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Did Jesus have a wife? According to Karen L. King, an academic from Harvard, the answer might exist in the fragment of an ancient Coptic manuscript. On this slip of papyrus, Jesus is quoted as saying “my wife,” and because of that, King notes, “this fragment seems to be the first case where we have a married Jesus who appears to be affirming that women who are mothers and wives can be his disciples.” This story broke in 2012 and was immediately qualified by protests from other academics, who claimed the textual fragment King cited was likely a forgery. These...

ROME - Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 disabled and elderly people Thursday - women and non-Catholics among them - in a pre-Easter ritual designed to show his willingness to serve others like a "slave."

One of the most remarkable aspects of the crucifixion of Jesus is his humble reserve. As God he has all power to end his suffering and humiliation in an instant. He had already reminded Peter, Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”(Matt26:52-54)And now as he hung on the Cross, Satan and the crowds give him one last and final temptation, the call  to come down from the...

April 18, 2014Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday)    Reading 1 Is 52:13-53:12 See, my servant shall prosper,he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.Even as many were amazed at himCso marred was his look beyond human semblanceand his appearance beyond that of the sons of manCso shall he startle many nations,because of him kings shall stand speechless;for those who have not been told shall see,those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard?To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?He grew up like a sapling before him,like...

Let us read the words of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (26:26-28), adding the words of the other sacred authors on the same subject: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and when he had given thanks (1 Cor. 11:24), broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22:19). And he took a cup after supper (Luke 22:20), and when he had given thanks he gave it to them,...

BALTIMORE, MD, April 17, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-abortion grantee of Catholic Relief Services has been announced as the winner of the 2014 United Nations Population Award. The award is given to organizations that demonstrate outstanding effectiveness in population control efforts, including contraception, sterilization and abortion. The grantee, Jhpiego, is a non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. According to CRS’ 990s for 2012, the U.S. bishops’ organization gave Jhpiego a grant of $282,356 that year for “health.” As part of their work, the group has spearheaded national campaigns in the developing world to promote the abortifacient morning-after pill....

I’m not one of those twelve million readers who bought the book “Heaven is For Real” and torpedoed it to the New York Times’ Bestseller List. But I did check it out from the library and enjoyed both the story and the accounts of heaven. “Heaven is for real” is, in fact, only one among the many testimonies of near death experiences I’ve heard about from both Christians and non-Christians. With some suspect exceptions, most of the descriptions of heaven are fascinating and inspire me to work hard to aim for the ultimate prize. But that’s just the good news.On...

The significance of Holy ThursdayExcept for the Resurrection on Easter, Holy Thursday is possibly one of the most important, complex, and profound days of celebration in the Catholic Church. Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and the institution of the sacrament of the priesthood.During the Last Supper, Jesus offers himself as the Passover sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb, and teaches that every ordained priest is to follow the same sacrifice in the exact same way. Christ also bids farewell to his followers and prophesizes that one of them will...

HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances, saving only the Easter Vigil. It celebrates both the institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood (as distinct from the 'priesthood of all believers') for in this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day presents this same sacrifice, by Christ's authority and command, in exactly the same way. The Last Supper was also Christ's farewell to His assembled disciples, some of whom would betray,...

Featured Term (selected at random:BEATTY PAPYRI Manuscript of thirty leaves from the Gospels and Acts, dating from the third century, together with twenty more leaves from St. Paul and Revelation. Old Testament manuscripts in the same collection amount to 180 leaves from nine books, dating to the second century. The Beatty papyri substantiate the essential soundness of the existing biblical texts. No striking or fundamental variant is shown either in the Old or New Testament. The Beatty papyri were found near Hermopolis in Egypt, most of which were acquired by A. Chester Beatty (1875-1968) in 1931. All items in this...

Cuba has now made Good Friday an official national holiday after restoring that Catholic feast as an "exceptional" measure when Pope Benedict XVI visited the island in 2012. The new Labor Code, passed by the National Assembly in December, established Good Friday as a holiday "every year," Communist Party daily Granma said Tuesday.

