BIG C CATHOLICS

Please remember the Holy Father Pope Francis' intentions in prayer through the month of November: General Intention : That we may be open to personal encounter and dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ from our own. ***  Missionary Intention : That pastors of the Church, with profound love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven their hope.

In honor of the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1st: The following 100 quotations are from individuals the Church has recognized for their heroic virtue. They appear in random order and are compiled from readers' responses, and suggestions for, quotes by saints appearing on this blog. For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.  — St. Thérèse of Lisieux Trust the past to the Mercy of God, the present to His Love, and the future to His Providence. — St. Augustine of Hippo He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things. — St. Alphonsus Liguori Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies.   — St. Ambrose You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy – the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the p...

This morning, I received the following message from Fr. René Butler: At our Provincial Chapter which took place October 19-22, I was elected Provincial Superior of the La Salette Missionaries of North America. Between finishing my work here (busiest time of the year at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Enfield) and trying to keep up with new responsibilities, I will not be able to provide homilies for a while. Once I move, I might be able to resume. In the meantime, let me say what an honor it is to be a "featured contributor" to this blog, which enables me to reach so many. I have known Matt for a number of years, and congratulate him on his dedication. Please keep me in prayer, as I will you. Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Please pray for Fr. Butler as he assumes his new role as Provincial Superior of the La Salette Missionaries of North America. The La Salette Missionaries are certainly in capable hands. In the meantime, Sunday homilies will be provided by Fr. C...

Homily of St. Peter in the presence of St. Mark (detail), Fra Angelico, 15th century  The following article by  Father Philip Neri Powell, O.P., Ph.D., " Put Down the Missalette! Listening to a Homily " was originally posted on Big C Catholics in installments. Visit Fr. Powell's excellent website  for more. ________________________ I’ve written about some of the artsy elements of writing a homily and about some definitions of preaching . I’ve been challenged to write about how one should go about listening to a homily and getting the most out of it. So, here’s my shot at answering the question: how do I listen to a homily for maximum benefit? The very first thing I want to say is that listening to a homily is and is not like listening to any other sort of performed text. All the skills you use to listen to a speech, an academic lecture, or a conversation are used in listening to a homily. However, the difference that makes the difference in listening to a homil...

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a church or oratory on All Souls Day (November 2nd). Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day: ◗ Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and the "Apostles Creed" in the visit to the church. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary" for the Holy Father’s intentions ( the intentions designated by the Holy Father each month ). ◗ Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day). ◗ Make a sacramental confession within 20 days of All Souls Day. ◗ For a plenary indulgence, be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (or the indulgence is partial, not plenary). You may gain one plenary indulgence a day. These partial indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory: ◗ A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying...

The Great Adventure Bible Study Program is available through Ascension Press . If you want to listen to an audio presentations of the course go to EWTN's Audio Library File Index under 'Our Father's Plan' with Scott Hahn & Jeff Cavins . (I understand it is the same material despite the different title.) Unrelated but equally efficacious is Dr. Scott Hahn's Understanding the Scriptures: A Complete Course on Bible Study , which I recommend, and have used to great effect with students.

St. Matthew and the Angel, Vincenzo Campi, 1588. I call your attention to this Bible trivia website . It's a Protestant source, but the questions are a who, what, when, where of Sacred Scripture, and not theological in nature. Scripture references are from the KJV Bible. New quizzes are added periodically (see sample quiz below). I've taken random quizzes in the past by way of testing my scriptural IQ. Of course, reading Scripture daily is the best way to study/retain its wisdom. Category: In The Beginning This Quiz: Adam and Eve 1.) Why did Adam call his wife Eve?        She was the firstborn among women        She was a help meet fit for him        She was the mother of all living        She was taken out of man 2.) What kind of leaves did Adam and Eve use in an attempt to cover their nakedness?        Fig        Sycamore       ...

