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[Catholic Caucus] WYD Blessed Sacrament Scandal: Woman in White Received No AnswerThe young woman in white who adored the Blessed Sacrament stored in plastic boxes at World Youth Day, has identified herself on social media as Savannah Dudzik, 23, a pro-lifer from Florida.Savannah saw the boxes on the evening of August 5 and was told that “Jesus is in there.” She got angry, “How dare they disrespect our Lord?”Then, she started praying the rosary in reparation. In her post, Dudzik calls the plastic boxes an “absolute disgrace,” “unworthy containers”, “incredible shame”. The priests she spoke to at WYD, agreed with...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Sacrilege’: World Youth Day has highlighted widespread abuse of the Blessed SacramentThe Catholic Church's clear rules on reverence for the Eucharist have been repeatedly ignored at World Youth Day.The boxes containing the Holy Eucharist at World YouthLISBON (LifeSiteNews) –– Recent events at World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, have highlighted the widespread liturgical abuse of the Blessed Sacrament, with Catholics condemning the “sacrilegious” reservation of the Eucharist in plastic crates.In recent days, pictures from World Youth Day in Lisbon have been circulating on social media, causing outrage and consternation amongst faithful Catholics.The first notable example during this year’s...

Introduction : Saint Peter Julian Eymard was born in the Diocese of Grenoble, France on February 4, 1811 in the town of La Mure. An Extraordinary Passion for the Blessed Sacrament took root in his heart from a young age. After a number of years in the Marian Sanctuary of Our Lady of Laus, Peter Julian met Father Touche, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate who seeing the beauty of the young man's soul advised him to direct his life towards the Priesthood by studying Latin and receiving Holy Communion more often. Peter Julian Eymard was ordained a Priest at the...

The patriarch Jeremiah Al Amchiti was born in Amsheet, Lebanon, where he grew up and received education until God called him for his service in the religious life. In fact, he became a monk, and with the help of his brothers David and Joseph, he lived for a while as a hermit in Amsheet’s hermitages. Those hermitages included vast and high cellars and three churches: Our Lady of the Sea, Saint Zakhia, and Saint John. They are all known as Saint Zakhia’s churches, and are considered today among the most important ancient ruins in Amsheet.In 1199, Jeremiah Al Amchiti was...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is offering Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad advice on tactics for defunding Planned Parenthood.According to reports from a conservative website in Iowa, Jindal sent Branstad a letter dated Sept. 23 and written on letterhead from Jindal's office. The letter was released after Branstad announced Tuesday (Sept. 29) that he wouldn't pursue canceling Medicaid funding for the family planning organization.Presidential candidates usually focus on national issues rather than wade into debates over state and local issues where they are campaigning. But in this case, defunding Planned Parenthood has risen to the fore of the national political discussion...

All of us know, that when you love someone very much you want to be with the one you love. A Mother can hardly wait to hold her newborn infant. A Father's Joy is to be with his children. Friends treasure the moments they spend together. Sweethearts love so deeply they find it painful to part. We know that the more one loves, the more one wants to be with the object of one's affection. This explains the very mystery of our catholic faith the mystery of the "Real Presence". Jesus Christ stays with us day and night in the...

Introduction: In Portugal, there exists a crown of the "Blessed Mother" where Saint Pope John Paul -2 placed two bullets which struck him when he was the Pope at Saint Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. I believe that this symbolizes Our Lady's Triumph. She will turn everything around and even the most vicious efforts of her enemies will be used to make even brighter, her "Crown of Glory". The triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be the Eucharistic Reign of her son through the flourishing of "Perpetual Adoration" which will bring about the "New Era" a second,...

The Eucharist is the focal point of the Catholic faith because it is Jesus present with us here on earth today. In the Eucharist, Jesus prolongs His presence on earth and most completely fulfills His words: "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt. 28:20). The Eucharist is Jesus' greatest expression of His love for us. Jesus expresses His love for us in three ways in the Eucharist: by re-presenting His sacrifice of the Cross in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by uniting His life with ours in Holy Communion, and by...

Between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. — and sometimes as early as 4:00 — Pope John Paul II would arise each morning, keeping virtually the same schedule he had as the bishop of Kraków. Although he enjoyed watching the sunrise, the main reason for his early start was to make time for prayer. He prayed the Rosary prostrate on the floor or kneeling, followed by his personal prayers, and would then go to the chapel in order to prepare for 7:30 Mass. According to his press secretary, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, his sixty to ninety minutes of private prayer before Mass were the...

You could have come sooner. I was waiting for you. I am always waiting for you: I wait for all My priests in the Sacrament of My Love, but they make little of Me, and of the fact that I wait for them day and night.If only they knew what awaits them in My presence : the plenitude of mercy, and rivers of living water to cleanse them, to reinvigorate their priesthood, and to sanctify them.This was the secret of my saints, of the holy friends whom I have made known to you :Dom Marmion, the Curé of Ars,Saint Peter...

