More wisdom from Fr. Donald Haggerty

The devil in his legalistic mentality wants sins, small and great, to be treated by God as impediments to the heart of Christ. Our Lord refuses to accept this demand. He wants us to ignore the devil’s accusation and approach him precisely as sinful and humbled and repentant, with a confidence that our sins do not chase him away in disgust. Bringing our sins to him as a gift, in that case, does not mean that our sins in themselves are a gift pleasing to him. That would suggest we should commit greater sins and so give a bigger gift. It means allowing Our Lord to do what he wants to do, namely, to conquer the devil’s lie to souls. Jesus wants to love souls with a love that overwhelms sinfulness with goodness. But to realize this truth, we cannot withdraw from his gaze of love even as we are aware of failure.

—FR. DONALD HAGGERTY from Conversion: Spiritual Insights Into an Essential Encounter with God

Wisdom from Fr. Donald Haggerty

Immediately before and for a good while after my conversion, I was of the opinion that to lead a religious life meant one had to give up all that was secular and to live totally immersed in thoughts of the Divine. But gradually I realized that something else is asked of us in this world and that, even in the contemplative life, one may not sever the connection with the world. I even believe that the deeper one is drawn into God, the more one must ‘go out of oneself’, that is, one must go to the world in order to carry the divine life into it.

—FR. DONALD HAGGERTY quoting Saint Edith Stein in Conversion: Spiritual Insights Into an Essential Encounter with God

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle C December 30, 2018

First Reading
1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28 (The first reading from Cycle A may also be chosen,
Sirach 3:2-6,12-14.)
Hannah dedicates her son, Samuel, to the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 84:2-3,5-6,9-10 (The psalm from Cycle A may also be chosen, Psalm
128:1-5.)
Those who dwell in the Lord's house are happy.

Second Reading
1 John 3:1-2,21-24 (The second reading from Cycle A may also be chosen,
Colossians 3:12-21)
We are God's children now.

Gospel Reading
Luke 2:41-52
The boy Jesus is found in the Temple.

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
"Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
And he said to them,
"Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must Background on the Gospel Readingbe in my Father's house?"
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.


Background on the Gospel Reading

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. This feast is part of the
Christmas season, and we should place today's Gospel in the context of
what Luke's Gospel tells us about the birth of Jesus. Luke has been
answering the question "Who is Jesus?" through his stories of the births
of John the Baptist and Jesus. Today's Gospel reading continues this
theme. It has no parallel in the other Gospels and is the conclusion of
Luke's Infancy Narrative.

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are presented in this Gospel as a faithful Jewish
family. They are participating in the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for
the feast of Passover, an event shared each year with family and friends.
When Jesus is found, Luke describes him as seated in the Temple in the
midst of the Jewish teachers. Although he is young, Jesus seems not to
need teaching about his Jewish tradition. In his dialogue with these
learned teachers, Jesus astounds them with his insight and understanding.
Jesus is a child of Israel. His Father is God.

The dialogue between Mary and Jesus contains many references to family
relationships. In fact, in this Gospel reading Mary and Joseph are never
identified by name. Instead they are referred to by their relationship to
Jesus. Ultimately, this emphasizes Luke's point about the identity of
Jesus. When Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple, they question Jesus
and express their anxiety. Jesus replies in words that many have thought
to be disrespectful. Jesus says that he was never lost; he was at home.
Jesus is God's Son, and he is in his Father's house. Luke will continue to
suggest that faith in Jesus establishes new family relationships as he
describes Jesus' public ministry

Family Connection

Today's Gospel describes a time of anxiety in the life of Jesus' family.
We can imagine their panic and worry as they discovered that Jesus was not
with the caravan returning to Nazareth. The Holy Family journeyed with
family members and friends because traveling alone was dangerous. When
they found Jesus at the Temple, Jesus spoke like a typical adolescent,
unsympathetic to his parents' concern. Yet his words teach an important
lesson about reducing anxiety in our family life. In essence, Jesus says,
"If you had remembered who I am, you would have known where to find me."
In their panic, Mary and Joseph had forgotten what had been told to them
before Jesus' birth, that their son was the Son of God. Knowing a person
well helps reduce our anxieties for them because we can better predict how
they will behave, and we know their capacity to handle the challenges life
might present to them.

