The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is the sign of the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, and the beginning of the Law of the Spirit, being lived in the heart of the Church.

This context helps us understand the deeper meaning of Pentecost.

Acts says that this event takes place “when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled.” This means it was the end of the holy days of Shavout, which would put it 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection.

But this phrase does not merely mean that the Holy Spirit came at the end of the celebration of Pentecost.

If Pentecost celebrated the giving of the Law, then we can understand this phrase to mean something deeper: that the law itself, the purpose of the law, had been fulfilled.

Read more

-WELCOME TO THE CATHOLIC STUDIES COLLECTION-

S E A R C H

Click here to SEARCH our entire site (Custom Google Search)
New search window will open.

Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” (PDF)
Down To Earth Answers To Virtually All Your Heavenly Questions.
English – On the Web
Spanish – On the Web

How the Holy Bible defines and explains
The Blessed Virgin Mary’s powerful role as the Mother of God

How To Pray the holy Rosary (PDF)

Which Mysteries to pray on what day – “Handy Cheat Sheet” (PDF)

The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable

Complete Information On The Brown Scapular
Including The Procedure for Priestly Blessing and Investiture – Latin and English

Overcoming the World, the Flesh and the Devil,
In and Through Our Lord Jesus Christ (PDF)
A beautifully illustrated “advanced course” on Christianity that provides
critical insights into what Christians believe, how they practice, and why.
Special emphasis on The Mystery of Our Redemption and The Church.

The “Peculiar” Theology of Our Redemption in Jesus Christ (PDF)
Complete course. How the death of Christ at the hands of man
served to destroy Satan’s power and reconcile sinful mankind with God.
Fully illustrated.

Church Scandal: The priest gets to remain anonymous, while the nun is called out by name.

A monastery of Carmelite nuns says a Texas bishop has threatened them all with dismissal from their order, as he conducts an investigation into an alleged offense by the convent’s superior. 

Full story

Must see: Extraordinary video provides truthful, common sense answers to some of the Bible’s most intriguing mysteries.

Watch the 11 minute video

No smoke. No mirrors. Just a simple, totally “orthodox” explanation of key Old and New Testament Scriptures and the divine connections between the Bible, Jesus, Mary, the Evangelists, the Early Church Fathers, the constant teachings of the Catholic Church, and the authentic beliefs and practices of the Christian faithful.

Most people have probably never heard, read, or seen this information before – but it’s all true and it’s all right there in the Bible, for anyone to plainly see.

Watch the 11 minute video

A Catholic convert theologian writes about faith, love, death, God and “other stuff”

My first glimpse of God was the love which my parents shared with one another. It was a life-giving love centered upon a common faith that despite all the challenges of living out a common life together, they could entrust themselves to one another and find a path to their salvation through one another.

The true character of this love was revealed most poignantly to me when my mother was on her deathbed, emaciated and disfigured by the effects of aggressive cancer treatment. As the options dwindled, my father became more and more desperate, trying every possible medical and spiritual avenue to avoid losing my mom.

One afternoon, as he was venting his frustrations to God before a simple wooden crucifix, he heard God interrupt his stream of thoughts almost as if he were speaking audibly: “Do you trust me?” was the simple question posed to him.

Later, closer to the time of her death, my dad was able to look down at my mother’s unconscious face, and say “I have never loved your mother more than I do right now.” It is an inestimable blessing to be able to root one’s analogical appeal to God as “Father” in that kind of experience.

Hospitality and community were also key parts of my religious formation.

Read more

Shameless popery: Faithful Catholics beware. The days of nuance are over!

We have entered a new phase in the post-conciliar destruction of the Church. The days of pretense and nuance are over. The quaint little idea of “continuity” is now passé; open season on tradition and those who love it is in full swing.

John XXIII, whose elevation to the papacy officially inaugurated the active onset of the rebellion, felt compelled to walk a fine line in order to keep up traditional appearances so as not to unduly create unrest among the masses.

Francis, on the other hand, makes no attempt whatsoever to mask his unbridled ambivalence toward the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine, and it is precisely this in-your-face disregard for the Church’s venerable traditions and immutable teachings that the heretics, atheists and members of the mainstream media find so entirely “refreshing.”

