BIG C CATHOLICS

Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday. — Venerable Fulton Sheen ___________________________________________ Prayer for the Canonization of Venerable Fulton Sheen Heavenly Father, source of all holiness, You raise up within the Church in every age men and women who serve with heroic virtue and dedication. You have blessed Your Church through the life and ministry of Your servant, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen. He has written and spoken well of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and was an instrument of the Holy Spirit in touching the hearts of Your people. If it be according to Your Will, for the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for the salvation of souls, we humbly ask You to move the Church to proclaim him a saint. We ask this through Jesus, our Lord who reigns together with You. Amen.

The Church in Wales and England celebrates the feast of St. David, bishop and patron of Wales on March 1st.. Very little is known about the life of St. David ( Dewi Sant ). He belonged to that great monastic movement which became influential in Wales in the sixth century and which had links with monasticism in Gaul and in Ireland. The earliest references to David are in the Irish Annals. Many churches across South Wales claim David as their founder. His chief foundation was at Mynyw near Dyfed. He was canonized by Pope Callistus II in 1123. Although he was once among the best-known saints of early English Christianity, the factual information which has come down to us concerning St. David of Wales is largely a product of popular piety. Legend has it that he was descended from royalty and was the uncle of King Arthur. Such accounts are nearly impossible to substantiate. What is known is that he was instramental in helping to spread the Christian faith by virtue of his tireless miss...

Editor's note: Occasionally on Tuesday we will feature posts relating to St. John Paul the Great's Theology of the Body; his reflection on our nature and life as persons made in the image and likeness of God, conjugal love, the meaning of celibacy, and the eternal beatitude to which every human being is called. ________________________________________ Saint John Paul II The link between secularization and the crisis of marriage and of the family is only too clear. The crisis concerning the meaning of God and that concerning moral good and evil has succeeded in diminishing an acquaintance with the fundamentals of marriage and of the family which is rooted in marriage. For an effective recovery of the truth in this field, it is necessary to rediscover the transcendent dimension that is intrinsic to the full truth of marriage and the family , overcoming every dichotomy that tends to separate the profane aspects from the religious as if there were two marriages: one ...

By Father Thomas Mattison When God (or anyone at all) makes a promise it is for one purpose only, to provide certainty about a future that is either hopeless or so uncertain as to make life just too scary for living. Whatever might happen between the moment of the promise and the delivery on the promise, the one to whom the promise is made is invited to want and to trust the promise more than anything else. Thus the promise creates a series of demands without which the promise fades into irrelevance. Since the reliability of the one making the promise is the only assurance offered, the making of a promise invites the creation of a relationship of trust and demands trustworthiness in the maker of the promise. When we talk about God and his promises, we use the word covenant. The first reading for each weekend of Lent holds up for consideration a covenant, a promise made by God in former times. We used to talk of the Old Testament as if there were but one covenant; lately, the te...

By Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America (Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25) Every time we recite the Lord’s Prayer, we say, "Hallowed be thy name". This is raised as a concern by Our Lady of La Salette, in two distinct contexts. First, she expresses her sadness at the abuse of her Son’s name. Later, she encourages the children to say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary in their night and morning prayers. This is also her way of reminding us of the Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. Interestingly, the notion of “hallow” occurs in the next commandment: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Our Lady reminds us of this commandment as well. ‘Hallow’ and ‘holy’ are what linguists call cognate words. Like ‘strengthen’ and ‘strong,’ one is a verb and the other an adjective to express the same idea. In the Gospel, Jesus was angry that the Temple, his Father’...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Why was this church building built? If everyone who is here wrote down their answer and I read them all back to you, you might be surprised at some of the answers. The answer that is obvious to me might not be so obvious to some of you. Well, why then was this building built? My answer is that it was built to be a temple. It was not built just to be a meeting place, or an auditorium, or a theater where we go to experience a drama. A temple is a building that is purpose-built. Our church building here has one chief purpose, namely to immerse us in the drama of our relationship with God. Note that I said “our” relationship with God, not “my relationship with God.” While we may come here for private prayer, the main reason is because this where we as God’s family play out our roles in the great drama of God coming to us and our going back to God our Father. A temple is certainly a building dedicated...

Please remember the Holy Father Pope Francis' intentions in prayer throughout the month of March: Formation in Spiritual Discernment That the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels. Specific Intention - To be Announced Pope Francis has decided to keep one monthly prayer intention. He is no longer proposing an urgent prayer intention. Each Sunday on which he delivers an Angelus address, he will request prayers for people and situations that are of concern to the universal Church. The specific intention will focus prayer and action from the faithful on a current event.