As you gather as a family, have fun playing the game "How well do you know
me?" Take turns trying to stump one another by asking family members
questions about yourself, such as "What is my favorite memory of a family
vacation?" "Given a choice, what dinner menu would I pick?" "If I could
travel anywhere in the world, where would I go?" One member of the family
might prepare and read the questions aloud as each person writes down the
answers. Family members then take turns guessing the answers, playing this
game as a quiz show. Observe that one thing about families is that we
learn to know each other well.


Sources: Loyola Press; Sunday Readings

More wisdom from Joseph Ratzinger

There is no antithesis between hope for heaven and loyalty to the earth, since this hope is also hope for the earth. While we hope for something greater and definitive, we Christians may and must bring hope into that which is transitory, into the world of our states.

—JOSEPH RATZINGER from Faith and Politics

Wisdom from Joseph Ratzinger

True human objectivity involves humanity, and humanity involves God. True human reason involves morality, which lives on God’s commandments. This morality is not a private matter; it has public significance. Without the good of being good and of good action, there can be no good politics. What the persecuted Church prescribed for Christians as the core of their political ethos must also be the core of an active Christian politics: only where good is done and is recognized as good can people live together well in a thriving community. Demonstrating the practical importance of the moral dimension, the dimension of God’s commandments—publicly as well—must be the center of responsible political action.

—JOSEPH RATZINGER from Faith and Politics

More wisdom from Ralph Martin

Teresa of Avila alternates between calling the Lord the King and the Spouse. It’s very interesting, we have fear of the Lord and love of the Lord, and both really go together. The reality of the majesty of God, the transcendence of God, the holiness of God, the respect for God is really strong in her, and the intimacy of spousal love. Both are strong themes that you see reflected in how she relates to the Lord.

—RALPH MARTIN from Union with God

The Perfect Christmas Gift

Praying for the souls in purgatory throughout the Octave of Christmas
by Susan Tassone


It’s not too late to take a tip on Christmas gift giving from two doctors of the Church: St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Teresa of Ávila.

You can help a soul in purgatory reach heaven on Dec. 25.

And — marking the eight days of the Octave of Christmas — you can keep giving and keep helping through Jan. 1.

It well may be your unfamiliar with the revelations of both St. Alphonsus and St. Teresa that say most souls are released from purgatory on Christmas Day (not All Souls Day!). It seems the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord is when purgatory is least populated.

Then, too, it well might be you’re a little unclear on the Church’s teaching on purgatory. Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned…
From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God [that is, heaven]. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead: Let us help and commemorate them. … Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. (CCC, 1030–1032)

Unable to pray for themselves, unable to gain merit now that they’re in purgatory, they heavily rely on us to free them.

What’s their primary pain? They suffer the loss of the sight of God. After their death, they saw God but now are unable to be with him. The saints tell us that’s worse than any pain or suffering on earth.

In a similar way, we keenly feel the loss of loved ones during the Christmas season. St. Alphonsus and St. Teresa are telling us that by being an advocate for them by our prayers, we can help turn their pain into eternal glory.

We can help them “go home” for Christmas.

But what about loved ones already in paradise? Are our prayers wasted? Not at all!

Again to the Catechism:

“In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and ‘because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins’ she offers her suffrages for them.” Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective. (CCC, 958)

Their prayers for us, and for others, become more powerful. St. Thomas Aquinas called this “accidental glory.” And the lesson here is to never stop praying for the dead.

