BIG C CATHOLICS

In addition to the plenary indulgence that may be obtained each Friday of Lent , there are plenary indulgences that may be gained at any time during the year. An indulgence can either be partial or plenary. It is partial if it removes part of the temporal punishment due to sin, or plenary if it removes all punishment. A plenary indulgence may be obtained only once a day. Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence ◗ Do/recite the prescribed work or prayer. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and the "Apostles Creed". ◗ Say one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary" for the Holy Father’s  intentions ( the intentions designated by the Holy Father each month ). ◗ Make a sacramental confession within 20 days. ◗ For a plenary indulgence, one must be free from all attachment to sin,  even venial sin (or the indulgence is partial, not plenary). Plenary Indulgences Obtainable any time any place ◗ Reading of Sacred Scripture ◗ Recitation of the Mari...

Not all Catholic Youtube channels are created equal, however, A Minute With a Monk is worth a look. From the about page of their website : One year ago (well, a bit more) a new little island appeared in the huge YouTube ocean : some monks from Austria started making little videos to spread these good news: You are loved by Someone Greater than the world, and your heart is good. With hardly no means at all, and no experience of media work, they began with baby steps! A lot of friends, who say the sample videos, gave their advices and encouraged this! Even our Prior General and our superiors told us: Do it, don’t hesitate! But the one who, even earlier, had inspired us the most was our Pope Francis, who unceasingly calls to "find new ways to carry the Word of God to the world". Sometimes he says: “Wake up the world!“, or even: "Shake things up" or "make a mess!" (haha, this I think we can do!). How can we just stay indifferent to this? Of course th...

The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy began on December 8, 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. Here are a few important themes for reflection during this time of repentance and renewal. Jesus is the "face" of the Father’s mercy  Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Francis writes in Misericordiae Vultus , the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy , is the "face" of the Father’s mercy — he reveals the mercy of God by his words, actions, and person. We follow Jesus’ example when we open ourselves to the Father’s mercy by looking "sincerely" into the eyes of our brothers and sisters, including those "who are denied their dignity." How have you experienced the Father’s mercy in your own life? How might Jesus be calling you to look "sincerely" into the eyes of those who are denied their dignity? Mercy is "the beating heart of the Gospel" Pope Francis writes: “It is absolutel...

It is not mercy to affirm people in their sins. That is the most merciless thing conceivable. It is a spiritual work of mercy to admonish the sinner.

Please remember the Holy Father Pope Francis' intentions in prayer through the month of March: General Intention : Families in Difficulty That families in need may receive the necessary support and that children may grow up in healthy and peaceful environments. Evangelization: Persecuted Christians That those Christians who, on account of their faith, are discriminated against or are being persecuted, may remain strong and faithful to the Gospel, thanks to the incessant prayer of the Church.

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) In our newspapers we read of disasters and watch catastrophes on television. And we deal with painful tragedies in the lives of our friends and loved ones, and ask: “Where is God?”, “How can God allow these things to go on?” It is implicitly the question put to Jesus in this Gospel account dealing with the fact that the Roman Governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, the same one who condemned Jesus to be crucified, murdered a number of Jews in Jerusalem while they worshipped! He mingled their blood with the blood of their temple sacrifices. It was a terribly shocking thing to do, to say the very least. Some people explain away tragedies by telling us that it is sinners who suffer tragedies. Tragedies, they claim, are God’s way of punishing us for our sins, justified punishments from God inflicted upon us for our sins. That, of course, may or may not be true. Why? Because bad things happen to g...

I recently came across the following by Dr. Douglas Flippen which was excerpted from his larger work Faith & Reason  [Christendom College, Front Royal, VA, Spring 2006, see pages 65 – 106]. Doctor Flippen poses the question: Was Saint John Paul II familiar with and influenced by the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas? Flippen answers in the affirmative, after a chronological review of the evidence, focused primarily on the works of St. John Paul II himself, but also including the evaluations of others. The article, " Was John Paul II a Thomist or a Phenomenologist? ", is quite long and scholarly. It is worth reading, however, if only for its consideration of which was more influential on the thought of John Paul, Max Scheler's phenomenology or Aquinas' Thomism. Given the frequency with which some Theology of the Body scholars designate St. John Paul a phenomenologist, Dr. Flippen's conclusion that John Paul was a Thomist who utilized phenomenology is a much nee...

The Divine Mercy Image At three o'clock on Fridays we solemnly remember Christ's death on the cross. In that moment, the redeeming ministry of our Savior culminated in the sacrificial offering of the Lamb of God for our sins. Three o'clock on Friday is, therefore, an hour of abundant grace and mercy, especially for sinners. Christ told Saint Faustina that: At three o'clock implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion... (Diary 1320). The Lord asked Sister Faustina to pray especially for sinners at three o'clock in the afternoon, the moment of His death on the cross. This is the hour of great mercy for the world, and can be a moment of reflection o...

