The Presentation of the Lord & St. Blaise

This weekend we will say goodbye to the month of January and hello to February, the shortest month on the calendar. That’s 1 winter month down, 2 to go! Though some will look for a forecast of the remainder of winter by observing a large burrowing rodent, for Catholic Christians February 2 marks something more important than “Groundhog Day.” It is the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation, commemorating the time when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph 40 days after His birth. (Read more…)

Respect Life Sunday

January 22, 2021 marked the 48th anniversary of Roe V Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that legalized abortion.  Since 1970, there have been over 50,000,000 abortions in the United States.

I wonder how many of those children would have grown up to be doctors, priests, teachers … Would one of those children have been the scientist to cure Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes or cancer?  Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta said that: “Probably the scientist who would have cured AIDS was killed through abortion.”

What a tragic time we live in.  The reality is that most abortions are not performed to save the mother’s life as they would have us believe, but abortion used as a form of contraception.  It is the attitude that “If I get pregnant, I can always terminate it.”

Let us pray to the Lord for deliverance from this horrible scourge that is killing so many children, but also destroying the lives of their mothers, who are faced with their misguided decision. (Read more…)

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The week from January 17th—23rd, Catholic Christians celebrate the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” The purpose of this week is to remind us that Catholic Christians are called to ecumenism. This is the Church’s commitment to the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper, in which Jesus prayed “that they all may be one” (John 17:21).

At the Second Vatican Council, the Council decided that the realization of that unity in accordance with the prayer of Jesus was an ecumenical imperative.  The Council further stated that “it is a recognized custom for Catholics to have frequent recourse to that prayer for the unity of the Church which the Savior Himself on the eve of His death so fervently appealed to His Father: “That they may all be one” (Decree on Ecumenism #8).  The Council also said that «such as the prescribed prayers “for unity,” and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren. (Read more…)