katie Scott | Catholic Herald Mary McCarthy Hines created a small shrine for her stillborn daughter, Virginia. Along with an ultrasound photo, angels and a porcelain shoe, a relic of St. Gerard once belonging to the Jesuit priest who baptized Hines remember the life of “Gigi.” Mother's Day can be painful for those who have lost their unborn babies — or their own moms. My son was born late last May, and this will be my first Mother’s Day with him outside the womb. Since my husband and I...

Doubting Thomas Story of the apostle is not a validation for unbelief but a call to have faith in the risen Lord, his Church Msgr. Charles Pope 5/4/2016 Question: My father constantly holds up the example of St. Thomas the Apostle, who doubted that Jesus had risen even when the others said so. He says this is why it is OK that he should question everything — that doubt isn’t wrong even regarding the teachings of the Church.— Tom O’Neil, via email Answer: Yet the fact is, the Lord rebukes Thomas; he does not praise him for his stubbornness or...

“‘For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’” (Genesis 22:12). Trials from the Lord will reveal to believers what they love and appreciate the most. A big part of the reason for the Lord’s testing Abraham at Moriah was to show him what he valued most in life. The question God wanted Abraham to answer was, “Do you love Isaac more than Me, or do you love Me more than Isaac?” And the Lord was prepared for the drastic test of taking Abraham’s son’s life if that’s what...

The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). God can use your natural abilities as a basis for your spiritual service. Peter is a good illustration of how God builds a spiritual leader. He begins with a person's natural traits and works from there. Natural traits alone don't make a spiritual leader—the person must also be gifted and called by the Holy Spirit to lead in the church and be a model of spiritual virtue. But often God endows future leaders with natural abilities that constitute the raw materials from which He builds spiritual ministries. That was...

The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?(Proverbs 21:27)The Religious Dimension to What the Godless Left Is doing to the West…. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.( I John 3:11-13)The biblical Cain, turned away from God. He would not come to God...

Some Thoughts on Privacy - God Is Watching (And so Are Many Others) Msgr. Charles Pope • May 5, 2016 • 0 Comments At the bottom of this post is a 2010 CBS news story reporting hat anything you’ve copied on a digital copier going back years is stored on a hard drive inside the copier. These drives are evidently so large that they can store more than 20,000 documents and hundreds of thousands of pages.Hence if you have ever photocopied personal materials (e.g., social security numbers, checking info, personal data) it is likely on that hard drive. The...

“Considering the reproach of Christ greaterriches than the treasures of Egypt . . .” (Hebrews 11:26). Trials can show that material things are inadequate to meet our deepest needs. We rely every day on material possessions—cars, computers, pagers, telephones, microwaves, radios, and TVs. These familiar conveniences make us feel as though it’s quite a hardship to cope without them. Therefore it’s difficult to avoid the pitfall Jesus warned about in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You...

The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). Jesus can make an impulsive and vacillating Christian as stable as a rock. The first disciple Matthew's gospel names is "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). He was a fisherman by trade but Jesus called him to be a fisher of men. John 1:40-42 records their first encounter: "One of the two who heard John [the Baptist] speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon, and . . . brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, 'You...

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into...