While some may reasonably wonder what precisely has changed since the early days of the rebellion and today, the answer seems obvious enough:

All indications are that Pope Francis and the cardinals who elected him are quite convinced that the takeover has finally reached critical mass, wherein both clergy and laity who prefer “the church of man” over the Church of Christ are now comfortably in the majority. I, for one, would have to say that they are correct.

As far as Francis is concerned, therefore, it is time to set forth the humanist agenda without apology.

“Smart” Francis corrects “Stupid” Francis

Giotto’s fresco depicting St. Francis’ Trial by Fire.

The musloids are on the left, slinking away.

Apparently this was all a terrible mistake on St. Francis’ part. He should have merely “encountered” the musloids in a spirit of “dialogue” and listened to their lies and then declared that they should all engage in good works and “meet each other there”.

Because, you know, there isn’t a “Catholic God”, and the god the musloids believe in is the same as the Triune Godhead, or something.

And God Himself being Goodness Itself, and good and evil being whatever the individual “conceives” them as being, “God” is whoever or whatever the individual says He, She or It is.

Thank “god” we have Smart Francis today, to correct all of the errors of “stupid” St. Francis of Assisi.

Read more from Ann Barnhardt

A colossal Catholic Church failure of such massive proportions, it boggles the mind!

Upside-down flag as a distress signal

by Doug Lawrence

Reminiscing about going to Catholic school in the 1950’s and 60’s in Chicago, when the post-war baby boomers swelled the ranks of the student body by a factor of two or three, we remembered the wonderful, Jesus-centered teaching Sisters who somehow managed to maintain control of their classrooms, in spite of having over fifty young children in their charge. They even managed to do it with a certain dignity, grace (and yes, even serenity) that’s seldom seen in this day and age!

Monthly tuition was generally less than $5 per student ($45 per school year) – with substantial discounts available for families with several children – and the quality of the education was unsurpassed!

It wasn’t uncommon to have three or more classes per grade level, with fifty or more children in each – all of them good little Catholic saints-in-training.

Thanks to the dedicated sisters and the Baltimore Catechism, the children actually knew all of the basic Catholic prayers – as well as who made the world, who God is, who man is, why God made them – and many other critically important Catholic concepts and truths!

Common sense tells us that such a huge wave
of well trained, superbly disciplined Catholic children
should have soon blossomed into the mainstream world,
profoundly and permanently changing things for the better,
elevating the public status of the Catholic Church to new heights
and attracting a virtual flood of new converts.

Only that’s not what happened.

You see – somebody came up with the idea to call a Church Council – and to use that Council to introduce strange, radical changes – supposedly intended to reinvigorate the decrepit, crumbling and hopelessly out of date Catholic Church of the Ages.

This would almost certainly usher in a “New Springtime” for the Church and initiate an era of growth, peace and unity never before seen by mankind.

Yeah … right!

What we got instead was a Catholic Church in apostasy and chaos, dominated by radicals and wackos who held distinct Protestant, Communist and yes, even Masonic ideologies.

For a time, it became a “know-nothing” church – where you couldn’t get a straight answer about anything. It was also seriously divided along secular political lines. Because of all this, and despite the misleading public facade, the Catholic Church was able to function at only a very minimal level.

A mere shadow of its former self, the “new” Church, for a time, was of little practical use to anyone – except for a precious few of God’s very elect – and of course – for many of the incompetents, homosexual pederasts, clericalists, heretics and careerists who remained (and unfortunately, still remain) in power.

When chaos reigns, almost anything goes!

This is what we baby boomer Catholics were faced with, as we went out to make our way in the world. Our “train” had wrecked and we found ourselves wandering alone, through an unknown spiritual landscape that was fraught with unparalleled confusion, corruption and ruin.

When we eventually managed to make our way back and reestablish contact with Holy Mother Church, we found that she had become almost unrecognizable!

Mark H. – one of our regular readers and frequent commenters – recently pointed out the type of damage that can occur when unelected liberal elitists who happen to be in charge of things, band together to arbitrarily recreate a community, in their own tragically flawed image and likeness.

For the Catholic Church, it meant the spiritual abortion
of nearly an entire generation of faithful Catholics.

For the world at large, it would soon mean
the literal abortion of millions of innocent babies,
along with the normalization
of many other abominable forms of moral apostasy.

This was, without a doubt, one of the most colossal failures
of moral leadership in the history of the modern world.

It should be noteworthy that it was the leadership
of the Catholic Church which was the first to fall,
opening the gates for all that would later come to pass.  

