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A Dramatic Biblical Moment That Nearly Everyone Missed Msgr. Charles Pope • February 1, 2018 • The moment of the Presentation of Jesus was one of the most dramatic in biblical history, yet almost no one noticed.The first part of this post is review for those of you who read my blog regularly. To skip to the newer insights, skip down to the sentence in red.Joseph and Mary have gone to Jerusalem to fulfill two ancient mandates: the Rite of Purification for a woman after childbirth and the Rite of Presentation for a firstborn male child. These rites set...

NOVENA IN HONOR OF OUR LADY’S PURIFICATION (Beginning January 24)from the 1910 Raccolta. i. 300 Days each day.ii. Plenary on the Feast or during the Octave. I, II, IV.(See Instructions, p. 1) Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda didelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of thy love. ℣. Emitte Spiritum Tuum, et creabuntur. ℣. Send forth thy spirit and they shall be created; ℟. Et removabis faciem terræ. ℟. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Oremus. Let us...

An ancient Orthodox hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary commonly chanted at Christmas.

When you think of the first story of Christmas, it's usually about Mary and Joseph looking down at their new born son in a manger, surrounded by barn animals and maybe a shepherd or two looking on. Angels singing praises of joy to the Lord Most High, and maybe even the star that is guiding the wise men from Babylon to the destination of the Jews Messiah. We live at a time when children are born in sanitized hospital rooms with the best of care, before and after the mother gives birth. When we hear of stories of women...

THIS FEAST, which is now kept, not only throughout the whole of Spain, but in almost all the Churches of the Catholic world, owes its origin to the Bishops of the tenth Council of Toledo, in 656. These Prelates having thought that there was an incongruity in the ancient practice of celebrating the feast of the Annunciation on the twenty-fifth of March, inasmuch as this joy solemnity frequently occurs at the time when the Church is intent upon the Passion of our Lord, and is sometimes obliged to be transferred into Easter Time, with which it is out of...

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Francis, in a shameless attempt to fool the ignorant into believing that he and his agenda are Catholic, stood before a statue of Our Lady to deliver what amounted to a glorified political speech disguised as a prayer. Pretending to seek Our Lady’s intercession, he used the occasion to publicize a laundry list of his pet causes (e.g., poverty, immigration, environmentalism) and to convict those who aren’t convinced of his pious intentions as fearful, hypocritical, and antisocial.The full text of Jorge’s “prayer” is linked above. Go ahead, read it. Allow yourself to become...

"Having become . . . much better than the angels" (Heb. 1:4). Through a deft use of the Old Testament, the writer proves that Christ is the mediator of a greater covenant. Man is a wonderful and amazing creation—higher than plants, animals, and any other material creation in this world. But there are created beings even higher than man—angels. Hebrews 2:9 shows this to be the case because when Jesus became a man, He was "made for a little while lower than the angels." After the fall of the rebellious angels under Lucifer, the angels in heaven were no longer...

The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is also the most passionate, the wildest, and one might almost say the most revolutionary Advent hymn that has ever been sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary as we often see her portrayed in paintings. This Mary...is passionate, carried away, proud, enthusiastic. There is none of the sweet, wistful, or even playful tone of many of our Christmas carols, but instead a hard, strong, relentless hymn about the toppling of the thrones and the humiliation of the lords of this world, about the power of God and...

White Double of the First Class (with an Octave) AT LENGTH, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias himself; and this is the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge of the divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites, Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union, after a long barrenness, made fruitful by...

Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation and was critical of what he considered excesses and corruptions in the Catholic Church. But did you know he continued to hold many Catholic doctrines about Mary?Here are some quotes from Martin Luther about the Blessed Virgin Mary that may surprise you:1) Mary has no equal among creation “She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has...

White Greater Double THE PRESENTATION is one of the minor solemnities of our Lady, and was inscribed at a comparatively late date on the sacred Cycle; it seems to court the homage of our silent contemplation. The world, unknown to itself, is ruled by the secret prayers of the just; and the Queen of saints, in her hidden mysteries, wrought far more powerfully than the so-called great men, whose noisy achievements fill the annals of the human race. The East had been celebrating for seven centuries at least the entrance of the Mother of God into the temple of...

Read/print the novena here.

Dunamis Power is yours my children just speak what you need or declare what it is My Spirit is to manifest before you and it shall be for as you have overcome the world it now sits at your feet as it does for me for we are one and I walk hand in hand with you as you do my will alone . Let My Spirit of Holiness lead your days now for the body and Bride of Christ are coming together now in a redeeming way in that all that is being done now in this hour is...

White Double “Among the most striking proofs of the infinite love of our Redeemer is this, that, at a moment in which the love of the faithful was growing cold, the Divine Love proposed himself as the object of special veneration and worship, and the precious treasure of the Church was opened to enrich with indulgences the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge … In that Sacred Heart we must place all our hope, from that Heart ask and expect our salvation.” The great devotion to the...

White Double of the Second Class IN the sixteenth century, even amidst their many divergences, the so-called Reformers agreed in utterly rejecting all the honors paid by the Catholic Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the grounds that such veneration of the Mother detracted from the supreme worship due to her Divine Son. Four centuries have more than sufficed to show the result of so doing: the Son has followed the Mother! The descendants of those who refused to Mary the title and rights of Theotokos,—Mother of God—refuse to Jesus the title of Son of God in the...

Why 2017 Will Be a Very Important Year - A Homily for The Solemnity of Mary Mother of God Msgr. Charles Pope • December 31, 2016 • Last week at Christmas we celebrated an event that was both pivotal and hidden. The conception and birth of Jesus Christ were events that changed human history. It was a daring, hidden raid by the Kingdom of Light into the kingdom of darkness, an incursion behind enemy lines, into enemy territory. Only some shepherds in Bethlehem and a few magi from distant lands were witnesses to this event, one which began the...

December 30, 2016 The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph When a Sunday does not occur between December 25 and January 1, this feast is celebrated on December 30 with only one reading before the Gospel. Reading 1 Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 God sets a father in honor over his children;a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.Whoever honors his father atones for sins,and preserves himself from them.When he prays, he is heard;he stores up riches who reveres his mother.Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,and, when he prays, is heard.Whoever reveres his father will live a long...

Why Was Christ Born of a Woman? Msgr. Charles Pope • December 20, 2016 • As Christmas draws closer, we continue to ponder the approaching mysteries. Today we will consider some of the things St. Thomas Aquinas taught regarding the Incarnation.Why did the Lord choose to come to us through a woman, Mary? He could have come in any manner He pleased. Yesterday, we pondered why He took true flesh and a human nature to Himself rather than just coming as a kind of ghost or simply as God. But even in becoming truly and fully man, He could...

Read/print the novena here.

Jurisdictions carry no weight in My courts for as Creator I Reign Supreme ! Do you see my children I AM The First and The Last Word as Mediator over All Creation and it is My hand that is the Gavel of Authority and My answer was given on The Cross " IT IS FINISHED " You are Worthy and My blood has dressed you in My Righteousness and My Answer to the enemy for you shall forever be " NOT GUILTY " and surely goodness and mercy shall follow you ALL the days of your life and you SHALL...