BIG C CATHOLICS

Whatever your take on the election results, here is a rare public testimony of faith by Ernie Johnson Jr. on Inside the NBA on TNT. His comments were made last November, just days after the 2016 election. (See full transcript below.) "When this campaign season started, I felt like I’d been dealt a bad hand. I had these couple of choices. And there were trust issues with Hillary Clinton I couldn’t get past. And there was this inflammatory rhetoric from Donald Trump which to me was incomprehensible and indefensible. I couldn’t vote for either one. For the first time in going to the polls for 42 years, I hit the write-in button and I voted for John Kasich. And I left knowing that John Kasich wasn’t going to win, but I left with a clear conscience because I hadn’t settled. Number two, I’m hopeful. I watched the video today at CNN on what was going on at the White House with Donald Trump and President Obama. I was hopeful and I was encouraged that there will be a difference

Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call. — Pope Benedict XVI ____________________________________________________ A Prayer For Discernment All highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly Your holy will. Amen.

On February 1st, the Church in Ireland celebrates the feast of Brigid of Ireland or Saint Brigid of Kildare (c. 450 – 525), also known as "the Mary of the Gael". Along with Saint Patrick and Saint Columba she is one of Ireland’s three patron saints. She was born a slave into a Druid family, the daughter of Dubhthach, court poet to King Loeghaire. St. Bridget is one of the few saints who stands on the boundary between pagan mythology, Druidism and Christian spirituality. Around her name there have been formed hundreds of legends, which could be fittingly described as "the Little Flowers of St. Brigid," the keynote being mercy and pity for the poor. At an early age, Brigid decided to become a Christian, and she eventually took vows as a nun. Brigid’s family expected her to marry, but she disfigured her face, marring her beauty in order to dissuade suitors and serve God in consecrated life. While consecrated religious life was not foreign to the Irish Church prior

In the days leading up to the 2017 March for Life, we noted the vast discrepancy between the fourth estates' coverage of the annual pro-life rally and its obsession with the "Women's March". We wrote: "The march is ignored by the media. Star Parker points out the blatant hypocrisy in her weekly column that is worth your time. Calling out the self-centeredness of the 'me' culture, she writes: 'Bringing children into the world and raising them takes three things that don't work well with the 'me' culture: work, sacrifice and love. I wonder why when hundreds of thousands of women show up in Washington to demonstrate for what one Wall Street Journal columnist called "everything under the progressive sun," the press goes bonkers with coverage. Yet, when similar numbers of pro-lifers reportedly show up for the March for Life, as they have been doing every January since the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973, and as they wil

EPPC President Ed Whelan, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and an expert on the Supreme Court confirmation process, will offer extensive commentary on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee immediately following the expected announcement Tuesday evening at 8:00 ET. Be sure to visit Mr. Whelan's award-winning blog, National Review Online's Bench Memos, both tomorrow and throughout the confirmation battle. And follow Mr. Whelan ( @EdWhelanEPPC ) and EPPC ( @EPPCdc ) on Twitter for links to his articles and media appearances as they happen. Sign up for Mr. Whelan's email list for frequent disseminations of his writings. ________________________________ Prayer for the Faithful Witness of Catholics in the United States (By Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke) O Lord Jesus Christ, You alone are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Your Church You show us the Way, You teach us the Truth, and You give us Your Life. Grant, we humbly beg You, that, always a

Although it has not published in several years, January's blog of note is Roman Catholic Vocations . Prior to the internet, deciding on which religious order to enter, for one called, was decidedly more serendipitous, if not almost entirely providential. While God has always chosen whom he wills, the notion of entering one religious community over another was owed more to immediate experience, personal encounters or geography than inclination, although the later played a role. At least, this was the case among the religious of previous generations. Modern technology allows current day discerners to simply serf for the best fit. Whether you feel called to be a cloistered nun or a mendicant brother, a diocesan priest or to marriage, Roman Catholic Vocations has something to offer. Faithful to the Magisterium, it's content features prayers, reflections, countless men's and women's religious vocation links and videos. From below the website's masthead: "If

My God, fortunate is he who has tasted how sweet it is to work for the salvation of souls! He is not afraid of cold or heat, hunger or thirst, offenses or insults, no, not even of death. O Lord, give me crosses and thorns, persecutions of all kinds, if only I can save souls, and my own among them. Give me souls, Lord, and take all the rest. Only when I know that the devil has given up plotting against souls, shall I cease trying new ways of saving them from his deceits and snares. O Lord, I wish to make a complete sacrifice of my life to You, to work for Your glory until I draw my last breath, bearing patiently all adversities and contradictions in my work. Help me to spend all my strength for the salvation of souls. — St. John Bosco Composed by Saint John Bosco, this prayer expresses the ineffable joys and singularity of purpose that disciples of Christ experience in living their lives of heroic virtue and selflessness for the salvation of souls and the glory of God.

January 31st, is the memorial of Saint John Bosco (1815 – 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco, the 19th century Italian priest, founder, educator and writer, who, as the “Apostle of Youth”, reached out to the marginalized young in establishing religious orders, such as the Salesian Congregation. The Salesians are a community of consecrated brothers and priests that evangelize and educate youth, especially those who are poor and at risk. Don Bosco’s instructional methods departed from the standard of his day in stressing love, kindness, persuasion and authentic religiosity, not strictness and corporal punishments. From an early age, John Bosco knew he was called to the priesthood. When he was 9 years old, he received a series of dreams in which he was told, "You will win friends with kindness and gentleness. You must show people that sin is ugly and goodness beautiful." He once dreamt about stopping a fight between two boys. When separating them didn't work, he used h

Sermon on the Mount , Henrik Olrik, c. 1880. Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) To be successful in achieving a goal we must take care at the beginning to determine the correct route, which of course, is obvious. What is not so obvious is to ask the right questions, the questions that will accurately focus us upon the right path. If we do not ask the right questions, we will not obtain the correct answers. When it comes to spirituality, we must ask some first questions. One is “Do we find God, or does God seek us out and then present Himself to us?” Another such question is “Do I construct the way to God, or do I accept the way God has given me?” Surrounding us is a huge array of spiritualties — Tibetan prayer wheels, sacred crystals, Tarot cards, Foursquare Christian Fellowship churches, mainline Protestant churches, Confucianism, and many others, not to mention numberless spiritualties presented in a wide range of Christian ch

Saint John Bosco, Apostle of Youth, Friend of the destitute, Teacher in the ways of God, Your dedication to empowering the needy, and enlightening the ignorant inspires us still. Help me to work for a better world, where the young are given the chance to flourish, where the poor’s dream for justice can come true, and where God’s compassion is shown to be real. Intercede for me as I bring my needs to you and to Our heavenly Mother, the Help of Christians. Amen. O God, who raised up the Priest Saint John Bosco as a father and teacher of the young, grant we pray, that, aflame with the same fire of love, we may seek out souls and serve you alone. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.