Catholic Fire

Ann Hanincik talks about St. Paul's statement, "Wives be submissive to your husbands." She discusses this in relationship to the Holy Trinity, which makes it a great reflection for today -- Trinity Sunday.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter Today's Mass Readings "I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name are my witness; but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine. The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and not one will ever steal them from me. The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone, and no one can steal from the Father. The Father and I are one (John 10:25-30)." Reflection The Work of the Holy Spirit Meditation for April 15, Angels of the Agony Via †Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam† Saint of the Day St. Paturnus On This Day in Catholic History 2008 -- Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the USA for his apostolic visit. Historical Birthday 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci , Italian Renaissance polymath: a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer (d. 1519) Today's...

Luke 2: 1 - 14 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great jo...

Gospel: Lk 1:26 - 38 When the angel speaks to Mary, she is "greatly troubled", anxious, but this is so she may receive these words with a totally new heart ... to be as little as possible before the Father, before the Will of the Father for her. She doesn't argue, Mary must teach us this littleness. To perfectly observe all the rules is fine, but we want to have the heart of a child, instead of seeking and measuring our perfection. Our perfection is not so much! We must be like little children, always starting afresh, and live by the Word of God. God's Word allows us to be truly children of God totally docile to what He is expecting from us. Let us consider the docility of the Virgin Mary: she does not look at her perfection. It is very beautiful to see the Holy Virgin as a very little child before the Father, with only one desire: to fulfill perfectly what the Father requires from her and not her own project. Mary has no project: she is too poor, too little, ...

Priests from the Community of St. John celebrating Holy Mass in Rome on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Order February, 2006 ~ taken from my personal photo files Memorial of St. Andrew, apostle Daily Mass Readings Reflection On This Day in Catholic History 374 St. Ambrose , Doctor of the Church (340–397) was baptized. 1979 Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) attended an Eastern Orthodox service, the first pope in a thousand years to do so. Birthdays: 539 - St. Gregory of Tours , French bishop and historian was born. (d. 594) 1667 - Jonathan Swift , Irish writer and satirist (d. 1745) 1835 - Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain ), American writer (d. 1910) 1872 - Dr. John McCrae , Canadian physician, soldier, poet. Author of " In Flanders Fields " (d. 1918 ) 1874 - Lucy Maud Montgomery , Canadian author (Anne of Green Gables) (d. 1942) 1874 - Sir Winston Churchill , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel laureate (d. 1965) 1918 - Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ,...

Today's Liturgy: Tuesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time Mass Readings Reflection " The Lord is love; His coming shows Him as love most singular, the love that gives itself more freely, the love that is God's alone: agape. Because He is agape, He comes, and because His coming is agape, it is judgement. His mere presence passes judgement on the evil in us because that presence is love, because evil is its opposite. Love sets free the powers of redeemed life, the love of God given to us..." ~ Sister Amelia Lohr, German Benedictine nun (d. 1972) On This Day in Catholic History: 1095 Pope Urban II began promoting the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. 1970 Pope Paul VI , visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest. 1998 From the Vatican Pope John Paul II issued a papal bull, "Incarnationis Mysterium" (The Mystery of the Incarnation) that proclaimed 2000...

"Pray always without becoming weary." ~ Luke 18:1 "If you get into the habit of praying unceasingly, of loving your neighbor and of weeping in prayer for the whole world then your soul will be drawn towards prayer, tears and love. And if you form the habit of almsgiving, of being obedient, of being open in confession towards your spiritual father, then you will always act in the same manner and so you will come to peace." ~Saint Silouan (1866-1938), Orthodox monk, Writings When both my younger sister and my mom were suffering with cancer at the same time several years ago, I couldn't understand why God would allow this to happen to my family. Mary, a hardworking single mom with two school age children was living in Florida and mom and dad were in Texas, while the rest of us were in IL. Mary was in her thirties and mom was in her early 60's. I was single and busily involved in my career, working my usual 60 - 70 hours per week. I wanted to stop what I was...

Eulalie Durocher was born Born October 6, 1811 at St. Antoine (a small village near Montreal) in Quebec, Canada, the tenth of eleven children. At the age of 16 she felt she had a vocation to the religious life, but was turned away because of her frail health. At eighteen, following the death of her mother, her priest brother invited her and her father to come to his parish which was not far from Montreal . For twelve years she served as his housekeeper and facilitator of pastoral activities. In this capacity, she became known for her graciousness, her gift of hospitality, and her leadership skills. This position also opened her eyes to the great need for instruction of youth - especially for young women who received very little education at that time in Canada. It was Eulalie's dream that every parish be blessed with an order of teaching sisters, although she never imagined that she would be the founder due to her poor health and family responsibilities. However, with the encourage...

