BIG C CATHOLICS

Do you think Satan is so unskillful in his craft, as to ask you openly and plainly to join him in his warfare against the Truth? He scoffs at morals, and at every institution which reveres them. He prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and encourages you. He shows you how to rise and become as gods. Then he laughs and jokes with you; he takes your hand, and gets his fingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are his. — Blessed John Henry Newman ______________________________________ Prayer for the Canonization of Bl. John Henry Newman Eternal Father, You led John Henry Newman to follow the kindly light of Truth, and he obediently responded to your heavenly calls at any cost. As writer, preacher, counsellor and educator, as pastor, Oratorian, and servant of the poor he labored to build up your Kingdom. Grant that through your Vicar on Earth we may hear the words, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the company

Saint Martin of Tours possessed the gift of discerning spirits. Once the devil appeared to him radiant and clothed in royal apparel, and spoke as if he were Christ. Martin, recognizing the deceit, replied, "The Lord Jesus Christ never prophesied that He would come in purple robes and royal crown." The demonic apparition immediately disappeared. Three dead persons he raised to life. While celebrating holy Mass a luminous sphere appeared over the future saint's head. He was far advanced in age when he fell into a grievous fever during a visitation at Candes, an outlying parish of his diocese. Unceasingly he begged God to release him from this mortal prison. His disciples, however, implored him with tears, "Father, why are you leaving us? To whom will you entrust the care of your disconsolate children?" Deeply moved, Martin turned to God: "Lord, if I am still necessary for Your people, I will not refuse the labor. Your will be done!" When the bysta

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) At this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has already passed two “tests”— spot quizzes, if you like —concocted by his adversaries. Apparently they haven’t learned their lesson. In their malice they have come back, only to be confounded once again. The issue wasn’t just whether one ought to pay taxes. It had to do with the Imperial Tax, the tribute levied on peoples subject to the Roman empire. The moneys raised were not for services provided, but to keep the people in subjection and enrich the empire. It was certainly perceived as an unjust tax, an unlawful tax. We can relate to that. In our own experience, the law is everywhere. It is intended to guarantee our rights and protect our freedom. But we like some laws better than others, depending on the extent to which they affect our property and our freedom. Here is an inter

On October 13, 1973, Our Lady of Akita (Japan) told the visionary Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa that heresy would occur within the Catholic Church: "The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their conferees (other priests)... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord." Our Lady concluded with these hopeful words, echoing her message at Fatima: "Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved." Holy Mary, pray that the Church remains faithful starting with ourselves. _____________________________________________ Prayer for a Holy Church and Priests O my Jesus, I beg You on

For the devil may tempt the good, but he cannot find rest in them; for he is shaken violently, and upset, and driven out, now by their prayers, now by their tears of repentance, and now by their almsgiving and similar good works. — St. Bruno of Cologne ______________________________________ Prayer for Saint Bruno’s Intercession O God, by whose gift Saint Bruno was conformed to Christ in poverty and humility, grant that, by his holy intercession we may follow your Son, and, through joyful charity, come to be united with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Memorial - October 2nd Each person on earth has a guardian angel who watches over and guides us to attain salvation. It has been a common theological opinion that this angelical guardianship begins at the moment of birth; prior to this, the child would be protected by the mother's guardian angel. But this is not certain, and since we now know that the soul is infused at the moment of conception, it may be that the angelic guardianship also begins at that moment. In any case, this protection continues throughout our whole life and ceases only when our probation on earth ends, namely, at the moment of death. Our guardian angel accompanies our soul to purgatory or heaven, and will become our coheir in the Kingdom of Heaven. Angels appear as early as the Book of Genesis and continuously carry out God’s will throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Mary is visited by an angel (Archangel Gabriel) at the Annunciation, and Jesus Himself talks about them in the Gospel of

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) I want to begin today by putting in front of us some phrases I am sure you have all heard. “Talk is cheap, it’s actions that count.” “You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.” “Actions speak louder than words.” There are those who will haughtily dismiss these thoughts as mere truisms. It is probable that those who dismiss them want to avoid paying attention to how these thoughts apply to their relationships with others. You and I have all been hurt by promises given and then broken. Some of us have been given sweet talk and words of love only to later discover that we were, in the name of love, only used. On other occasions we have been given words that have hurt us, really hurt us, not because they were nasty but because we relied on them and were later betrayed. What was the setting for today’s Gospel account about the two sons? Jesus had the day before thrown the moneychangers out of

