BIG C CATHOLICS

Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot, July 11, 2017 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Proverbs 2:1-9, Psalm 34, Matthew 19:27-29 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord; the   knowledge of God you will find . (Prv 2:5) [On July 11th, the Church celebrates] the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of western monasticism. St. Benedict lived from 480-547, and wrote his Rule, which has governed monastic life ever since. Those who have given up everything and entered monastic life have done so in order to fulfill one goal: to seek God. Prayer, work, obedience, simplicity of life, and stability guide the daily living of monastic life and thus guide the monk in his solitary goal of life. Seeking God is not the activity only of monks and nuns in monasteries. Rather, it is the task given to all of the baptized. And while most of us will not enter monastic life, there is an “inner monk” within us that compels us to seek God in our individual vocations and lives, whether as a dio

From the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 66. In what sense do we understand man and woman as created "in the image of God"? The human person is created in the image of God in the sense that he or she is capable of knowing and of loving their Creator in freedom. Human beings are the only creatures on earth that God has willed for their own sake and has called to share, through knowledge and love, in his own divine life. All human beings, in as much as they are created in the image of God, have the dignity of a person. A person is not something but someone, capable of self-knowledge and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with God and with other persons. 67. For what purpose did God create man and woman? God has created everything for them; but he has created them to know, serve and love God, to offer all of creation in this world in thanksgiving back to him and to be raised up to life with him in heaven. Only in the mystery of

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.

He loves, He hopes, He waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant. —  St. Maria Goretti __________________________________________ Prayer for St. Maria Goretti's Intercession Almighty God, author if innocence and lover of chastity, who bestowed the grace of martyrdom on your handmaid, the Virgin Saint Maria Goretti, in her youth, grant, we pray, through her intercession, that, as you gave her a crown for her courage, so we, too, may be firm in obeying your commandments. Through Jesus Christ who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Maria Goretti died on July 6, 1902. The following is excerpted from the homily by Pope Pius XII at her canonization Mass on June 24, 1950. It is found in the Divine Office of Readings for the Feast of St. Maria Goretti on July 6th. "It is well known how this young girl had to face a bitter struggle with no way to defend herself. Without warning a vicious stranger (actually Alessandro Serenelli who lived with his father in the same house as the Goretti's.) burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity. In that moment of crisis she could have spoken to her Redeemer in the words of that classic, The Imitation of Christ: "Though tested and plagued by a host of misfortunes, I have no fear so long as your grace is with me. It is my strength, stronger than any adversary; it helps me and gives me guidance." With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity. The life of this s

July 6th, is the optional memorial of Saint Maria Goretti. It is a rare thing for an immediate family member to be present at a saint’s canonization. It is even more uncommon for a murderer to be there as well—especially if that man was the one responsible for the death of the person being canonized. And yet, that is precisely what happened in 1950, when Pope Pius XII pronounced Maria Goretti a saint. Maria was born on October 16, 1890, in Corinaldo, Ancona, Italy, the eldest of five children. Her parents were poor sharecroppers and, in 1899 when Maria was only nine, her father Luigi moved the family to the tiny town of Ferriere, Italy, in hopes of finding work to feed his family. Little did he know that the business agreement he made there with a man known as Signor Serenelli would lead to such profound consequences for his oldest daughter. Serenelli had a son named Alessandro, who was older than Maria by six years. Although those who knew her often remarked on Maria’s “grace a

Occasionally we hear from readers who take issue with Church doctrine. Recently, we received a (three-page single spaced) commentary questioning the Church’s teaching on the Most Blessed Sacrament as the Real Presence. It states in part: Dear Catholic Crusader, Five hundred years ago in 1517, Martin Luther made public his 95 complaints against the Roman Catholic church (hereafter, RCC). Today, we shall do likewise, with another 95 reasons. However, in this critique, we will exclusively fixate on the nucleus of all Catholic doctrine called, Transubstantiation. This teaching is built on the premise that when the priest utters “This is my body” over bread and wine that the “combustible” syllables of these four words ignite with such power and energy that, unbeknownst to our cognizant senses, the substance of bread and wine miraculously change (“by the force of the words” says the Council of Trent; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1375). They are then abruptly replaced with som