gospel

The Authentic Christian

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It is often said nowadays that the present century thirsts for authenticity.
Especially in regard to young people, it is said that
they have a horror of the artificial or false
and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty.
These “signs of the times” should find us vigilant.
Either tacitly or aloud — but always forcefully — we are being asked:
Do you really believe what you are proclaiming?
Do you live what you believe?
Do you really preach what you live?
The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition
for real effectiveness in preaching.
Precisely because of this we are, to a certain extent,
responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim.

—POPE ST. PAUL VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 76

 

TODAY, there is so much mud-slinging toward the hierarchy regarding the state of the Church. To be certain, they bear a great responsibility and accountability for their flocks, and many of us are frustrated with their overwhelming silence, if not cooperation, in the face of this godless global revolution under the banner of the “Great Reset”. But this is not the first time in salvation history that the flock has been all but abandoned — this time, to the wolves of “progressiveness” and “political correctness”. It’s precisely in such times, however, that God looks to the laity, to raise up within them saints who become like shining stars in the darkest nights. When people want to flog the clergy these days, I reply, “Well, God is looking to you and me. So let’s get with it!”Continue reading →

The Key to Opening God's Heart

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent, March 10th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE is a key to God’s heart, a key that can be held by anyone from the greatest sinner to the greatest saint. With this key, the heart of God can be opened, and not only His heart, but the very treasuries of Heaven.

And that key is humility.

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The Surprise Welcome

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent, March 7th, 2015
First Saturday of the Month

Liturgical texts here

 

THREE minutes in a pig barn, and your clothes are done for the day. Imagine the prodigal son, hanging out with swine, feeding them day after day, too poor to even buy a change of clothes. I have no doubt that the father would have smelled his son returning home before he saw him. But when the father did see him, something amazing happened…

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The Thin Line Between Mercy and Heresy – Part III

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PART III — FEARS REVEALED

 

SHE fed and clothed the poor with love; she nurtured minds and hearts with the Word. Catherine Doherty, foundress of the Madonna House apostolate, was a woman who took on the “smell of the sheep” without taking on the “stench of sin.” She constantly walked the thin line between mercy and heresy by embracing the greatest of sinners while calling them to holiness. She used to say,

Go without fears into the depths of men’s hearts… the Lord shall be with you. —from The Little Mandate

This is one of those “words” from the Lord that is able to penetrate “between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” [1]cf. Heb 4:12 Catherine uncovers the very root of the problem with both so-called “conservatives” and “liberals” in the Church: it is our fear to enter men’s hearts as Christ did.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Heb 4:12

The Thin Line Between Mercy & Heresy – Part II

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PART II — Reaching the Wounded

 

WE have watched a rapid cultural and sexual revolution that in five short decades has decimated the family as divorce, abortion, redefinition of marriage, euthanasia, pornography, adultery, and many other ills have become not only acceptable, but deemed a social “good” or “right.” However, an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, drug use, alcohol abuse, suicide, and ever multiplying psychoses tell a different story: we are a generation that is bleeding profusely from the effects of sin.

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The Thin Line Between Mercy & Heresy – Part I

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IN all the controversies that unfolded in the wake of the recent Synod in Rome, the reason for the gathering seemed to have been lost altogether. It was convened under the theme: “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” How do we evangelize families given the pastoral challenges we face due to high divorce rates, single mothers, secularization, and so forth?

What we learned very quickly (as proposals of some Cardinals were made known to the public) is that there is a a thin line between mercy and heresy.

The following three part series is intended to not only get back to the heart of the matter—evangelizing families in our times—but to do so by bringing to the forefront the man who is really at the center of the controversies: Jesus Christ. Because no one walked that thin line more than Him—and Pope Francis seems to be pointing that path to us once again.

We need to blow away the “smoke of satan” so we can clearly identify this narrow red line, drawn in Christ’s blood… because we are called to walk it ourselves.

