A Relic of St. Jude the Apostle Preserved in Chicago, IL

While often unknown even by local Catholics, the Shrine of St. Jude, a Dominican run Shrine, in Chicago, Illinois houses one of the few relics of an apostle in America.  The Shrine of St. Jude is housed physically inside of St. Pius V Catholic Church at 1919 S Ashland Avenue (and not in the Dominican House which is at 1909 S Ashland), Chicago, Illinois.  Inside of this Church, you will find a relic of the forearm of St. Jude the Apostle.  St. Jude is the author of a short Epistle in the New Testament.

While the sanctuary in this Church has been virutally destroyed in the aftermath of Vatican II, there are a number of small and beautiful shrines inside of St. Pius V Catholic Church.  There is one in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one to the Infant Christ (which I have photographed below) and the one to St. Jude the Apostle.

If you are near Chicago or pass by, spend some time - even just 10 minutes - in prayer before this powerful relic of the holy Apostle St. Jude.  The Church offers a small but gated parking lot across the street.  And for those in the area, there are buses, Divy bikes, and other forms of public transportation that run right by the Shrine.

St. Jude, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Read more >>

Donate Your Old Rosary to the African Missions

#RosariesforAfrica is a movement that I am starting to bring awareness to the Rosary Project for Africa.  This project, mentioned in the America Needs Fatima publication in 2015, is looking for Rosaries for the African Missions.  Take part in a global effort to catechize the souls in Africa who do not know Christ.  Let us entrust their conversion to the Faith to Our Lady of the Rosary.

For information on how to donate your #RosariesforAfrica please read the following article:

Read more >>

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross

"When you feel the assaults of passion and anger, then is the time to be silent as Jesus was silent in the midst of His ignominies and sufferings" (St. Paul of the Cross)

Double (1955 Calendar): April 28

St. Paul of the Cross is the renowned Founder of the Passionists.  Born in 1694 to a merchant in Italy, Paul spent his youth in the spirit of Christian piety.  His parents were devout and holy parents. At the age of 15, St. Paul began to engage in severe penitential practices in reparation for sin.

While still a layman, he received a vision and founded the Congregation of Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion (called the Passionists) in 1721 to preach about Jesus Crucified.  Their mission: Preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  Beforehand, he had intended to fight in the army for Venice against the Turks. But after his vision, he refused the honor as well as a large inheritance and honorable marriage to devote himself to Jesus Crucified. He began to preach of the Passion of Our Lord even before he became a cleric. In 1727, he was ordained a priest by Pope Benedict XIII.

St. Paul is remembered for preaching with such power that hardened sinners and murderous robbers wept at his preaching.  At one point in his life, in a true example for us to persevere in our good works, all of his brothers in the order abandoned him.  Yet, by the will of God, his rule was approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 and the order began to grow anew. He surmounted incredible difficulties due to his humility and dedication.

St. Paul died on October 18, 1775, at a time when his order had over 180 fathers and brothers.  Before his death, he had also founded a monastery of contemplative sisters in Corneto. He was beatified and canonized by Pope Pius IX.

Taken from a letter written by St. Paul of the Cross: "It is an excellent and holy practice to call to mind and meditate on our Lord's Passion since it is by this path that we shall arrive at union with God. In this, the holiest of all schools, true wisdom is learned, for it was there that all the saints became wise"

Prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ, You endowed blessed Paul with a special love to preach the mystery of Your cross and raised up a new community in the Church through him. May his intercession make us always mindful of Your passion so that we may share in its reward in heaven; who lives and rules with God the Father . . .

Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

"Christ Triumphed Over the Devil on the Cross"

(St. Paul of the Cross)

Read more >>

The Primary 2 Moral Errors of Our Time by Pope Benedict XV

 Now there are two passions today dominant in the profound lawlessness of morals - an unlimited desire of riches and an insatiable thirst for pleasures. It is this which marks with a shameful stigma our epoch; whilst it goes ceaselessly from progress to progress in the order of all which touches the well-being and convenience of life, it seems that in the superior order of honesty and of moral rectitude a lamentable retrogression leads it back to the ignominies of ancient paganism. In that measure, in truth, wherein men lose sight of eternal goods which Heaven reserved for them, they permit themselves to be more taken in by the deceitful mirage of the ephemeral goods here below, and once their souls are turned down towards the earth, an easy descent leads them insensibly to relax themselves in virtue, to experience repugnance for spiritual things, and to relish nothing outside the seductions of pleasure. Hence the general situation which we note: with some the desire to acquire riches or to increase their patrimony knows no bounds; others no longer know, as formerly, how to bear the trials which are the usual result of want or poverty; and at the very hour in which the rivalries We have pointed out set by the ears the rich and the proletariat a great number seem to wish to further excite the hatred of the poor by an unbridled luxury which accompanies the most revolting corruption.


19. From this point of view one cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and condition; made foolish by desire to please, they do not see to what a degree the in decency of their clothing shocks every honest man, and offends God. Most of them would formerly have blushed for those toilettes as for a grave fault against Christian modesty; now it does not suffice for them to exhibit them on the public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of the churches, to assist at the Holy sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table where one receives the heavenly Author of purity. And We speak not of those exotic and barbarous dances recently imported into fashionable circles, one more shocking than the other; one cannot imagine anything more suitable for banishing all the remains of modesty.

Taken from Sacra Propediem of Pope Benedict XV on Januar y6, 1921, the Feast of the Epiphany.

Read more >>

Mourning Drapes Over Catholic Churches

With the death of Francis Cardinal George last week, some of the more traditional Catholic Churches in the Archdiocese put the customary purple mourning drapes over the front doors.  A few nice examples of this tradition are shared here:

Shrine of Christ the King

St. John Cantius Catholic Church

Read more >>

Spend This Saturday Praying Outside for the Major Rogation

This Saturday, April 25th, is the Major Rogation. 

Traditionally, fasting and penance were required on this day, and the faithful would especially pray Litanies on this day.

Rogation Days are the four days set apart to bless the fields, and invoke God's mercy on all of creation. The 4 days are April 25, which is called the Major Rogation (and is only coincidentally the same day as the Feast of St. Mark); and the three days preceding Ascension Thursday, which are called the Minor Rogations. Traditionally, on these days, the congregation marches the boundaries of the parish, blessing every tree and stone, while chanting or reciting a Litany of Mercy, usually a Litany of the Saints.

Spend the day outside on Saturday.  Pray for a good harvest.  Sprinkle the fields and grasses with holy water.  Let us call down God's blessings on our land in an era when even the mainstream Catholic Church has all but forgotten and neglected the Rogation Days.

See here for a Rogation Day Prayer.  

Fr Christopher Smith, a priest of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina has put together a truly beautiful and excellent illustrated guide explaining both the Rogations and Ember Days, with a number of very useful quotes from various liturgical sources. It can be downloaded from dropbox.

Read more >>

SSPX Re-Dedicates St. James Church in Pittsburgh

The following is taken from the website of DICI.  “On Saturday, March 28, 2015, the Society of St. Pius X triumphantly re-dedicated the church of St. James in Pittsburgh, PA, Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, the First Assistant of the SSPX, was on hand to lead the solemn ceremonies.”  Some of the photos are as follows:

To help this apostolate of the Society, please consider sending in a donation of any size:

St. James Catholic Church
326 South Main Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15220

Read more >>

Who Are the "Sheep Not of This Fold"?

In the Gospels, Jesus spoke of "sheep not of this fold."  In our times there has been a pernicious error arise that Jesus was speaking of the Mormons with this line.  As a result of this error, it's essential that we understand what Jesus was saying when He spoke of "sheep not of this fold."

As the Scriptures state:

I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:14-18)

Before we can understand any passage of Scripture we have to put it in context.  To start, who was Jesus speaking to?  He certainly was speaking to the Jews.  In particular, He was speaking to the Pharisees when He spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd.  And at this time the Jews did not understand or even fathom that salvation was possible for non-Jews. These non-Jews, the Gentiles, would be saved by Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross.  And in this way, the Good Shepherd would draw all men to Himself - the Jews (those of the fold) and the Gentiles (the sheep not of this fold).  And together they would form one sheepfold with Christ as the One Shepherd.

