BIG C CATHOLICS

[This prayer may be recited individually or as a family before an image of Christ crucified on Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week. It is taken from the words of Pope Pius XII On the Sacred Liturgy .] "Dearly beloved, in Holy Week, when the most bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ are put before us by the liturgy, the Church invites us to come to Calvary and follow in the blood-stained footsteps of the Divine Redeemer, to carry the Cross willingly with Him, to reproduce in our hearts His spirit of expiation and atonement, and to die together with Him." V/ We ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ R/ in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection. V/ Let us pray. All-powerful, eternal God, You have chosen to give mankind a model of humility; our Savior took on our flesh, and subjected Himself to the Cross. Grant us the grace to preserve faithfully the lessons He has given us in his Passion and to have a share in His Resurrection. This we ask of You

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) You and I have prayed The Lord’s Prayer countless numbers of times. In it we always ask God to “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Some translations of that famous prayer have it “and subject us not into the trial.” Just what is it that we are praying for? Well obviously there are various levels of temptation — some powerful and severe, others not so powerful and not so grave (not weighted with much gravity). Some temptations are of the flesh. Some temptations are of the spirit. Some involve passion… others involve cold calculation. Whatever a temptation’s quality or type may be, at whatever level, it is always a time of testing. Our resolve, our spiritual muscle, is being tested. And if our character is spiritually weak and flabby, without any muscle power at all, we will be a pushover for the devil. Jesus also had His times of trail. The first we know about was during His ti

Memorial - November 17th  There are people who make a lasting impact on the world even though their earthly lives are very short. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary or Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia was just such a person. Both a king’s daughter and a king’s wife, her love and care for the poor led her to be beloved by the common people during her life, and resulted in her canonization a mere four years after her death. Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, was born in 1207. In 1221, at the age of 14, she married Louis IV of Thuringia (Germany), He ascended the Thuringian throne at the age of 16. Over the next six years Elizabeth would bear him three children. The couple were deeply in love and very devoted to each other. Louis fully supported his young wife in her spiritual life and in her prodigious efforts aiding the destitute. This included selling state treasures to assist the needy. Tragically, in 1227, Louis died on the Sixth Crusade after promising Emperor Frederick II he wo

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) What’s the one of the big things that has preoccupied you since you were a child and throughout all of the years that have followed? Isn’t it fear of rejection ? Recall your early days as a child. Even as a tiny baby you screamed, shrieked, and cried if you were not held, cuddled, and loved by your mother and your father. As a child you craved to play with playmates and you were miserable if they didn’t want to play with you. And when you were a teenager? Well, words can’t begin to describe the pain and fear teenager experiences when faced with rejection. When parents divorce isn’t a child’s primal fear and first thought that one or the other parent is rejecting him, particularly the parent who because of the divorce is forced to leave the child’s home? In divorce kids imagine they’re being rejected even though that isn’t the case. Sometimes we’re so obsessed with the fear of rejection that we trea

Memorial - September 23rd Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, (1887-1968) better known as Padre Pio, was the 20th century Capuchin priest, stigmatic and mystic, who during his lifetime, was a spiritual father to innumerable souls. He is the only priest in the history of the Church to receive the stigmata — the divine marks of predilection — from our Lord’s Passion and Death. Thus, for much of his priesthood, Padre Pio suffered the spiritual, emotional and physical anguish of Christ’s holy wounds. In addition, he was given the miraculous gifts of bilocation, transverberation, (a divine piercing of the heart indicating union with God) the odor of sanctity, the ability to read souls, the ability to see and communicate with spiritual beings, (i.e. guardian angels, demons, the departed) and the capacity to write and comprehend languages foreign to him. Moreover, his brother Capuchins testified under oath that he levitated, healed by touch, and experienced divine ecstasies while praying, as w

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 devis

A plenary indulgence may be obtained on each Friday of Lent by the faithful, who after worthily receiving Communion, piously recite the following prayer before an image of Christ crucified – provided the conditions for a plenary indulgence are met (see below after prayer). A plenary indulgence remits all temporal punishment due to personal sins. Prayer Before a Crucifix/Prayer to Christ Crucified. Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, pray and beseech thee that thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on thy lips concerning thee: “My hands and my feet they have pierced, they have numbered all my bones" (Ps 21, 17-18).