With all this in mind, a few suggestions:

• Offer your Christmas Mass, holy Communion, and indulgence on that day. Stop at the manger and implore the Infant Jesus to intercede for the most abandoned souls. Those of priests and consecrated religious. We tend to canonize them and cut off too soon our prayers for them.
• At home, say a decade of the rosary with family members in front of the Nativity scene. In simple words, explain to members of the youngest generation why the family is doing this.
• In church or at home, light a votive candle for all who have passed away, but perhaps especially those who have died since the previous Christmas. The burning candle is a sign of our prayer, a bright silent intercessor for the holy souls.
• Say the Eternal Rest Prayer before and after meals throughout the Octave of Christmas. (“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”)
• Join your prayers with the intercessions of the holy souls in purgatory who are praying for their grieving loved ones on earth. (No, the holy souls can’t pray for themselves but, yes, they can, and do, pray for us still on earth!)
• Offer up the stress of the holiday season as a prayer for the holy souls.
• Find out about having Gregorian Masses celebrated for a loved one who has died.
• On Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, join Our Lady in praying for the holy souls. Here’s what St. Faustina, another saint who received revelations, wrote:

[The next night] I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. (Diary, 20)
This Christmas, and throughout the year, God invites us to do the same.

Wisdom from Ralph Martin

There are not different kinds of holinesses. There’s one holiness, and everyone is called to it. There’s different ways of life that lead to holiness, but it’s the same holiness. What’s holiness? It says in Ephesians to be holy is to be filled with love. There’s only one love and it’s God’s love. There’s only one holiness and it’s God’s holiness.

—RALPH MARTIN from Union with God

Wisdom from Father Miguel Pro

I bless God for having conferred upon me the great dignity of being a priest. What wonderful happiness one finds in bringing peace to a troubled workman’s family! What joy in taking Holy Communion to a youngster of ninety-four! What pleasure in sitting under a tree and hearing the confession of an easy-living gardener or of teaching the basic points of catechism to a Communist while kicking the shavings and sawdust of his workshop!

—FATHER MIGUEL PRO from Father Miguel Pro: A Modern Mexican Martyr by Gerald Muller, CSC

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

May the peace of Christ be with us all...

More wisdom from Dr. Scott Hahn

With every marriage, something brand new is established. God may not be rearranging body parts, as He did when he made Eve, but He is, in a real way, rearranging our souls. Every married couple is a new creation: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh’ (Gen 2:24).

—DR. SCOTT HAHN from The First Society

Wisdom from Dr. Scott Hahn

Eve wasn’t just the first woman; she completed the first family. The first human community created by God was not a pair of roommates or simple friends, but a married couple. The union of man and woman as husband and wife (and, God willing, father and mother) is the very foundation of not just every human society, but of all humanity.

—DR. SCOTT HAHN from The First Society

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C December 23, 2018

First Reading
Micah 5:1-4
The ruler of Israel is promised to come from Bethlehem.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19
A prayer for God's salvation

Second Reading
Hebrews 10:5-10
Through his obedience to God's will, Christ consecrated all.

Gospel Reading
Luke 1:39-45
Mary visits Elizabeth, who sings praise to Mary and her child.

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."


Background on the Gospel Reading

On this the last Sunday before Christmas, our Gospel reading prepares us
to witness Christ's birth by showing us how Jesus was recognized as
Israel's long-awaited Messiah even before his birth. The Gospel turns our
attention from the ministry of John the Baptist to the events that
preceded John the Baptist's birth. The story of John the Baptist and his
parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, are reported only in Luke's Gospel. Luke
pairs the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus, establishing John's early
connection to the Messiah.

Our Gospel reading recalls Mary's actions after the announcement of Jesus'
birth by the angel Gabriel. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, her cousin, who
is also with child. Elizabeth greets Mary with full recognition of the
roles that they and their unborn children will play in God's plan for
salvation. If we were to continue to read the verses that follow in Luke's
Gospel, we would hear Mary respond to Elizabeth's greeting with her song
of praise, the Magnificat. Both women recall and echo God's history of
showing favor upon the people of Israel.

