In this e-weekly:
- Brief homily from former Green Beret, Football All-Star, and Millionarie turned Priest ("Helpful Hints of Life")
- "Joy in the Eucharist" Chris Stefanik Reminds Faithful of Eternal Truth (Diocesan News and BEYOND)
- THIRD COMMANDMENT: QandA on Third Commandment at end of e-mail
- Brief homily from former Green Beret, Football All-Star, and Millionarie turned Priest ("Helpful Hints of Life")
- "Joy in the Eucharist" Chris Stefanik Reminds Faithful of Eternal Truth (Diocesan News and BEYOND)
- THIRD COMMANDMENT: QandA on Third Commandment at end of e-mail
Liturgy of heaven and earth (Holy Mass) unites all people in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God
Catholic Good News
Receiving the Gospel, Serving God and Neighbor
Family Traditions and Church Liturgy
"You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children." Exodus 12:24
Receiving the Gospel, Serving God and Neighbor
Family Traditions and Church Liturgy
"You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children." Exodus 12:24
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Almost all of us have set patterns or rituals we go through each day or each year. We may not realize it, but this is very similar to Liturgy, what we do every Sunday as Roman Catholics.
Many families have taken their summer vacations as they do every year. I met a priest friend of mine, and he said he was getting a late start, but said that he wanted to do his spring cleaning like he does every year. Whether we admit or not, like or not, we are creatures of habit and ritual, it is our nature, the way God designed us. So Holy Mass every Sunday, further than being obligatory, is natural for us. However, unlike family tradition or daily ritual which only accomplishes something for the day or time. Holy Mass gives us what we need for a day and life, and further Holy Mass takes us to Calvary and the Last Supper, gives us Jesus fully since It is Him, and unites us to Heaven and all who love God.
Keep your good family traditions and rituals, and strive to understand more the critical and natural liturgy of your life in THEE Liturgy of the Heaven and Earth which we call the Holy Mass!
Peace and prayers in Jesus through Mary, loved by Saint Joseph,
Father Robert
P.S. This coming Sunday is Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. The readings can be found at: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091524.cfm
Almost all of us have set patterns or rituals we go through each day or each year. We may not realize it, but this is very similar to Liturgy, what we do every Sunday as Roman Catholics.
Many families have taken their summer vacations as they do every year. I met a priest friend of mine, and he said he was getting a late start, but said that he wanted to do his spring cleaning like he does every year. Whether we admit or not, like or not, we are creatures of habit and ritual, it is our nature, the way God designed us. So Holy Mass every Sunday, further than being obligatory, is natural for us. However, unlike family tradition or daily ritual which only accomplishes something for the day or time. Holy Mass gives us what we need for a day and life, and further Holy Mass takes us to Calvary and the Last Supper, gives us Jesus fully since It is Him, and unites us to Heaven and all who love God.
Keep your good family traditions and rituals, and strive to understand more the critical and natural liturgy of your life in THEE Liturgy of the Heaven and Earth which we call the Holy Mass!
Peace and prayers in Jesus through Mary, loved by Saint Joseph,
Father Robert
P.S. This coming Sunday is Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. The readings can be found at: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091524.cfm
568. What is one example as an expression of the life of prayer? (Catechism of the Catholic Church-CCC 2697-2699)
a) virtue
b) meditation
c) floating off the ground
d) putting oneself in a trance
569. How can vocal prayer be described? (CCC 2700-2704, 2722)
a) it associates the body with the prayer of the heart
b) it springs from personal faith
c) the Our Father is a perfect form of it
d) all of the above
570. What is meditation? (CCC 2705-2708, 2723)
a) repeating, “ohm,…ohm,…ohm,” over and over
b) it involves clearing one’s minds of all thoughts
c) that which engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire
d) none of the above
571. What is contemplative prayer? (CCC 2709-2719, 2724, 2739-2741)
a) simple gaze upon God in silence and love
b) the ability to move things with your mind
c) matching the thoughts of the person you are praying with
d) all of the above
(Answers on back)
a) virtue
b) meditation
c) floating off the ground
d) putting oneself in a trance
569. How can vocal prayer be described? (CCC 2700-2704, 2722)
a) it associates the body with the prayer of the heart
b) it springs from personal faith
c) the Our Father is a perfect form of it
d) all of the above
570. What is meditation? (CCC 2705-2708, 2723)
a) repeating, “ohm,…ohm,…ohm,” over and over
b) it involves clearing one’s minds of all thoughts
c) that which engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire
d) none of the above
571. What is contemplative prayer? (CCC 2709-2719, 2724, 2739-2741)
a) simple gaze upon God in silence and love
b) the ability to move things with your mind
c) matching the thoughts of the person you are praying with
d) all of the above
(Answers on back)
liturgy
(Latin liturgia "public work", Greek leitourgía "public service, public duty")
- official public worship of the Church
[In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God." –CCC 1069 In Scripture it refers to the religious duties to be performed by priests and levites in the Temple, especially those related to the Sacrifice; in Christian use among the Eastern Churches it means the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
In present day usage liturgy is the official public worship of the Church and is thus distinguished from private devotion. It is the special title of the Eucharist, and the administration of the sacraments with the annexed use of the sacramentals. Its function, therefore, is twofold: to give honor and praise to God, which is worship and our salvation, and to obtain blessings for the human race, which is sanctification.]
