Manos
What Does Easter mean TO YOU?
Do you believe in the resurrection, in Easter? I mean it, have you considered that because Jesus destroyed death from the inside out, that everything is different now? If you’ve kept a fast for lent, you have some natural feeling of this. Today, you’ve had your restraints unchained and you’ve tasted (literally) a new freedom. That is…
So you want to Re-evangelize? Catch Abbot Nicholas on EWTN Live tonight
Tonight, on EWTN Live, abbot Nicholas of the Holy Resurrection Monastery in Wisconsin will be the guest. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at my parish this past weekend. His topics were on Christian mysticism, re-evangelization, ethnic and church traditions, and similar topics. I was particularly interested in the re-evangelization topic as I…
Father Hardon on St. Joseph: the Secret of True Love
On this solemn feast of St. Joseph, it is good to have a reminder of just who the saint really is. What follows is a short snippet from a lecture by Fr. John Hardon: Saint Joseph deserves our admiration for his other virtues, but, he is to be especially imitated in his love for Jesus and…
Lent Preparation: Mite Boxes and Almsgiving
Yesterday, I received in the mail a very simple little device: a mite box. Meant to be like a little donations box in the church, the mite box is perfect to be placed in the home during lent in an area where it will be seen as a way to remind us during lent that we…
Pope Francis to Bishops: “we do not need a manager, a CEO of a company”
Just today, Pope Francis spoke to the Congregation of Bishops (reported in Italian here). Yesterday, I asked “if the pope will take care of the Vatican, and I will take care of cleaning myself up, who takes care of the middle?” It appears Pope Francis answered that question today! Speaking to the Bishops, he declared:…
PBS Frontline: Secrets of the Vatican – a secular review of the symptoms of error
Yesterday, PBS Frontline ran a show titled, “Secrets of the Vatican” – an hour and a half show. PBS’s own description of the show is as follows: In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries…
Lent Preparation: Earn an eternal merit badge this year
I’ve written before on the notion of lent being a time to fast and on the power of fasting to cast demons away. Today, people have totally shifted their concept and consider a fast “too much.” Those who say that have that luxury only today because the Church has mitigated the impact of the second law. Consider…
Do the American Bishops hate fasting?
I was shell shocked today by an omission I can hardly believe. At Mass, I heard the Gospel about the possessed boy out of whom the Apostles could not drive the demon. We all know the tale: Our Lord drives the demon out, and the Apostles ask, “Why could we not drive out the demon?” And Our…
Catholic Dictionary: Menticide?
I was looking for something recently in my copy of Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary when I noticed an entry that caught my eye: Menticide. Mind killing. “The systematic effort to break down the beliefs and allegiances of a person by physical or psychological means, in order to substitute one’s own. Also called brain-washing, it…
FEMEN and the Gerasene Demoniac… Full of Devils
News today that Femen has raided a cathedral in Spain. They are screaming “Abortion is sacred.” The woman is naked, has an upside down cross painted on her back, violent, and seems to have a problem with identity, “My name is Femen, for we are many.” I can’t help it but to think of the demoniac…
