BIG C CATHOLICS

Thought of the Day "Philosophers: cleaner than poets, quieter than politicians."

Peter Kreeft (Dr. Peter Kreeft teaches philosophy at Boston College and has authored over forty-five books. He is a renowned Catholic apologists and an unapologetic big C Catholic. The following is an excerpt from an article in his series Pillars of Unbelief. The third article considers Friedrich Nietzsche, the self proclaimed "Anti-Christ" and outspoken critic of religious belief. The article can be read in its entirety here .) Nietzsche - Self-Proclaimed "Anti-Christ" Friedrich Nietzsche called himself "the Anti-Christ," and wrote a book by that title. He argued for atheism as follows: "I will now disprove the existence of all gods. If there were gods, how could I bear not to be a god? Consequently, there are no gods." He scorned reason as well as faith, often deliberately contradicted himself, said that "a sneer is infinitely more noble that a syllogism" and appealed to passion, rhetoric and even deliberate hatred rat...

LET US PRAY Daily Offering O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. Visit the Apostleship for Prayer's website for more prayers and information.

Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified by all of us, by her members most particularly, because she is a church of sinners. Christ never said that the Church would be operated in a sinless or intelligent way, but that it would not teach error. This does not mean that each and every priest won’t teach error, but that the whole Church speaking through the Pope will not teach error in matters of faith. The Church is founded on Peter who denied Christ three times and couldn’t walk on the water by himself. You are expecting his successors to walk on the water. From a letter by Flannery O'Connor in response to a friend's criticism of the Catholic Church's shortcomings.

Peter Kreeft (Dr. Peter Kreeft teaches philosophy at Boston College. He is a renowned Catholic apologists. The following is an excerpt from an article in his series Pillars of Unbelief. The second article considers Immanuel Kant, his philosophy and his subjectification of truth. It can be read in its entirety here .) Kant - Subjectivizer of Truth Few philosophers in history have been so unreadable and dry as Immanuel Kant. Yet few have had a more devastating impact on human thought. Kant's devoted servant, Lumppe, is said to have faithfully read each thing his master published, but when Kant published his most important work, "The Critique of Pure Reason," Lumppe began but did not finish it because, he said, if he were to finish it, it would have to be in a mental hospital. Many students since then have echoed his sentiments. Yet this abstract professor, writing in abstract style about abstract questions, is, I believe, the primary source of the idea that to...

_________________________ From the Catechism of the Catholic Church ___________________________ HANDING ON THE FAITH: CATECHESIS Quite early on, the name catechesis was given to the totality of the Church's efforts to make disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that believing they might have life in his name, and to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body of Christ. "Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life." While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built on a certain number of elements of the Church's pastoral mission which have a catechetical aspect, that prepare for catechesis, or spring from it. They are: the initial proclamation of the Gospel or m...

Fr. Frank Pavone On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, without the loophole of a health exception. This is an important step forward in Constitutional law toward the ultimate goal of restoring protection to every unborn child. In partial-birth abortion, the birth process itself is hijacked and turned into an instrument of killing. This corrupts the role of the physician and blurs the line between abortion and infanticide. The Court said that this line should not be blurred. The Court rejected the arguments of the abortion industry that the ban should be struck down because it lacks a health exception. The Court said that the abortion supporters failed to prove that the procedure is as necessary for health as they claimed. Visit Father Frank's blog here . For information on pro-life resources see Priests for Life .

LET US PRAY Saint Francis of Assisi (pictured above) was born into a wealthy Italian family in c 1182. He is the founder of the Franciscans. Francis is the patron saint of animals, the environment, and Italy. Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair hope; where there is darkness light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen Additional information on the life of St. Francis may be found here .

Peter Kreeft (Dr. Peter Kreeft teaches philosophy at Boston College and has authored over forty-five books. He is a renowned Catholic apologists and an unapologetic big C Catholic. The following is an excerpt from an article in his series Pillars of Unbelief. The first article considers Niccolo Machiavelli and the impact of Machiavellian philosophy. It can be read in its entirety here .) Machiavelli - Inventor of "the New Morality" Niccolo Machiavelli (1496-1527) was the founder of modern political and social philosophy, and seldom in the history of thought has there been a more total revolution. Machiavelli knew how radical he was. He compared his work to Columbus' as the discoverer of a new world, and to Moses' as the leader of a new chosen people who would exit the slavery of moral ideas into a new promised land of power and practicality. Machiavelli's revolution can be summarized in six points... For all previous social thinkers, the goal of p...

From the Catholic News Service : Italian newspaper, Il Messagero , has published a newly rediscovered booklet written by then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla in 1968 to help couples implement Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae . The text, entitled "Rule for Spouses," was never made public outside the Archdiocese of Krakow, but was recently discovered by a student from the John Paul II Institute for Life and Family in Rome, Catholic News Agency reports. The booklet will be officially presented on April 24, but on Thursday Il Messagero published a full version in Italian, as well as Wojtyla's introduction to the Rule on its website (in Italian). In his introduction, Wojtyla wrote that "the present Rule sprouts from a series of pastoral experiences with some married couples and, at the same time, from the marriage experience of couples themselves." The Rule, he wrote, "is born simultaneously with the publication of the encyclical Humanae Vitae , ...

