BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Most people that we know are carrying heavy burdens these days. Anxieties and fears burden us all, fears about our economy, the cost of food and fuel, home values and mortgages, what’s happening to our children, terrorism, our national debt, and so on. The list seems both overwhelming and endless. People are trying to stretch out paychecks, paychecks that never seem to go quite far enough. They are working on stressed marriage relationships they fear are breaking up. They’re unemployed or they’re under-employed and are looking for a better job that will give them a reliable and adequate source of income. Others are waiting for biopsy reports on certain abnormal cells that are growing in their bodies, filled with fear that they may have cancer. Or they’re trying to provide for and shape the characters of their children, children that are so influenced by all that is immoral and degrading in our culture.

The lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the hope that the coming Messiah represents in a world that very often seems dark, forbidding and hopeless. We do so because we are a people living in faith that our Divine Master will come again in glory at the end of time to dispense peace and justice. The joyous anticipation of the season of Advent is captured in the teachings of the prophets from the Old Testament: "Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he…" (Zechariah 9:9) Advent Wreath Prayer - Second Week By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Dear Heavenly Father:  in this second week of Advent, I feel a bit overwhelmed as I learn to set priorities in my life. At the base of your mountain, I realize I cannot climb it with too much baggage. I see you at the top of the mountain, ready to usher me into the holy city. Draw me up that mountain, Lord, for there I will find fulfillment and peace.

May 31st Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." — Luke 1:39-45 Almighty ever-living God, who, while the Blessed Virgin Mary was carrying your Son in her womb, inspired her to visit Elizabeth, grant us, we pray, that, faithful to the promptings of the Spirit, we may magnify your greatness with the Virgin Mary at all times. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and

God, the author of creation, uses physical realities to make present spiritual realities beyond us. In a similar way, iconography, pictures of Divine Persons and saints, are signs, images, or likenesses that embody and make present that which they portray. St. Athanasius of Alexandria championed the practice of writing, displaying and venerating icons by the faithful. He wrote: "We, the faithful, do not worship the icons as gods. By no means as the pagans, rather we are simply expressing our relation to, and the feeling of our love toward, the person whose image is depicted in the icon. Hence, frequently when the image has faded, we burn it in fire, then as plain wood, that which previously was an icon. Just as Jacob, when dying, bowed in worship over the head of the staff of Joseph [cf. Heb. 11:21] not honoring the staff, but him to whom it belonged, in the same manner the faithful, for no other reason, venerate [kiss] the icons, just as we often kiss our children, so that we

The lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the hope that the coming Messiah represents in a world that very often seems dark, forbidding and hopeless. We do so because we are a people living in faith that our Divine Master will come again in glory at the end of time to dispense peace and justice. The joyous anticipation of the season of Advent is captured in the teachings of the prophets from the Old Testament: "Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he…" (Zechariah 9:9) Advent Wreath Prayer - Fourth Week By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Heavenly Father, today I light the final candle of the Advent wreath. All four candles are now lit. As I sit back and see all the candles burning, I am reminded that your time is nigh. Prepare my heart, Lord, for the great feast that next week will bring. I don’t know if I am ready, Lord, but I know I am anxious to reignite our relationship. With y

The lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the hope that the coming Messiah represents in a world that very often seems dark, forbidding and hopeless. We do so because we are a people living in faith that our Divine Master will come again in glory at the end of time to dispense peace and justice. The joyous anticipation of the season of Advent is captured in the teachings of the prophets from the Old Testament: "Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he…" (Zechariah 9:9) Advent Wreath Prayer - Third Week By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Heavenly Father, today is the Third Sunday of Advent. Everything about today speaks of rejoicing in your presence among us. The prayers, readings and even the pink candle remind us that we are building up to the celebration of your decision to step into time and take a place in the human family.  Help me, Lord, to feel the excitement of a child who

The lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the hope that the coming Messiah represents in a world that very often seems dark, forbidding and hopeless. We do so because we are a people living in faith that our Divine Master will come again in glory at the end of time to dispense peace and justice. The joyous anticipation of the season of Advent is captured in the teachings of the prophets from the Old Testament: "Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he…" (Zechariah 9:9) Advent Wreath Prayer - Second Week By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Dear Heavenly Father:  in this second week of Advent, I feel a bit overwhelmed as I learn to set priorities in my life. At the base of your mountain, I realize I cannot climb it with too much baggage. I see you at the top of the mountain, ready to usher me into the holy city. Draw me up that mountain, Lord, for there I will find fulfillment and peace.

The lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the hope that the coming Messiah represents in a world that very often seems dark, forbidding and hopeless. We do so because we are a people living in faith that our Divine Master will come again in glory at the end of time to dispense peace and justice. The joyous anticipation of the season of Advent is captured in the teachings of the prophets from the Old Testament: "Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he…" (Zechariah 9:9) Advent Wreath Prayer - First Week By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Dear Heavenly Father: in this first week of Advent, I look at my wreath with four shiny new candles on it, none of which are lit. I will light one candle for this first week of Advent. That is all. It reminds me that I am called to slow down, pray and patiently wait for your intervention in my life. I am not a patient person, Lord. But you know that; y

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) When you hear the expression “sins of the flesh,” what kind of sins do you think of? That’s what I thought. Do you suppose that was all St. Paul had on his mind when he wrote to the Romans, “We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh”? Remember what he wrote to the Galatians about what he calls the “works” of the flesh. The list is impressive, fifteen sins. Yes, it includes impurity and licentiousness, but also idolatry, rivalry, factions, outbursts of fury, and selfishness, to name only half of them. What these all have in common is that they take what is good and honest in our nature and then twist them and distort them. Let me give a few examples to explain what I mean. Impurity and licentiousness are a distortion of the natural and beautiful mutual attraction between men and women.

The Naming of John the Baptist , Fra Angelico, 1435.  Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist June 24, 2017 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139; Acts 13: 22-26; Luke 1:57-66, 80 “John is his name.” (Lk 1:60) Have you ever considered yourself to be the most unqualified person to be placed into a situation where you were compelled to lead? Shortly after my ordination to priesthood, my first pastor died of cancer. In my mid-twenties, I was thrust into the leadership role of that parish until a new pastor was appointed. It was a daunting task as the parish was large and active. In the months leading up to the pastor’s death and the weeks after his funeral, the parish looked to me to lead and guide them through the daily parish activities and the transition to a new pastor. I was the most unlikely person to do so; at the time, I was the youngest and most inexperienced priest in the diocese. With God’s help and a lot of prayer, the parish an

May 31st Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." — Luke 1:39-45 Almighty ever-living God, who, while the Blessed Virgin Mary was carrying your Son in her womb, inspired her to visit Elizabeth, grant us, we pray, that, faithful to the promptings of the Spirit, we may magnify your greatness with the Virgin Mary at all times. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and

Angel Appearing to Zacharias , Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1490. St. Luke devotes the first two chapters of his Gospel to events in the infancy of Christ. Luke's infancy narratives consider six episodes structured in pairs about the early lives of John the Baptist and Jesus; two annunciations, two births and circumcisions and two scenes set in the Temple. The account also features many canticles (the Magnificat , the Benedictus , the Gloria , and the Nunc dimittis — all of which praise God for the redemption of man. The stories, like the canticles, reference Old Testament passages showing that God's salvation was imminent. The central event is the Annunciation of Mary wherein the Word (Jesus) becomes flesh. The Blessed Virgin gives her fiat , (her yes), to God's plan. From the very moment of Christ's conception in her womb Mary's life is inextricably bound up with God's redemptive ministry. She serves under her Son in perfect obedience. Luke portrays Zechari

Every person born has been stained with original sin, except for Mary, the Mother of God, and John the Baptist, the cousin and Forerunner of Christ. From the first moment of her existence, Our Lady was free from original sin by virtue of her Immaculate Conception. John was cleansed of original sin in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, at the Visitation as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. The Solemnities of the Immaculate Conception and the birth of John the Baptist are the only occasions in the Church calendar where a saint's feast is his nativity. Usually, the date of a saint's death is observed as his feast since that is the day he is born into eternal life. The justification for today's feast is explained by St. Augustine in the Divine Office: Apart from the most holy solemnity commemorating our Savior's birth, the Church keeps the birthday of no other person except that of John the Baptist. (The feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the Nativity of the Ble

Once when Zechariah was serving as priest he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw and fear came over him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. (Luke 1:8-15) The angel tells Zechariah that his prayer has been heard. We aren't told what Zechariah has been praying for, but now we know. He was praying for Isreal, of course, as a Jewish priest would do. But he was also praying for a son. Sometimes we're afraid to pray for things that seem unrealistic. Three times in the birth story of Jesus we'll hear angels say, &quo