Catholic Fire

On Thursday, we celebrated the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary , and on Monday, we will be celebrating the feast of her Holy Name . She has given us so much! She has given us the gift of her maternal love. God calls all of us to be gift-bearers and to share the love that Our Mother has given us, through her virtues of humility, charity, purity, and obedience to God's will. 1. Pray a Litany to her.  The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Name of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to instill in us how valuable and beneficial it is for us to invoke her holy name in all our needs. The name Mary means “Star of the Sea.” Like the stars in the sky, she reflects the light of Christ and illuminates the way for us along dark paths. She protects us from evil and guides us safely home.  St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, wrote: “As mariners are guided into port by the shining of a star, so Christians are guided to heaven by Mary.”  As “Star of the Sea”, Mary ...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis' Message for the Lenten season 2014 was released at a Vatican Press conference Tuesday. The theme of the Message is drawn from a Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, "He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich" (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). Below, we publish the official English translation of the Lenten Message: Dear Brothers and Sisters, As Lent draws near, I would like to offer some helpful thoughts on our path of conversion as individuals and as a community. These insights are inspired by the words of Saint Paul: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). The Apostle was writing to the Christians of Corinth to encourage them to be generous in helping the faithful in Jerusalem who were in need. What do these words of Saint Paul mean for us Christians today? What does this invitation to poverty, a life o...

This is an inspiring story of true love: In a moving example of paternal love and sacrifice, a man drowned earlier this week after attempting to save his disabled son, who had fallen into a septic tank on the family's Virginia property. 66-year-old Thomas VanderWoude and his 20-year-old son Joseph, who has Down syndrome and who is the youngest of seven sons, were working in their yard in Nokesville, VA when Joseph fell through a septic tank cover that had suddenly collapsed. VanderWoude immediately jumped in after his son and managed to hold his son's head above the surface, saving his life. MORE

An Iraq Veteran has a personal message for Barack Obama

" So the divine love is sacrificial love. Love does not mean to have and to own and to possess. It means to be had and to be owned and to be possessed. It is not a circle circumscribed by self, it is arms outstretched to embrace all humanity within its grasp." ~ Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen "Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives." ~ Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta "Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This is why Christ the Redeemer 'fully reveals man to himself.'" ~ Pope John Paul II "Love... becomes concern and care for the other. No longer is it self-seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation and it is ready, and even willing, ...