Dear listeners and readers. Today is the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross. One listener sent us the following prayer suggestion, which is to say the name of Jesus 1000 times in honor of today’s feast. And at each 50 times, say “If the devil tempts me in the day of my death […]
The Lord appeared once again to his disciples after his resurrection, and questioning Peter, who from fear had thrice denied him, extracted from him a threefold declaration of love. Christ had been raised to life in the flesh and Peter to life in the spirit; for when Christ died as a result of the torments he endured, Peter was also dead as a result of denying his master. Christ the Lord was raised from the dead; Christ the Lord raised up Peter through Peter’s love for him. And having obtained from him the assurance of that love, he entrusted his sheep to Peter’s care.
We may wonder what advantage there could be for Christ in Peter’s love for him. If Christ loves you, you profit, not Christ; and if you love him, again the advantage is yours, not his. But wishing to show us how we should demonstrate our love for him, Christ the Lord made it plain that it is by our concern for his sheep.
“Simon, son of John, Do you love me?” he asked. “I do love you.” “Then feed my sheep.” Once, twice, and a third time the same dialogue was repeated. To the Lord’s one and only question, Peter had no other answer than “I do love you.” And each time the Lord gave Peter the same command: “Feed my sheep.” Let us love one another then, and by so doing we shall be loving Christ.
Saint Augustine of Hippo, Guelferbytanus Sermon 16,1, via DailyGospel.org
Many persons, feeling that the word penance implies great austerities, and not feeling that they have the strength for great sacrifices, become discouraged and continue a life of lukewarmness and sin.’ Then she said Our Lord explained to her: ‘The sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of My law. This is the penance that I now seek and require.
Our Lady of Fatima to Sr. Lucia
[Please join Cardinal Raymond Burke and Catholic Action For Faith and Family’s Novena to Our Lady of Fatima, which begins today]
In July of 1917, Our Lady of Fatima granted the children a frightening vision of hell and said sadly, “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”
“As horrible as are the physical chastisements associated with man’s disobedient rebellion before God, infinitely more horrible are the spiritual chastisements for they have to do with the fruit of grievous sin: eternal death. As is clear, only the Faith, which places man in the relationship of unity of heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, can save man from the spiritual chastisements which rebellion against God necessarily brings upon its perpetrators and upon the whole of both society and the Church.”
Cardinal Raymond Burke
Cross posted from FaithPilgrims.com In mid-February I attended a retreat at Discovery House, an oasis of spiritual healing nestled at the intersection of Wharton State Forest and the blueberry farms that, long ago, helped earn New Jersey its “Garden State” nickname. The group of faithful Catholic men, in whom I humbly claim membership, is known as […]
Overarching the debate about the vaccines and the ethical problems of how they were produced, America faces a more fundamental question: what is the greater good that we are striving for here? It must be said that America is a post-Christian society (Fulton Sheen remarked as much decades ago), and the good that comes about […]
A Catholic who publicly and obstinately opposes the truth regarding faith and morals may not present himself or herself to receive Holy Communion and neither may the minister of Holy Communion give him or her the Sacrament.
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, April 7th, 2021
Five years ago, my aunt had to be put in a nursing home, and when we put her in the nursing home, my sister remembered, “where is that Jesus picture”, and Catherine always called it ‘that Jesus picture’. It was in an old ratty box, so it was falling apart. It was in terrible shape. We opened the box and took it out. The frame was all broken on the back. The image itself wasn’t even in the frame any longer, and we didn’t know what it was. We had never known. We knew my grandmother kept it around forever and that she got it from her mother and father, but nobody knew what it was. We knew it was important because it had a red wax seal on the front.
It is one of the Holy Face images from the original images that came about from the miracle of 1849 in St. Peter’s Basilica. At that time, the Pope had fled Rome because of a revolution that was threatening Catholic France and threatening Rome itself. And when he had he ordered Veronica’s Veil to be put on exposition for three days so that people could venerate and pray to save Rome, and on the third day the image on the veil began to glow and became lifelike, and the eyes were deep sunken and wore an expression of really great pain. And this stayed that way. The glow and the image stayed that way for three hours, and they rang the bells of the basilica so hundreds of people came to see what was happening.
Vicki Schreiner of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face