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) If there is no divine being above us we will be consumed by all that is around us. If Christ in His kingship is removed from our lives we will be at the mercy of any and all forces in this world that are more powerful than our own powers. In the world of philosophers those who reject God or the reality of God are known as nihilists who claim we exist in nothingness. What we think to be real is, they claim, only a construction that we have made in our own minds. The problem with nihilism is that it leads to anarchy, the complete loss of order in a world that they view to be essentially irrational. Tyrants come to power and thrive in such a world view. Our nation’s Founding Fathers recognized the threat and grip of tyrants when they wrote: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, tha

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

A plenary indulgence may be obtained on each Friday of Lent by the faithful, who after worthily receiving Communion, piously recite the following prayer before an image of Christ crucified – provided the conditions for a plenary indulgence are met (see below after prayer). A plenary indulgence remits all temporal punishment due to personal sins. Prayer Before a Crucifix/Prayer to Christ Crucified. Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, pray and beseech thee that thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on thy lips concerning thee: “My hands and my feet they have pierced, they have numbered all my bones" (Ps 21, 17-18).

It's no accident that the first reading for the second Sunday of Lent (Year B) is the testing of Abraham's faith. Genesis chapter 22 begins: "God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am!' [Abraham] replied. Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." "When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven, 'Abraham, Abraham!' 'Here I am!' he answered. 'Do not lay your hand on the boy,' said the messenger. 'Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.' As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram

A plenary indulgence may be obtained on each Friday of Lent by the faithful, who after worthily receiving Communion, piously recite the following prayer before an image of Christ crucified – provided the conditions for a plenary indulgence are met. A plenary indulgence remits all temporal punishment due to personal sins. Prayer Before a Crucifix/Prayer to Christ Crucified. Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, pray and beseech thee that thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on thy lips concerning thee: “My hands and my feet they have pierced, they have numbered all my bones" (Ps 21, 17-18). Amen. In Latin: En

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) You and I have prayed The Lord’s Prayer countless numbers of times. In it we always ask God to “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Some translations of that famous prayer have it “and subject us not into the trial.” Just what is it that we are praying for? Well obviously there are various levels of temptation — some powerful and severe, others not so powerful and not so grave (not weighted with much gravity). Some temptations are of the flesh. Some temptations are of the spirit. Some involve passion… others involve cold calculation. Whatever a temptation’s quality or type may be, at whatever level, it is always a time of testing. Our resolve, our spiritual muscle, is being tested. And if our character is spiritually weak and flabby, without any muscle power at all, we will be a pushover for the devil. Jesus also had His times of trail. The first we know about w

The Feast of Saint Andrew, one of the twelve apostles selected by Our Lord, is November 30th. Andrew has the distinction of introducing his brother Peter to Jesus, saying, "We have found the Messiah." Overshadowed henceforth by his brother, Andrew nevertheless appears again in the Gospels as introducing souls to Christ. After Pentecost, Andrew took up the apostolate on a much wider scale, and is said to have been martyred at Patras in southern Greece on a cross which was in the form of an "X". This type of cross is known as a "St. Andrew's cross." Andrew did not belong to the inner circle of the apostles, Peter, James and John, and the evangelists record nothing extraordinary concerning him [John 6:8]; but tradition extols his great love for the Cross and for the Savior. The Church distinguishes him in the Mass [his name occurs in the Canon and in the Libera since the time of Pope Saint Gregory I] as well as in the Divine Office. The story of hi

Here we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries. Before each decade, we pray what concerns the particular mystery, and instead of ending the decades with Glory Be…, we pray: Lord, grant them eternal rest and let perpetual light shine upon them! Begin the Rosary normally, and then before the first decade is prayed, but after the 1st Sorrowful Mystery is stated, pray: Lord, Jesus Christ, through Thy bloody sweat of fear that Thou didst shed on the Mount of Olives, we ask Thee to have mercy on the Poor Souls in Purgatory. Deliver them from their fear and pain and console them with the cup of heavenly comfort! Before the second decade is prayed, but after the 2nd Sorrowful Mystery is stated, pray: Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy painful Scourging which Thou didst tolerate so patiently for us sinners, we ask Thee to have mercy on the Poor Souls in Purgatory. Retract from them the pain of Thy anger and give them eternal rest! Before the third decade is prayed, but after the 3rd Sorrowful Mys

