BIG C CATHOLICS

This talk was given on Thursday, January 25, 2013 to a group of students at the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy. It is the second of a two part series, the first of which was given by Robert Colquhoun, the head of 40 Days for Life in the UK, a prayerful and peaceful way of witnessing the dignity of life. We discuss the psychological and emotional underpinnings of the theology of the body's fundamental and explosive statement, that man and woman live in the image of God together as a covenant of communion, like the Blessed Trinity. In particular, we look at the necessary affirmation of masculine and feminine love of the human person that can only come about by a one-man, one-woman, permanent, exclusive, mutual, covenant of communion we call holy matrimony.

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great, that the following prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners which would alleviate the indebtedness accrued to them during their lives. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,  in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

May the blessing of Christmas be with you and your loved ones - now and forever.

Dr. Peter Kreeft is a convert to the Catholic faith from Dutch Calvinism. He teaches philosophy at Boston College and has authored a number of books on matters of faith and reason. Many of his writings and talks are available at www.peterkreeft.com. His lecture "7 Reasons to be Catholic" focuses on why one might consider full communion with the Catholic Church