In Luke's Gospel the Holy Spirit helps reveal Jesus' identity as God to
those who believe. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and sings
Mary's praise because she bears the Lord. We sing these words of praise to
Mary in the Hail Mary. Even John the Baptist, the unborn child in
Elizabeth's womb, is said to recognize the presence of the Lord and leaps
for joy.

It is appropriate in this season of Advent that we consider the role of
Mary in God's plan of salvation. Elizabeth describes Mary as the first
disciple, as the one who believed that God's word to her would be
fulfilled. Mary's faith enabled her to recognize the work of God in her
people's history and in her own life. Her openness to God allowed God to
work through her so that salvation might come to everyone. Because of
this, Mary is a model and symbol of the Church. May we be like Mary, open
and cooperative in God's plan for salvation.


Family Connection

In the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth described in today's Gospel,
we learn that other people can help us recognize God's presence and action
in our lives. Mary traveled to see Elizabeth because Elizabeth's pregnancy
was a sign that everything the angel told Mary would truly happen.
Elizabeth recognized Mary as the mother of her Lord because her unborn
child, John the Baptist, leapt at the sound of Mary's greeting. Elizabeth
and Mary rejoiced together at the wonderful things God was doing in their
lives. We too are blessed when we have people who help us recognize God's
action in our lives. We pray that our family can be this for one another.

As you gather as a family, work together on a word search or
hidden-picture puzzle. Help one another until everyone has found each of
the words or pictures in the puzzle. Talk about this experience, noticing
how some people found words or pictures more easily than others and how
easy it was to see the word or picture once someone else pointed it out.
Observe that sometimes we need the help of others to recognize God's
presence and action in our lives. Read together today's Gospel, Luke
1:39-45. Ask: What did Elizabeth recognize about Mary? (that she was to be
the mother of Jesus, the Lord) How did Elizabeth know this? (Her baby,
John the Baptist, leapt with joy at Mary's greeting) Pray together that as
we share our faith together as a family, we may help one another recognize
God's presence and action in our lives. Pray together the Hail Mary.


Sources: Loyola Press; Sunday Readings

More wisdom from Peter Kreeft

We can see this mystical equation of joy and suffering in all the events of Christ’s life, culminating in His Passion and death, which are neither an accident nor a postscript, appendix, or addition, but the very consummation, the fruit and flower, of His life. He lived backward, for he lived in order to die; and we can understand His life only if we follow his life with our thought and think backward, as we can understand a rose only if we look backward from the flower to the plant.

—PETER KREEFT from Doors in the Walls of the World

Wisdom from Peter Kreeft

Of course, if you believe in God, you know where joy comes from and where it leads to and what it means. Where it comes from is God, and where it leads to is Heaven, and what it means is that God loves you so much that He wants you to share His joy, wants you in on the secret of why the Perfect Being never gets bored or boring.

—PETER KREEFT from Doors in the Walls of the World

More wisdom from Fr. John Flader

If the universe were a product of chance, we would not expect to find such order and intelligibility and laws. We would find chaos. Anyone who has studied the second law of thermodynamics knows that any system, like the molecules of air and gases in this room, by their natural state are in the maximum of disorder. The molecules don’t line themselves up; they’re just bouncing around. That’s what we would expect to find in the whole universe—absolute chaos. This led Albert Einstein to make this famous statement: ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it’s comprehensible.’

— FR. JOHN FLADER from God and Science

Wisdom from Fr. John Flader

The fact that the medieval men and women knew God to be rational, to be logos, reasonable, thinking, led them to soon think that the universe that God made would have a rationality about it—laws that could be discovered. CS Lewis thinks the same way. ‘Men became scientific because they expected law in nature. And they expected law in nature because they believed in a Law Giver.’

