BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) Christ’s resurrection from the dead immediately caused controversy brought on by those who sought to suppress that event. That controversy continues even in our time some 2000 years later. There are those in our own times who for their own various reasons want to discredit the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The leaders of ISIS torture and put to death Christians who, like the Apostles, are witnesses to the resurrected Christ. Just the apostles told the members of the Sanhedrin, Christians in the Middle East are by their lives saying: “we are witnesses of these things.” Christ’s resurrection from the dead just won’t go away. The immediate reaction of the Jewish religious authorities is presented to us in the first reading of today’s Mass where it is reported: When the captain and the court officers had brought the apostles in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, the high

Here is the twelfth and final lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology 's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. In this Easter Monday instalment we will learn how every one of us is standing in the stream of salvation history right now, and how each of us has an opportunity to become a member of the covenant family of God for all eternity. _____________________________________________ In our study thus far, we have seen how God’s loving plan of salvation has unfolded over the course of human events and across time – finally culminating with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We can now begin to understand just how deeply God loves us. This is the very essence of salvation history. The story of our salvation is really a love story between God and humanity. Over the past eleven lessons, we’ve seen how that story has shown God’s covenant with humanity progressing from a marriage, to a household, to a tribe, to

Here is the eleventh lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology 's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. By the end of Lent, you'll understand the importance of Easter in light of God's plan for our salvation and his unfathomable love for us. In this Holy Saturday instalment we will see how Christ was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification. _________________________________________________ Over the course of this study, we have been moving through God’s covenant plan for humanity. This has taken us through the covenants of the Old Testament. Now we will illuminate more fully how those covenants find their end in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. We will see how Christ fulfills God’s plan for humanity through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection. We will also understand why Christ is described as the new Adam, the true son of Abraham, the new Moses. In our final lesson, we’ll see how Christ comes as the new so

Increase Our Faith! Stir into flame our faith, O Lord! Inspire us to avoid that which is not of you or your life. Help us to avoid the traps of this world, such as greed, avarice, lust, and reckless ambition. Keep us, Lord, from being judgmental and gossips. In humility, Lord, we ask..... Increase our faith! Stir into flame our faith, O Lord! Inspire us to embrace your heavenly Father who created us, who has redeemed us, and who continually sustains us. Inspire us to know in the depths of our hearts that his life and his will are what will make us happy and give us meaning and purpose in life. In humility, Lord, we ask..... Increase our faith! Stir into flame our faith, O Lord! Inspire us to accept your teachings, Lord Jesus Christ. You taught us to love one another and to find you in all people and in all situations. Take our hands, Lord, and walk us to the cross of your Son, Jesus, and to the empty tomb, in which we will find hope. In humility, Lord, we ask.... Increase

Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD ( Click here for today’s readings ) Is Jesus in the Eucharist the center of your life? We divide time into BC and AD; BC before Christ and AD, Anno Domini - in the year of Our Lord - since the birth of Jesus. This is our way of showing that Jesus is the center of history, Jesus is the most important event in history. Everything in history pales into insignificance compared to Jesus. It is the same in our lives. Jesus is or should be the center of our lives. Jesus is or should be the center of our week. Because Jesus is the center of our lives we come here to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday and afterwards we go in peace to love and serve the Lord whom we encountered here in the Eucharist. Just as we divide time into BC and AD, before Christ and after his birth, the Sacred Scriptures do the same and so we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old

The following quotations from Pope Benedict XVI concern the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist: Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with Him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. ***  In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration . *** In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light, particularly to those who are suffering .  The first two statements are from Pope Benedict's addr

Historically, April 6 is the feast of Saint Juliana of Liège, also known as, Juliana of Cornillon who was a medieval Norbertine canoness regular and mystic in what is now Belgium. She has long been recognized as the promoter of the Feast of Corpus Christi. She is also designated as the Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament for her love and devotion to our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. When Juliana was 16 she had her first vision which recurred several times. Her vision presented the moon in its full splendour, crossed diametrically by a dark stripe. Juliana came to understand that the moon symbolized the life of the Church on earth, the opaque line, on the other hand, represented the absence of a liturgical feast in honor of Christ's Body and Blood. Such mystical experiences continued throughout her life. Juliana died on April 5, 1258. She was canonized in 1869 by Pope Pius IX and later celebrated by Pope St. John Paul II, on May 28, 1996, in his  letter mentioning her on the 750th

Among the Church’s seven sacraments the Holy Eucharist is preeminent because it is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. The Real Presence is the source and summit of the faith from which innumerable graces flow. Catholics who receive Communion receive Christ into their bodies to be more fully assimilated into His. In so doing, we assert our fidelity to the teachings of the Church. According to Saint John Paul II, "The Eucharist builds the Church," [ Redemptor Hominis 20 ]. Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist signals our unity with the Church, and with Christ Himself. Moreover, Communion strengthens us. In the Eucharist, Jesus forgives our venial sins and helps us resist mortal sin. To encounter Christ in this way is a supreme miracle and divine gift; the power of which cannot be exaggerated. The Sacrifice of the Mass should evoke in us awe, reverence and profound love. Numerous times, Jesus proclaims unequivocally the nature and importance of the Euchari

I Introductory Rites The section of the Mass preceding the Liturgy of the Word that confers a quality of preparation and introduction on the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The intent is that the assembled group unite as a community properly prepared to hear God's Word and celebrate the Eucharist. Includes the following: Entrance Antiphon, Greeting Penitential Rite (Rite of Blessing & Sprinkling), Kyrie (Lord, Have Mercy), Gloria (Glory to God), Opening Prayer "'Liturgy' is the participation of the people of God in the work of God. Through the liturgy Christ, our Redeemer and High Priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through the Church." (CCC no. 1069) Since the Mass, the Church's highest form of prayer, is a gathering of the community, it stands to reason that ceremonies/rituals have developed over the years to set our Sunday gatherings apart from other kinds of assemblies.