The Happy Priest on Lent, Happiness and the Call to Selfless Love
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. continue reading Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. (Mark 11:1.11, Matthew 21:1.11, Luke 19:28.44, and John 12:12.19) ... continue reading On Palm Sunday, we celebrate the first joy of the season, as we celebrate Our Lord's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem where he was welcomed by crowds worshiping him and laying down palm leaves before him. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week... continue reading HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances. It celebrates his last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover ... continue reading On Good Friday, each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption. In the solemn ceremonies of Holy Week we unite ourselves to our Savior, and we contemplate our own death to sin in the Death of our Lord ... continue reading Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I (Sermo xlvii in Exodum) calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum), and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. It is the centre of the greater part of the ecclesiastical year ... continue reading For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere. Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). continue reading Everything answered from when does lent end, ashes, giving something up, stations of the cross and blessed palms. The key to understanding the meaning of Lent is simple: Baptism... continue reading Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. First Station: Jesus is condemned to death... pray the stations now From the humorous to the bizarre, people have had interesting Lenten experiences. Tell us about what you are going to give up for this Lenten Year. There is great cause for belief in the Resurrection. One of the most wonderful tenets of Catholicism and the true Christian religion the Church transmits, is that the Resurrection is a historical ...Continue Reading Have you have heard the old adage, used often in a disparaging way, He´s so heavenly he is no earthly good. I suggest again that it misses the mark completely. We are Easter people. We are called to ...Continue Reading To make sure that all mankind knows that it is not over but actually just beginning, God has an Easter bombshell. While we may have been able to anticipate the wondrous joy of a day of resurrection, ...Continue Reading Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter ...Continue Reading On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes her gaze on the Cross at Calvary. Each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption. In the symbol of the Cross we can see the magnitude of the human tragedy, the ravages of original sin, and the infinite love of God. Learn More Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. Learn More Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. ACT OF CONTRITION. O my God, my Redeemer, behold me here at Thy feet. From the bottom of my heart... Pray the Stations
'Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed' Lk. 5:35
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Sunday homily, Lent, Catholic spirituality, mortification, spiritual progress, Father James Farfaglia, Get Serious
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Good Friday
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Fasting & Abstinence
Abstinence. The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted.
Fasting. The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday (Canon 97) to the 59th Birthday (i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday) to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal.
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Elizabeth:
I am sorry to hear about your loss. I am pleased that my Sunday homily article was able to help you. Be assured of my prayers.
Today, I came home to the news that my grandfather had passed away. I came on Catholic online to find a prayer in his honor and came upon this article to read. He was a man of "selfless love" and is in heaven with God. Thank you father for such an uplifting article that brought me to tears and reflected my grandfather.
What a great message.In this world that is so geared to "me,me,me!" All around us people,especially young people,are exposed to the self-centeredness of this world,on television and sadly,even so called christian evangelists preach a message of how great one's life will become if they will follow Jesus.....health and wealth and the best of everything.Please keep teaching the truth in a world that so desperately needs to hear it.
Good, important, and always timely message.
It is sad to know that many Christians either dismiss entirely the notion of sainthood or find it difficult to incorporate into their spiritual life the communion of saints and their value to the universal Christian church. I do not know that you can be Christian and not believe that the human soul is eternal. If it is eternal then its status in life and after death, especially to those who knew and loved the person, becomes an important concern.
We know that this life of ours is but for a season and how we live and share it with others is of eternal consequence for the body and soul which envelops it. This is why it is so important that as parents we honor our obligation to instill deeply within the hearts and minds of our children those very first two rules of the catechism to know and to love God. Children without a true understanding of their heavenly father and why they were created have little hope to perform the third rule of Christian life, to serve Him. Hopefully our little children might develop the perspective that life was a playground where we sinners could train ourselves to become saints. The games or activities did not matter that much, only active loving participation and service at all times and a willingness to assist anyone needing help achieving the goals designed for us by our heavenly Father.
As grown ups we become so entrenched in our often drab day to day existence by the requirements of producing and providing that we forget that we too are children, God’s children. We look at our children playing and think of how worry free they are since we have taken on all their cares for them. We forget that Our Father through the Holy Spirit has lovingly provided our Lord Jesus who invites us to place our cares and worries upon him so that we too enjoy freedom to become children of God, His saints. It has been said that a saint is someone who deep within his heart believes God loves him and offers him eternal life through Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection and desires to use their life to witness, inform and assure others of the same truth about themselves. It’s that simple.
So, who are the saints? They are people like you and me who believe and hope in their Creator and begin their heaven here on earth living Christ’s prayerful request by helping build thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. We all have an invitation to sainthood and can respond according to our own abilities, gifts, and station in life willingly in the name of Jesus who relieves our burdens and has freed our spirits to be among the saints. Hopefully many of us will be among that great number which no man could count spoken of in Revelations which will eternally be the communion of saints.
Father God, we pray that we can rejoice fully in the world as children of light and holiness so men can witness and know the truth of your merciful love and accept Jesus as their personal savior through and within the eternal one body of Christ.
Yes, all are personally welcomed to the community of saints, here, now, and forever
The purpose defines the Martyrdom , to which the greatest has been the Lord Himself to the express purpose of redeeming man & all the other Martyrs in His name, as his Witness, to the purpose of the Kingdom of God on earth, such that where Christ is to man, man in turn is to Christ, both in the unselfish love for each other through Martyrdom, where the purpose be to salvation the aim is to the Kingdom.
I got up this morning to run before school. After I did I came to this website like I have been for the past couple days as I look more and more towards the Catholic Church being the one for me. I saw this article at the top and the part that caught my eye the most was the "and Selfless Love." When I think of love that is what I think it is in its purest form. I always strive to be this way, and I know I'm not always doing the best job at it. I've read and have heard many times before about how to completely give yourself over to Christ in order to reach your full potential. But I never heard it in this way or presented as such with the grain of wheat. Maybe I never understood the passage as well, but the interpretation above, for me, really makes a lot of sense and makes me want to go through life with more fervour and energized strength than before I read it.
Thanks, Father, for making us think, and for challenging us.