Catholic Fire

Die Heimsuchung Mariens (The Visitation), 1695/1696, by Luca Giordano Luke 1:39-56 May 31 is the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which recalls Mary's visit with her cousin Elizabeth. This event is also the second joyful mystery of the rosary -- the first being the Annunciation. Elizabeth had been barren all her life, but in the Annunciation, Mary learned that her kinswoman was miraculously expecting a child in her old age. Upon hearing this good news, Mary fervently desired to share in Elizabeth's joy and serve her during the last part of her pregnancy. So she went "with haste" to visit Elizabeth and remained with her for three months. Mary's first action after God had come to dwell in her was one of self-denying charity. She undertook a troublesome journey in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Thus, she proclaimed charity to be the virtue which above all Christ brought with Him from heaven. God made Mary's visit the occas...

By Jean M. Heimann Today’s saint, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 – 1690), was selected by God to be a witness to the passionate love He has for each one of us, as symbolized by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through visions and private revelations, God used her, as His instrument, to spread His love throughout the world. Growing up in the town of Janots in the Burgundy region of France, Margaret Mary’s childhood was marked by sickness and family problems. Her father died of pneumonia when she was only eight years old and his death left the family in a state of poverty. Relatives took control of the family home, treating both Margaret Mary and her mother cruelly. She stated: “The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering." Margaret Mary developed a painful rheumatic condition at 12 and was bedridden until she was 15. After considering marriage for a period of time, she decided to dedicate her life to God. She entered the ...

St. James and his disciples adoring Our Lady of the Pillar Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar -- the Blessed Virgin Mary's first apparition in history. The Blessed Mother appeared to Saint James the Apostle , the brother of Saint John the Evangelist , on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa, Spain. Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God. Our Lady of the Pillar is the patroness of Spain and all Hispanic peoples. Seven years after the death of Jesus, St. James reportedly traveled as far west as Spain to the village of Saragossa in northeast Spain. St. James became disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition tells us that on January 2, 40 A.D. while he was deep in prayer, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper wood and instructed him to build a church in her honor: "This place is to be my house, and this image...

Today, September 19, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of La Salette. On Saturday, September 19, 1846, on the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on the mountain in La Salette, France to fifteen-year-old Melanie Calvat and eleven-year-old Maximin Giraud, two young shepherds. Mary appeared in a resplendent light as a beautiful woman dressed in a strange costume, seated on a stone, her face buried in her hands, crying. The beautiful lady then stood up and crossed her arms. She told the children not to be afraid but reassured them that she had great news to share. She gave them both a public message and asked them to make her message known to all her people. Our Lady called the townspeople to repent of their sins and to turn back to Christ.  The Blessed Mother told them: "If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me ...

The saint of the day for May 22 is Saint Rita of Cascia, religious, patron of impossible, desperate causes and situations. She is also the patron saint of abuse victims, difficult marriages, infertility, parenthood, sterility, and widows. St. Rita was born at Rocca Porena, Italy, in 1386 to Antonio and Amata Lotti, who were quite advanced in years. Rita’s birth was an answer to their prayers. The family was well-known for their charity, which merited them the surname of "Peacemakers of Jesus Christ." Rita brought much joy to her parents. She was a cheerful, amiable, pious and devout child who spent much of her time in prayer. At the age of twelve, she desired to consecrate herself to God in the religious state. Pious though her parents were, they refused her pleas, but instead gave her away in marriage, at the age of eighteen, to an ill-tempered young man who was the town watchman. The couple had two sons, who inherited their father's temperament. After 18 years...

May 13th is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917.  She appeared six times to Lucia, 9, and her cousins Francisco, 8, and his sister Jacinta, 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. The story of Fatima begins in 1916, when, against the milieu of the First World War, which had introduced Europe to the most horrific and powerful forms of combat ever seen, and a year before the Communist revolution would plunge Russia and later Eastern Europe into six decades of oppression under militant atheistic governments, a resplendent figure appeared to the three children who were in the field tending the family sheep. “I am the Angel of Peace,” said the dazzling figure, who appeared to them two more times that year urging them to accept the sufferings that the Lord allowed them to undergo as an act of reparation for sins and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners. Then, on the 13th day ...

The over 56 million abortions since the 1973 decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton reflect with heartbreaking magnitude what Pope Francis means by a “throwaway culture.” However, we have great trust in God’s providence. We are reminded time and again in Scripture to seek the Lord’s help, and as people of faith, we believe that our prayers are heard. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), no. 373, designates January 22 as a particular day of prayer and penance, called the "Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children”: “In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.” As individuals, we are called to observe this day through the penitential practices of prayer, fa...

By Jean M. Heimann Today’s saint, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 – 1690), was selected by God to be a witness to the world of the passionate love He has for each one of us, as symbolized by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through visions and private revelations, God used her, as His instrument, to spread His love throughout the world.  Growing up in the town of Janots in the Burgundy region of France, Margaret Mary’s childhood was marked by sickness and family problems. Her father died of pneumonia when she was only eight years old and his death left the family in a state of poverty. Relatives took control of the family home, treating both Margaret Mary and her mother cruelly. She stated: “The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering."  Margaret Mary developed a painful rheumatic condition at 12 and was bedridden until she was 15. After considering marriage for a period of time, she decided to dedicate her life to...

October 7 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary . This feast was instituted by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the great naval victory over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto on this day in the year 1570, a favor due to the recitation of the Rosary. This victory saved Europe from being overrun by the forces of Islam. Rosary Quotes "Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother." ~ St. Padre Pio The Rosary is a prayer both so humble and simple and a theologically rich in Biblical content. I beg you to pray it. ~ Pope St. John Paul II "The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results." ~ St. Josemaria Escriva "Among all the devotions approved by the Church none has been so ...

"‘Spiritual combat’ is [an] element of life which needs to be taught anew and proposed once more to all Christians today. It is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which (we) engage every day…” ~ Pope St. John Paul II (Vatican Archives: Address of the Holy Father, May 25, 2002) Related Posts: A Prayer for Consecrating Your Home to St. Michael the Archangel Feast of the Archangels: Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael