BIG C CATHOLICS

When teaching students about time, a teacher employed the following quaint but quirky adage: The past is history, the future is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.  Innumerable saints have weighed in on the concept of time as well. St. Augustine's observation on the past, the present and the future, mimics said quotation above, but with profound insight into the nature God: Trust the past to the Mercy of God, the present to His Love, and the future to His Providence. — St. Augustine St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, compared our earthly lives to our eternal existence. Any consideration of time, informed by Sacred Scripture, must acknowledge the fact that we will live forever. The only question is, Where?: We must often draw the comparison between time and eternity. This is the remedy of all our troubles. How small will the present moment appear when we enter that great ocean.  — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 

In his first homily as pontiff, Pope Francis reminded us that the Devil is real. He has continued telling the faithful that we must be on guard, and that our only hope against Satan is our Lord, Jesus Christ. From Church Pop , here are thirteen of Pope Francis’ most direct quotes on the subject: When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil. +++  The Prince of this world, Satan, doesn’t want our holiness, he doesn’t want us to follow Christ. Maybe some of you might say: ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here… even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naïve, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan. +++  [The Devil] attacks the family so much. That demon does not love it and seeks to destroy it. […] May the Lord bless the family. May He make it strong in this crisis, in which the devil wishes to destroy it.

At a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, October 18, Pope Francis canonized four individuals, among them, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. It is the first time a married couple has been canonized together. [ CNS reports ] The Pontiff said in part: There can be no compatibility between a worldly understanding of power and the humble service which must characterize authority according to Jesus’ teaching and example,” he continued. “Ambition and careerism are incompatible with Christian discipleship; honor, success, fame and worldly triumphs are incompatible with the logic of Christ crucified … The men and women canonized today unfailingly served their brothers and sisters with outstanding humility and charity, in imitation of the divine Master. About 65,000 people attended the Mass, including more than 300 cardinals, bishops and others taking part in the Oct. 4-25 synod on the family. Those canonized were: Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin (1831-1877), the par

Fr. Charles Irvin Back in the late 1700’s a man named John Newton, an alcoholic libertine and a man committed to destroy the Christian faith, was by the grace of God, rescued, restored, healed, and given the sight to see what he was and what God wanted him to be. He wrote a hymn with words you will recognize: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." We could spend the rest of this day discussing the various types and forms of blindness along with answering the question “Who is really blind, and who really sees?” From my perspective, the most debilitating form of blindness is that found in folks who think they see the truth when they really don’t. There’s no more pitiable form of blindness than one who thinks he or she has all of the right answers, who thinks he or she knows all that one needs to know about God, about Jesus Christ, about the Church, and about religion…but really doesn’

Sister Maria Veritas Mary Anne Marks was Harvard's Valedictorian in 2010. Upon graduation, she entered religious life with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had forgotten about Ms. Mark's story, after seeing video of her commencement address in Latin — until the other day, when someone brought up the subject of the Dominican Sisters and I wondered about her. This may be old news to many of you, however, on Aug. 1, 2011, Mary Anne Marks received the habit, and a new religious name: Sister Maria Veritas. Sister Maria Veritas recently discussed her call to consecrated life from Harvard to the convent. She writes in part: "Between each day’s bookends, opportunities abound to provide a mother’s tenderness to all, young and old, whom God places in my life. I will not have the joy of a family of my own, but I have the joy of being completely available to anyone who approaches me. And they do come: a classmate unsure of her f

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH "Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" Mark 10:38 ( Click here for today’s readings ) Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Primate of Italy. Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province. Bishop of Rome. Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. Vicar of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt as to who is being described by this impressive list of titles. The ambitions of James and John don’t even come close. Still, you’ve got to give them credit. Although by this point Jesus has already predicted his passion three times, the third coming immediately before today’s Gospel, James and John seem to be in a state of denial. All they can see is that Jesus is the Messiah, the real deal, destined for glory, and they want to be part of that, to be great by association. No time like the present, then, to jocke

EWTN interviewed Father Robert Dodaro, O.S.A., President of the Patristic Institute in Rome, and editor of  Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church . Fr. Dodaro was asked about Cardinal Kasper's proposal allowing Catholics who have divorced and remarried to receive Communion. This is his response: The problem is that, of course, they [divorced and remarried Catholics] remain married to their first spouse. That marriage takes place in Christ and so, that bond cannot be broken by any one, not by the Pope, not by the Church. So that’s the problem with a second marriage, the problem is that they’re still really married to the first spouse. Now, what Cardinal Kasper proposed is that the Catholic Church study what the Orthodox Churches do in that situation and that we copy that, or we try to adjust that to the Catholic Church. ... The problem with it for us [the Catholic Church] is that we have a different understanding of marriage then the