This “Mystery of Iniquity” is one of the reasons I keep coming back to 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-17:

(1) And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto him:
(2) That you be not easily moved from your sense nor be terrified, neither by spirit nor by word nor by epistle. as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand.
(3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition
(4) Who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God.
(5) Remember you not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
(6) And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time.
(7) For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only that he who now holdeth do hold, until he be taken out of the way.
(8) And then that wicked one shall be revealed: whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: him
(9) Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders:
(10) And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish: because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
(11) Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying:
(12) That all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have consented to iniquity.
(13) But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of God, for that God hath chosen you firstfruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the spirit and faith of the truth:
(14) Whereunto also he hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.
(16) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope in grace,
(17) Exhort your hearts and confirm you in every good work and word.

*****

The violence – both spiritual and physical – continues unabated, to this day – and we Catholics have recently been advised by our Pope to stop obsessing about it.

Make of that whatever you like!

Miraculous survival, guardian angels and saintly relatives who have gone to their eternal reward

by Doug Lawrence

There is a horrific accident. Some people die. Some are spared.

Is it just a random game of numbers, or is there more to this than meets the eye?

Catholics and even some non-Catholic Christians will tell you about their guardian angels – powerful, pure spirit beings, personally assigned by God almighty, to keep us safe from harm.

Even less understood and appreciated are the “Kinsman Redeemers” who step forward to right wrongs and save their people from poverty, starvation, death – and worse.

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, made man, is the ultimate Kinsman Redeemer, but the Bible shows us many more.

The story of Ruth and Boaz is probably the next most significant, since through their timely meeting and subsequent marriage, the sacred blood line of the coming Messiah was preserved. (See 4:22, below.) 

Ruth 4:9-22
(9) And he said to the ancients, and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Chelion’s, and Mahalon’s, of the hand of Noemi:
(10) And have taken to wife Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing.
(11) Then all the people that were in the gate, and the ancients, answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem:
(12) And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
(13) Boaz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive, and to bear a son.
(14) And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor: that his name should be preserved in Israel.
(15) And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons.
(16) And Noemi taking the child, laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it.
(17) And the women, her neighbours, congratulating with her, and saying, There is a son born to Noemi, called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David.
(18) These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron,
(19) Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab,
(20) Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon,
(21) Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed,
(22) Obed begot Isai (Jessie), Isai (Jessie) begot David.

Nor are Kinsman Redeemers required to be presently alive, here on earth. Catholics will explain the concept of the Communion of Saints – that great cloud of faithful witnesses who have gone before us – now in Heaven – eternally perfected in God’s power, grace and mercy.

These holy souls have the right to approach the throne of the Most High God with their petitions – hopefully, interceding with him for us – their beloved progeny and “kin”.

This goes much, much further and it is much more powerful than we might imagine – since by virtue of our baptism, we are all adopted children of God – brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ – with his mother – the Blessed Virgin Mary, also ours.

Saint Paul sums things up quite nicely:

Romans 8:28-39
(28) And we know that to them that love God all things work together unto good: to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.
(29) For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformable to the image of his Son: that he might be the Firstborn amongst many brethren.
(30) And whom he predestined, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?
(32) He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things?
(33) Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God is he that justifieth:
(34) Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died: yea that is risen also again, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
(35) Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Or distress? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or danger? Or persecution? Or the sword?
(36) (As it is written: For thy sake, we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.)
(37) But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us.
(38) For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might,
(39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, the next time things turn out miraculously better than you might ever have expected, don’t forget to thank God, thank your guardian angel, and thank your “extended family” in Heaven. (But why wait? Take a moment to give God thanks and praise, right now!)

The article that inspired this post:

Toddler cheats death after car crashes into buggy and crushes it against wall

Things to know about Witchcraft and other occult practices

 

All witches believe in the power of charms and spells – indeed witchcraft is largely about exercising this power.

What are we to think of this claim to spiritual power through charms, spells, and curses?

From my experience and from consulting people from this and other countries, I have not the slightest doubt that spells and curses do have power, can really affect people, including people who do not know that they have been the object of spells and curses. I am even more certain however, that Jesus can protect his followers from any and every spell and curse, even though they may sometimes have to pass through a difficult time.

Last year I spoke with an English Catholic doctor who had been working in the Pacific islands.

