BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) One of the members of my La Salette religious community is Father Joe, who just turned 87. We get together often for an afternoon of “tea and computer.” He tells me what, in his insatiable curiosity, he needs to know, and I look it up on my laptop. But the first thing is always a visit to NASA’s website, APOD, i.e. “Astronomy Picture of the Day.” Fr. Joe loves science. Not rarely we find something like this. “The Eight-Burst Nebula (pictured above)… originated in the outer layers of a star like our Sun… Neither the unusual shape of the surrounding cooler shell nor the structure and placements of the cool filamentary dust lanes… are well understood.” At which point Fr. Joe will say: “In other words, they haven’t got a clue!” We are meant to understand. That’s why we have a mind. Even children eventually come to realize that “because I’m the Mommy” isn’t a pr

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Here we are at the beginning of a new year with high hopes that this year will be better than the last. We have our hopes even though we know that there is much in our world that is wrong. Without going into a long, dismal list of the many things that are wrong let me point out just a few of them. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening, not closing. Political corruption and the politics of gridlock darken our perceptions of those we have elected to office. Terrorism and abortion along with Mexican drug cartel murders cause us to realize that human life is cheap and is too often regarded as disposable. We face much that is sinful, evil, and criminal in our world. All of these things we know quite well are exceptions to the way things ought to be; they are out of the general order of what should present in our relations with others. How do we know that? What gives us this perspective and recogni

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) All of the shopping, all of the rushing about, all of the busy-ness of Christmas is now over. Today the streets are deserted. A quiet and peaceful stillness lays over all. Now the religious meaning of Christmas is allowed to emerge from beneath all of the mall music, the shopping, and the frantic preparations for this day. But to what do we turn our attention? To peace on earth toward men of good will? Yes, and something more. To the sharing of love with family? Yes, and something more. To joining together with the ones we love? Yes, but more. Christmas is more than having a lovely time, more than family sharing, more than the so-called “happy holidays.” We celebrate today what so many are looking for. We focus our attention today on that which will give peace to many who are lonely, uneasy with themselves, and who are searching for meaning in their lives. The centerpiece of the Mass

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) One of the most important needs we have in life is to receive respect and esteem from others, no matter how high or lowly our position may be on the ladder of social importance. This is a good and legitimate need. Humility does not mean being a door-mat upon which others wipe their feet. But our need for respect and esteem can, as we all know so well, become unbalanced. Self-appreciation and self-affirmation can slip over into egocentrism, self-centeredness, arrogance and an aggressive “in your face” approach to others. The result is certain … sadness, pain, and misery, not only in one’s own self but in the lives of those who must live near us. When the biggest thing in this world is self, there is no surer guarantee to misery. Preoccupation with one’s own public image and the everlasting pursuit of recognition leads us into the most merciless of all slaveries, with our ego as our tyrannical owner.

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings )  I have a revelation to make. What does that statement make you expect? A personal confession? Some new scandal in the Church? An interesting secret, or some news that will amaze or disappoint you? One way or another, the statement probably sparked your interest. In today’s reading from St. Paul, we find a similar idea: “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Christians of Corinth, who are already believers, are waiting for another revelation. As we begin a new year in the life of the Church, we do so with a sense of anticipation. In this respect Advent is quite different from Lent. Both use purple vestments, both omit the Gloria at Mass, both are meant to be a sober preparation for a great feast to follow. Still, have you ever heard of making “Advent resolutions”? For whatever

"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace." — Wisdom 3:1-3 "On this day [November 2nd] is observed the commemoration of the faithful departed, in which our common and pious Mother the Church, immediately after having endeavored to celebrate by worthy praise all her children who already rejoice in heaven, strives to aid by her powerful intercession with Christ, her Lord and Spouse, all those who still groan in purgatory, so that they may join as soon as possible the inhabitants of the heavenly city." ( Roman Martyrology ) Monsignor Bernard Bourgeois explains this commemoration: "Eternity with God is the life to which each disciple of Christ aspires. The Second Eucharistic Prayer at Mass asks the Lord to 'welcome them [the faithful departed] i

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America (Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13) Confucius says: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. The foolish virgins of the parable suffered the bitter consequences of experience. Parents and teachers try to help children avoid just such situations. Ideally, youth will learn to reflect before they act. That is the goal of Wisdom, personified in the first reading. Wisdom is described as resplendent; and “she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them.” How can I read these words without thinking of the Beautiful Lady? One of the titles in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin is: Seat of Wisdom. Explanations differ, as does the iconography. Essentially, however, we are to understand that Jesus in his humanity learned some of his w

