The Easter Triduum is one of my favorite times of the year. Yesterday at our Church, Cathedral of St. Joseph, we attended the evening Mass.
Our Bishop celebrated the Mass and afterward we had the procession with the Blessed Sacrament which was reposed for adoration until midnight in our side chapel.
We are blessed to have 24/7 Adoration here as well.
Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” (Lk. 22:19-20)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world…Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (Jn. 6:51, 53-56)
The recent revelations about the illegal activities and infidelities of New York’s mayors should remind us how easy it is to fall from grace and that we are all in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
There’s nothing like a retreat deep in the heart of Lent to really awaken the senses to the weight and reality of my own sin and how I have deeply offended God in my own life. No matter how “on track” I think I am with God’s plans, there is always room for improvement and I should never consider myself better than anyone else.
Holy Week is an excellent time to reflect on and acknowledge our sinfulness and come to the great sacrament of God’s mercy.
One of the Confirmation candidates at my table brought up that oh-so common objection to the sacrament of Reconciliation, 
“why do we need to confess our sins to a priest, a man, when we can just go directly to God on our own and tell Him we’re sorry?” Apart from explaining that it is a Sacrament instituted by Christ (Jn. 20:23) for our benefit and that the priest acts in His person, not a mere man, I also found this passage from St. Faustina’s Diary (1602) in the words of Christ (I was also impressed with the way the other candidates at our table spoke out in defense of confession):
“[W]hen you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that i may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessal of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls.”
It is easy to become complacent, especially when we look at the world in all its madness – war, terrorism, murder, abuse, heavy drug use, etc… – and think, hey, I’m not so bad, at least I haven’t killed anyone, I don’t really hate my neighbor, I don’t abuse drugs, and I am filled with so much love for my family and friends. But we should not be so proud. Truthfully, as fallen people, we cannot help but offend God in the smallest matters. Even one selfish thought is an act of offense and can close our hearts to the grace of God. We should detest sin so as to be willing to die rather than to offend our Lord in even the smallest matter (2 Mc 7).
All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory, but we rejoice because we are justified through the redemption in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:23-25). This is what He died for! What are you waiting for? Go to confession and receive the grace and mercy of God!! Even if you have been away from the Sacraments for a long time, God is always waiting for you to come back home (Lk. 15:11-32)!
Read: Spitzer Case Should Serve as Warning to Christians by Jonathan Falwell.
Also read about confession from a convert’s viewpoint
Pope Benedict XVI Saturday approved a decree recognizing the heroic virtue of Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. The pope’s declaration significantly advances the priest’s process toward sainthood and gives the parish priest the distinction of “Venerable Servant of God.†If canonized, Father McGivney would be the first American born priest to be so honored.
“All of us who are members of the Knights of Columbus are profoundly grateful for this recognition of the holiness of our founder,†said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “The strength of the Knights of Columbus today is a testament to his timeless vision, his holiness and his ideals.â€
The words of Christ to St. Faustina:
“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on my sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of my painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.”
That should give us motivation for meditating on Christ’s Passion this Holy Week!
Every year I go on retreat about this time. It’s lead by the women’s Opus Dei center in St. Louis. I’ve been going for a number of years now and I love them. They’re silent, reflective and much needed. I especially enjoy it when it comes so close to Holy Week. So I will be on retreat starting this evening until Sunday afternoon. Please pray for me! I will be praying for all of my readers!
Read St. Louis Catholic’s interview with the well-known Catholic apologist and Jewish convert Rosalind Moss about her in St. Louis with the permission of Archbishop Burke. Her plan is to “flood the world with holy habits as signs to God.” Some excerpts:
The desire that I have is to reach the poor, and the rich, and every class of society, and race, creed, tribe, tongue and people…
We will be a contemplative/active, evangelistic and teaching order. Contemplative and active, because service is the fruit of prayer, and we wanted nothing apart from prayer and apart from God…
we are in the process of designing the habits. And they will be to the floor (laughs), that’s for sure! We’re going to work with families, we’re going to teach the faith in the convent, we’re going to show films in the convent, we’re going to talk about God. I just want to reach people. I want to help families live for God.
The order will be under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales and they have already received dozens of vocation inquiries.