Quite a number of times, people who had been cursed would be brought to the hospital. There was nothing wrong with them physically, but they simply and rapidly faded away and died. He said to me how frustrating it was. He would tell them with vigour that there was no medical reason for them to die – but they did die!

A missionary from Nigeria told me of a similar case, in which a healthy young man at the university after being cursed by a witch simply declined and died within two weeks.

A member of our monastic community who comes from Ghana assures me that witch doctors’ curses and spells in that country can have real power to harm, including harming people who do not know that they have been cursed. (A Dutch medical anthropologist working in Ghana confirmed this.)

A Catholic doctor in this country consulted me about the case of a woman here who had been cursed by another woman at work – and the health of the first woman collapsed and remained collapsed in a way which was medically inexplicable.

A Catholic man from the third world came to us one evening seeking help. He had been a university lecturer and indeed a government minister in his country. His wife, from whom he has separated, was very deeply involved in witchcraft and she had got him cursed by ‘experts’. His life was now in a state of total disarray and he could not concentrate to read a book or write letters – and there were other very difficult problems.

In the name of Jesus we prayed against all curses and demonic attacks. He was immediately much better, and after a few more sessions he was able to work normally again. He then got a responsible job in an organisation helping the third world.

In nearly all third world countries the people living there seem to believe in the power of curses and spells. Indeed, their lives may become an existence of fear and misery, unless they have a truly living faith in Jesus.

Increasingly, also in our own country and the rest of the first world, people are coming up against the power of the occult and witchcraft. How sad it is to find Catholics, including some priests, who do not believe in the existence of demons and who therefore are not able fully to help so many needy people.

Read more

Excerpted from:

I Saw Satan Fall – The Ways of Spiritual Warfare by Benedict Heron OSB

“Zombie” Catholicism: Pope Francis breathes new life into Cardinal Bernardin’s legacy.

While there is no indication that Francis knows the writings of Bernardin, who died in 1996, many say the pope’s remarks repeatedly evoke Bernardin’s signature teachings on the “consistent ethic of life” – the view that church doctrine champions the poor and vulnerable from womb to tomb – and on finding “common ground” to heal divisions in the church.

Ironically, the re-emergence of Bernardin — a man who was admired by a young Chicago organizer named Barack Obama — is exposing the very rifts he sought to bridge, especially among conservatives who thought his broad view of Catholicism was buried with him in Mount Carmel Cemetery, outside Chicago.

Link

Editor’s note: Pope Francis’ ill considered rhetoric has already alienated a good part – the most consistently faithful part – of the Catholic Church.

No “seamless garment” is going to be able to patch that up.

At least the late Cardinal Bernadin (who was my archbishop, as well as a working associate of Barack Obama/Barry Sotero) managed to conduct his nefarious business without insulting huge numbers of Catholics and that’s probably why he was such a remarkably effective operator.

Thank God he died before they could elect him pope!

Pope Francis appears to be worried about the wrong things

Is Pope Francis afraid of Cardinal Lefebre’s ghost?

The Pope expressed his respect for a mission his predecessors has entrusted to a religious family with which there had been differences in the past. These differences came up in Francis’ speech to members of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), during their meeting at the Centre for Studies at Sumaré, in Rio de Janeiro.

In his message, the Pope spoke about the ideological temptation of Christians he described as “Pelagianism”, which apparently manifests itself in the idea of “restorationism”. “In dealing with the Church’s problems, a purely disciplinary solution is sought, through the restoration of outdated manners and forms which, even on the cultural level, are no longer meaningful,” he added.

Bergoglio warned bishops: “In Latin America it is usually to be found in small groups, in some new religious congregations, in (exaggerated) tendencies to doctrinal or disciplinary “safety”.”

The Pope was not hesitant in admitting that this scared him.

In an off-the-cuff comment, Francis added: “In the first year of Benedict XVI’s pontificate I had to personally intervene in a case involving the founder of a movement who was linked to this apocalyptic viewpoint.”

Editor’s note: Pope Francis seems to be a bit too old to be afraid of imaginary bogeymen. Maybe he needs to change hotel rooms.

He ought to be afraid of radical theologians and heretical priests and bishops. But no – only traditional Catholics pose any real threat to the rapidly fading and hugely scandalous post-Vatican II revolution.

As for exaggerated tendencies – how about that “New Springtime” we Catholics have been hearing about, for the last fifty years? No sign of that yet!

