BIG C CATHOLICS

Prayer for Lent Heavenly Father, we give You thanks and praise for the gift of this time of solemn purification and of preparation. We ask, Lord, that You would allow us to look at our lives with honesty and with courage, so that we may live more fully the resurrected life that Your Son, Jesus Christ, came to bring us. We ask Your blessing upon us today, in the name of our most holy Lord and Savior. Amen. Reflection Thank You Lord, that You have renewed us, You have refreshed us, You have shown us what we have been made for, so that we may now live this resurrected life in You. The covenant begins again. The covenant is embarking on this new relationship. The covenant that we’ve received so many times in our life, through baptism, through confirmation, through Holy Eucharist, and we renew that covenant every time that we go to confessional as well, we renew our baptismal graces. Now in this Easter season, we remember that covenant that Jesus made for us in His body and His

February 14, 2018  " Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return ."  On Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive ashes in the shape of a cross traced on the forehead. The rite evokes Saint Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians: "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15: 21 - 22) Adam’s sin condemned man to sin and death. But the instrument of our salvation, the cross, reminds us that in Christ, man is redeemed and the gates of heaven are opened. The original injunction conferring ashes: "Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return," contrasts with the words of the Nicene Creed concerning the Incarnation: "For us men and for our salvation, he [Jesus] came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man." In becoming man, Christ assumed our iniquities:

Shrove Tuesday - February 13, 2018 Shrove Tuesday is the last day of what traditionally was called "Shrovetide," the week preceding the beginning of Lent. The word itself, Shrovetide, is the English equivalent for "Carnival," which is derived from the Latin words carnem levare , meaning "to take away the flesh." (Note that in Germany, this period is called " Fasching ," and in parts of the United States, "Fat Tuesday" or " Mardi Gras ".) While this was seen as the last chance for merriment, and in some places, has resulted in excessive pleasure, Shrovetide was the time to cast off things of the flesh and to prepare spiritually for Lent, [the Paschal Triduum and the solemnity of Easter. (  Fr. William Saunders, Arlington Catholic Herald , February 19, 2004. ) In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, this day is "Pancake Day" or "Pancake Tuesday" due to the traditional consumption of pan

This Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark summarizes Our Lord’s forty days of temptation in the desert: “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him” (Mark 1:12-13). Below, Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, OFM, considers the same account of Jesus' temptation from Luke. _______________________________________________ Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan Christ's voluntary self-mortification of forty days' fast, with its accompanying temptations, was but part of the self-mortification, with its climax on the Cross, which He gladly underwent for our salvation. He did not need to fast in order to keep the inclinations of the body in subjection, He did not need to allow the insult of temptation. He could have said, "begone Satan" at the beginning as easily and as effectively as be said it at the end. But He willingly underwent this humiliation in order to se

By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois  Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 25; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 " The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained  in the desert for forty days. " (Mk 1:12) In the midst of winter, February ushers in the great Paschal Season. “Paschal” comes from the ancient Aramaic pasha, meaning passover. Jesus Christ is the new and final lamb of sacrifice of the passover. The Paschal Season celebrates this mystery of faith. The most important liturgical season of the year, it includes Lent, the Sacred Triduum, and Easter Sunday, “The Great Fifty Days” of the Easter Season, and will solemnly conclude with Pentecost. For a little over three months, the Church intensely prepares for Easter (Lent), celebrates it (Sacred Triduum), and rejoices over it (Easter Season). It is the holiest time of the year! On Ash Wednesday, the very beginning of the Paschal Season and Lent, the Christian hits bottom. The actions and words are cold. Ashes are spread

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) You and I have prayed The Lord’s Prayer countless numbers of times. In it we always ask God to “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Some translations of that famous prayer have it “and subject us not into the trial.” Just what is it that we are praying for? Well obviously there are various levels of temptation — some powerful and severe, others not so powerful and not so grave (not weighted with much gravity). Some temptations are of the flesh. Some temptations are of the spirit. Some involve passion… others involve cold calculation. Whatever a temptation’s quality or type may be, at whatever level, it is always a time of testing. Our resolve, our spiritual muscle, is being tested. And if our character is spiritually weak and flabby, without any muscle power at all, we will be a pushover for the devil. Jesus also had His times of trail. The first we know about w

(In 2018, this feast is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.) This feast commemorates the first of eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary witnessed by St. Bernadette Soubirous. On February 11, 1858, Bernadette a poor, sickly child of a local peasant family, first glimpsed, "something white in the shape of a girl" in a grotto near Lourdes, France. Later questioned by Church officials, Bernadette stated that she saw, "a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm." The girl, Bernadette said, was "lovelier than I have ever seen." Perhaps because of her lowly background, Bernadette was deeply impressed by the polite and dignified way the Lady treated her. On March 25, 1858, during her sixteenth appearance, the Lady identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception," a dogma solemnly proclaimed by Pope Pius IX, on December 8, 1854, in Ineffabilis Deus . ________________________________________________ Fourteen-year-old Bernadette Sou