Last week’s Our Sunday Visitor had an excellent article (subscribers only) on the 
Angelus prayer and its possible contribution to the “pro-life arsenal.†The Angelus is a prayer typically repeated three times a day – 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. – recalling the conception and birth of Jesus Christ. Says OSV:
As people pray the Angelus, perhaps they will come to understand better the value of any human conception as they remember and honor the greatest conception of all time.
The words of the prayer:
JP II’s favorite passage from Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes 22, says that, “only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.†Indeed, as the document goes on to explain, by His incarnation, Christ has united himself with every man and therefore fully reveals man to himself. Christ not only became man, but chose to identify totally with all humankind, even in its weakest and most vulnerable state. The more we meditate on the profound mystery of the Word made flesh, the more we come to understand and appreciate the dignity of every human person, born and unborn.
Note: during Easter the Regina Caeli is said in place of the Angelus.
This is great (h/t the Catholic Knight):
Visit Catholics Come Home
This looks like a very powerful documentary, from the same people (Grassroots Films) who brought you “Fishers of Men”. I’ve never seen Fishers, but have heard amazing things about it, so I finally ordered it from Amazon a few days ago.
This looks pretty interesting – the National Catholic Singles Conference. From its website:
The National Catholic Singles Conference (NCSC) was created to give single Catholics the opportunity to meet other like-minded singles and learn more about and share their Faith. Talks by dynamic speakers, time for prayer, and various social opportunities create an intense and inspiring weekend! In 2007 we had over 900 people at our two locations, Chicago and San Diego, combined. Don’t miss out in 2008! Join us in Chicago and San Diego for great speakers, food and fun!
The conference in Chicago is this April 25-27 at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort and the one in San Diego is TBA. The weekend includes workshops involving: How Do I Know What God Wants Me to Do With My Life?, Why Are We Still Single (or Single Again)?, The Real Deal About Men; TBA (to the women), The Biology of the Theology of the Body and Building Strong Ministries. Also available will be the Mass, Praise and Worship, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, confessions and prayer teams, rosary walks and even dance lessons along with a dance on Saturday night.
Believe it or not, I’m actually considering attending. Since I left Ave Maria University and the little Catholic bubble that exists there, I think I might enjoy spending a few days with some like minded people my own age.
You can register here
Thanks be to God! Just got word today that Judge Joyce upheld the challenge by Missouri Cures Without Cloning to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s inaccurate and blatantly biased ballot summary for a constitutional amendment to truly ban human cloning in Missouri. I am incredibly pleased and quite frankly surprised at the ruling. The revised language is much closer to the purpose of the actual Amendment than Carnahan’s disgraceful language.
Because of the lawsuit, progress has been delayed for quite some time. So we still have very hard work ahead of us if we are to have any chance of getting this on the ballot in November, especially if the opposition decides to appeal in an effort to halt the signature gathering process. Please keep us in your prayers so that we can finally, truly ban human cloning in Missouri!
Try this one:
Rosary Crusade Safeguarding Embryonic Human Life
How to fit in at any church – pretty stupid, but kinda silly, too:
Thank you, God, for mac n cheese:
OMG! This is adorable – a little girl singing “Indescribable”
Here’s another Gospel singing small fry. We might be seeing her try out for American Idol sometime in the future:
As the world celebrates romance and love today I thought I would say a few words about true love. “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1Corinth 13:13). So what is love? Or more accurately who is love? St. John answers this question telling us that, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected within us” (1 Jn. 4:16-17) In his encyclical, God is Love, Pope Benedict says that this is where our definition of love must begin. We love because God, who is love, first loved us. That is why he created us. But his love did not end with our creation. After the fall of man, God not only freed his chosen people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, but he freed all of mankind from the slavery of sin by sending his only Son to be our redeemer (John 3:16) and calling us to the heavenly Marriage Feast which is “union with God through sharing in Jesus’ self-gift, sharing in his body and blood.” The best way to grow in love for another person is to grow in love for God. Then we can truly learn how to love as God loves.
A Valentine’s Day suggestion for couples: spend time in prayer together.
Advice from St. John Chrysostom: young husbands should say to their wives: “I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us… I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.” (CCC 2365)