October's blog of note is Catholic Sacristan . Established in 2011, the site is "an oasis of truth, goodness & beauty in the desert of the world wide web." Focusing on the transcendentals of being — each transcending the limitations of time and place, as the objective properties of all that exists, Catholic Sacristan presents the Catholic Church as the fullness of truth. It's mission statement explains the blog's raison d'être: Why an oasis? An oasis is a pool of refreshing water in an otherwise bleak landscape. The "water" offered here is often drawn from other wells (blogs, websites) that offer safe drinking water. If the water here presented contains elements foreign to the Catholic Faith, then the blog-keeper will always defer to the Magisterium and remove or modify content that does not accurately present the true, the good and the beautiful as conserved in the Church's Apostolic Tradition. Catholic Sacristan is oriented to C...

Archbishop Francis Chullikatt Life News reports that the Vatican's United Nations observer, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, gave what many pro-life advocates at the UN are calling the greatest pro-life speech ever delivered before that assembly:   A leading pro-life advocate who lobbies at the United Nations says the Holy See has given what he considered to be the most powerful pro-life speech ever presented to the UN. Peter Smith, Chief Administrative office to the UN for SPUC, the British pro-life group, and the International Right to Life Federation emailed LifeNews a copy of the speech. 'I have been attending UN meetings for over 18 years (more than 100 in total) . The Holy See gave the best speech I have ever heard at the UN,' he said. 'This speech was very pro-life and pro-family and took a swipe at the crooked compliance committee that oversees the Convention on the rights of the child.'  The opening paragraphs of Archbishop Chullikatt's speech...

Among the subjects Pope Francis has addressed most frequently during the first 31 months of his pontificate is the sanctity of human life, including the inalienable rights of the unborn. Despite speaking out unequivocally, the fourth estate continues to censure Francis' remarks on abortion . Here, in honor of 'Respect Life Month,' are ten statements by Pope Francis that the media is sure to ignore: The right to life is the first human right. Abortion is killing someone that cannot defend him or herself. +++  Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection. And every elderly person…even if he is ill or at the end of his days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the ‘culture of waste’ suggests! +++  Among the vulnerable for whom the church wishes to care with partic...

Since her beginning, the Catholic Church has condemned artificial contraception. The deliberate frustration of the conjugal embrace cripples a major body system, prevents the self-donation of spouses and severs  the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act. The Catholic Church and every Protestant denomination agreed on the immorality of artificially induced sterility until August 15, 1930, when the Anglican bishops’ Lambeth Conference decreed that the use of birth control could be left to an individual's conscience (Resolution 15). Pius XI This departure in teaching ruptured Christendom's 1,300 year unanimity on sexual morality. In response, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Casti Connubii , on December 31, 1930. He wrote: In order that she [the Catholic Church] may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, she raises her voice in token of her divine ambassadorship and through our mouth proclaims anew: any use wh...

The following videos illustrate the Catholic Church's divine mission in the world. The first two show the Church as the Body of Christ in all her various ministries, and the last, a trailer for the film 'Light of Love' about the Imagine Sisters, conveys the beauty of consecrated life. We are the Catholic Church The Beauty of the Catholic Church Light of Love - Trailer

It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. — Pope Saint John Paul II 

The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship has approved the insertion of the optional memorial of St. John Paul II in the proper calendar of the dioceses of the United States for today. Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. After his ordination to the priesthood and theological studies in Rome, he returned to his homeland and resumed various pastoral and academic tasks. He became first auxiliary bishop and, in 1964, Archbishop of Krakow and took part in the Second Vatican Council. On October 16, 1978 he was elected pope and took the name John Paul II. His exceptional apostolic zeal, particularly for families, young people and the sick, led him to numerous pastoral visits throughout the world. Among the many fruits which he has left as a heritage to the Church are above all his rich Magisterium and the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church and for the Eastern Churches. In Rome on April 2, 2005,...

Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin & family On October 18, Pope Francis canonized four individuals, including, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Louis Martin and Marie Zélie Guerin Martin had nine children; four died in infancy and five daughters entered religious life. During their 19-year marriage, the couple was known to attend Mass daily, pray and fast, respect the Sabbath, visit the elderly and the sick, and welcome the poor into their home. (See Father James Martin's article " His Wife's a Saint, So Is Her Husband ", for more.) Father Mark A. Pilon says the single most important event that will occur during the 2015 Synod on Marriage and the Family is the canonization of Louis and Zélie Martin. In an article for The Catholic Thing he writes: The Church has always pointed to the lives of saints to teach us the great truths of our faith. In this case, the example is not only the fidelity of this holy couple, nor their obviously great conjugal love, n...