— FR. JOHN FLADER from God and Science

NEW! Exciting Graphic Novels about Saints

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More wisdom from Ulf and Birgitta Ekman

There is a great strength in the authority of the Catholic teaching office, a storehouse of experience from which to draw, and a sense of peace and rest in the fact that God has given the Church an authentic teaching office that, led by the Holy Spirit, can teach, lead, and explain what the apostolic faith is. This faith should be received personally so that it might truly be alive in the believer’s own life. Then it becomes a personal, living faith for each one.

—ULF & BIRGITTA EKMAN from The Great Discovery

Wisdom from Ulf and Birgitta Ekman

The longing for true unity in spirit and in truth causes one to seek farther. One must follow the way of Jesus, sacrifice oneself, and take up one’s cross daily. This desire leads to listening to and learning from others. It challenges the heart to open itself, to trust in one’s brothers and sisters and put them first, before one’s own ambitions. That is certainly difficult. If the unity about which Jesus speaks and for which he prays is to be a unity built on truth, it needs to be both self-searching and reconciling. It makes amends for injustices and prays for the wounds and divisions in the Body of Christ.

—ULF & BIRGITTA EKMAN from The Great Discovery

THE LESSON OF ZECHARIAH IN THE TEMPLE

GOSPEL - Luke 1:5-25

ACCLAMATION: O Root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his people: come to save us without delay!

St. Luke opens his Gospel with a scene that connects the new with the old. He brings us into the Temple of Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish religion. It is the time of the evening sacrifice, and there is an old priest who was chosen by lot to enter the Holy Place and offer incense in front of the curtain that covered the Holy of Holies. This is where the message of a new beginning came to Zechariah. Luke, the “historian” among the evangelists, knows that new developments are only healthy when they are rooted in the past. That the Church moves often slowly, too slowly for many, is because whatever new that comes has to be born from the old.

Luke describes the annunciation to Zechariah when he is alone in the Holy Place of God’s house. It is in the silence of the heart that God speaks.

Recently somebody asked me, “Father, why did God speak so much in the stories of the Bible but why does He not speak now, to me, for instance?” I reflected for a while and answered, “You see, in biblical times, the world was quieter. People communed with nature. There was no radio, no TV, no computer. There were no movies, no cars — there was just silence. People could hear God speaking to them. Go to a contemplative monastery, and ask nuns and monks and they will tell you how they “hear” God speaking to them. Go every day for half an hour to one hour to an adoration chapel, calm down, and just listen. God will speak to you.”

In these days before Christmas, when everything is so noisy and so hectic, we miss the most important thing in this season: God speaking to us through the Scripture, speaking to us in the silence of our hearts — as He spoke to Zechariah in the silence of the Holy Place in the Temple of Jerusalem. ~ Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

More wisdom from Steve Ray

In John Jesus says, You will do greater things than I will because I go to the Father. What does he mean? How can we do greater things? Because he was just one man locally in Jerusalem. And in order to be healed you had to find him in one of these little mud huts and go to him and be healed. But where do you go today for the Sacraments, the life of God, the life of Christ flowing out to the people? You can go to any Catholic Church. It’s worldwide. From his body, the Church, still flows the life-giving Sacraments of healing and forgiveness. They’re still available for us today. But they’re not localized in Jerusalem; they’re everywhere.

— STEVE RAY from Finding the Fullness of Faith

The Twelve (12) Days of Christmas

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me - The Twelve Days of Christmas.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So this is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening. Now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.

Have a Meaningful Yuletide Season! 🎄🙏🏼

#copypaste

Wisdom from Steve Ray

Only 1 out of 10 in the Roman Empire was literate. 9 out of 10 were illiterate and couldn’t read! To build the Church upon a book would’ve been a stupid idea if that was all that there was. We’re already now into the fourth and fifth century and nobody had this book to even read. Where did they hear it? In the Mass. Think about this: if you were in these first generations and you didn’t have this book, think about how you would listen to the readings at Mass differently than you do today! Those were words of gold for you because you couldn't read them for yourself. You would listen and you would memorize what you were hearing because you might never hear those words again in your life.

— STEVE RAY from Finding the Fullness of Faith