Free Republic

The Internet was abuzz Saturday after it was reported that Rep. Anthony Weiner had apparently sent a lewd photo to a Seattle-area college student. The New York Democrat quickly asserted that his online accounts had been "hacked" after Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com reported that Weiner's Twitter account was used to send the photo, which shows the pelvic area of a man in gray undershorts with his tumescent penis bulging. Late Friday night, a public message from Weiner's Twitter account (@RepWeiner) included a link to the penis photo, posted on the YFrog.com photo-sharing network. That message was directed to a Twitter account...

The present title of our meditation can be shortened and simplified. It should read, "Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the Catholic Prolife Movement." We have already spoken at length and in detail about the Holy Eucharist. Our focus has been to bring out the role of the Holy Eucharist in obtaining the graces we need to stem the tide of infant homicide and restore moral sanity in the modern world. As we reflected on the power of the Eucharist to achieve miracles, we kept insisting that these miracles will be performed by Our Lord only if we believe. Christ...

To continue living a Christ-like life in this kind of environment is to practice the martyrdom of witness. Why witness? Because it means giving testimony to our deep religious convictions although all around us others are giving their own example to the contrary. It means giving witness twice over: once on our own behalf as the outward expression of what we internally believe and once again on behalf of others whose conduct is not only different from ours but contradicts it. Wherein lies the martyrdom? It lies in the deprivation of good example to us on the part of our...

Jesuit Father John Hardon lived from 1914 to 2000. I only met him once, briefly, and heard him give a talk at a fund-raiser for a private Catholic academy in Milwaukee. Archbishop Raymond Burke has opened up his cause for canonization and the more I learn about him the more I find myself enlisting his intercessory support for the work of the Apostleship of Prayer. Fr. Hardon was a true apostle of the Sacred Heart. He was on fire with the same love that burns in the Heart of Jesus. He couldn't keep the fire to himself and did everything...

Maximillian's Marian Spirituality by Father John A. Hardon, S.J. [1914-2000] We will reconstruct the main features of Maximillian's spirituality. The spirituality of St. Maximillian is based directly on this truth: that the Immaculate Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces. That is the first premise of his Marian thinking. If this were not so, Maximillian explains, all our strength and effort in the spiritual life would be in vain. In other words, our spiritual life depends on grace. That's obvious, but it also depends on the grace that we must receive through Mary. Second, the Blessed Virgin Mary is...

1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church....

1. The Real Presence The center of the whole Catholic liturgy is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is most important in the life of the Church because it is Jesus Christ. It is the incarnation continued in space and time. The other sacraments and all the Church's ministries and apostolates are directed toward the Eucharist. The word "Eucharist" means "thanksgiving". This is explained by the fact that Christ "gave thanks" when He instituted the Eucharist and this is the supreme act of Christian gratitude to God. The Eucharist is the sacrament which really, truly and substantially contains the Body, Blood, Soul...