O God of all the nations, the One God who is and was and always will be, in your providence you willed that your Church be united to the suffering of your Son. Look with mercy on your servants who are persecuted for their faith in you. Grant them perseverance and courage to be worthy imitators of Christ. Bring your wisdom upon leaders of nations to work for peace among all peoples. May your Spirit open conversion for those who contradict your will, that we may live in harmony. Give us the grace to be united in truth and freedom, and to always seek your will in our lives. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Prayer composed by Archbishop William E. Lori, Supreme Chaplain. Via the Knights of Columbus .

Members of ISIS prepare to behead twenty-one Coptic Christian Egyptians. Christians have become victims of religious cleansing in the Middle East and elsewhere. For almost 2000 years, Christians have called Mosul, Iraq home. Today, not one is left. The lack of international response has been shocking. If we don't come to their aid, who will? 55% of Americans agree that the targeting of Christians and other religious minorities by ISIS meets the U.N. definition of genocide. [ Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll, 2015 ] This past December, the Knights of Columbus sent a letter, signed by over twenty Catholic leaders in academia, diplomacy and the Church , to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the State Department to call ISIS's atrocities against Christians genocide: The Genocide Convention defines genocide as killing and certain other acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” We have extensive files s...

February’s blog of note,  A Catholic Mom in Hawaii , has long been a fixture in the Catholic blogosphere. It is the creation of wife, mother, pro-life advocate, resident of Hawaii, and devoted Catholic, Esther Gefroh, who since April 2006, has contemplated, observed and celebrated the six seasons of the Church’s liturgical year. In addition, Esther writes about numerous issues concerning the Church, including; the sanctity of life, natural marriage and the family, Catholics of heroic virtue, both past and present, the persecution of Christians around the world, books of interest, devotions, prayer, current events within and impacting Catholicism, and much more. One thing that has always impressed me about the site is the sense of community and fellowship evidenced by readers’ comments and contributions [i.e. of articles, reflections and ideas]. Moreover, each Lent, [and at other times during the year] Esther posts recipes for families to prepare, as well as her own p...

Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, was converted to Christianity by Saint John the Apostle. He is the last known person to have seen the apostles face-to-face. He was a friend of St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius were important intermediary links between the apostolic and the patristic eras in the Church. In 96 AD Polycarp was ordained bishop of Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey). A great defender of orthodoxy, he opposed the Marcionites and Valentinians. He also wrote a surviving epistle to the Philippians, exhorting them to remain steadfast in belief. The letter is of interest to scholars because it demonstrates the existence of several New Testament texts, including quotations from Matthew, Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and the first letters of Peter and John. Bishop Polycarp was eighty-six when the Roman pro-consul urged him to renounce Christ and save his life. St. Polycarp said in reply: "For eighty-six years I have served Him and he has never wronged me. How can I...

Aristotle was one of the most brillant men to have ever lived. Hs philosophy was used by St. Thomas Aquinas in the later's synthesis of reason and revelation. Below are two explanations of Aristotle’s metahysical theory of causation, also known as the four causes. from which the Angelic Doctor borrowed heavily . Aristotle’s four causes are answers to four common sense questions we can ask about change in the world around us. They are; What is a thing made of?, Who made it?, What is it that is being made?, and What is it being made for? When it comes to human productions, the answer to these questions is usually easy. When it comes to answering these questions as they occur in nature, it becomes more difficult. Regarding human production, if you asked a shoemaker what he was making his shoes out of he might reply “leather.” If you asked a gunsmith producing a rifle what he was making it out of he might reply “wood and steel.” According to Aristotle, what a thing is made of is...

This feast brings to mind the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on Peter, and continued in an unbroken line down to the present Pope. We celebrate the unity of the Church, founded upon the Apostle, and renew our assent to the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, extended both to truths which are solemnly defined ex cathedra, and to all the acts of the ordinary Magisterium. The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome has been celebrated from the early days of the Christian era on 18 January, in commemoration of the day when Saint Peter held his first service in Rome. The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch, commemorating his foundation of the See of Antioch, has also been long celebrated at Rome, on 22 February. At each place a chair (cathedra) was venerated which the Apostle had used while presiding at Mass. One of the chairs is referred to about 600 by an Abbot Johannes who had been commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to collect in oil from the lamps wh...

Father Paul Scalia, the son of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, delivered a heartfelt and inspiring eulogy at the funeral Mass for his father at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday. In his remarks, Fr. Scalia celebrated his late father’s commitment to family, public service and the Law, as well as his dedication to truth, justice, the intellectually rigorous defense of liberty, personal virtue, and the sanctity of persons at every stage of life. While paying homage to Justice Scalia’s religious devotion, Fr. Scalia noted how: "God blessed [his] Dad with a deep Catholic faith: The conviction that Christ's presence and power continue in the world today through His body, the Church." Fr. Scalia’s tribute is part fond remembrance and part profound catechesis. [ It is worth reading in full .] Later on, Fr. Scalia makes the following observation which I draw to your attention: God blessed Dad, as is well known, wi...