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) How often do you hear the cry “It isn’t fair?” It is, of course, a complaint you hear many times from children and teens. Students complain their teachers aren’t fair with their exams. Some adults and parents complain that giving grades on performance isn’t fair. How often do parents tell us that teachers aren’t fair? And what about university admissions policies, are they fair or unfair? The Hurricane Katrina disaster brought forth a host of concerns about fairness. So, too, in follow-ups from other natural disasters. Capitalism, we are told, isn’t fair. In the name of fairness, socialism and communism were tried and found not to be fair. The Church, we are often told, isn’t fair. The way it treats women isn’t fair, we are told. The way it appoints bishops isn’t fair. The way it treats victims of abuse isn’t fair, nor is the way it deals with priests who have broken the law and g

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

The late Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s former chief exorcist, once observed: "God never rejects his creatures. Therefore, even though they broke with God, Satan and his angels maintain their power and rank (thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and so on) even if they use them for evil purposes. Saint Augustine does not exaggerate when he claims that, if God gave Satan a free hand, 'no man would be left alive.' Since Satan cannot kill us, he tries to 'make us into his followers in opposition to God, just as he is in opposition to God.'" Make no mistake, Satan's diabolical scheme continues apace. To wit: "Missouri has reportedly doubled its abortion capacity this year 'thanks to the Satanic Temple and Planned Parenthood,' who have worked in tandem to fight the state’s restrictions on abortion… Planned Parenthood has battled against [popularly enacted pro-life] state regulations requiring abortion clinics to meet the same surgica

Variety reports on a newly released documentary directed by William Friedkin whose directorial credits include the 1973 masterpiece The Exorcist . His latest venture, The Devil and Father Amorth , stars the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s former chief exorcist, who died at the age of 91 last September, soon after filming ended. The documentary includes scenes from an exorcism Fr. Amorth conducted which Friedkin describes as "Terrifying!" Here is an excerpt from The Telegraph ’s (UK) review (the reviewer is an acknowledged skeptic): The exorcism footage that makes up the spine of the film was shot by Friedkin at Father Amorth’s modest quarters in Rome. Most of the time, his camera – a humble digital SLR – is pointed at Cristina [an architect in her late 30s, undergoing her 9th exorcism] thrashing and growling in her chair, restrained by assistants, while Amorth works through the exorcism in Latin, exasperatingly little of which has been subtitled in English.

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) In the 1932 edition of the Rule of a certain religious order you find this statement: “The professed [= members with vows] cannot be denied anything that is necessary. However, the Superiors occasionally try their inferiors, by giving them an opportunity to feel some privation, and to be made aware of the fact that the poor cannot have everything they could wish for.” How times have changed! The language of “superiors” and “inferiors” is gone from the latest edition (1982), and the very idea of those in charge deliberately depriving others of what they need is unthinkable, repugnant even. Certain things made perfect sense in 1932; they made no sense at all fifty years later. That said, members of religious orders are still by definition different, counter-cultural. They still take the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, which

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) Sparrows are the most common and the most plentiful of all birds. This being so, they are not valued very highly at all. If as a species they were becoming extinct you can safely bet, however, that committees and campaigns would spring up to save them. But what about human life? There are over seven billion human beings alive on this earth today. In this century, more than in any other century in human history, human life is less and less valued. Paradoxically the baby-boomer generation, namely all those born after the end of WWII, is committed to individual rights, to individual expression and personal choice, to the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and the sexual revolution as no other generation in human history. But what about commitment to the right to life? Perversely and paradoxically, the people of this century are given to abortion and euthanasia as never be

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. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” I have often pondered over the meaning of those final words in the Lord’s Prayer and I want to pay some attention to them with you today. Throughout the centuries there has been any number of translations of the original Hebrew words that Jesus used when He taught the Lord’s Prayer. For instance, most of the original translations did not say “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Instead the phrase was translated as, “And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  By the way, as an aside, just when or why the word “trespass” was substituted for the word “sin” is unknown to me. As for the phrase “but deliver us from evil” other ancient translations render it as: “And deliver us from the time of trial.” Still others render it “deliver us from the time of testing.” Tha