Perhaps the pope’s definition of the word “disaster” is different than what’s commonly accepted. In that case, I wish he would provide specifics.

This is getting very old!

One of the recurring misconceptions that other Christian sects have about Catholicism is that the Catholic Mass is not biblical and Catholics do not read the Bible.

Let’s take the Mass, for instance.

Scott Hahn, a world-renowned Catholic theologian converted from evangelical Calvinism, surreptitiously attended a Catholic Mass in Wisconsin in the early 1980s before his conversion. Bible in hand, he began to follow this “strange” liturgy in an attempt to take notes and return to his students to show how the Catholic Mass was the ultimate sacrilege.

Long story short, Hahn states that “something hit me.” He realized that the words on the liturgy of the Mass were coming from the open Bible beside him. A line from Isaiah, another from Paul, another from a psalm.

Hahn learned later that during the Liturgy of the Word, Catholics, over a three-year period, hear the Scriptures proclaimed from the Old and New Testaments and the four Gospels. Furthermore, Hahn points out, during the Eucharistic Liturgy part of the Mass, the believer is drawn not only into the Last Supper but also into the glorious New Heavenly Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation with all its hymns and praises.

A few handy excerpts from the old, Penny Catechism

---

FAITH

Faith in God

1. Who made you?

God made me.

2. Why did God make you?

God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next.

3. To whose image and likeness did God make you?

God made me to his own image and likeness.

4. Is this likeness to God in your body, or in your soul?

This likeness to God is chiefly in my soul.

5. How is your soul like to God?

My soul is like to God because it is a spirit, and is immortal.

6. What do you mean when you say that your soul is immortal?

When I say my soul is immortal, I mean that my soul can never die.

7. Of which must you take more care, of your body or of your soul?

I must take more care of my soul; for Christ has said, ‘What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?’ (Matt. 16:26)

8. What must you do to save your soul?

To save my soul I must worship God by Faith, Hope and Charity; that is, I must believe in him, I must hope in him, and I must love him with my whole heart.

9. What is faith?

Faith is a supernatural gift of God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed.

10. Why must you believe whatever God has revealed?

I must believe whatever God has revealed because God is the very truth, and can neither deceive nor be deceived.

11. How are you to know what God has revealed?

I am to know what God has revealed by the testimony, teaching, and authority of the Catholic Church.

12. Who gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach?

Jesus Christ gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach, when he said, ‘Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations’. (Matt. 28:19)

Worth Remembering: Fathers Are The Priests Of The Home!

The Ten Commandments For A Husband And Father

I. Develop an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus, allowing Him to forgive you of your past, to talk to you, to heal you and to guide you. Then, trust the Holy Spirit in all things. Trust Him to provide everything you need, including financial help.

II. Get your priorities in order: Jesus first, your wife second, your children third, your work fourth, etc. Develop a weekly schedule, blocking out quality time for the Lord, your wife, each child and the family as a whole. A husband’s most important time during any given day is the first five minutes when he gets home from work and the love and attention he shows his wife and children at that time. Remember that your human fatherhood is rooted in the Divine Fatherhood of Almighty God (cf. Ephesians 3:14-15; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2214).

III. Realize that you are the “priest” of the home. It is your primary responsibility to oversee the TV and its influence, the internet and its influence, as well as the books and magazines that enter into your home. You must stand firmly against all evil influences, asking constantly for God’s strength and guidance to lead your family in living a pure, holy and non-violent lifestyle. Esto vir! (Be a man!). A father fosters moral virtue within his home first and foremost by example. Get into the habit of blessing your children – both alone and with your wife – before they go to sleep at night or before they leave the house in the morning.

PRAYER FOR OUR FAMILY Heavenly Father, most good and gracious God, sustain our family in Your love. Make our family home a place where holiness and love abound. In our daily actions, help each one of us to learn to be more like Jesus. Aid our family to imitate the Holy Family of Nazareth: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Help our family to learn from the good example of those families that especially please You in their way of life. May our family members learn to give good example always by living lives in true Christian faith, hope and love. Assist our family in learning to bear pain and suffering as Jesus did. Aid our family members, too, in overcoming difficulties and carrying their crosses. Help our family life to lead to Jesus Christ, the Source of all Truth and happiness. We ask this through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. AMEN.

