Free Republic

YORBA LINDA — Walk into Mark Hanson’s church and nobody will greet you. The guys hanging around the foyer might even make fun of what you’re wearing, or your haircut. A sign over the entrance reads, “Grab a seat in the back and shut up. Nobody cares what you think.” Welcome to Jerk Church. “You know these guys,” says Hanson, the pastor and founder. “They sit with their arms folded the whole time, leave during the altar call, criticize the pastor, snort when other people state their opinions and never create lasting bonds of friendship. Their wives are always really...

The commemoration and ceremonies of the Third Sunday of Lent are closely parallel to the feasts of the Veneration of the Cross (September 14) and the Procession of the Cross (August 1). Not only does the Sunday of the Holy Cross prepare us for commemoration of the Crucifixion, but it also reminds us that the whole of Lent is a period when we are crucified with Christ. As we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24), and will have mortified ourselves during these forty days of the Fast, the precious and life-giving Cross is now placed...

March 15, 2015 - Fourth Sunday of LentFourth Sunday of Lent    Reading 1 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23 In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the...

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid:...

March 14, 2015Saturday of the Third Week of Lent    Reading 1 Hos 6:1-6 “Come, let us return to the LORD,it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.He will revive us after two days;on the third day he will raise us up,to live in his presence.Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;as certain as the dawn is his coming,and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!He will come to us like the rain,like spring rain that waters the earth.” What can I...

Majesty unspeakable, my soul desires to behold Thee. I cry to Thee from the dust. Yet when I inquire after Thy name it is secret. Thou art hidden in the light which no man can approach unto. What Thou art cannot be thought or uttered, for Thy glory is ineffable. Still, prophet and psalmist, apostle and saint have encouraged me to believe that I may in some measure know Thee. Therefore, I pray, whatever of Thyself Thou hast been pleased to disclose, help me to search out as treasure more precious than rubies or the merchandise of fine gold: for...

A CHRISTIAN IS ONE WHO BELIEVES on Jesus Christ as Lord. With this statement every evangelical agrees. Indeed there would appear to be nothing else to do, since the New Testament is crystal clear about the matter. This first acknowledgment of Christ as Lord and Saviour is usually followed by baptism and membership in a Protestant church, the one because it satisfies a craving for fellowship with others of like mind. A few Christians shy away from organized religion, but the vast majority, while they recognize the imperfections of the churches, nevertheless feel that they can serve their Lord better...

The Evolution of the Sacrifice of the Mass: Part 1 March 12, 2009 The most ancient writing depicting what early Christian gatherings looked like come from a work called the Didache, also known as “The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles.” But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the...

The latest cover of the new New Republic features Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig taking on conservative anxieties about Pope Francis’s possible “radicalism.” The essay isn’t just about the pope; it offers a larger critique of the way that conservatives, Catholic and otherwise, relate to and interpret the human/Western/Christian past. I have a few disagreements with this depiction, and a few critical generalizations I’d make about the liberal tendency in Catholic thinking and debate right now. But I’ll save those for another post; for now I think it would be helpful for the discussion of Catholicism in the Francis era to spend...

Pope Announces Special Catholic Church Holy Year On Theme of Mercy 13 March 2015 By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY, March 13 - Pope Francis announced on Friday the Roman Catholic Church will mark an extraordinary Holy Year, one of its most important events, in which faithful make pilgrimages to Rome and other religious sites around the world. During the last Holy Year - or Jubilee - in 2000, millions of pilgrims came to Rome to take part in religious festivities throughout the year. Making the surprise announcement in St. Peter's Basilica on the second anniversary of his election, Francis said...

O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,How blessed will be the one who repays youWith the recompense with which you have repaid us.How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little onesAgainst the rock! (Ps. 137:8–9)2What nasty person would say such things? Well—a pretty angry psalmist! This portion of Psalm 137 is one of various “imprecatory psalms” (Pss. 7, 12, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 83, 109, 137, 139). “Imprecation” is the calling down of curses or divine judgments on someone. Imprecatory passages have shocked some modern editors into performing “psalmectomies” on psalter hymnals, excising these...

Morning and Evening Charles H. Spurgeon March 13, 2015 Morning Reading Why sit we here until we die? —2 Kings 7:3 Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the edification of believers, but if you are yet unsaved, our heart yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to Jesus you can but die. "Nothing venture, nothing...

March 13, 2015Friday of the Third Week of Lent    Reading 1 Hos 14:2-10 Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands;for in you the orphan finds compassion.” I will heal their defection, says the LORD,I will love them freely;for my wrath is turned...

Within a few weeks after the election of Pope Francis, rumors began to circulate in Rome that the new Pontiff would appoint Archbishop Piero Marini as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW). For liberal liturgists, these rumors were cause for celebration; for conservatives, for despondency. It never happened. After many months of silence—during which time the rumors continued to swirl—the Pope announced that Cardinal Robert Sarah would be the new head of the CDW. Catholics who favor a reverent liturgy should rejoice at that appointment; the cardinal from Guinea is an excellent choice. Archbishop Marini—who was once private...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is inviting every parish around the world to open its doors for 24 hours this Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, so that the faithful might encounter Jesus Christ anew in the Sacrament of Confession and Eucharistic Adoration.  The Lenten initiative, organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, is called “24 Hours for the Lord.” It is intended also to be a time of reflection and prayer, an opportunity to  speak with a priest, and a chance to rediscover — or perhaps discover for the first time — the great mercy at the...

Brethren, Peace be with you. Ironically - or perhaps Providentially - I wrote my best academic paper ever during my years as an Eastern Orthodox Christian. You can still see that a very Scholastic mind stood behind the paper, perhaps a portent of my later return to the Catholic Church. The paper is titled Holy Tradition vs. Sola Scriptura: The Witness of the Liturgy. Frank Schaeffer published it on his Christian Activist Number 10 back in the 1990s. Fortunately, the good people at PEMPTOUSIA saved the paper from Schaeffer's unfortunate shipwreck and preserved the paper at their website. I hope...

March 12, 2015Thursday of the Third Week of Lent Reading 1 Jer 7:23-28 Thus says the LORD: This is what I commanded my people:Listen to my voice;then I will be your God and you shall be my people.Walk in all the ways that I command you,so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.They walked in the hardness of their evil heartsand turned their backs, not their faces, to me.From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.Yet they...

I apologize for the delay in posting these, but I thought it was important to give Dom Alcuin’s recent piece some extra time as our top story. We’ll get caught up with Agnese’s visits to the Station Churches by the end of this week. It is edifying to see how much more effort has generally been put into these celebrations in recent years, but the church of San Vitale (Friday of the Second Week of Lent) deserves special notice this year, as you can see by clicking the “Continue reading...” link ans scrolling down. Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent -...

GOD BEING WHO HE is must always be sought for Himself, never as a means toward something else. Whoever seeks other objects and not God is on his own; he may obtain those objects if he is able, but he will never have God. God is never found accidentally. "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13) . Whoever seeks God as a means toward desired ends will not find God. The mighty God, the maker of heaven and earth, will not be one of many treasures, not even...

Morning and Evening Charles H. Spurgeon March 11, 2015 Morning Reading Sin . . . exceeding sinful. —Romans 7:13 Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God. But alas! very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding. It is...