Consider the following: Our original state of grace was forfeited when our first parents rejected God's love in favor of the Devil's lies. God loves us so much that even if you were the only person to have ever lived, Christ would have suffered and died just for you. We cannot deny God's love, but we can deny, ignore and perpetuate our own sinfulness. The former is inscrutable. The later, undeniable. G. K. Chesterton (1874-1836) and C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) were not collegial contemporaries save for a brief period when their respective philosophies illuminated (to varying degrees) the firmament of modern Christian apologetics. Reputedly, when  The Times  (of London) sent out an inquiry to famous authors inquiring, "What is wrong with the world today?", Chesterton honestly replied: Dear Sirs, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton Regarding our fallen nature and propensity to sin, C. S. Lewis was equally candid. His essay. " The problem with X... " discu

On November 11th, the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Martin of Tours . St. Martin was born (c. 316) at Sabaria, a town in Pannonia near the famous Benedictine monastery dedicated to his name. Against the wishes of his parents he associated with Christians and became a catechumen at the age of ten. At fifteen he entered the army and served under the Emperors Constantius and Julian. While in the service he met a poor, naked beggar at the gates of Amiens who asked alms in Christ's Name. Martin had nothing with him except his weapons and soldier's mantle; but he took his sword, cut the latter in two, and gave half to the poor man. During the following night Christ appeared to him clothed with half a mantle and said, "Martin, the catechumen, has clothed Me with this mantle!" Martin was eighteen years old when he received the sacrament of holy baptism. At the pleading of his superior officer, he remained two years longer in the army. Then, upon requesting dis

" Sometimes the Devil proposes to us great desires, so that we shall not put our hand to what we have to do, and serve our Lord in possible things, but stay content with having desired impossible ones. Granting that you can help much by prayer, don't try to benefit all the world, but those who are in your company, and so the work will be better for you are much bounden to them.... In short, what I would conclude with is that we must not build towers without foundations; the Lord does not look so much to the grandeur of our works as to the love with which they are done; and if we do all we can, His Majesty will see to it that we are able to do more and more every day, if we do not then grow weary, and during the little that this life lasts — and perhaps it will be shorter than each one thinks — we offer to Christ, inwardly and outwardly, what sacrifice we can, for His Majesty will join it with the one He made to the Father for us on the Cross, that it may have the value whic

September 29th, the Church celebrates the feast of the archangels. Angels are purely incorporeal, rational beings, extensions of God himself, personifying His grace, majesty and intellect. The Angelic Doctor explains that each individual angel is its own species within the genus "angel". Archangels have important roles in the history of salvation. There is no doubt that the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael — the only angels named in Sacred Scripture, have been instrumental in advancing God's divine plan, both in heaven and on earth. Saint Michael  St. Michael, the "Prince of the Heavenly Host", is second only to the Mother of God in leading the angels. His name in Hebrew means "Who is like God?". It was Michael who commanded heaven's forces in casting down Lucifer and the fallen angels into hell. In 1886, after receiving a prophetic vision of the evil to be visited upon the world in the 20th century, Pope Leo XIII instituted a praye

Former Vatican exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, has died at the age of 91 . A priest of the diocese of Rome and a member of the Paulist Order, he performed more than 70,000 exorcisms over the past three decades. The outspoken servant of God shared his insights through books, interviews and presentations on the demonic and combating evil — gathered from his time as an exorcist. We have previously featured Fr. Amorth's wisdom in the following posts: Vatican's Chief Exorcist, Fr. Amorth, Reveals Secrets of Hell, Says the Devil is Behind ISIS Don’t Blame Hell on God. It was Satan’s Idea. An Exorcist Tells His Story: Fr. Gabriele Amorth on the Power of Satan Interview with an Exorcist: How the Devil Harms the Living And What We Can Do to Defend Ourselves Exorcism: Separating Fact from Fiction. 3 Exorcists Discuss This Rite of the Church Father Gabriele Amorth, a devoted priest, has passed into eternal life. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light