When teaching students about time, a teacher employed the following quaint but quirky adage: The past is history, the future is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.  Innumerable saints have weighed in on the concept of time as well. St. Augustine's observation on the past, the present and the future, mimics said quotation above, but with profound insight into the nature God: Trust the past to the Mercy of God, the present to His Love, and the future to His Providence. — St. Augustine St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, compared our earthly lives to our eternal existence. Any consideration of time, informed by Sacred Scripture, must acknowledge the fact that we will live forever. The only question is, Where?: We must often draw the comparison between time and eternity. This is the remedy of all our troubles. How small will the present moment appear when we enter that great ocean.  — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton  ...

In his first homily as pontiff, Pope Francis reminded us that the Devil is real. He has continued telling the faithful that we must be on guard, and that our only hope against Satan is our Lord, Jesus Christ. From Church Pop , here are thirteen of Pope Francis’ most direct quotes on the subject: When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil. +++  The Prince of this world, Satan, doesn’t want our holiness, he doesn’t want us to follow Christ. Maybe some of you might say: ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here… even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naïve, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan. +++  [The Devil] attacks the family so much. That demon does not love it and seeks to destroy it. […] May the Lord bless the family. May He make it strong in this crisis, in which the devil wishes to de...

At a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, October 18, Pope Francis canonized four individuals, among them, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. It is the first time a married couple has been canonized together. [ CNS reports ] The Pontiff said in part: There can be no compatibility between a worldly understanding of power and the humble service which must characterize authority according to Jesus’ teaching and example,” he continued. “Ambition and careerism are incompatible with Christian discipleship; honor, success, fame and worldly triumphs are incompatible with the logic of Christ crucified … The men and women canonized today unfailingly served their brothers and sisters with outstanding humility and charity, in imitation of the divine Master. About 65,000 people attended the Mass, including more than 300 cardinals, bishops and others taking part in the Oct. 4-25 synod on the family. Those canonized were: Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin (1831-1877), the par...

Fr. Charles Irvin Back in the late 1700’s a man named John Newton, an alcoholic libertine and a man committed to destroy the Christian faith, was by the grace of God, rescued, restored, healed, and given the sight to see what he was and what God wanted him to be. He wrote a hymn with words you will recognize: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." We could spend the rest of this day discussing the various types and forms of blindness along with answering the question “Who is really blind, and who really sees?” From my perspective, the most debilitating form of blindness is that found in folks who think they see the truth when they really don’t. There’s no more pitiable form of blindness than one who thinks he or she has all of the right answers, who thinks he or she knows all that one needs to know about God, about Jesus Christ, about the Church, and about religion…but really doesn’...

Sister Maria Veritas Mary Anne Marks was Harvard's Valedictorian in 2010. Upon graduation, she entered religious life with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had forgotten about Ms. Mark's story, after seeing video of her commencement address in Latin — until the other day, when someone brought up the subject of the Dominican Sisters and I wondered about her. This may be old news to many of you, however, on Aug. 1, 2011, Mary Anne Marks received the habit, and a new religious name: Sister Maria Veritas. Sister Maria Veritas recently discussed her call to consecrated life from Harvard to the convent. She writes in part: "Between each day’s bookends, opportunities abound to provide a mother’s tenderness to all, young and old, whom God places in my life. I will not have the joy of a family of my own, but I have the joy of being completely available to anyone who approaches me. And they do come: a classmate unsure of her f...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH "Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" Mark 10:38 ( Click here for today’s readings ) Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Primate of Italy. Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province. Bishop of Rome. Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. Vicar of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt as to who is being described by this impressive list of titles. The ambitions of James and John don’t even come close. Still, you’ve got to give them credit. Although by this point Jesus has already predicted his passion three times, the third coming immediately before today’s Gospel, James and John seem to be in a state of denial. All they can see is that Jesus is the Messiah, the real deal, destined for glory, and they want to be part of that, to be great by association. No time like the present, then, to jocke...