FAMILY PRAYER TO OUR BLESSED MOTHER, MARY Holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God, we seek your patronage and we invoke you under your title “Queen of Families.” O Blessed Mother, you were conceived without sin. May every family choose you this day as the model for their household, along with St. Joseph, your most loving, chaste and caring spouse. Through your Immaculate Conception, preserve all families from every disaster, from all violence and from every misfortune. O Holy Virgin, bless and protect all families, strengthen them in trial and keep them from every evil. AMEN.

Submitted by Robert K.

Nine proofs: Deacon Frank explains why the Holy Eucharist really IS Jesus

To that end and in preparation for a Eucharistic Revival in parishes across the country, I would like to present to you nine proofs or strong arguments that, taken individually, vigorously support the belief in the True Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. But, in my opinion, when taken as a whole, the nine proofs present irrefutable evidence of this. Not symbol but rather His very self, made Truly Present in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

So let me begin with the first proof.

See them all

Report: North Korea “denied the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion” and engaged in “crimes against humanity.”

Christians are considered a “hostile class” in the songbun system, in which people derive status from loyalty to the state and its leadership. Christians, ODUSA reported, are regarded as the lowest in society and are constantly “vulnerable and in danger.”

The Department of State, pulling from information collected by NGOs, noted that an entire family, including their two-year-old child, was imprisoned following the discovery of their religious practices and possession of a Bible.

The family, which was most likely targeted by the Ministry of State Security that handles roughly 90 percent of these cases, was sentenced to life in prison.

Full article

Breaking demonic strongholds that exist in people’s minds

Spiritual warfare takes place in our minds, and in the heavens above us.

Fallen angels (demons) can put thoughts in our minds; they can project images on our minds; and, they can build strongholds in our minds — strongholds of fear, anxiety, scrupulosity… pride, bitterness, unforgiveness… negative thinking, unbelief… self-hatred, despair and addiction…

Livermore, CA (1992) _ One morning after Mass, my prayer partner and I were approached by two women who asked us to accompany them to visit a dying man. As we entered the man’s darkened bedroom, I saw a man who already looked like a corpse. The man’s face was white, like chalk…

Full article

Bad news for Muslims: Archaeological proof discovered for existence of the old Temple Worship System in Jerusalem

Pilgrims came from hundreds of miles away to sacrifice animals at an ancient temple in Jerusalem, new research suggests.

An analysis of bones found in an ancient dump in the city dating back 2,000 years revealed that animals sacrificed at the temple came from far and wide.

“The study shows that there is a major interprovincial market that enables the transfer of vast numbers of animals that are used for sacrifice and feasting in Jerusalem during that time period,” said study co-author Gideon Hartman, a researcher at the University of Connecticut.

Read more

Editor’s note: It’s nice when science continues to confirm what people of the Christian – and in this case, Jewish faiths – already know. Muslims continue to deny that a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem ever existed.

Shocking revelations: How German radicals and other modernist heretics hijacked the 2nd Vatican Council, from the outset

….We all know there is a liberal narrative of the Council, what Benedict called the “Council of the Media”; but there is also a conservative narrative, one which tries to absolve the Council itself of all possible wrongdoing and place the blame squarely on post-Conciliar innovations. That narrative is no longer plausible after reading this book.

Read more

Editor’s note: And just a few short years later, radical hippies similarly hijacked the Democratic Party of the United States.

Unexpected resistance to “The New Evangelization”

Once upon a time on a sunny Saturday afternoon during the New Springtime following the Second Vatican Council, a well-meaning Catholic man worked up the courage to invite his Methodist neighbor to join him for Holy Mass.

After Mass the following morning, while enjoying coffee and donuts in the multi-purpose room (sponsored by the Knights of Columbus), the Methodist talked about how at home he felt and how comfortable the entire “service” was for him.

The Catholic wasted little time in seizing the opportunity to suggest that perhaps his neighbor might wish to avail himself of the unity for which Our Lord prayed by converting to the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

The Methodist, unfazed, wiped a dollop of Bavarian cream from his chin and replied, “Thanks for the offer, friend, but as you know, I am validly baptized. In other words, I received the Holy Spirit just as you did in your baptism, and it’s the Spirit that brings us into intimate union with Christ, so that He is the principle of the Church’s unity. Clearly I am not lacking in unity!”

Disarmed but not discouraged, the new evangelist laid hold of the big guns, firing back, “Yes, but the Catholic Church is the solitary means of salvation established by Christ.”