BIG C CATHOLICS

The Sermon of St John the Baptist , Pieter Bruegel the Elder , 1566. Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) As we prepare for the Nativity of our Lord the issues that surround us this Advent season are enormous. Once more this year we struggle to find peace – peace among the nations and among ethnic groups, peace in our own homeland, and peace between two civilizations, Muslim and Western. The now forty-year-old drug problem still plagues us here in our country. On the one side there are those who grow drugs along with those who market them for vast sums of money, and on the other hand there are those who buy and use drugs. How can we put an end to the mutual addiction, this gigantic co-dependency, involving both greed for money and need for drugs? There are other problems too – the decline of the nuclear family, lack of housing for many, abuse of children, dysfunctional families, the control of gun sales, and on, and on, a

In 1910, Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared the Patroness of Latin America by Pope St. Pius X, and in 1945, Pope Pius XII declared her the Empress of all the Americas. She appeared to an Indian convert, Juan Diego, on December 9, 1531. She left a miraculous portrait of herself on the mantle of Juan Diego as proof of her appearance. This image has endured, and is kept in the shrine built in Mary's honor, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world. Over the Friday and Saturday of December 11 to 12, 2009, a record 6.1 million pilgrims visited the Basilica of Guadalupe to celebrate the 478th anniversary of the apparition. The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are y

We have updated and expanded this post see " Ten Amazing Facts About the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe ". In honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, [December 12th] here are seven amazing facts about the image of Our Lady as seen on Saint Juan Diego 's tilma that defy scientific explanation and argue in favor of its miraculous origin and divine provenance. Our Lady of Guadalupe first appeared on December 9th, 1531. According to the account, the Virgin Mary told Juan Diego, an Indian convert, to tell Bishop Juan de Zumárraga to build a chapel. Bishop Zumárraga asked Diego for a sign as proof that it was truly the Mother of God. Our Lady instructed Diego to gather some roses in his tilma [popular piety attests that Mary arranged the roses in the tilma herself] and present them to the bishop. As Diego did this, the roses fell to the floor, revealing the miraculous image. 1. There is no under-sketch or under-drawing on the image.  Infrared photogra

Saint Damasus was Supreme Pontiff from 366 to 384. He was a learned man, well versed in the Scriptures. He commissioned St. Jerome to complete the translation of the Bible into Latin . In order to put an end to the marked divergences in the western texts of that period, Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar to revise the available versions of the Bible into a more accurate Latin based on the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint, resulting in the Vulgate. Damasus defended the rights of the Holy See, and beautified the Roman resting places of the Christian dead and of the saints. He confirmed the practice of singing the Psalms day and night in the churches and adding a Glory Be at the conclusion of each Psalm. During Damasus' pontificate Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state, [380] and Latin became the Church's principal liturgical language. The Life of St. Damasus On Liberius' death, riots broke out over the election of a succ

From Father Daren Zehnle's blog, Servant and Steward , comes this: One of the things that strikes modern viewers of medieval illuminated manuscripts is the range of emotions displayed in them in many of the images found in them. This is partly why I enjoy them so much. You will find images of knights fighting snails, rabbits hunting humans, strange creatures of all sorts doing things that cannot quite be determined, husbands mourning their dead wive, mothers grieving their dead infants, and anything and everything in between. Yesterday Sarah Peverley shared a particularly tender and lovely depiction of the Birth of Jesus housed in the British Library: __________________________________________________________ To all Big C Catholics readers: May this season of Advent draw you closer to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. [If you missed it, check out  our profile of Fr. Zehnl

Father Daren J. Zehnle is a priest of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois who serves as the Episcopal Master of Ceremonies and the Associate Director of the Office for Vocations. At the time of this posting, he is studying canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Servant and Steward is his personal web log where he has posted since 2005. His other online ventures are A Beggar for Love and Persecution Watch . From Servant and Steward 's about page: Here you will find my homilies, thoughts and many other things of interest to me; I hope they will also be of interest to you. The title of this blog - Servant and Steward - comes from the first letter of Saint Paul Corinthians.  He writes to them, "Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (4:1). To speak of himself as a “servant of Christ” is somewhat obvious; it means that Paul’s life is no longer his own, but is now directed to the will of Jesus Christ

Members of ISIS prepare to behead twenty-one Coptic Christian Egyptians. Christians and others have become victims of religious cleansing in Iraq and Syria. For almost 2000 years, Christians have called Mosul Iraq home. Today, not one is left. The lack of international response has been shocking. If we don't come to their aid, who will? Help the Knights of Columbus to provide support for terrorized Christian Communities. 100% of all donations directly supports humanitarian assistance and raising awareness for persecuted Christians and other religious minorities, especially in the Middle East. The situation grows more dire by the day as last July's New York Times Magazine article, " Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East? ", ominously attests: For more than a decade, extremists have targeted Christians and other minorities, who often serve as stand-ins for the West. This was especially true in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, which caused hundreds of