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“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” - Mark 13:21–23 False prophets and teachers present the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ. External enemies who brazenly attack God’s people are easy to identify, and their threat is simpler to discern and resist. Internal enemies, however, are not dealt with so easily. Wolves can go...

I have a lot of friends and readers who are baffled by what they consider to be the misguided “evangelical Christian support” for Donald Trump in America.It doesn’t make sense, especially in the light of the recent appalling locker room comments , revealed by Trump’s enemies(and by God, for there is nothing hidden that won’t be brought to light and nothing secret that won’t be shouted from the housetops!) . It just doesn’t make sense that although Trump is so manifestly immoral, Evangelicals would stick by him, even when the ‘brave’ leadership of the Republican party runs for the tall...

What Is the Sign of Jonah and Has It Come Upon Us? Msgr. Charles Pope • October 10, 2016 • In today’s Gospel the Lord says, This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah (Lk 11:30). So what is the sign of Jonah and does it apply today?The Gospels (Matthew and Luke) present two signs of Jonah, one of which particularly concerns us here. First Sign: In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus invokes Jonah in a twofold way: For as Jonah was three days and...

The Catholic Church in Germany seems to be becoming more and more unbounded in its proposals. In the recent past, for examples, the official website of the German Bishops’ Conference, katholisch.de, has reported about the idea to have women cardinals; about establishing homosexuality as a human right; and about the need for married priests and for female deacons – to name but a few of the seemingly heterodox themes coming to us out of Germany. Another theme that has also recently become international news, as it were, is that a commission of the German Bishops had published already a year...

In a wide-ranging interview with "La Nef", Cardinal Sarah discusses his new book, published in France, saying, "By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent."Editor's note: The following interview with Robert Cardinal Sarah appeared in the October 2016 issue of the French newspaper La Nef; it was given on the occasion of the publication of his new book La Force du silence (The Strength of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise). The interview appears exclusively here in English by kind permission of Cardinal Sarah. The translation is by Michael J. Miller, who translated Cardinal Sarah's...

Archdiocese of Washington How to Give God Perfect Thanks: A Homily for the 28th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • October 8, 2016 • One of the great human inadequacies is our inability to give proper and adequate thanks to God. Perhaps the biggest problem is that we don’t even realize the vast majority of what He does for us; it is hidden from our eyes. A further problem is that in our fallen condition we seem to be wired to magnify our problems and minimize or discount the enormous blessings of each moment. God sustains every fiber...

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.(Nahum 3:5-6)Can this obscene parody of an election sink any lower? ( I am afraid to ask…). Could it be that America is undergoing the judgment spoken of in Nahum? Our politicians, the “Elite class” who have selfishly constructed a system for themselves, (through unbelievably reckless levels of immigration),and to...

ROME, October 5, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – New guidelines about the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia issued for the pope’s own diocese of Rome suggest that couples living in a state the Church labels objectively sinful may in limited circumstances receive Holy Communion in a "discreet manner." The release of the new guidelines follows closely on the Vatican’s authentication of a letter from Pope Francis to Argentine bishops affirming that the only valid interpretation of the exhortation is one that similarly liberalizes sacramental practice. The vicar of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, publicized the official diocesan guidelines for the implementation...

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. . . . Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee" (Ps. 119:9, 11). Scripture is the source of spiritual victory. Many Christians struggle with spiritual defeat or recurring sins because they haven't learned to apply biblical principles to specific situations. Perhaps they don't know God's will because they haven't matured in the Word. Or maybe they know what He expects of them but disregard His counsel. In either case, the result is the same. Jesus Himself...

“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2). True confession involves a proper understanding of sin. King David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14). He was far from perfect, however. He was not an effective father (1 Kings 1:5-6), nor did he always trust God (1 Sam. 21:10—22:1). But by far his greatest failings were his horrible sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband (2 Sam. 11—12). After Nathan the prophet confronted him with his sin, David poured out his heart in confession to God....