(Latin liturgia "public work", Greek leitourgía "public service, public duty")
- official public worship of the Church
[In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God." –CCC 1069 In Scripture it refers to the religious duties to be performed by priests and levites in the Temple, especially those related to the Sacrifice; in Christian use among the Eastern Churches it means the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
In present day usage liturgy is the official public worship of the Church and is thus distinguished from private devotion. It is the special title of the Eucharist, and the administration of the sacraments with the annexed use of the sacramentals. Its function, therefore, is twofold: to give honor and praise to God, which is worship and our salvation, and to obtain blessings for the human race, which is sanctification.]
"Helpful Hints of Life"
Brief Homily from a former All Star American Football Player, ex-Green Bare, and Millionarie turned Priest:
I have been celebrating Mass at a local parish while the pastor is away the past few weeks. Many of the readings during that time concerned the prophets and their message and trials. I was moved to reflect once again on the prophetic dimension of our Baptism in Christ-Priest, Prophet and King. Several decades ago, the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, "The prophetic voice of Christ has all but been stilled in the Church today." To the degree we fail in this prophetic mission, the world will sink into oblivion under the increasing weight of its sins.
In my lifetime, the United States has gone from quite a wholesome, rational, and moral country, to one that is largely decadent, irrational, and immoral. Most people seem to be hardened to it, unconcerned that we have a death wish in process.
First it was artificial contraception, then abortion, then partial-birth abortion, then infanticide (all of which have been supported by many liberal politicians at one time or another, even some running for president) not to mention euthanasia, and outright killing of the disabled and sick. Actually, it's even worse. Terri Schiavo wasn't sick. She didn't die from an illness. They killed her by starvation, a very cruel way to die.
Now it's same sex marriage (no transmission of life, no fruit of natural love) and we call it inclusive and just. It is yet another nail in the coffin of a society that is clearly dying. Every stage of life is under assault by the forces of death. From prevention of life through artificial contraception, to abortion-which is homicide by definition in each case (the taking of the life of an innocent human being), and genocide taken as a whole. Preventing life, ending life from the youngest to the oldest. We call it progress. It is a death wish, and we had better watch what we wish for. (for the end of a culture of death is death for all!)
"All that evil requires to prosper is that good men remain silent."
The hour is late. We have had years to change course. Instead, we have obstinately refused and gone from bad to worse. May God have mercy on us, and grant us the courage and strength to act in accordance with that truth.
God bless you,
Father John Corapi
"The liturgy is the work of the whole Christ, head and body. Our high priest celebrates it unceasingly in the heavenly liturgy, with the holy Mother of God, the apostles, all the saints, and the multitude of those who have already entered the kingdom."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church #1187
Brief Homily from a former All Star American Football Player, ex-Green Bare, and Millionarie turned Priest:
I have been celebrating Mass at a local parish while the pastor is away the past few weeks. Many of the readings during that time concerned the prophets and their message and trials. I was moved to reflect once again on the prophetic dimension of our Baptism in Christ-Priest, Prophet and King. Several decades ago, the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, "The prophetic voice of Christ has all but been stilled in the Church today." To the degree we fail in this prophetic mission, the world will sink into oblivion under the increasing weight of its sins.
In my lifetime, the United States has gone from quite a wholesome, rational, and moral country, to one that is largely decadent, irrational, and immoral. Most people seem to be hardened to it, unconcerned that we have a death wish in process.
First it was artificial contraception, then abortion, then partial-birth abortion, then infanticide (all of which have been supported by many liberal politicians at one time or another, even some running for president) not to mention euthanasia, and outright killing of the disabled and sick. Actually, it's even worse. Terri Schiavo wasn't sick. She didn't die from an illness. They killed her by starvation, a very cruel way to die.
Now it's same sex marriage (no transmission of life, no fruit of natural love) and we call it inclusive and just. It is yet another nail in the coffin of a society that is clearly dying. Every stage of life is under assault by the forces of death. From prevention of life through artificial contraception, to abortion-which is homicide by definition in each case (the taking of the life of an innocent human being), and genocide taken as a whole. Preventing life, ending life from the youngest to the oldest. We call it progress. It is a death wish, and we had better watch what we wish for. (for the end of a culture of death is death for all!)
"All that evil requires to prosper is that good men remain silent."
The hour is late. We have had years to change course. Instead, we have obstinately refused and gone from bad to worse. May God have mercy on us, and grant us the courage and strength to act in accordance with that truth.
God bless you,
Father John Corapi
"The liturgy is the work of the whole Christ, head and body. Our high priest celebrates it unceasingly in the heavenly liturgy, with the holy Mother of God, the apostles, all the saints, and the multitude of those who have already entered the kingdom."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church #1187