Archive for April, 2015

Reflections for Sunday, April 26, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, April 26, 2015

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by on Apr 23, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 4:8-12 2nd Reading: 1 John 3:1-2 Responsorial: Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 29 Gospel: John 10:11-18 Following Jesus, the Good Shepherd Who Gives His Life for Us This is the fourth of seven “I am” declarations that Jesus makes about himself in […]

St. George, Martyr
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St. George, Martyr

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by on Apr 23, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form, Station Churches
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ST. GEORGE was born in Cappadocia, at the close of the third century, of Christian parents. In early youth he chose a soldier’s life, and soon obtained the favor of Diocletian, who advanced him to the grade of tribune. When, however, the emperor began to persecute the Christians, George rebuked him at once sternly and […]

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St. Soter, Pope, Martyr

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by on Apr 22, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. SOTER was raised to the papacy upon the death of St. Anicetus, in 173. By the sweetness of his discourses he comforted all persons with the tenderness of a father, and assisted the indigent with liberal alms, especially those who suffered for the faith. He liberally extended his charities, according to the custom of […]

Enjoying My Peaceful Place
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Enjoying My Peaceful Place

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by on Apr 21, 2015 in Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ
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I have many ways to begin prayer, with numerous different motivations. Lately, God has been providing a certain motivation without my consciously asking for it. Ultimately, it’s almost always about finding peace. Before I get to that, let me share some of the ways I like to pray. There are times when I wish to […]

Christ Understands Every Grief
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Christ Understands Every Grief

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by on Apr 21, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
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Today I met a 14 year old boy who was paralyzed in a freak accident last summer. He is quadriplegic. It’s not yet been a year since his accident. I’m not sure if the reality of severe, permanent disability has been fully internalized for him or his parents. It is a hard grief journey that will […]

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St. Anselm, Archbishop

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by on Apr 21, 2015 in Saint of the Day, Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ANSELM was a native of Piedmont. When a boy of fifteen, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a while lost his fervor, left his home, and went to various schools in France. At length his vocation revived, and he became a monk at Bec in Normandy. The fame of his sanctity in this cloister […]

Hollywood’s Blacklist and Agents of Stalin—and Hitler
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Hollywood’s Blacklist and Agents of Stalin—and Hitler

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Columnists, Featured, Government & Politics
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These comrades took literal marching orders from Stalin’s Kremlin.

Abortion Celebrations
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Abortion Celebrations

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Women
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If you’re happy killing babies, clap your hands. If you’re happy killing babies, clap your hands. If you’re happy baby killing and for you its so fulfilling, If you’re happy killing, babies clap your hands.   The Abortion Industry has been having “Abortion celebrations” around the country whose themes include: “Celebrate the death of your […]

Boko Haram Suffers Setback, Refugees Return Home
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Boko Haram Suffers Setback, Refugees Return Home

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Featured, International Issues, Those in Need
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“It is all up to God—it’s not up to us to avenge and take retribution.” That’s the message proclaimed by Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri, Nigeria, one of the dioceses heaviest hit by the deadly raids of Boko Haram. Over the past few weeks, a strike force of the Nigerian army joined by troops […]

Nigerian Bishops March, Sing and Train at Pro-Life Conference
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Nigerian Bishops March, Sing and Train at Pro-Life Conference

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured
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“We had to limit the number of people in each diocese who could come,” said one organizer of a pro-life and pro-family conference in Ibadan, Nigeria. Over 1,500 filled the auditorium, and even then people spilled outside. One region with a small Christian population extended invitations to their Muslim neighbors who gladly attended. Bishops in […]

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel
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Front Row With Francis: The Alliance of Man and Woman

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, The Shepherd's Voice
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Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the family on Wednesday in his general audience by explaining the central aspect of the family:” that of the great gift that God made to humanity with the creation of man and woman and with the Sacrament of Marriage. This catechesis and the next are concerned with the difference […]

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St. Marcellinus, Bishop

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by on Apr 20, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. MARCELLINUS was born in Africa, of a noble family; accompanied by Vincent and Domninus, he went over into Gaul, and there preached the Gospel, with great success, in the neighborhood of the Alps. He afterwards settled at Embrun, where he built a chapel in which he passed his nights in prayer, after laboring all […]

Poem: "Shine"
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Poem: “Shine”

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by on Apr 19, 2015 in Featured, Poetry
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Rapping Priest/Urban Poet: A Spoken Word by Fr. Pontifex

Not a spook
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Not a spook

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by on Apr 19, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, MyChurchParish.com
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In the heyday of the Roman Empire, the corruption of the times caused a wave of dissatisfaction to ripple across the civilized world.  Many were disgusted with the gross sensuality of society and yearned for a higher, spiritual kind of existence.  They sought a redeemer who would come down from heaven and enlighten those who […]

St. Elphege (Alphege), Archbishop
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St. Elphege (Alphege), Archbishop

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by on Apr 19, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. ELPHEGE was born in the year 954, of a noble Saxon family. He first became a monk in the monastery of Deerhurst, near Tewkesbury, England, and afterwards lived as a hermit near Bath, where he founded a community under the rule of St. Benedict, and became its first abbot. At thirty years of age […]

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St. Apollonius, Martyr

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by on Apr 18, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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MARCUS AURELIUS had persecuted the Christians, but his son Commodus, who in 180 succeeded him, showed himself favorable to them out of regard to his Empress Marcia, who was an admirer of the Faith. During this calm the number of the faithful was exceedingly increased, and many persons of the first rank, among them Apollonius, […]

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St. Anicetus, Pope, Martyr

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by on Apr 17, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. ANICETUS succeeded St. Pius, and sat about eight years, from 165 to 173. If he did not shed his blood for the Faith, he at least purchased the title of martyr by great sufferings and dangers. He received a visit from St. Polycarp, and tolerated the custom of the Asiatics in celebrating Easter on […]

Great Expectations?
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Great Expectations?

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by on Apr 16, 2015 in Featured, Parenting, The Social Order
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Encouraging positive character development.

Take Me to Church -- The Mega-Church, That Is
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Take Me to Church — The Mega-Church, That Is

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by on Apr 16, 2015 in Apologetics, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ
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My best female friend is a non-practicing Catholic. Like many lapsed Catholics, she attends Mass twice a year (Christmas and Easter). Though she has no genuine faith, she at least still appreciates Catholicism culturally, which is why she had a Catholic wedding, is supportive of our celibate priests, and ferries her kids to CCD at her local […]

<em>The Messengers</em>: An End Times TV Series
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The Messengers: An End Times TV Series

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by on Apr 16, 2015 in Featured, On Media, On TV and Movies
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The new TV series The Messengers is an end-times drama in the battle of good and evil. But first, before tuning in, suspend any theological expectations–it is fiction after all. The plot centers on a group of five young people with no connections to one another. An energy pulse courses through them, killing them, after […]

Birth Control: Now That You Know, What's Next?
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Birth Control: Now That You Know, What’s Next?

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by on Apr 16, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, Marriage
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In part 1 of this discussion on rethinking your birth control, I defined what it means to be a woman. Not just a modern woman, but a whole woman according to God’s design. Part 2 detailed attributes of her feminine genius in the form of female fertility. The cyclic ebb and flow of her fertile […]

St. Bernadette Soubirous, Virgin
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St. Bernadette Soubirous, Virgin

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by on Apr 16, 2015 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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This servant of God, canonized in 1933, was born on January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, France. While tending flocks outside the town, this simple, pious shepherdess used to pray before a grotto. One day, in 1858, she beheld there a beautiful lady clothed in white and blue with roses at her feet and a rosary […]

The Law of Human Nature Still Exists
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The Law of Human Nature Still Exists

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by on Apr 15, 2015 in Catechesis, Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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Is there anything so wicked as a man trying to silence his conscience?  It is a willful act that happens in stages: Bit by bit, incident by incident, rationalization by rationalization, the voice of a man’s conscience can be stifled—that still small voice within him eventually becomes fainter, until his heart turns to stone and […]

<em>Gifts of the Visitation</em> by Denise Bossert
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Gifts of the Visitation by Denise Bossert

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by on Apr 15, 2015 in Featured, On Books
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Gifts of the Visitation: Nine Spiritual Encounters with Mary and Elizabeth (Ave Maria Press, 2015) is a story of grace, conversion and surrender. Denise Bossert beckons us to go deeper than ever before into the world of Our Blessed Mother and of St. Elizabeth as they joyously await the birth of our Lord and of St. John the Baptist. […]