BIG C CATHOLICS

May 25th, is also the optional memorial of Saint Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. A highly gifted mystic, she made a vow of chastity at the age of ten. She entered the convent of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Florence, because the practice of receiving holy Communion almost daily was observed there. For five years her only food was bread and water. She practiced the most austere penances and for long periods endured complete spiritual aridity. Her favorite phrase was: "Suffer, not die!" Her body has remained incorrupt to the present day; it is preserved in a glass coffin in the church of the Carmelite nuns at Florence. Purity of soul and love of Christ are the chief virtues which the Church admires in St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. These virtues matured her spiritually and enabled her to take as a motto, "Suffer, not die!" Purity and love are also the virtues which the Church today exhorts us to practice in imitation of the saint. We may never attain her high degree of ...

The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Mary Help of Christians on May 24th. Today, like centuries before, Christians facing persecution, violence and death, have invoked Mary’s protection under this designation. Concerning it, Saint John Bosco wrote of his order, the Salesians' primary mission: "The principal objective is to promote veneration of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Mary Help of Christians. This title seems to please the august Queen of Heaven very much." The tradition of this devotion goes back to 1571, when the whole of Christendom was saved by Mary Help of Christians as Catholics throughout Europe prayed the Rosary. The battle of Lepanto defeating the Ottoman Empire occurred on October 7th 1571 . The date was chosen as the Feast of the Holy Rosary. In 1573, Pope Pius V instituted it in thanksgiving for the victory of Christianity over Islamism. Near the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I of Austria took refuge in the Shrine of Mary...

St. Leo the Great's 1st Homily on the Ascension of Our Lord (Sermon 73, sec. IV) Christ's ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had taken from us Accordingly, dearly-beloved, throughout this time which elapsed between the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, God's Providence had this in view, to teach and impress upon both the eyes and hearts of His own people that the Lord Jesus Christ might be acknowledged to have as truly risen, as He was truly born, suffered, and died. And hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples, who had been both bewildered at His death on the cross and backward in believing His Resurrection, were so strengthened by the clearness of the truth that when the Lord entered the heights of heaven, not only were they affected with no sadness, but were even filled with great joy. And truly great and unspeakable was their cause for joy, when in the sight of the holy multitude, above the dignity of all he...

This week we have published two homilies simultaneously for the seventh Sunday in Easter. While some dioceses celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord on Thursday, others do so on the Sunday following. Father Alexander Lucie-Smith, a Catholic priest, doctor of moral theology and consulting editor of The Catholic Herald , wrote a thought provoking article " Celebrating the Ascension on a Sunday is a sad sign of creeping secularisation in the Church " (2012), stating: I have been away on retreat, staying in a strictly enclosed Benedictine monastery. On arrival I asked what was happening on the Thursday, and this is what I was told: 'Here we celebrate the Ascension on Thursday, by special permission. Celebrating it on Sunday would mean that the novena between Ascension and Pentecost would make no sense.' Fr. Lucie-Smith acknowledges not considering this aspect of novena prayer before. He continues, "Given that Ascension is on a Thursday and the fea...

May 22nd, is the optional memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia. Most Catholics are familiar with Saint Jude as the patron saint of hopeless causes. What they might not know, however, is that there is another patron of the impossible, whose very life reflects faith in God despite difficult circumstances. She is St. Rita of Cascia. Born in Italy in 1381, Rita expressed an interest in religious life at a very early age. In obedience to her parent’s wishes, she married at 18. The union was not a happy one. Her husband was a violent man, who passed his violent nature on to their twin sons. Rita did everything she could to be a model wife and mother. She was dedicated to converting her husband and sons, praying constantly for them. After nearly 20 years of marriage, her husband was stabbed to death by an enemy and her two sons died shortly afterward. Alone, Rita decided to fulfill her lifelong wish to enter a religious order. Denied admittance three times because she was a widow, eventual...

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) God the Father inaugurated His presence among us when Abraham responded to Him in faith. The Nativity of Our Lord inaugurated God the Son’s presence among us when God’s self-expression became flesh and was born among us as one of us. This Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven inaugurates the time of God the Holy Spirit’s presence among us. Jesus Christ ascension into heaven opens the door to the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within those who have been baptized into the Body of Christ. Our Blessed Lord’s Ascension into heaven challenges us to see God in a new way. Christ’s ascension is not an ending, it’s a beginning. On the surface in appears that Christ’s Ascension is a departure, but actually it is not. Spirit-filled in His resurrection, Christ now comes to us in a new way – in His Holy Spirit. It is a new beginning. Christ in His humanity is now taken to a new status, the ...

May 26, 2017 Jesus told His disciples to pray together after His Ascension. During this time, Mary and the twelve Apostles prayed in the upper room for the coming of the Paraclete for nine days. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:1-4), man was restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, adopted as God's children and granted a share in Christ's grace. These nine days of prayer are the basis of the novenas we pray today. Novena to the Holy Spirit Day 1 Today we pray for Charity Let us bow down in humility at the power and grandeur of the Holy Spirit. Let us worship the Holy Trinity and give glory today to the Paraclete, our Advocate. O Holy Spirit, by Your power, Christ was raised from the dead to save us all. By Your grace, miracles are performed in Jesus’ name. By Your love, we are protected from evil. And so, we ask with humility and a beggar’s heart for Your gift of Charity within us. The great chari...