Church chatter Respectful silence before Mass might be a thing of the past, but competing factions aren’t the answer Msgr. Charles Pope October 9, 2016 9/28/2016 Question: There has been an attempt in my parish to end the talking before Mass by having the Rosary prayed. However, it starts to drone and sound like a race to finish the decades. Others say it makes it difficult for them to pray quietly. Any thoughts on this practice?— Art Osten, Fox River Grove, Illinois Answer: Though there is a legitimate need for some private preparation for Mass, the church is not, first...

October 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium, suggested that homosexual couples, divorced and remarried Catholics, and cohabiting pairs should be given some sort of Church blessing as part of a “diversity of rituals” that would recognize the “exclusiveness and stability” of their unions. Since the two Synods on the Family and the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, this is probably one of the most radical viewpoints to have been expressed to date in the name of “pastoral care” and “mercy” by a Catholic prelate. Bishop Bonny offers his thoughts in a book to be published October 11...

How Can a Demon, Driven Out, Return with Seven More? A Meditation on a Puzzling Parable Msgr. Charles Pope • October 6, 2016 • The Gospel for Friday of this week (27th Week of the Year) features the puzzling parable about the cast-out demon who returns with seven others. What is most puzzling, is that finding the house (soul) “swept and clean” brings further trouble. One would think that a house that is swept and clean would be a good thing!For reference, here is the parable:When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he roams through waterless...

VATICAN CITY - Christians can fall prey to the enchantments of ideology that adhere to rigid requirements yet ignore and sadden the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said. While following doctrine is important, those who focus solely on its strict observance can “reduce the Spirit and the Son to a law,” the pope said Oct. 6 during an early morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. “It is true that there are the commandments and we should follow the commandments; but always from the grace of this great gift given to us by the Father, the Son; it...

What Conscience Dreads and Prayer Dares Not Ask – A Consideration of a Powerful but Puzzling Prayer Msgr. Charles Pope • October 5, 2016 • The Collect (Opening Prayer) for this week’s Masses (27th Week of the Year), though directed to God, teaches us that our prayer is not always about things with which we are comfortable. Prayer sometimes leads us to look into areas of our life where we struggle with sin or we struggle to desire to be free of sin. Here is the prayer:Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits...

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable . . . that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Scripture equips you for spiritual service. Each week I have the privilege of interacting with more than one hundred students at The Master's Seminary. One of my greatest joys is seeing their determination to do God's work in God's way. That attitude is the key to success in ministry, as Joshua learned when he assumed leadership over the Israelites after Moses' death. At that point, God said to him, "This book of the...

“If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). God is light, and His children share His nature. First John 1:5 aptly describes God’s nature as “light” (truth and holiness). Because they partake of His nature (2 Peter 1:4), His children also walk in the light. It must be understood that we don’t become God’s children by walking in the light, but rather we walk in the light because we are His children. The Greek...

Edwina Sandys had seen this before: the 250-pound bronze statue of a bare-breasted woman on a translucent acrylic cross being installed in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. This time around, however, she does not expect to see something else she had seen before: the statue being packed up after a call from a ranking church official telling her it had to go. That happened the first time “Christa,” Ms. Sandys’s sculpture of a crucified woman, was shown at the cathedral in Manhattan during Holy Week in 1984. A controversy erupted, complete with hate mail attacking it as...

What St. Paul’s Example Can Teach Us About Authority Msgr. Charles Pope • October 5, 2016 • In daily Mass we have been reading from second chapter of the Letter to the Galatians. In it, St. Paul recounts his personal history and describes his authority. the reviewing the faith journey of St. Paul, who describes his personal history and also his authority in the second chapter of the Letter to the Galatians. St. Paul’s story is interesting for three reasons. It can help to correct notions that some have that St. Paul’s ascended to the office of apostle (bishop)...

Maybe it takes a Torah scholar and religious Jew to help us understand the roots of the inverted values that animate Western civilization. For over ten years, author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager taught the first five books of the Bible verse-by-verse at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. According to Prager there is no greater concept in the Torah than that of “distinction,” or, put another way, the clear separation God makes between certain things: God and man, animal and human, life and death, sacred and profane, good and evil, male and female. He even...