Daily Devotional by: Fr. Frank Pavone Love those who cannot repay you SCRIPTURE: "Jesus said to the chief of the Pharisees who had invited him to dinner: 'Whenever you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or wealthy neighbors. They might invite you in return and thus repay you. No, when you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind. You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.'" -- Luke 14:12-14. REFLECTION: "Eschatology" is the study of the "last things" --death, judgment, heaven and hell. Our faith speaks of these matters in order to train us to think of them as real. The more we do that, the more strength we find to shape our lives today in such a way that death and judgment will bring us to the joys of heaven. I call it "eschatological realism," that is, the habit of taking into account today the "la...

SCRIPTURE: "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." -- Psalm 34: 3-4, 7 REFLECTION: Fear of what man may do to us, or fear of what the future may hold, keeps many in bondage to the lies of the enemy. A young woman may fear her boyfriend won't love her if she doesn't engage in promiscuity. The young woman who has an unplanned pregnancy may fear what the future holds because she has believed the lie that her life and her future are over because of the child in her womb. The post-abortive woman may fear she is unworthy of love and deserves to be punished by both God and man. We may fear what people think or what man may do to us because we stand for righteousness, and stand in the gap for the unborn and the woman with child. But Scripture tells us to fear the Lord! In fact, the theme of the book...

Image Source "All other joys are surpassed by that light unspeakable, by which God himself shines upon the saints." ~ Blessed John Ingram

Most people in the world are unloved. Some do not make themselves lovable because of their selfishness; others do not have enough Christian spirit to love those who do not love them. The result is that the world is full of lonely hearts. Here we speak of love not in the romantic or carnal sense, but in the higher sense of generosity, forgiveness, kindness, and sacrifice. Perhaps it would help to know some of the psychological effects of not loving others in a really noble and unselfish way. The first effect of not receiving love ... is cynicism and even hostility. Never a good word can be said for anyone. Because one is unloved one tries to make everyone else unlovable... And the effect of want of love is the martyrdom complex, which is a morbid way to get pity and sympathy when real love is gone. Feigning sickness is one of the tricks. Because good health does not win the affections of others, one pretends to be wounded in the firm hope that someone else will bind the wounds. The ...

Lilacs in July From one of my two lilac bushes that are in bloom now Taken July 7, 2007 By Jean M. Heimann Mass Readings for Today Reflection on Today's Readings The Laborers are not few... Sunday Homily from Father Martin Fox Thanks be to God! Answered Prayer for Vocations: The Reflections 0f a Newly Ordained Priest from Cardinal Sean's blog Today in Catholic History: 1099 - First Crusade : 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem. 1115 Peter the Hermit (b. ca. 1050), died. 1153 Pope Eugene III died. Birthdays: 1593 - Artemisia Gentileschi , female Italian painter (d. 1653) 1839 - John D. Rockefeller , American businessman (d. 1937) 1857 - Alfred Binet , French psychologist (d. 1911) 1923 - Harrison Dillard , American athlete 1926 - Elisabeth Kubler Ross - Swiss - born psychiatrist, (d. 2004) 1932 - Jerry Vale , American singer 1933 - Marty Feldman , English comedian and actor (d. 1982) 1935 - Steve Lawrence , American entertainer ...

"The ruling of the US Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion ban is a mixed blessing. “[The Ruling] is a small moral victory for the pro-life side because the high court has decreed that there can be some restrictions placed on an abortion procedure. We recognize, however, that not one baby will be saved by this decision because the abortion industry will just alter their procedures for killing late-term babies and call it by a different name. All defenders of life should be emboldened by this decision to work even harder to end any type of abortion, the greatest injustice of our time ...“The day after a madman went on a rampage at a Virginia university killing 33 innocent adults, the Supreme Court has said that we should stop killing innocent children by this procedure. America needs to be consistent with our own values and say that all killing of innocent human beings should stop." ~ Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President of Human Life Internationa...

"But if I washed your feet...then you must wash each other’s feet." ~John 13:14 Holy Thursday Reflection