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Living the Year of Faith: How Pope Benedict Wants You to Begin By Dr. Jeff Mirus | October 17, 2012 1:02 PM The Holy Spirit has urged me to read the inaugural documents for the Year of Faith. Of course while one should seek the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in all things, one should never claim the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for anything. Those of us who are prone to expose all too clearly our own faults and weaknesses have a special need to heed this advice so as not to give the Holy Spirit a bad name.But...

Share Your Faith in This Year of Faith Two keys to help you do it. The gospel really does have the power to save and redeem. It’s something that each of us can experience. And it’s something that each of us is called to proclaim. As we try to respond to the Lord’s call to go out into all the world, it’s important for us to see how much the Lord wants us to evangelize. On the one hand, we should not presume that everyone is already converted and on the path to heaven. But on the other hand,...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Though she had always believed in miracles, Sharon Smith never dreamed she would be the recipient of one. Her unexplained recovery from a near fatal infection in 2005 was the second miracle that cleared the way for the Oct. 21 canonization of Blessed Marianne Cope. Smith will present Pope Benedict XVI a relic of Blessed Marianne -- a bone fragment housed in a wooden tau cross, or T-shaped cross that is the symbol of St. Francis, the inspiration of Mother Marianne's congregation. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Smith fainted in her home one day in 2005...

Featured Term (selected at random):SPIRITUAL FATHER The one who counsels and directs a person in the spritiual life. Generally a priest, the spritual father is often designated by ecclesiastical authority to guide the members of a religious community or confraternity, students for the priesthood, or in general persons specially dedicated to Christian perfection or the Church's apostolate. The Pope is sometimes called the Spiritual Father of all Christians. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Is God’s Will My Will? "This is the will of God, your sanctification . . ." —1 Thessalonians 4:3 Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize...

Featured Term (selected at random):CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL A historic monument of Catholic England, in County Kent, it is the burial place of some of the Church's greatest leaders. At first it was forbidden to bury within the cathedral precincts. The rule was changed when St. Cuthbert (d. 687), arranging his own burial, ordained that all archbishops could be buried within their own cathedral churches. St. Dunstan, St. Alphege, St. Anselm, St. Odo have their tombs within its walls. But the saint who is most responsible for Canterbury's prestige is St. Thomas à Becket, who was murdered by the agents of King...

A Gift from God Today's Scripture For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria We serve such a loving, gracious and generous God. He loves you so much that there isn’t anything He wouldn’t do in order to have a relationship with you. The Bible tells us that sin separates man from God. But God doesn’t want to be separated from us. That’s why He sent His Son into the world—to pay the penalty for sin so that...

The Unheeded Secret "Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world" —John 18:36 The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation . . . . For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing....

On Monday, October 15, 2012, Bishop Mark J. Lawrence, the 14th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina was notified by the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, that on September 18, 2012 the Disciplinary Board for Bishops had certified his abandonment of The Episcopal Church. This action by The Episcopal Church triggered two pre-existing corporate resolutions of the Diocese, which simultaneously disaffiliated the Diocese from The Episcopal Church and called a Special Convention. That Convention will be held at St. Philip’s Church, Charleston, on Saturday, November 17, 2012. Read it all . Other Documents: Certificate of...

On A New Series of Audiences for The Year of Faith "With Faith, Everything Changes in Us and for Us" VATICAN, OCTOBER 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today in St. Peter’s Square. Today the Holy Father introduced a new series of catechesis meant to accompany the Church during the Year of Faith. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today I would like to introduce a new series of catecheses that will be developed throughout the course of the newly inaugurated Year of Faith and that, for the time being, will interrupt...

Pope Benedict kisses a baby girl during the Oct. 10, 2012 general audience in St. Peter's Square. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano. Vatican City, Oct 17, 2012 / 01:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At his first general audience during the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI initiated a new, year-long cycle of teachings aimed at healing the division between what Christians say they profess, what they actually believe, and how they live their lives. “Christians often do not even know the core of their Catholic faith, the Creed, thus leaving room for a certain syncretism and religious relativism, without clarity on the...

If asked to diagnose the present situation of Roman Catholics in the United States, the first word that comes to mind is: their abysmal ignorance of fundamental Catholic dogmas, such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemptive value of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, the Holy Mass and the real presence of Christ is in the Eucharist. One is bound to be deeply grieved by young people’s ignorance. I have kept my high school text book entitled “Christian Religion,” a 439 page book (without the footnotes) fairly large format,  relatively small print. At the age of sixteen, I knew the...

The retired presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Rt. Rev. Herbert Chilstrom, has delivered a stinging, public critique of his former Roman Catholic counterpart in Minnesota for aggressively campaigning for an anti-same sex marriage amendment on the November ballot. “I recognize your authority in formulating positions for your own flock in Minnesota: That is one thing,” Chilstrom said in a letter to Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt, published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “But for you and others to campaign for an amendment that imposes your stance on all citizens in Minnesota — including other Christians,...

Ignorance of the faith puts Christians at risk of following a “do-it-yourself” religion, Pope Benedict XVI has said. People need to become more familiar with the Creed because it is there that the “Christian moral life is planted and … one finds its foundation and justification”, the Pope said today at his weekly general audience. Before an estimated 20,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square, the Pope began a new series of audience talks to accompany the Year of Faith, which marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. He said he hoped the series of...

Say Continually Today's Scripture Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, ‘Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’ Psalm 35:27, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Notice in today’s verse, God’s people were commanded to go around saying continually, “Let God be magnified. He takes pleasure in prospering me.” I believe one reason they were supposed to say it all the time is so it would get down on the inside of their hearts. See, when we hear something long...

The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion ". . . they went forth for His name’s sake . . ." —3 John 7 Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus...

Featured Term (selected at random):AGONY IN THE GARDEN The bloody sweat of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, described by the third Evangelist (Luke 22:43). Although Matthew and Mark also narrate the event, only Luke mentions the sweat of blood and the visitation of the angel. Catholic tradition has understood the bloody perspiration literally. Medical testimony indicates that, although rare, the phenomenon is neither impossible nor, by itself, miraculous. Commemoration of the event forms the first of the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary. (Etym. Latin agonia; from Greek, contest, anguish, from ag_n, contest, from agein, to drive.) All items in...

PEMBROKE, Ontario, Oct. 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After Ontario’s Education Minister shocked Catholics last week by declaring that under the law their schools should not be teaching that abortion is wrong, the Bishop of Pembroke insists that the Church has no intention of letting the government define the Catholic faith. The Church will “defend her legitimate autonomy from outside organizations which attempt to define the content of Roman Catholic teaching,” Bishop Michael Mulhall stated in a letter to parishes on Oct. 11th. “As a Bishop of the Catholic Church, this is a sacred obligation and a joyful mission which was...

A religious painting is expected to draw thousands to a special church service in Worcester, Mass. Tuesday evening. It's a painting of the Virgin Mary, and some say it can perform miracles. It’s on display and bringing people together to see what some say is a miracle. “I prayed from the bottom of my heart. I felt that Jesus and St. Mary are listening to me,” says Clara Elnerm. The Elnemr family is one of many flocking to the St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester Tuesday. It's all to see a religious painting, called the Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the...

Believe and Declare Today's Scripture “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria I know a man who was believing to pay his house off. It was a standard 30-year mortgage, and he had 23 years left. In the natural, there was no way he could do it. But he was bold enough to say, “Father, I want to thank You that You are Jehovah Jireh; the Lord my provider. I know my job is not...