BIG C CATHOLICS

. Sunday, January 15th, marked the beginning of the "2017 Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians". The current octave of prayer for the promotion of unity takes its impetus from 2 Corinthians 5:14-20, the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: " For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. 15 He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. 17 So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their

St. Anthony, the "Father of Monks", sought perfect solitude in the desert at the age of 18. Laying the foundations of monastic life, he instructed his disciples to live lives of severe mortification and prayer; the basis of Christian asceticism. The following ten quotations from St. Anthony the Great, demonstrate his great wisdom and profound insight into living as disciples in imitation of Jesus Christ. Believe me; the devil fears the vigils of pious souls, and their fastings, their voluntary poverty, their loving compassion, their humility, but most of all their ardent love of Christ our Lord. As soon as he sees the sign of the Cross, he flees in terror.  ***  Let it be your supreme and common purpose not to grow weary in the work you have begun, and in time of trial and affliction not to lose courage and say: Oh, how long already have we been mortifying ourselves! Rather, we should daily begin anew and constantly increase our fervor. For man's whole life is sh

January 17, 2017 While legislation and public witness are important to end abortion, our most powerful weapon is prayer. From the Priests for Life website: The Catholic bishops of the United States have designated January 22 as a special day of prayer and penance in reparation for the massive killing that has resulted from the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision [handed down January 22, 1973] which permitted abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. We at Priests for Life invite you to prepare spiritually for that day by joining a Novena that starts on January 14 and concludes on the 22nd . We invite you to say the following prayer each of those days, and to let us know [see end of post] that you have committed to say it. Prayer of Reparation [ Click here for Spanish – En Español ] God and Father of Life, You have created every human person, And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.  We live in the shadow of death. Tens of millions of your

January 17, 2017 Day 2 – Pray for us, that we may persevere in hope Saint Peregrine is the patron saint of cancer patients. He was known for his holiness and for a miraculous healing he received. Peregrine was scheduled to have his leg amputated due to a cancerous growth. The night before the surgery, while praying for healing, he received a vision of Christ coming down from the cross to touch his leg. The following morning, he was completely healed. Cancer patients and those suffering from terminal diseases seek his intercession. Dear holy servant of God, St. Peregrine, we pray today for healing. Intercede for us! God healed you of cancer and others were healed by your prayers. Please pray for the physical healing of… (Mention your intentions) These intentions bring us to our knees seeking your intercession for healing. We are humbled by our physical limitations and ailments. We are so weak and so powerless. We are completely dependent upon God. And so, we ask tha

Saint Anthony [of Egypt], Fra Angelico, 1436. January 17th, is the memorial of Saint Anthony of Egypt (c 251-356), also known as St. Anthony the Great, Anthony of the Desert, or Anthony the Anchorite. the 4th century hermit, abbot and Desert Father credited as the father of Christian monasticism. While not the first ascetic, he did inspire a new ideal; achieving spiritual growth by practicing extreme self-denial in the desert. His life of prayer and mortification in imitation of our Lord exercised a profound influence upon proceeding generations. He is venerated in both the Eastern and Western Church, especially amongst Egypt's Coptic Christians, whose language (Coptic) he spoke. Anthony was born in Coma, Egypt (near Cairo) in 251 to a wealthy family. At the age of 20, his parents died, leaving him with the care of his unmarried sister. Following their untimely deaths, Anthony dedicated himself to studying Scripture and discerning God’s will. One day at Mass, he heard these

January 16, 2017 While legislation and public witness are important to end abortion, our most powerful weapon is prayer. From the Priests for Life website: The Catholic bishops of the United States have designated January 22 as a special day of prayer and penance in reparation for the massive killing that has resulted from the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision [handed down January 22, 1973] which permitted abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. We at Priests for Life invite you to prepare spiritually for that day by joining a Novena that starts on January 14 and concludes on the 22nd . We invite you to say the following prayer each of those days, and to let us know [see end of post] that you have committed to say it. Prayer of Reparation [ Click here for Spanish – En Español ] God and Father of Life, You have created every human person, And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.  We live in the shadow of death. Tens of millions of your

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) When Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left His hometown of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In our times, what forms of darkness do we live in? The theme of light and darkness runs through the entirety of the Bible starting with the Book of Genesis all the way to the crucifixion and death of Jesus on His Cross. What is God’s word calling us to see in His light, not only in the history of our salvation that is presented to us in the bible but i

January 16, 2017 Day 1 – Pray for us, that we will not let sickness bring us to despair. Saint Peregrine is the patron saint of cancer patients. He was known for his holiness and for a miraculous healing he received. Peregrine was scheduled to have his leg amputated due to a cancerous growth. The night before the surgery, while praying for healing, he received a vision of Christ coming down from the cross to touch his leg. The following morning, he was completely healed. Cancer patients and those suffering from terminal diseases seek his intercession. Dear holy servant of God, St. Peregrine, we pray today for healing. Intercede for us! God healed you of cancer and others were healed by your prayers. Please pray for the physical healing of… (Mention your intentions) These intentions bring us to our knees seeking your intercession for healing. We are humbled by our physical limitations and ailments. We are so weak and so powerless. We are completely dependent upon Go

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings )  Homily originally delivered in 2014 “What is the meaning of this?” That is, if I recall correctly, the last line of the strangest play I ever saw: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung you in the Closet and I’m Feeling so Sad. It was definitely in the category of the Theater of the Absurd, which challenges our sense of the meaning of life. That question is open to at least two answers. 1.) Life has no meaning at all. (There are people who believe this sincerely.) Or 2. Life as most people live it has no meaning. We need to give it meaning. How? by creating something? helping people? leaving a legacy? As Christians we believe that the meaning of life comes not from ourselves alone, but also and especially from Jesus who restored to humanity what was lost by sin. In that sense the meaning of our life comes from the

January 15, 2017 While legislation and public witness are important to end abortion, our most powerful weapon is prayer. From the Priests for Life website: The Catholic bishops of the United States have designated January 22 as a special day of prayer and penance in reparation for the massive killing that has resulted from the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision [handed down January 22, 1973] which permitted abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. We at Priests for Life invite you to prepare spiritually for that day by joining a Novena that starts on January 14 and concludes on the 22nd . We invite you to say the following prayer each of those days, and to let us know [see end of post] that you have committed to say it. Prayer of Reparation [ Click here for Spanish – En Español ] God and Father of Life, You have created every human person, And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.  We live in the shadow of death. Tens of millions of your