Unfortunately, the Mormons have twisted Scripture around and sought to apply words spoken by Jesus thousands of years before their founding to them.  The Mormons emphasize that Jesus was calling them to be of a different sheepfold.  But this is also wrong.  The emphasis of Jesus in the passage is not that there are different groups of followers of His; rather, the Lord was making clear that He would bring all peoples together into one sheepfold.  It is only in that one sheepfold (the Church) that we can all come together and truly follow the Lord.

The Staff of Catholic Answers explains:

Most Catholic biblical scholars, following the teaching of the early Church Fathers, agree that the "other sheep" are the Gentiles, to whom the gospel was sent after the Jews rejected Christ (Rom 11:11-12). 

During his public ministry Jesus confined his proclamation of the gospel to the Jews (Mt 10:5-6, 15:24), and initially this remained the focus of the apostles' preaching, although Jesus had foretold that the gospel would eventually be carried to "all nations" (Mt 28:19, Acts 1:8). This opening up of God's blessing even to Gentiles was foretold in the Old Testament (Ps 2:7; Is 2:2-6). 

Paul explained this to Gentile Christians: 

"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands--remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ." (Eph 2:11-13; cf. Rom 3:22; Gal 3:27-28)

Another member of Catholic Answers further states:

In reality, the "other sheep" Jesus mentions are the righteous Gentiles, who did not belong to the "fold" of God’s chosen people, Israel, but who would respond to the gospel when preached to them. While Christ’s earthly ministry served the Jewish people almost exclusively, his great commission to the apostles before his ascension sent them into all the world to preach, baptize and thus unite his believers in one fold (Mt 27:19). Because "he that heareth you heareth me" (Lk 10:16), to hear the gospel from the lips of his disciples is to hear Jesus himself 

The understanding of the "other sheep" as the Gentiles who would come to believe in Christ is the natural understanding of the passage. Mormons sometimes ask Christians, "If the ‘other sheep’ weren’t in the New World then who were they?" 

A Christian often will be perplexed at the fact the question was asked at all and respond, "Well, they’re the Gentile Christians, of course. How could anyone think the text suggests otherwise?" The New Testament has a running theme of how salvation comes from the Jews to the Gentiles. It appears across multiple books, in all of the gospels and most of the epistles. Jesus’ statement about gathering other sheep in the future is simply one more instance of the gospels dealing with this theme. 

The fact that Mormons often do not spot the obvious, face-value interpretation of the text reveals how little Mormons have been exposed to the historic understanding of the passage and how little they have been encouraged to think through its rationale. They have not tried to understand the New Testament as a whole, integrating and understanding its individual passages with other passages and with the general historical backdrop. Instead, they have had the interpretations of certain alleged proof texts force-fed to them in a way that keeps them from knowing of the existence of other, more plausible interpretations.

Above all, the sheep "not of this fold" are the Gentiles.  Together with the original Jews who accepted Christ, the Church was to include all men.  This false teaching of the Mormons has distorted the understanding of Christ's beautiful role as the Good Shepherd.  Like other cults (Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists), the writings of the Mormons are to be burned and condemned.  And like these groups, the Mormons do not accept the Trinity and therefore are not Christians at all; rather, they are a pernicious form of paganism.

Those looking for an honest understanding of Mormonism, please see the articles of Patrick Madrid.

Read more >>

St. Ignatius on Sin

 

"To have prevented one single sin is reward enough for the labors and efforts of a whole lifetime." St. Ignatius

Read more >>

Francis Cardinal George of Chicago Has Died

May his soul rest in peace.  Requiem Aeternam.

De Profundis

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Let Your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.

If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?

But with You is forgiveness, that You may be revered.

I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in His word.

My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.

More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord,

For with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption;

And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Read more >>