BIG C CATHOLICS

Nasarean.org  was founded by Father Benedict Kiely, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Stowe, Vermont in the Diocese of Burlington, and supported by the people and businesses there to help, in some small way, Christians suffering under the persecution of militant Islam throughout the world. This is a conflict that has been going on for centuries - and it will not end until the final victory of Christ. Father Kiely was so concerned about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East that he started a website —  www.nasarean.org  — making available bracelets, lapel pins and zipper hooks with the Arabic letter designating “Nazarene,” which the Islamic State put on the homes of Christians to mark them for ostracization, harassment, and death. The letter has become a symbol of solidarity with Christians who have been driven out of their homes. All proceeds from the items sold will go to the efforts of Aid to the Church in Need to help Christian...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH Christ betrayed by Judas ( Click here for today’s readings ) There, you said it. You all said it. You all repeated it, six times, in the Responsorial Psalm. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” In the Passion, Jesus’ words are translated, “Why have you forsaken me?” It’s the same. Maybe some of you even thought: “I’ve been there, I know what it’s like.” It is really hard to take this in. Did Jesus, of all people, really despair on the cross? We know he is quoting Psalm 22, composed when a distressed psalmist was desperately begging for God’s help. In Luke’s Gospel, the crucified Jesus quotes a different Psalm, number 31, also composed in a time of trial and persecution, but the verse he recites is of a totally different kind: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” But today’s Passion is Mark’s; and he and Matthew have none of the other “Seven Last Words,” just the one we have heard and recited,...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings ) What kinds of things do you like and dislike? What are you attracted to? What draws you? Why does one person love basketball while another loves opera? What kinds of persons do you like or not like? Whom are you attracted to? Do you think of yourself as attractive, whether in your appearance or personality or talents? What is the attraction? It is not easy to explain or analyze why we are drawn to certain things or certain persons. We just are. Jesus said, on the eve of his Passion, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” The Evangelist John leaves no doubt about what Jesus meant: “He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.” If we look at the scene of the crucifixion, Jesus did in fact attract a crowd on that day, but not in the sense that we are talking about, and that was certainly not his meaning. In less tha...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH Cyrus the Great allows the Jews to return to Zion,   Jean Fouquet , 1470 ( Click here for today’s readings ) It must surely have happened to you that someone gave you as a gift something you already had. You expressed your thanks and later you exchanged the item, or “re-gifted” it.   Imagine, however, if someone did that on purpose, giving you a book or DVD or membership, knowing full well that you already had it. Or what about this? I go into your home and take something I have already given you; you think it is lost forever; then I give it back again—as a gift! What could be stranger? And yet, that is exactly the scenario described in today’s first reading. Because of the Chosen People’s infidelity, God allowed their Holy City to be destroyed and sent them into exile. Now he inspires a pagan king to let the exiles return home and rebuild Jerusalem. He gives back the gift he originally gav...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH Christ cleansing the Temple  from E xpulsion of the Money-Changers... Giotto di Bondone , 1304 ( Click here for today’s readings ) I am in charge here! I give the orders. Is that clear? Even if I really believed that, I would be well advised not to say it out loud. But let’s suppose I came into your home or place of work and said the same thing. It wouldn’t be long before somebody said, “And just who do you think you are?” In giving the Ten Commandments, God seems to have anticipated that very question. So he begins by stating, clearly and emphatically, just who he is: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” And in case you missed it the first time, he says, three verses later, “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” The commandments that follow are really, really important, but these statements of who God is are more important still....

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings ) One thing is certain. For Peter, James and John, after what they experienced on that mountain, everything was changed. For Abraham, after what he experienced on another mountain, everything was changed. One was an experience of glory. The other was a test. And what a test! How could God do such a thing to Abraham? How could Abraham accept it without a fight? How could Isaac, presumably a teenager by this time, let himself be tied up and placed on the altar of sacrifice? These are questions that people raise in perfectly good faith. The whole thing seems incredible to us, impossible; which is our way of saying: “I couldn’t do that!” Even granting, as I often say, that it was “another world,” in which it seems child sacrifice was practiced by the pagans, the sacrifice of Isaac is hard for modern readers to make sense of. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews offers th...

According to Saint John Paul II, holiness isn’t simply one option among many; it is the essence of being Catholic. Living a holy life has little to do with perfection. It is a lifelong process of seeking God, through Christ. To be Catholic is to be called to holiness. Holiness can be summed up in one word – love. Christ calls his disciples to authentic love – love of God and love of neighbor. Saying this is one thing. Living it is another. We might think that holiness is the stuff of priests and nuns. We might think of living a holier life as something we will do tomorrow or sometime in the future. This is wrong. Sacred Scripture tells us the time to be holy is now! 1. The spiritual journey is entirely dependent on God. It is a gift God gives us. It is a grace. Going to Mass doesn’t make us holy. Neither does saying a million rosaries. God sustains us in life – in everything we do. We are entirely dependent on his mercy. 2. Our effort is necessary . What we can do to...