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By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 09, 2024 Understanding emotional temperaments helps us understand our natural strengths and weaknesses and those of others. Self-knowledge of good and bad emotional and behavioral inclinations helps us grow in humility. However, the temperaments cannot adequately describe the emotional and spiritual make-up of Jesus. His sinless self-portrait directs every temperament. Personalities and temperaments frequently distract us from relationships based on authentic human integrity. Occasionally we like someone because the person reminds us of a favorite relative. Other times, we dislike a person—often despite his goodness and competence—because his temperament reminds us of someone we dislike. The friends and enemies of Jesus lov...

In ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ James Earl Jones portrays Balthasar as driven by a delightful wonder of God and stars and galaxies far, far away. For as brilliant as the entire 1977 television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth is, the most creatively realized sequences by director Franco Zeffirelli are arguably the depiction of the infancy narratives. This includes the episode of the Magi played, in their own idiosyncratic styles, by legendary actors Fernando Rey, Donald Pleasance and James Earl Jones, who died yesterday at age 93. The origins of the Magi — traditionally named in the Latin West as Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar — are mysterious. They are mentioned only in the Gospel of St. Matthew (2:1-12). However, all three are considered saints: St. Gaspar (Jan. 1), St. Melchior (Jan. 6) and St. Bal...

By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 04, 2024 Could we all please agree to stop using the adjective “vibrant” to describe a Catholic parish, diocese, or other faith community? My desktop dictionary (admittedly an antique, Webster’s New Collegiate, published in 1974) defines “vibrant” as “oscillating or pulsating rapidly”—something that is ordinarily done by inanimate objects, not by human beings, let alone human communities. Granted, the connotation of the word has changed over time, so that today it is used as more or less synonymous with “energetic” or “vigorous.” But those familiar old words conjure up distinct mental images, whereas “vibrant” leaves things somewhat vague. If someone says that the walls of his room are painted in “vibrant” colors, you know what to...

14 hours ago 14 hours ago Jim Valois holds a B.A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. His articles and book reviews have been featured in The Wanderer Newspaper, Soul Magazine (World Apostolate of Fatima, USA), and Catholic Life Magazine. He is the author of Our Lady’s Prophecies and reverted to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism while studying at Franciscan University. Jim is a husband and father of two adult children. He has worked in business and previously served in youth ministry in both teaching and administrative roles. In this discussion, Jim shares the inspiring story of Charlene Marie Richard, a young Cajun Catholic farm girl who died over 60 years ago at the age of 12 after a painful battle with leukemia. Charlene was known for her bright, generous ...

My big fat Spanish wedding Skip to content Last week, at a parish just a few miles north of Madrid, 18 couples celebrated the first ‘macro-wedding’ in Spain. The macro-wedding at San Sebastián Mártir Parish. Credit: Archdiocese of Madrid Subscribe now The couples, who had all been cohabiting for at least five years, entered into the relationship of marriage on August 29, after months of preparation at San Sebastián Mártir Parish. Spain is known as one of the most traditionally Catholic countries in the world. However, only 20% of weddings in the country take place according to canonical form, which is required by the Church for Catholics to validly contract marriage. The parish priest, Fr. Javier Sánchez-Cervera, had noticed that most of the couples coming to his parish to baptize their ch...

The mission and work of Mother Teresa can be seen in her profound Eucharistic life. As the 10th National Eucharistic Congress concluded recently in Indianapolis, with prayers for a new Pentecost in the U.S. Church, it’s a good time to look back at Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her participation in the 41st International Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. What was her understanding of the unitive and transformative meaning of the Eucharist? In a letter dated April 30, 1975, a year before the start of the event, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal John Krol, invited Mother Teresa to be his guest “and play a featured role in one of the Congress programs dealing with the Eucharist and the hunger of people for food and the necessities of life.” Mother Teresa’s response arrived promptly, in ...

JAKARTA – The Indonesian police have detained seven people in a failed plot to attack Pope Francis, who wrapped up the first leg of his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour in the archipelago on Sept 6. A total of seven people were detained, mostly on Sept 2 and 3, in Jakarta, in the outlying cities of Bogor and Bekasi, West Sumatra province and Bangka Belitung Islands province, according to the media statement issued on Sept 6 by Indonesia’s national police anti-terrorism squad Detachment-88. The initials of the arrested are HFP, LB, DF, FA, HS, ER and RS, the statement said.   Detachment-88 spokesman Aswin Siregar told reporters that investigations are still ongoing, and it has not yet been established whether the seven detainees know each other, or are members of the same terror cell. “We have...

Lay witness has a huge impact, but priests have to be there to provide the sacraments. That’s one important lesson from the readings this Sunday, the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. The story told by Mark in the Gospel shows exactly how this works. First, even Jesus’s travel route is important in this Sunday’s Gospel. The passage begins by saying, “Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee.” If you look at a map of the territory, you will see that this is like saying, “Jesus left New York, and went to Washington, D.C., by way of Boston.” This is a telling detail about Jesus’s modus operandi. He often doesn’t take the most efficient way; he takes the most efficacious way. The most efficient way to save the world might have been to appear in...

Journey from Jerusalem to Antioch through Alexandria, Rome, of course, Constantinople and, finally, to Carthage. ‘Rabbles, Riots and Ruins: Twelve Ancient Cities and How They Were Evangelized’ By Mike Aquilina Ignatius, 2024 206 pages, $17.95 Cities have always been rough places. When too many people are crowded together, there’s no telling what can go wrong: riots, vandalism and even murder. And when people with dearly held diverse views get in each other’s faces, sparks can fly — followed by fire. That’s especially true when those diverse views are religious in nature. Yet ancient cities for all their flaws were the launching pads for Christianity’s miraculous growth. It’s where the fundamentals of the faith were fought over and confirmed as well as the places where the Christians were o...

The subject always deserves consideration, but two recent articles on sex abuse within the Church are worth discussion. The first, published by Crux, declares — sadly, to the surprise of no one — “Abuse crisis in the Catholic Church shows no signs of abating.” The second came via OSV News: Catholics in the Sicilian city of Enna are protesting a diocesan cover-up of abuses against minors, committed by a local priest while he was still a seminarian, between 2009 and 2013. The Italian court found Father Guiseppe Rugolo guilty of “the sexual abuse of two young teenagers … fully aware that he could count on the support of the religious leadership,” adding that Bishop Rosario Gisana of the Diocese of Piazza Armerina was “well aware for many years of the reports made concerning the abuse suffered...

In July, the United States held its first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years — a monumental moment in the life of the local Church. However, it’s not the only Eucharistic congress that’s happening this year.  From Sept. 8 to Sept. 15, the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress will gather thousands of faithful from corners of the world in Quito, Ecuador, to celebrate the Eucharistic presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. It marks the first time an Andean country has hosted an international congress and coincides with the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus made in 1874. The very first international Eucharistic congress was held in France in 1881, and since then, they have occurred every one to five years. The only times that...