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

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) The image is a familiar one: one or more dogs begging while you are at table, ready to pounce on whatever falls from the table, if not actively “demanding tribute,” as my brother’s Chihuahua “Rosy” does. Cute, if you like that sort of thing. But there is nothing cute about the exchange between Jesus and the Canaanite woman in this Gospel. I once read an author, bent on finding humor in the Bible, who claimed that this was just a friendly little repartee, what Webster’s Dictionary describes as “amusing and usually light sparring with words.”  I couldn’t disagree more. The scene presented here by Matthew is no game of wits! Let me digress briefly with a little trip down memory lane: [Click on this link:] Kyrie eleison from the Missa de Angelis The point isn’t the music, the Gregorian chant or any other classic settings. The point isn’t the Lati

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) I wonder how long I will be remembered after I die. I wonder, too, what I will be remembered for. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” What would you like to be remembered for? What do you think you will actually be remembered for? You might have to write your memoirs to ensure that the answer to both questions is the same. What will guarantee that remembrance? Photos? Mementos? The day will surely come when someone will look at those pictures and say, “They should have written the names on the back.” And the mementos will end up in a box and someone for whom they no longer have meaning will one day discard them. A monument would be nice! The Statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial was sculpted by Daniel Chester French. It’s a “memorial” precisely because it guarantees that Linc

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

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) If you go out into the North African desert with its rolling and shifting hills of sand, you will likely come upon quicksand. You can also encounter quicksand in our North American swamps, in our Florida Everglades, and even in some of our own inland lakes. Nearer to us you’ll find it in the marshy, reed-filled edges of Michigan’s inland lakes. Sometimes these spots are called sinkholes. They are pockets of loosely packed sand that has collected in a hole with a really deep bottom. There’s nothing solid at the bottom of these sinkholes. When you step into one you immediately begin to sink down and the more you thrash around the more it sucks you down until you are under the sand and then die of suffocation. Many people find themselves in spiritual sinkholes. They are being sucked down into alcoholism, drugs, sex, mistreatment of others, and other sorts of addictions. They are caught in behavior pat

"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace." — Wisdom 3:1-3 "On this day [November 2nd] is observed the commemoration of the faithful departed, in which our common and pious Mother the Church, immediately after having endeavored to celebrate by worthy praise all her children who already rejoice in heaven, strives to aid by her powerful intercession with Christ, her Lord and Spouse, all those who still groan in purgatory, so that they may join as soon as possible the inhabitants of the heavenly city." ( Roman Martyrology ) Monsignor Bernard Bourgeois explains this commemoration: "Eternity with God is the life to which each disciple of Christ aspires. The Second Eucharistic Prayer at Mass asks the Lord to 'welcome them [the faithful departed] i

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

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

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday in the Extraordinary Form, since its theme is one of rejoicing and expectation that Easter is near. It occurs just over half way through the penitential season of Lent. Laetare Sunday, takes its name from the first word in the entrance antiphon (introit) for that Sunday’s Mass, "Rejoice" [Latin: laetare ]: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together all you that love her; rejoice with joy you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation" (Isaiah: 66:10, 11). In anticipation of the joy of Easter, Laetare Sunday is meant to provide hope and encouragement as we progress towards the Paschal Feast. The great Solemnity of Easter for which we have been faithfully preparing prefigures our joy in Heaven, when we shall see God face to face. [Laetare Sunday is also the occasion of the second scrutiny in preparation for the baptism of adults at the Easter Vigil.] This day

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Here we are at the beginning of a new year with high hopes that this year will be better than 2011. We have our hopes even though we know that there is much in our world that is wrong. Without going into a long, dismal list of the many things that are wrong let me point out just a few of them. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening, not closing. Political corruption and the politics of gridlock darken our perceptions of those we have elected to office. Terrorism and abortion along with Mexican drug cartel murders cause us to realize that human life is cheap and is too often regarded as disposable. We face much that is sinful, evil, and criminal in our world. All of these things we know quite well are exceptions to the way things ought to be; they are out of the general order of what should present in our relations with others. How do we know that? What gives us this perspective and recogni