Featured Term (selected at random):GENUFLECTION Bending of the knee as an act of reverence. Customary when passing before the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, entering the pew for divine worship, and during certain ceremonies to the Cross. A double genuflection of both knees simultaneously was commonly made before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance. The new directive since the Second Vatican Council specifies: "One knee is bent before the Blessed Sacrament, whether reserved in the tabernacle or exposed for public adoration" (Eucharistiae Sacramentum, 1973, number 84). Genuflections are also made to the Pope, to a cardinal, and to a...

60-Hour Adoration to Mark Pope's 60 Years as a Priest Benedict XVI Celebrates Anniversary on June 29 VATICAN CITY, JUNE 21, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Congregation for the Clergy is inviting the faithful to mark Benedict XVI's 60th anniversary as a priest this June 29 with 60 hours of prayer.The intention proposed by the congregation, according to L'Osservatore Romano, is the sanctification of priests and to obtain from God the gift of new and holy vocations.A note signed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza and Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, prefect and secretary of the congregation, notes that the anniversary is a "particularly propitious"...

On Visiting Jesus Christ In the Blessed Sacrament "WHERE is the new-born King of the Jews?" inquired the three Magi of Herod, king of Jerusalem. "Where is He?" they repeat in their great desire to find Him. "We have seen His star in the East, and we have come to adore Him. Ah, tell us where He is; we desire so much to see Him; we have made so long a journey in order to become acquainted with Him!" What a joy must it not have been for these three holy kings to learn that the Saviour of the world...

...The Congregation for Divine Worship [in 1969] issued an Instruction, Memoriale Domini, on the manner of receiving Holy Communion.... After recalling the development of the reception of Communion on the tongue as a fruit of "a deepening understanding of the truth of the Eucharistic mystery...", the Instruction declares that "this method of distributing Holy Communion must be retained...." It also warned: "A change in a matter of such moment, based on a most ancient and venerable tradition, does not merely affect discipline. It carries certain dangers with it...the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the...

AS A NEW YEAR BEGINS SO DOES CHANCE TO START 2006 WITH 'FIRST-FRIDAY' DEVOTIONSBy Susan TassoneOnce, while St. Margaret Mary was praying before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, she saw a vision of Jesus in glory, with His five wounds shining like suns. He then showed her His Heart on fire with love for mankind, a love that, unfortunately, too often, has been ignored or treated with contempt. According to St. Margaret, whose revelations inspired the Sacred Heart devotion, the Lord asked her to make up for this coldness and ingratitude by receiving Holy Communion as often as she was allowed, and...

Today, I went to Mass, and as I was entering the church, before the Mass had started, there was a group of people "carrying on" in the vestuble. There was a handful of them, so their voices carried into the nave. The priest hearing Confession could hear them conversing, and he was seated near the sanctuary. There were people in there already praying, so I thought what they were doing was inconsiderate. Even more important, there were acting irreverently in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. When Mass ended, they did the exact same thing. I decided to say something...

It is generally known, that, since Vatican II, much has changed in the Catholic Church with regard to this veneration of the Host (whic means "sacrificial gift" in Latin). Most of the forms of reverence I have described [such as kneeling for Communion] have disappeared. The liturgical reformers succeeded in convincing the faithful that reverence for the Host, worship of the Host as the real physical appearance of Jesus Christ, has been unknown in the Church of the Apostles and their early successors. This veneration of the Host was medieval, they said. The word "medieval" has an even more pejorative...

FOURTH GENERAL CONGREGATION VATICAN CITY, OCT 4, 2005 (VIS) - The Fourth General Congregation of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops began in the Synod Hall at 4.30 p.m. today, Tuesday. The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, and there were 242 Synod Fathers present. Following are excerpts from a number of the speeches given: ARCHBISHOP JAN PAWEL LENGA M.I.C. OF KARAGANDA, KAZAKHSTAN. "Among the liturgical innovations produced in the Western world, two in particular tend to cloud the visible aspect of the Eucharist, especially as regards its centrality...

ROME, MAY 12, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Understanding the true presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated host and wine is difficult for Catholics. To this end, the Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum held a conference on miracles that are associated with the Eucharist as a way to help people comprehend the incomprehensible. The May 5 Conference also opened an exhibition entitled "Eucharistic Miracles," continuing through May 19, brings attention to these miracles that support the phenomenon of the truth of the faith. Giancarlo Casagrande, one of the event's organizers, and professor and dean of the Faculty of Science and Faith Studies, told me:...

by Fr. William Saunders Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament 02/18/05 For the Year of the Eucharist, my parish is having all-day adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I just recently moved here and I am not familiar with this practice at all. Can you explain it? Unfortunately, the lack of familiarity with exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is not uncommon these days. I remember when I was growing up in the '60s, that on special occasions my home parish, St. Bernadette Church in Springfield, had exposition and benediction. Then, for whatever reason,...