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...

April 28, 2019 Saint Faustina received visions of our Lord, in which, Jesus instructed her to tell the world of His infinite Love and Mercy. She recorded these visions in her diary; later published under the title Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Faustina . Here, St. Faustina writes of Jesus’ desire to establish a solemn feast dedicated to spreading the Divine Mercy of Christ to all humanity: "On one occasion, I heard these words: 'My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day, all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.'" Our Lord...

(This Sunday's Gospel, for the second Sunday of Easter, is the story of Thomas' profession of faith upon encountering the risen Lord in the Upper Room.)  Saint Thomas, the Apostle who at first did not believe, has become for the Church one of the first and most compelling witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ. His initial skepticism mirrors that of many. May his profession of faith upon touching Our Savior's wounds, "My Lord and my God!", redound through the ages to convince and confirm others that Christ's Incarnation, ministry, and victory over sin and death are empirically and existentially real. Jesus' reply to Thomas, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?" Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," is less a condemnation of Thomas and more a confirmation of the demands of faith. Among the Apostles, Thomas does not stand out. His knowledge of Jewish scripture and well-formed conscience enabled him to r...

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) There’s a lot of skepticism in our world these days. We are skeptical about the war in Iraq: Is it a war against radical Islamic fundamentalism or is it a war between Arab and Western cultures? Is our political process for the election of our presidents fundamentally flawed? Just what is the role of our nation’s Supreme Court and our Constitution? Has globalization doomed the future of American jobs? Will what we have known to be marriage be radically morphed into a variety of mere civil unions? This skepticism is more than simple doubting or questioning. Skepticism cuts into reality itself. As he conducted his trial of Jesus Christ, Pontius Pilate asked, “Truth? What is truth?” That was not the question of a person who is genuinely looking for an answer. That was the question of a skeptic. Questioners are less radical. One asks a question because one has faith that there is an answer. A ques...

Divine Mercy Sunday is April 28, 2019 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 throughout the Catholic Church. Jesus promised, "The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion 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) Take advantage of this incredible promise and the additional plenary indulgence on this feast of Mercy "Divine Mercy Sunday". We want you to benefit fully from these promises, and we encourage you to...

Father Lance Harlow There is one word to describe the impact that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead has had on those who believe. That one word is joy. In the Gospel of Matthew, which is read at the Easter Vigil Mass (Mt 28:1-10), Mary Magdalene and the other women who go to the tomb on Easter Sunday are “overjoyed” at the news from the angels that Jesus has been raised from the dead. The angels tell the women to go quickly to inform the apostles and to go to Galilee where they will see Jesus with their very own eyes. This sequence of events might remind you of what happened 33 years earlier to some shepherds who were tending their flocks at night, when angels appeared to them and told them to go to Bethlehem to see the newborn King of the Jews. Joy, then, is the proper human response to contact with the realm of angels and the glory of God. It is the disposition of a heavenly life — a Christian life. Joy breaks forth into our human experience like the sunshine breaking ...

April 23rd, is the optional memorial of Saint George. This year it is superseded by the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. Some of the more colorful stories about this patron of England are not substantiated by fact, but that doesn’t mean that the legends surrounding St. George have any less power on the imagination. The most common depiction of the saint, in which he is slaying a dragon, persists, even though it first derived from a 12th century Italian fable. What we can be fairly certain of is that George was a Christian, and a soldier, who was martyred on April 23, 303 AD, during the Emperor Diocletian's reign. The tradition which grew up about him revolves around his standing as a man-of-arms; the story of the dragon, for instance, comes from a tale in which St. George supposedly rescued a king’s daughter from being slain by a serpent. As an example of the ideal of medieval knighthood, St. George became the patron of the Knights of the Garter, more properly k...

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 ...

Easter Sunday - April 21, 2019 The Resurrection of Jesus "Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised."   At daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. — Luke 24: 1-9 ________________________________________ ...

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) We have come here to this sacred place, in this holy time, both of which are set apart from the rest of the world around us, in order to hear what God is saying to us. We are here, hopefully, to respond to God’s call, to surrender to God’s love, and to receive the Bread of Life Jesus won for us on His Cross. May you, and I with you, now yield to God’s love and respond to the gift He offers us here in this the most important celebration in our Church. As Catholics, we hold a sacred trust. It is our calling to remain integral with the Church of the eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, our integration with the Church of the Apostles is something that we hold precious. May we receive and always treasure what they have handed on to us. More people come to Mass on Easter than on any other Sunday of the year, some making the effort only this one time each ...

Holy Saturday is a day to keep watch for the expectant rising of Our Savior, when He descended into the dead to bring up with Him those righteous souls who died before His coming. According to tradition, the Blessed Virgin represents the entire Church waiting in faith for the triumph of Christ over sin and death. On this night, the Easter Vigil is celebrated and persons who have been preparing to become Catholics receive the sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation) and join the Church in renewing our baptismal promises. The Burial of Jesus When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it [in] clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. But Mary Magdalene and th...

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...

Good Friday commemorates the Passion of the Lord, the day of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Nowhere in the world is Mass offered on this day. Reception of the Most Holy Eucharist is possible because hosts were consecrated the evening before at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The veneration of the cross, the instrument of Christ’s death that brought about our redemption, is a powerful reminder that each of us were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured (Council of Trent, I, 5, 11). Jesus was executed on the charge of being King of the Jews. The idea that Jesus was a king was brutally mocked. Roman soldiers dressed Him in a robe of royal purple and placed a crown of thorns on His head. Jesus was made to walk to his execution, carrying his own cross. His destination was a place outside of the city called Golgotha or "place of the skull". Crucifixion was the most horrific form of death the Romans devised...

The Last Supper, Juan de Juanes, 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid. April 18, 2019 On Holy Thursday, the Mass of Chrism is celebrated by the diocesan Bishop with his priests as concelebrants. Together they renew their priestly vows, manifesting the communion and unity of faith between the priests and their prelate. Thursday evening, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is offered, which duly celebrates the Last Supper of Jesus and His apostles on the night He was betrayed. At the Mass, the priest washes the feet of twelve individuals, just as Jesus did to give the apostles an example of priestly service. Holy Thursday is indeed an inextricable part of the salvific event of worship that is the Triduum as Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois explains: "Holy Thursday is sometimes lost among the more popular feasts of Good Friday and of course Easter itself. The Sacred Triduum begins with the Mass of Holy Thursday evening. The opening procession, much like any Sunday opening procession, include...

This is the tenth lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology 's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. Follow along, and by the end of Lent, you'll understand the importance of Easter in light of God's plan for our salvation and his deep and unfathomable love for us, his adopted children through Christ. _________________________________________________ In our last lesson we learned how David became the king of Israel. And we began to show some parallels demonstrating how the Davidic Covenant is the prototype of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. Now we will look a little more closely at this covenant with David. Specifically, we are going to identify the seven primary and three secondary characteristics of this covenant. We will conclude by showing how Christ fulfills the Davidic Covenant, as well as the prophesies of kingdom restoration through the Church. We begin this lesson by identifying the seven primary and three secondary characteristi...