BIG C CATHOLICS

Will you join me in giving the Pope a huge gift for his birthday? Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating his birthday on April 16th and I'm joining up with praymorenovenas.com to get 84,000 people to pray a novena for the Pope's 84th birthday. On April 8th, we will begin praying for nine days leading up to and ending on the Papa Benedict's birthday. The Pope prays for us everyday so it's time to return the gift to him on the anniversary of his birth. 84,000 Novenas is a lot! So, I'm going to need your help. I want everyone who reads this blog to do the following to help with this birthday gift! + Sign up here: http://bit.ly/h0052O + Join the facebook event and invite your friends here: http://on.fb.me/eE2Xs7 + If you have a website, post about it there! + Email your friends and family and get them praying too! I'm sure the Pope will love that we are all praying for him! Please help us reach our goal of 84,000 novenas for the Pope! Remember to sign up ...

Saint Joseph, God has appointed you patron of the Catholic Church because you were the head of the Holy Family, the starting-point of the Church. You were the father, protector, guide and support of the Holy Family. For that reason you belong in a particular way to the Church, which was the purpose of the Holy Family's existence. I believe that the Church is the family of God on earth. Its government is represented in priestly authority which consists above all in its power over the true Body of Christ, really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, thus continuing Christ's life in the Church. From this power, too, comes authority over the Mystical Body of Christ, the members of the Church -- the power to teach and govern souls, to reconcile them with God, to bless them, and to pray for them. You have a special relationship to the priesthood because you possessed a wonderful power over our Savior Himself. Your life and office were of a priestly function and ar...

There's an old pro-abort slogan that says "how can you trust me with a child if you don't trust me with a choice." Of course, the simple answer is: I don't trust anyone with the choice to kill human beings. From the Big Blue Wave blog. 

Merciful and loving God, you give us* this Lenten desert for our purification, for our chance to become your faithful friends. Because we are wearied by our sins and exhausted by the weight of our guilt, the devil seeks to tempt us further away from you. Let us hear his false promises with your ears and see his counterfeit prizes through your eyes. With your Word in our mouths, we reject his poisonous gifts and run to you for our salvation. With our every thought and deed, you give us the grace to turn temptation into witness, to make an enemy of the devil, and grow in your love. Lord, grant us hearts bound in obedience to your Word and freed in your love. And even though we may suffer for a little while, we know our purpose is fulfilled when we offer you thanks and praise for the gift of your Son. Purged of sin and guilt by your desert, we walk to his death on the cross; we watch for his resurrection from the tomb; and we await his coming again in glory! In his holy name w...

Lent began in the apostolic era and was universal in the ancient church. For this reason, Lent is observed by the various Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches, by Roman Catholics, and by Eastern Orthodox Churches. But it is easier to explain who stopped observe it and why. In the 16th century, many of the Anabaptists discarded all Christian holy days, on the theory that they were Roman innovations. That was their best information at the time, but today we know that they were wrong. In the late nineteenth century, ancient Christian documents came to light. The Didache from the first century, the Apostolic Constitutions from the third century, and the diaries of Egeria of the fourth century; all which give evidence of the Christian calendar and holy days. The Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions were written in the east, which denies it ever recognized the institution of the papacy. Egeria was a Spanish nun, but her writings also describe practices in the east....

Fr. Philip Neri’s Ten Commandments for a Good Lenten Confession: 1. Thou shall know that thy presence in the confessional is the wondrous work of the Holy Spirit. That’s right. If you find yourself in the Box with Father, you are there first because the Holy Spirit prompted you to go. You agreed to follow that prompt, but like all forms of prayer and charitable work, the human person requires a little graced nudge. So, go into your confession confident that you are there by the grace of God to be reconcile to Him! 2. Thou shall not waste your time or Father’s time with obsessive-compulsive sacramental trivia such as, “OK, Father…so I was still a little drunk but I had to pee so I got up and I wasn’t all the way awake yet and I did it but is that a sin still?” Or, “Father, canon 1765.4 forbids X and I heard recently that Blessed Mary spoke to a woman in Mobile, AL and she said that X is OK and she has the bishop imprimatur!” Hint: if you find yourself discussing the distinction betw...

Father Rene Butler Recently I asked a group if the Jesus’ words about the houses built on rock and on sand reminded anyone think of a children’s story. Sure enough, some had thought of The Three Little Pigs. You must remember it: Wolf: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." Pig: "No, no, by the hair on my chiny chin chin." Wolf: "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in. Both the Gospel and the fairy tale make the same point about the importance of choices. The choices we make can be right or wrong, good or bad. And they have consequences. In Deuteronomy Moses makes this eminently clear. He speaks of Blessing and curse; he makes a promise and issues a warning, inviting us to choose wisely. Jesus compares our life to a house, which can be built on a solid foundation or a weak one. The choice is ours. How many choices have you made today? Not just the easy ones, like what to wear or what to eat, which are of no partic...