From the Friars: The Sword of Sarcasm Sarcasm is usually sinful because in reality it is almost always a barely disguised insult and unnecessarily hurtful. However, in the case of the man born blind of today’s Gospel, we can easily understand his use of sarcastic language given the circumstances. Suddenly, unexpectedly, this man was able…
The following is an excerpt from the Apostolic Constitution Paenitemini of St. Paul VI of 1966 True penitence, however, cannot ever prescind from physical asceticism as well. Our whole being in fact, body and soul, (indeed the whole of nature, even animals without reason, as Holy Scripture often points out)(46) must participate actively in this…
Taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2697 Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all. This is why the Fathers of the spiritual life in the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that…
From the Friars: Beautiful Liturgy One of the main purposes of a Shrine is to offer a beautiful liturgy. I remember the most beautiful liturgies I ever attended were in Ghana (Africa) during a mission trip with a Catholic organization called LifeTeen. The liturgies were beautiful, not because of the exterior adornments with which the…
You have likely noticed that we have changed the heading design of the Shrine bulletin. It now includes the monogram IHS. This an abbreviation, using the first three letters of the Holy Name of Jesus in Greek, which is written IHΣOYΣ. In Latin the sigma Σ looks like S, hence the IHS Christogram. In the…
From the Friars: Let Us Seek Silence In today’s gospel, Jesus manifests the glory of his divinity to three of his apostles, and in dialogue with Moses and Elijah, reveals that he is the promised and expected Messiah. This passage ends with a declaration and a mandate from the Father: “This is my beloved Son:…
From the Friars: The Lust of the Eye In the first reading today, we have the temptation of the first Adam who fell for the deception of the devil. In the Gospel, Jesus the New Adam conquers the father of lies with the power of the truth. In both cases we see the enemy, who…
From the Friars: Sister Death Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. We begin Lent with a reminder of the reality of death and the fact that our bodies will decompose, if they are not reduced to ashes by cremation. When God created the first man, He formed his body from…
One of the great benefits of attending daily Mass is to hear the scriptural readings for the day. God is always speaking to us in various ways but the passages from the Bible that are read at the Holy Mass have a privileged place for that particular day. It is as if The Lord is…
From the Friars: God’s Plan from the Beginning This past week during daily Mass, we have been reading from the beginning of the book of Genesis. Often, when we think of the story of Adam and Eve, we remember the “bad news” about the “Fall of Man” in Chapter 3. However, John Paul II has…