Optional Memorial - November 16th  There are people who make a lasting impact on the world even though their earthly lives are very short. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary or Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia was just such a person. Both a king’s daughter and a king’s wife, her love and care for the poor led her to be beloved by the common people during her life, and resulted in her canonization a mere four years after her death. Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, was born in 1207. In 1221, at the age of 14, she married Louis IV of Thuringia (Germany), He ascended the Thuringian throne at the age of 16. Over the next six years Elizabeth would bear him three children. The couple were deeply in love and very devoted to each other. Louis fully supported his young wife in her spiritual life and in her prodigious efforts aiding the destitute. This included selling state treasures to assist the needy. Tragically, in 1227, Louis died on the Sixth Crusade after promising Emperor Frede

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) What’s the one of the big things that has preoccupied you since you were a child and throughout all of the years that have followed? Isn’t it fear of rejection ? Recall your early days as a child. Even as a tiny baby you screamed, shrieked, and cried if you were not held, cuddled, and loved by your mother and your father. As a child you craved to play with playmates and you were miserable if they didn’t want to play with you. And when you were a teenager? Well, words can’t begin to describe the pain and fear teenager experiences when faced with rejection. When parents divorce isn’t a child’s primal fear and first thought that one or the other parent is rejecting him, particularly the parent who because of the divorce is forced to leave the child’s home? In divorce kids imagine they’re being rejected even though that isn’t the case. Sometimes we’re so obsessed with the fear of rejection that we trea

Memorial - September 23rd Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, (1887-1968) better known as Padre Pio, was the 20th century Capuchin priest, stigmatic and mystic, who during his lifetime, was a spiritual father to innumerable souls. He is the only priest in the history of the Church to receive the stigmata — the divine marks of predilection — from our Lord’s Passion and Death. Thus, for much of his priesthood, Padre Pio suffered the spiritual, emotional and physical anguish of Christ’s holy wounds. In addition, he was given the miraculous gifts of bilocation, transverberation, (a divine piercing of the heart indicating union with God) the odor of sanctity, the ability to read souls, the ability to see and communicate with spiritual beings, (i.e. guardian angels, demons, the departed) and the capacity to write and comprehend languages foreign to him. Moreover, his brother Capuchins testified under oath that he levitated, healed by touch, and experienced divine ecstasies while praying, as w

Feast Day - August 31st In the latest edition of the Roman Martyrology, the Church has coupled the feast of Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the two holy men who took the Body of Jesus down from the Cross, helped wrap it in linen cloth and placed it in the tomb. They were both Jews who came to follow Christ at personal great risk. Their devotion to Jesus at the culmination of our Lord's Passion testifies to the charismatic power and transformative nature of Christ’s message and mission. All that is reliably known about these two saints is found in the Gospel passages that mention them. Both were apparently men of authority and means in the first century Jewish community in Jerusalem, and both were respected members of the Sanhedrin there. Each had secretly become a disciple of Jesus, although until His salvific death neither of them spoke publicly about it “for fear of the Jews.” In the Gospel of John, for instance, Nicodemus does indeed approach Jesus in order

Fr. Angelo M. Geiger F.I.  St. Maximilian taught that saints are in some ways like the great men of the world, but are motivated supernaturally by faith in God and love for him. In this way, they are able not only to see beyond adversity, but to embrace the Cross in a spirit of sacrificial love. St. Maximilian also showed that holiness is found only in Christ Jesus, Who both tells us and shows us what holiness is and how it is to be achieved. Jesus, in His sacrificial love and obedience shown so poignantly on the Cross, and so humbly in the Eucharist, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6). He is holiness, and the way to achieve it. St. Maximilian says: It is a false and widely diffused idea that the saints were not like us. They were also subject to temptation, they fell and got up, they also felt overwhelmed with sadness, weakened and paralyzed by discouragement. But remember the words of the Savior: ‘Without me, you can do nothing’ (Jn 15:51), and those of St. Paul: