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By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Jan 31, 2020 Not long ago Pope Francis expressed concern that, in praying the Our Father, people should not think that God ever leads them into temptation, so another translation would be better. Actually, however, God does in some sense lead us into temptation. When we look at this from the mindset of the ancient Jews, we can see very clearly how this is true. It is bound up in the reality of Providence. In general, the Old Testament texts do not distinguish what we would now call God’s permissive will from his active will. This can create confusion when we read things like, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. If that is so, how can Pharaoh be blamed for his response to Moses? Why is it Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers that are dest...

It happens from time to time that a feast of the Lord falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time and, since such a feast ranks high among the liturgical days, it replaces even the Sunday celebration. Such is the case on Sunday, February 2, 2020. On this day, rather than observing the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Roman Rite will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. And there is much to dig out about this day. For many non-observant Catholics, though, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (also called the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady, the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, and Candlemas) is overshadowed by Punxsutawney Phil. On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil ceremoniously emerges from his lair in west-central Pennsylvania from which the eponymous rodent received ...

From a reader… QUAERITUR: Father, in the Philippines a bishop told people to stop receiving Communion on the tongue and receive only in the hand because of Coronavirus and don’t have the chalice too. What say you? We have seen this movie before, with the outbreak of various strains of influenza and viruses. Here are a few commonsense observations. Firstly, it is not allowed to distribute Communion in the hand during the Traditional Latin Mass or when using the Rite for Distribution of Communion outside of Mass, or during sick calls with the older Rituale Romanum.  Also, in the older Rite, Communion is not distributed under both kinds.  That takes care of that. I don’t see a way around that.  Distribution of Communion in the hand would be a serious liturgical abuse, prec...

This is so beautiful! Kobe Bryant was the father to four young girls, which ignited amazingly pro-life posts dedicated to dads of girls this past week. The posts came in response to ESPN anchor Elle Duncan’s powerful testimony regarding Kobe Bryant as a “girl dad.” Bryant loved being a ‘girl dad’ so much that he told Duncan he would have five more girls if given the chance. First, listen to her testimony below: [embedded content]Click here if you cannot see the post above. We’ve gathered some popular posts on behalf of this recent #GirlDad trend. In the midst of this culture of death, this is a beautiful pro-life witness trending throughout the social media world. Here’s some #GirlDad posts below: Responding to Elle Duncan’s tweet of thanksgiving for the “outpouring of support behind” her ...

We have a truly unusual situation this Sunday.  Under normal circumstances, it would be the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, but it just so happens that this year, the Feast of the Presentation (pegged to Feb. 2) falls on the Sunday and “outranks” the regular Lord’s Day obligation.  The result is that many persons who do not regularly attend daily mass will have the rare experience of celebrating the full liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation.  The Readings for this Feast Day focus on the theme of the priesthood of Christ, seeing a kind of sacerdotal significance to this first entrance of the Messiah into the Temple.  These Readings prompt us to meditate firstly on how Jesus has served and continues to serve as our great High Priest, but also how his priesthood is li...

“Oftentimes what happens when we’re abused, or something evil happens to us, if we don’t respond in the correct manner, we leave ourselves open to that weakness, and to looking for things outside of the Church,” said Terese Piccola. “And that’s exactly what happened to me.” Her story was recently recounted by the … “Oftentimes what happens when we’re abused, or something evil happens to us, if we don’t respond in the correct manner, we leave ourselves open to that weakness, and to looking for things outside of the Church,” said Terese Piccola. “And that’s exactly what happened to me.” Her story was recently recounted by the National Catholic Register in a blog post titled, “Wife and Mo...

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), an Oxford convert mentored by St. John Henry Newman, stands among the greatest Catholic poets in the English language. After teaching at Newman’s oratory in Birmingham, Hopkins entered the Jesuits and, after numerous teaching positions in Britain, was sent as a professor of Greek and Latin to the university Newman founded in Dublin, The Catholic University of Ireland, where he died prematurely. Hopkins lived in Victorian England and Ireland and witnessed the social and environmental changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. The economic changes of this revolution stand for more than mere external change. The movements of modern secularism had begun to transform the daily life of the average person–explosions of cities and the social problems that ...

You will hear a great deal in the next few days about the early death of basketball star Kobe Bryant, who seems to have been a practicing Catholic.   It might even bump some impeachment coverage off the waves. A death like this is very sad.  We should say a prayer for him and his closest. His death will seem sadder to many because of his fame. YOU are no less valuable to God, no less desired by Him for heaven than the late Mr. Bryant. Sudden death happens.  It happens to quite a lot of people, as a matter of fact. Bluntly, if sudden, unforeseen, death happened to Kobe Bryant, it can easily happen to you. Just look the wrong way at the wrong moment. Some deaths are foreseen or predictable or made more likely by circumstances.  One universal circumstance is that ever...

I found out about the bomb down the street by text message on Tuesday at 4:22 p.m., just as I was locking my bike outside our son’s preschool. It was a screengrab, actually: My wife had passed on a tweet from the Berlin police department with a photo of a huge archaeological excavation and construction site that we can see from our balcony in the center of the city. “A World War II bomb was found today at about 11:30 during construction work on the corner of Grunerstr. and Juedenstr. Our colleagues have blocked off the area, the bomb squad technicians are on the scene.” What, my wife wanted to know, were we going to do? This question is not as unusual as one might think, at least in German cities and others hit hard during the war. Between 1940 and 1945, Allied forces dropped 2.7 million t...

The adoration ministry will begin praying for 16 hours daily next month January 24, 2020 3:44 PM Posted: January 24, 2020 3:44 PM Updated: January 24, 2020 5:59 PM Mary of the Angels Chapel LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT)- Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), beginning next month, will no longer pray 24 hours, seven days a week. After 23 years of including prayer partners in its adoration ministry and following 12 years of careful study of the future of the practice, FSPA will pray daily 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. beginning February 26, 2020. The congregation has prayed 24/7 in their chapel since August 1, 1878. “FSPA remains devoted to the spirit of our long-standing tradition. Our thoughtful study over the years has included a growing understanding of a modern way to live in adoration through...