The second reading from the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday is taken from an ancient homily on Christ’s descent into hell. It begins: “Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.” The King fell asleep when His soul was separated from His body on Good Friday afternoon. He remained asleep until His soul reanimated His body on Easter morning. But during the silence and stillness of the King’s sleep, He harrowed hell.Our Lord’s descent into hell is well attested to...

Some interesting history on this controversial rite, from David Gibson at Religion News Service, via NCR: Accounts of Christian foot-washing rituals go back as far as the sixth century. As Peter Jeffrey writes in his 1985 book, A New Commandment: Toward a Renewed Rite for the Washing of Feet, there were generally two forms: the “Mandatum Pauperam,” or washing of the feet of poor people, and the “Mandatum Fratrum,” the washing of the feet of “the brothers.”Neither were part of the Holy Thursday liturgy, and popes and clerics routinely washed the feet of poor people as a sign of service...

In the aftermath of the sexual revolution of 1960s — which espoused sex education, the contraceptive mentality, no-fault divorce, and legalized abortion on demand — an anti-life and anti-child philosophy has prevailed over much of Western civilization, where European nations are barely replacing their populations or suffering a decline in birth rate. In a culture of death that slaughters 1.5 million pre-born babies in the womb each year, permits infanticide in the procedure known as partial-birth abortion, and tolerates physician-assisted suicide in the name of mercy and a quality of life ethic, life is cheap and loses its sacredness. Whenever...

WAKEFIELD, RI, April 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another controversy has erupted at a Roman Catholic school after students and parents reacted with outrage to Church teaching on sexuality as presented at a school assembly. Father Francis “Rocky” Hoffman spoke to students at The Prout School in Wakefield, Rhode Island on April 4. During the course of his talk, he apparently made comments critical of homosexuality and divorce that some students found offensive. Fr. Rocky Hoffman The Diocese of Providence’s spokesman on the issue has seemed to agree with Hoffman’s critics. But Catholic observers suggest the controversy is part of a...

In the Matthean Passion account, we come to the trial before Pilate. Pontius Pilate is a study in evasion and vacillation. Despite being a man of great political and worldly power, Pilate is indecisive, inwardly troubled, and quite incapable of doing what he knows is right. Despite the outward power he had, inwardly he was weak and morally compromised. And in his weakness, he does something very awful: he violates his own conscience and sentences an innocent man to death.Let’s look at his story in five stages.I. Attempted Avoidance - At a professional level, Pilate thought the whole matter brought...

I was pleased last year to have a bad back and so on Holy Thursday I had already thought about not washing the feet during the Sacred Triduum. I hesitated because the choir had already prepared the music for it and the chant for it had been printed in the Mass booklets. When Pope Francis decided to disregard the Church's law and follow his own instincts, I decided to follow mine and not wash anyone's feet but instead leave the bowl and towel that we would have used on the sanctuary step and invite people to come forward and put...

April 17, 2014 | Evening Mass of the Lord's SupperHoly ThursdayEvening Mass of the Lord's Supper    Reading 1 Ex 12:1-8, 11-14 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year.Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your familiesmust procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and...

April 17, 2014 | Chrism MassHoly ThursdayChrism Mass    Reading 1 Is 61:1-3a, 6a,  8b-9 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me;He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly,to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesand release to the prisoners,To announce a year of favor from the LORDand a day of vindication by our God,to comfort all who mourn;To place on those who mourn in Ziona diadem instead of ashes,To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning,a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. You yourselves...

Pope Benedict received a birthday cake at the White House April 16, 2008, when he turned 81. (CNS photo/Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo) VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has yet to reveal what retired Pope Benedict has planned for his 87th birthday today.It will definitely be low key and most probably include a friendly phone call from Pope Francis, who is always picking up the phone on people’s birthdays.While Pope Benedict usually liked to keep celebrations simple, the people around him liked to splurge, especially when he visited Washington, D.C., in 2008.April 16 was his first full day in the...