BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for  Sunday’s readings ) Don’t you hate ultimatums? Most of us have encountered (and maybe issued) them at one time or another. They usually begin with “unless” or “if” and threaten dire consequences if one’s expectations or demands are not met. Thomas issued an ultimatum, inflexible conditions that had to be met in order for him to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to the other Apostles. It would be interesting to speculate as to why Thomas refused to believe—interesting but pointless. Ultimatums generate frustration. Usually people throw up their hands and get angry. The inclination is to say, “Fine! Have it your way!” and then sit smug and wait for the inevitable comeuppance. Jesus did not take that attitude. On the contrary, he accepted Thomas as he was, and accommodated his weak faith. He gave a very gentle reproof, to the effect that it

Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 9, 2020 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois  Ezekiel 12:1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116:1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15  “I have given you a model to follow, so that  as I have done for you,  you should also do.” (John 13:15) As a child growing up at Sacred Heart Parish in Bennington, Vermont, I remember one particular Holy Thursday Mass in which Holy Cross Father Richard Sullivan, former president of Stonehill College and a longtime friend of Sacred Heart Parish, preached that Holy Thursday was the birthday of the Eucharist. There would be no birthday cake or candles; this birth would be celebrated by going back to the roots of Christianity, to the Lord’s Last Supper, to that night in which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. Indeed, 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 even

The Last Supper, Juan de Juanes, 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid. April 9, 2020 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, includes

All we know of Barnabas comes from the New Testament. A Jew from Cyprus, Barnabas was chosen by the Holy Spirit to share in the mission of the Apostles. So much so, that the Church honors him as one of them. He played an essential role in the spread of Christianity beyond the Jewish world. Barnabas was closely affiliated with St. Paul (he introduced Paul to Peter and the other apostles) and was a mediator between Paul and the still suspicious Jewish Christian community. He was Paul's traveling companion on the latter's first missionary journey. With Paul he brought Antioch's donation to the Jerusalem Christians during a famine, and returned to Antioch with John Mark, his cousin. The three went on to Cyprus, where they were violently persecuted. Barnabas is mentioned as one of the most selfless members of the new, extremely poor Church in Jerusalem: "The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but

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

November 23rd, is the optional memorial of Pope Saint Clement I, also known as Clement of Rome, the 1st century pontiff and martyr who was converted by Saint Peter [possibly along with Saint Paul] and ordained by the same. A seminal figure in early Christianity, he served as the forth Bishop of Rome and is considered the first Apostolic Father of the Church. Saint Clement of Alexandria called him an apostle; and Rufinus, (the monastic theologian and translator) almost an apostle. Clement accompanied Saint Paul to Philippi and was a companion of the latter, with Sts. Luke and Timothy, in many of his missionary journeys. St. Paul ranks him among those whose names are inscribed in the book of life. Clement's letter to the Corinthians is a precious treasure from the apostolic period. In his letter (1 Clement) dated around 95 AD to the Christian community in the Greek city of Corinth, he responds to a dispute in which presbyters of the Corinthian church were deposed. He asserts the

Father Charles Irvin observes that Luke's Gospel is unique: "Of the four Gospel accounts written by Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, St. Luke’s has been characterized by some scripture scholars as the most beautiful of them all. St. Luke’s Gospel contains accounts of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, for instance. Mary, the mother of Jesus has a special place in his Gospel. Moreover, St. Luke has a special regard for women, for the hurting, the outcasts, and those who were seen to be at the bottom of the social heap in those days. The tender and compassionate heart of Jesus is prominent in St. Luke’s accounts of His life." Saint Luke’s Gospel is distinctive indeed. It contains information not found in any other account of Jesus’s life, both canonical and non-canonical. Where did Luke get his stories about the conception, birth and infancy of Jesus Christ? Many believe this information came from none other than Mary, the Mother of God. Who but Mary could hav

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings. )  I have always thought I would like to be on a jury. There is something fascinating about trying to find the truth amid the conflicting claims. I was called to a jury pool only once, but it was a Friday, and by 1:00 p.m. everyone was sent home. The scenario in today’s Gospel at first seems the same. But in this case I would not be at all interested. What is the difference? A jury is anonymous, unacquainted with the persons involved, and can ideally be objective. In a local Christian community, however, people know each other, have personal opinions on the issues, etc. I am told (but have been unable to verify) that there was a time in French Canada that Catholic families would take their disputes to the pastor for him to adjudicate. Often enough the result was disastrous, not resolving the issue but only creating hostility t

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) We don’t often think of it, but the gospels are loaded with questions. Sometimes it seems like there are more questions than there are answers. Questions imply a quest, a search, and a hunger for knowledge. Genuine questions that is, not trick questions. The word “question” contains within it the word “quest.” That’s what Jesus liked… people who are in search for truth, who are questing for God. So we find Jesus in today’s gospel asking: “Who do you say that I am?” And we find Simon Peter answering the question by identifying Jesus as the Son of God. Evidently Peter recognized something deep within Jesus that was divine, someone coming from God. But Peter came to that as a consequence of Jesus asking him a question. Jesus in response sees something deep within Peter that Peter couldn’t see for himself. In a sense Jesus introduced Peter to himself. “Okay,” Jesus said, “you told me who I am. Now let

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10. Our Lord instructs the twelve apostles, "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." (Matthew 10:26-28) The one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna is Satan the devil, king of demons, and of hell. He is the father of lies and a cruel deceiver of men. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we ask that God, "... lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§2851) states: “In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil ( dia-bolos ) is the one who 'thr

