Article – Altar Servers I have been asked recently about having girls serve at Mass. Since the shrine began we have not had a direct request for this, but we have been encouraging boys and young men to serve. The practice of female servers is allowed and Pope Francis recently even granted that women could…
Article – Do This in Memory of Me When I was in eighth grade, we had Mass once a week at my Catholic school. The nuns that taught us brought us together one day and asked us about our experience of the Mass. The collective response, myself included, was that the it was boring, the…
… And so it was during Christ’s public life too (cf. Mk. 3:21-35) that day by day there was fulfilled in her the blessing uttered by Elizabeth at the Visitation: “Blessed is she who believed.” 18. This blessing reaches its full meaning when Mary stands beneath the Cross of her Son (cf. Jn. 19:25). The…
ARTICLE THE QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY – AUGUST 22 III. On the Blessed Virgin and the Church 60. There is but one Mediator as we know from the words of the apostle, “for there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption…
Article Clare fixed her Eyes on the Poor and Crucified Christ She puts it thus in one of her letters: “Look upon him who became contemptible for you, and follow him, making yourself contemptible in this world for him. Your Spouse, though more beautiful than the children of men, became for your salvation the lowest…
Article A Humble Priest At my father’s wake in 2001, my uncle told me a story about how when he was a kid he had a sickness, a nervous disorder I believe, that the doctors were unable to cure. My grandmother, a devout Catholic, took him straight from the doctor’s office to the Capuchin monastery…
Humanae Vitae #17 : Observing the Natural Law *** July 25th is the 55th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae. *** Selections from this important Encyclical of St. Paul VI. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences…
Humanae Vitae #11 : Observing the Natural Law *** July 25th is the 55th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae. *** For the next three weeks, we will have selections from this important Encyclical of St. Paul VI. The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through which human…
Article – Humanae Vitae #9 : Married Love [Married] love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not…
What is True Freedom? We all love freedom. It seems to be the highest value in our society. But what is true freedom? Freedom is often defined as “the ability to do whatever one wants, as long as no one else gets hurt”. Likewise, law, a great good, is seen as something opposed to freedom;…