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Fulfilling Prophecy

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    NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for March 4th, 2014
Opt. Memorial for St. Casimir

Liturgical texts here

 

 

THE fulfillment of God’s Covenant with His people, which will be fully realized in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, has progressed throughout millennia like a spiral that becomes smaller and smaller as time goes on. In the Psalm today, David sings:

The LORD has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

And yet, the revelation of Jesus was still hundreds of years away. So how could the salvation of the Lord be known? It was known, or rather anticipated, through prophecy…

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When Legion Comes

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for February 3rd, 2014

Liturgical texts here


A “performance” at the 2014 Grammy Awards

 

 

ST. Basil wrote that,

Among the angels, some are set in charge of nations, others are companions of the faithful… —Adversus Eunomium, 3:1; The Angels and Their Missions, Jean Daniélou, S. J., p. 68

We see the principle of angels over nations in the Book of Daniel where it speaks of the “prince of Persia”, whom the archangel Michael comes to battle. [1]cf. Dan 10:20 In this case, the prince of Persia appears to be the satanic stronghold of a fallen angel.

The guardian angel of the Lord “guards the soul like an army,” said St. Gregory of Nyssa, “provided we do not drive him out by sin.” [2]The Angels and Their Missions, Jean Daniélou, S. J., p. 69 That is, grave sin, idolatry, or deliberate occult involvement can leave one vulnerable to the demonic. Is it possible then that, what happens to an individual who opens himself up to evil spirits, can also happen on a national basis? Today’s Mass readings lend some insights.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Dan 10:20
↑2 The Angels and Their Missions, Jean Daniélou, S. J., p. 69

The Franciscan Revolution

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St. Francis, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

 

THERE is something stirring in my heart… no, stirring I believe in the whole Church: a quiet counter-revolution to the current Global Revolution underway. It is a Franciscan Revolution…

 

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Love and Truth

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mother-teresa-john-paul-4
  

 

 

THE greatest expression of Christ’s love was not the Sermon on the Mount or even the multiplication of the loaves. 

It was on the Cross.

So too, in The Hour of Glory for the Church, it will be the laying down of our lives in love that will be our crown. 

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All the Nations?

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FROM a reader:

In a homily on February 21st, 2001, Pope John Paul welcomed, in his words, “people from every part of the world.” He went on to say,

You come from 27 countries on four continents and speak various languages. Is this not a sign of the Church’s ability, now that she has spread to every corner of the globe, to understand peoples with different traditions and languages, in order to bring to all the message of Christ? —JOHN PAUL II, Homily, Feb 21, 2001; www.vatica.va

Would this not constitute a fulfillment of Matt 24:14 where it says:

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come (Matt 24:14)?

 

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Finding Peace

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Photo by Carveli Studios

 

DO you long for peace? In my encounters with other Christians in the past few years, the most evident spiritual malady is that few are at peace. Almost as if there is a common belief growing among Catholics that a lack of peace and joy is simply part of the suffering and spiritual attacks upon the Body of Christ. It is “my cross,” we like to say. But that is a dangerous assumption bringing about an unfortunate consequence upon society as a whole. If the world is thirsting to see the Face of Love and to drink from the Living Well of peace and joy… but all they find are the brackish waters of anxiety and the mud of depression and anger in our souls… where will they turn?

God wants His people to live in interior peace at all times. And it is possible…Continue reading →

Begin Again

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WE live in an extraordinary time where there are answers to everything. There is not a question on the face of the earth that one, with access to a computer or someone who has one, cannot find an answer. But the one answer that still lingers, that is waiting to be heard by the multitudes, is to the question of mankind’s deep hunger. The hunger for purpose, for meaning, for love. Love above everything else. For when we are loved, somehow all other questions seem to diminish the way stars fade away at daybreak. I am not speaking about romantic love, but acceptance, unconditional acceptance and concern of another.Continue reading →