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) Has it ever struck you as strange that the disciples were gathered “when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,” i.e., on a Christian feast,? There couldn’t have been any Christian feasts yet, so soon after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. The explanation is simple. The feast we celebrate today already existed long before the time of Jesus. It was not unlike our Thanksgiving, a harvest celebration, celebrated fifty days (seven weeks) after Passover. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks. Be that as it may, for us Pentecost means only one thing: the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit’s first appearance in the Bible is in the second verse of the the first book: “The earth was formless and void... and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Spirit’s last ap

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut (In many dioceses the Solemnity of the Ascension  was celebrated on Thursday. This homily is based on the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter.) ( Click here for today’s readings ) There is a saying you may have heard, which goes, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would they find enough evidence to convict you?” I don’t much like it, actually, because of its accusatory tone, but it certainly fits the context of today’s second reading from 1 Peter, which reflects a time when believers were in fact being punished for the crime of being Christians. There are not a lot of reliable statistics about the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, but there is ample evidence of the fact. For example, Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor in what is now northern Turkey, wrote the following to the Emperor Trajan around the year 111 AD: “In the case of th

St. Leo the Great's 1st Homily on the Ascension of Our Lord (Sermon 73, sec. IV) Christ's ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had taken from us Accordingly, dearly-beloved, throughout this time which elapsed between the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, God's Providence had this in view, to teach and impress upon both the eyes and hearts of His own people that the Lord Jesus Christ might be acknowledged to have as truly risen, as He was truly born, suffered, and died. And hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples, who had been both bewildered at His death on the cross and backward in believing His Resurrection, were so strengthened by the clearness of the truth that when the Lord entered the heights of heaven, not only were they affected with no sadness, but were even filled with great joy. And truly great and unspeakable was their cause for joy, when in the sight of the holy multitude, above the dignity of all he

May 3rd, is the feast of Saint Philip and Saint James. St. Philip was born in Bethsaida and may have been a disciple of John the Baptist. He was called by Jesus himself and brought Nathaniel to Christ. Scripture records he was present at the miracle of the loaves and the fishes just before the Lord’s Passion. Jesus answered Philips’ request to show the apostles the Father. No further mention of Philip is made in the New Testament beyond his being listing among the apostles awaiting the Holy Spirit in the upper room. According to tradition, he preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under the Emperor Domitian. St. James the Lesser, the author of the first Catholic epistle, was the son of Alpheus or Cleophas. His mother Mary, was a close relative of the Blessed Virgin, and for that reason, according to Jewish custom, he is sometimes called the brother of the Lord. He held a distinguished position in the early Christian community of Jerusalem, as a pillar of th

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) Don’t you hate ultimatums? Most of us have encountered (and maybe issued) them at one time or another. They usually begin with “unless” or “if” and threaten dire consequences if one’s expectations or demands are not met. Thomas issued an ultimatum, inflexible conditions that had to be met in order for him to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to the other Apostles. It would be interesting to speculate as to why Thomas refused to believe—interesting but pointless. Ultimatums generate frustration. Usually people throw up their hands and get angry. The inclination is to say, “Fine! Have it your way!” and then sit smug and wait for the inevitable comeuppance. Jesus did not take that attitude. On the contrary, he accepted Thomas as he was, and accommodated his weak faith. He gave a very gentle repr

Christ’s assurance to the apostles is from the Last Supper discourses in John . If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.  — John 14: 15-20  ___________________________________________________ Pentecost Collect Prayer Almighty ever-living God, who willed the Paschal Mystery to be encompassed as a sign in fifty days, grant that from out of the scattered nations the confusion of many tongues may be gathered by heavenly grace into one great confession of your name, with the Holy Spirit. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen.

The Last Supper, Juan de Juanes, 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid. April 13, 2017 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

The Last Supper , Juan de Juanes, 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 13, 2017 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois  Ezekiel 12:1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116:1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15  “I have given you a model to follow, so that  as I have done for you,  you should also do.” (John 13:15) As a child growing up at Sacred Heart Parish in Bennington, Vermont, I remember one particular Holy Thursday Mass in which Holy Cross Father Richard Sullivan, former president of Stonehill College and a longtime friend of Sacred Heart Parish, preached that Holy Thursday was the birthday of the Eucharist. There would be no birthday cake or candles; this birth would be celebrated by going back to the roots of Christianity, to the Lord’s Last Supper, to that night in which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. Indeed, Holy Thursday is sometimes lost among the more popular feasts of Good Friday and of course Easter itsel

Christ Calling The Apostles James And John , Edward Armitage, 1869. Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD  Fr. Lane's website ( Click here for today’s readings ) "Come after Me" - Call of the Disciples When Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John they were not called to be like the disciples of Jewish rabbis (Matt 4:18-22). The disciples of Jewish rabbis were not called to “follow” their rabbi. The disciples of a rabbi would not speak of following their rabbi, instead they would have spoken of learning the Torah. A rabbi would not even have called his disciples, it was the disciples themselves who chose their rabbi, not the rabbi who chose them. But Jesus called his disciples, and called them to spend time with him. The call was firstly to enter into friendship with Jesus. We could say that the disciples of a rabbi studied the Torah but the disciples of Jesus studied Jesu

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter , Caravaggio, 1600-01.  [Christ said unto them] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you . — John 15:20 The word martyr derives from the Greek word meaning "witness." A martyr is one who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his Faith. The one thing all martyrs for Christ share is that they would rather die than lie. Despite being crucified, stabbed, stoned, dragged, skinned and burned, every Apostle of Jesus (save Judas) proclaimed the truth of Christ’s Resurrection until their last breath. In refusing to abandon their beliefs in the face of vicious persecution, today’s Christian martyrs give their lives to grow the Church. The Holy Father has said , "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church… It is true that during the times of Nero many Christians were persecuted, and today there are just as many." Francis explained the role martyrs play as witnesses: "We know that there is no growth without the