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) We hear a lot about the high cost of living. Today I’d like to turn the phrase a bit and share some thoughts with you about the high cost of transformation. Becoming someone greater than we are now does not come freely or easily… it comes at a great price, a price that takes us out of our comfort zones. We all know that nothing in this life, except perhaps love, comes to us free. And we all know that the really valuable things in life cost us in terms of our own personal efforts. So, too, the cost of transformation demands its price for us to pay. You and I live in a time in which excellence and perfection are much sought after when it comes to material things, but are ignored when it comes to spiritual things. It is a great American goal to have a perfect body. To be physically attractive is something that’s constantly put in front of us in all of the media images we receive. But how many...

Antonin Scalia 1936-2016  Your Eminence Cardinal Wuerl, Your Excellencies, Archbishop Viganò, Bishop Loverde, Bishop Higgins, my brother priests, deacons, distinguished guests, dear friends and faithful gathered: On behalf of our mother and the entire Scalia family, I want to thank you for your presence here, for your many words of consolation, and even more for the many prayers and Masses you have offered at the death of our father, Antonin Scalia. In particular I thank Cardinal Wuerl, first for reaching out so quickly and so graciously to console our mother. It was a consolation to her and therefore to us as well. Thank you also for allowing us to have this parish funeral Mass here in this basilica dedicated to Our Lady. What a great privilege and consolation that we were able to bring our father through the holy doors and for him gain the indulgence promised to those who enter in faith. I thank Bishop Loverde, the bishop of our diocese of Arlington, a bishop our fat...

The Divine Mercy Image At three o'clock on Fridays we solemnly remember Christ's death on the cross. In that moment, the redeeming ministry of our Savior culminated in the sacrificial offering of the Lamb of God for our sins. Three o'clock on Friday is, therefore, an hour of abundant grace and mercy, especially for sinners. Christ told Saint Faustina that: At three o'clock implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion... (Diary 1320). The Lord asked Sister Faustina to pray especially for sinners at three o'clock in the afternoon, the moment of His death on the cross. This is the hour of great mercy for the world, and can be a moment of reflection o...

To some in the fourth estate, evidence of Pope Francis' humanity justifies dramatic headlines that are sure to attract readers. During the pontiff's apostolic visit to Mexico, some over zealous admirers in the crowd, started pulling at Francis' cassock. This caused His Holiness to lose his balance and fall on to a wheelchair bound man. The Daily Mail' s [UK] article, " Pope Francis loses his cool: Pontiff is filmed shouting at Mexico crowd for tugging him and making him fall on to a disabled man ", reflects the tenor of the secular media's coverage. From the Daily Mail : The Pope has shown a rare sign of anger during his trip to Mexico after an eager crowd tugged his arms and caused him to topple over. Francis was at a stadium in the western city of Morella on Tuesday greeting fans at an open air mass for young people.  However, when one eager person pulled at his robe, it caused him to crash down into a wheelchair-bound man. And although the Pon...

Today, February 17, the Church in some dioceses remembers the seven noble Florentines who in the thirteenth century, at a time when Florence and all Italy was plunged in civil strife, joined together to found the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These holy and devout young men; Bonfilius, Bonajuncta, Amideus, Hugh, Manettus, Soseneus, and Alexius, did so in the year 1240 after repeated apparitions from our Lady. The Servites are especially dedicated to penance and meditation on the sorrows of Mary in relation to the passion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The order was approved by the Holy See in 1304. The first of the seven founders to be born into eternal life was Alexis Falconieri, who died on this date in 1310. Members of the Servite Order came to the United States in 1852 and established houses in New York and Philadelphia. The Servites combined monastic life and active ministry. In the monastery, their lives consisted of prayer, work and silence. Their men...

Most people see the Incarnation of Jesus in light of His atoning death. Christ, the Lamb of God, the unblemished offering, became man to pay the ransom for humanity's transgressions. In so doing, Jesus conquered sin and death, opening up for us the gates of Heaven and hope for life everlasting. Venerable Fulton J. Sheen writes in Life of Christ : Christ was our "stand-in" on the stage of life. He took our guilt as if He were guilty and thus paid the debt that sin deserved, namely, death. This made possible our resurrection to "new life" in Him. Christ, therefore, is not just a teacher or a pleasant revolutionist, but our Savior. Much has been written about the nature and necessity of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice on the cross. And for good reason. It was the climactic act of His earthly ministry. However, Christ didn't just live in order to die. If the sole mission of Jesus was to provide an expiating death, than the Holy Family needn't have fled t...