"Philosophy is the handmaid en of the Sacred Science (Theology)" - St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas was the son of the Count of Aquino, born in the family castle in Lombardy near Naples. Educated by Benedictine monks at Monte Cassino and at the University of Naples, he secretly joined the Dominican friars in 1244. His family kidnapped and imprisoned him for a year to discourage his vocation. This failed. Thomas rejoined his order in 1245. He studied in Paris from 1245 to 1248 under Saint Albert the Great, and accompanied Albertus to Cologne. Ordained in 1250, he returned to Paris to teach theology. Thomas wrote commentaries on Aristotle and Lombard’s Sentences and some bible-related works. After receiving his doctorate he was recalled to Naples in 1272. There, Thomas was appointed regent of studies while working on the Summa Theologica . On December 6, 1273, Thomas experienced a Divine revelation. He abandoned the Summa , shortly thereafter, saying it was mere straw com...

________________________ from the Catechism of the Catholic Church _____________________________ THE LIFE OF MAN - TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

The Visitation, Luke 1:39-56 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice saying, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Prayer for the Unborn in Danger of Abortion Prayer for the unborn baby by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen to our Lady of Guadalupe Intercessor for the Unborn Jesus Mary and Joseph; I love you very much, I beg you to spare the life of the unborn bady that I have spiritually adopted; who is in danger of abortion - Amen Say this prayer each day for one year and a child in danger of abortion will be saved.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday April 19, 2009 You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You! Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. For information about the image of Christ shown above click here . To learn about Saint Faustina, the Divine Mercy Chaplet or Divine Mercy Sunday see Who is Saint Faustina? and The Sunday After Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday .

Who is Saint Faustina? Helena Kowalska was the third of ten children, born August 25, 1905, in Głogówiec, Poland. At fifteen she left school to help support her family. Helena felt called by God to a religious vocation. In 1925, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, taking the name Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament. This simple nun with only three years of formal education lived a short but consequential life. Through her, God reveled His compassion, His desire to forgive sins, and reconcile mankind to Himself. She endured great hardships in carrying out this Divine mission. Sister Faustina received visions of our Lord, in which, Jesus instructed her to tell the world of His infinite love and mercy. She kept a diary of these visions; later published under the title Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Faustina . Read it online here . Sister Faustina was thirty-three when she succumbed to tuberculosis. Following her death her writ...

The Sunday After Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday How should we prepare for this great Feast of Mercy? Jesus told St. Faustina that this Feast of Mercy would be a very special day when “all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.” (Diary 699) Our Lord made a great promise to all those souls who would go to Confession and then receive Him in Holy Communion on the Feast of Mercy, on the Sunday after Easter, which is now called Divine Mercy Sunday through- out the Catholic Church. Jesus promised that “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Commun- ion shall obtain the complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” (Diary 699) He went on to say “ I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy.” (Diary 1109) We want to encourage everyone to take advantage of this incredible promise and the additional Plenary Indulgence on this great Feast of Mercy “Divine Mercy Sunday...

EMPTY IS BEAUTIFUL Fr. Rene Butler Usually we think of emptiness as not good, when something that is supposed to fill that space is gone. That was the reaction of most of the disciples who found the tomb of Jesus empty. One important exception was the Beloved Disciple, who ran to the tomb with Peter after Mary Magdalene told them that Jesus’ body was missing. When he entered the tomb after Peter, the Gospel says, “He saw, and he believed.” In other words, he understood what had really happened, and for him that empty tomb became one of the most beautiful places in the world. You can just imagine him thinking the biblical equivalent of “cool!” “awesome!” “wow!” We make our churches as beautiful as possible for Easter. And that beauty is enhanced by the fact that our churches are fuller than usual. Ideally the fruit of the empty tomb is a full church, people of faith gathered together to celebrate the Risen Christ, week after week after week. How wonderful it would be if all...

Dumb Ox ENCYCLICAL LETTER FIDES ET RATIO OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND REASON Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves...

"Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love." - Pope Benedict XVI URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE OF POPE BENEDICT Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world, From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter. To quote Saint Augustine, " Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra – the resurrection of the Lord is our hope” (Sermon 261:1). With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.). Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is this: what is there after death? To this mystery today’s solemnity allows us to respond that death does not have the last word, because Life will be victorious at the end. This certainty of ours i...

Dumb Ox From the introduction to FIDES ET RATIO : "KNOW YOURSELF" In both East and West, we may trace a journey which has led humanity down the centuries to meet and engage truth more and more deeply. It is a journey which has unfolded—as it must—within the horizon of personal self-consciousness: the more human beings know reality and the world, the more they know themselves in their uniqueness, with the question of the meaning of things and of their very existence becoming ever more pressing. This is why all that is the object of our knowledge becomes a part of our life. The admonition Know yourself was carved on the temple portal at Delphi, as testimony to a basic truth to be adopted as a minimal norm by those who seek to set themselves apart from the rest of creation as “human beings”, that is as those who “know themselves”. Moreover, a cursory glance at ancient history shows clearly how in different parts of the world, with their different cultures, there ...