BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Asking the right question is always critical if we want arrive at good answers to what it is we seek or to the problems we face. With that in mind I want to ask us today: How much of your life and mine is governed by “we” and how much is it governed by “me?” That question is fundamental in our lives. Do I arrive at answers and base my decisions all by myself or with others? Do I live my life alone or with others? We need to see that all of life comes from God. We are made in God’s image and likeness. That being so we need to pay attention to the fundamental truth that God is a community of Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with their own characteristics but at the same time in mutual interdependency. Being excessively independent is not Godly. At times, we see ourselves and make our choices as autonomous individuals, accountable to no one else, all by ourselves. But isn’t it true that t...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) In the 1932 edition of the Rule of a certain religious order you find this statement: “The professed [= members with vows] cannot be denied anything that is necessary. However, the Superiors occasionally try their inferiors, by giving them an opportunity to feel some privation, and to be made aware of the fact that the poor cannot have everything they could wish for.” How times have changed! The language of “superiors” and “inferiors” is gone from the latest edition (1982), and the very idea of those in charge deliberately depriving others of what they need is unthinkable, repugnant even. Certain things made perfect sense in 1932; they made no sense at all fifty years later. That said, members of religious orders are still by definition different, counter-cultural. They still take the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, which makes them different fro...

August 27th, is the memorial of Saint Monica. She is an example of those holy matrons of the ancient Church who proved very influential in their own quiet way. Through prayer and tears she gave the great Saint Augustine to the Church, and thereby won for herself a place of honor in the history of God's kingdom on earth. The Confessions of St. Augustine provide certain biographical details. Born of Christian parents about the year 331 at Tagaste in Africa, Monica was reared under the strict supervision of an elderly nurse who had likewise reared her father. In the course of time she was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius. Besides other faults, he possessed a very irascible nature; it was in this school of suffering that Monica learned patience. It was her custom to wait until his anger had cooled; only then did she give a kindly remonstrance. Evil-minded servants had prejudiced her mother-in-law against her, but Monica persevered. Her marriage was blessed with thre...

The Feast of Saint Bartholomew is August 24th. Bartholomew is one of the twelve Apostles. He is mentioned in all four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. John’s Gospel states he was from Cana and that Jesus said upon meeting him "Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him." It is clear, that our Lord appreciates the sincerity that He sees in Bartholomew. While little is known about his early life, Bartholomew was most certainly a devout Jew. His name means "son of Tolomai". Most scholars believe that he, and the Nathanael referred to in John, are the same person. An authority in the law of Moses, Bartholomew was a close friend of the Apostle, Philip. Following Pentecost, Bartholomew embarked on a missionary trip to India. Popular piety records him as serving in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt. Bartholomew and Saint Jude are credited with bringing Christianity to Armenia. Both are the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pius Pa...

Memorial - August 21st St, Pius X did great things for the Church during his relatively brief pontificate — he was pope from 1903 until 1914. He is perhaps best remembered as the "pope of the Eucharist," because he transformed the way ordinary Catholics regarded reception of Holy Communion. Among the modifications he introduced included lowering the age at which children received their first Communion to seven, the "age of reason." He believed that earlier reception of the Eucharist would lead to an earlier and deepened devotion to Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament. He was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835, in the village of Riese near Venice, Italy, the second of ten children to a poor postman and his wife. He was baptized the following day. Though exceedingly poor, his devout parents valued education. At every stage of study, Giuseppe's intelligence and high moral character attracted notice. On September 18, 1858, Father Sarto wa...

August 20th, is the Memorial of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, (1090-1153) the 12th century French abbot, gifted spiritual writer, counselor to popes, and Doctor of the Church who reformed the Cistercian Order. His extensive Marian theology marks him not only as a theologian of the highest rank, but also as the "cithara of Mary," (A cithara is a stringed instrument similar to a lyre.) He is especially noted for his development of the Blessed Mother's role as mediator. Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Doctor Mellifluus , issued on the 800th anniversary of St. Bernard’s death, called him "The Last of the Fathers." The Divine Office contains numerous excerpts from his sermons. Like his other works, these are conspicuous for their genuine emotion and spiritual depth. He was born the third of seven children, to a prominent noble family, the son of Lord Tescelin de Fontaine and Alèthe de Montbard near Dijon, France. From an early age, his intellectual gifts, literary prop...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) Who was Shebna? Who was Eliakim? Why did Shebna lose his job to Eliakim? Why should we care? These questions are pretty irrelevant. Today’s reading from Isaiah was clearly selected only because of its reference to keys. The questions in today’s Gospel, on the other hand, are far from irrelevant. Can you imagine a head of state or a pope asking his closest associates, “Who do people say that I am?” The more normal question would be, “What are people saying about me?” The disciples felt no need, apparently, to ask what Jesus meant, and they gave precisely the kind of answer he  was looking for: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (How anyone could think he was John the Baptist, whose death was so recent, is beyond me.) When Jesus asked the disciples the more pointed question, “Who do you say tha...