A Suffering Servant

Evangelical Christian Chuck Colson’s take on Mother Teresa, from Breakpoint:
For the first time in more than 30 years, Mother Teresa graces the cover of Time magazine. But unlike the 1975 cover that hailed her as a living saint, this week’s cover titillatingly trumpets, “The Secret Life of Mother Teresa.” The subtitle declares, “Newly published letters [...]

Vatican Place Complimentary Holy Water on Flights!

Wow! Most stories on this are reporting the pilgrims not being able to bring Lourdes water on board with them, but the real story is that in this day of no perks on flights is what the Vatican is doing!
From Africa-Reuters.com:
The real miracle would have been getting it past airport security.
Inspectors at Tarbes-Lourdes airport in [...]

Russian Patriarch Lauds Benedict’s Motu Proprio

Says that if the Orthodox had not held on to their traditions, they never would have survived the persecutions…interesting, from Interfax Religion:
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has greeted the recent decree of Pope Benedict XVI providing more freedom to celebrate the ancient Latin Mass.
The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum that provides more freedom [...]

Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

From the Office of Readings (St. Bede, Homily):
As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the [...]

Letters Reveal Mother Teresa’s Heroic Spiritual Struggle

From Catholic World News:
Cardinal Julian Herranz, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (the Vatican’s top canon-law body), told the Italian daily La Repubblica that Mother Teresa clearly suffered through the “dark night of the soul,” like many other great saints.
The book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light includes letters that Mother [...]

Culture of Death Watch: Wrong Twin Aborted

And Salmone said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist”… 
You probably haven’t heard about this. A woman in Italy was pregnant with twins. Prenatal testing revealed one of the twins had Down’s Syndrome. So the distraught couple decided to abort that twin. The doctor messed up and aborted the healthy child and shortly afterwards aborted [...]

Feast of St. Augustine

From the Office of Readings (Augustine, Confessions):
Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance the innermost places of my being; but only because you had become my helper was I able to do so. I entered, then, and with the vision of my spirit, such as it was, I saw the incommutable light [...]

A Monk Visits a Parish Church

And is shocked at what he finds. There is much in this post by Father Mark that deserves wide distribution and reflection. Because ultimately what it reveals is a loss of sense of why we go to Mass at all–and unfortunately the ones who “plan” liturgies are often the most clueless, giving such platitudes as [...]

Even Christ Experienced Darkness says Cardinal

Cardinal Herranz compares the darkness experienced by Mother Teresa (related in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light) to what Christ experienced in his  agony in the  Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. From Catholic Online:
Vatican officials said a new book detailing Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s long “crisis of faith” illustrates her spiritual strength in the [...]

My Illustrious Baseball Career

Now recorded online.

Praying the Our Father

Realizing that all Christian prayer is “through Christ” and “in Christ” try this. Find a crucifix and pray the Our Father while gazing at it, realizing with each word that you speak that you are praying “through Christ”–I think you’ll find that it helps you first of all to say the words with real meaning [...]

RIP

Édouard Cardinal Gagnon died on Saturday in Montreal.

Feast of Saint Monica

From the Office of Readings (Saint Augustine, Confessions):
Because the day when she was to leave this life was drawing near – a day known to you, though we were ignorant of it – she and I happened to be alone, through (as I believe) the mysterious workings of your will. We stood leaning against a window which [...]

Mother Teresa Chose the “Better Part”

From Our Sunday Visitor:

Many people were blessed to be friends or colleagues of Mother Teresa, who had a permanent impact on their lives. Our Sunday Visitor asked two of these fortunate people to reflect upon what made this simple sister so special.
It has been 10 years since Mother Teresa went home to God. Her beatification [...]

Narrow is the Way

 An excellent homily (although its not one) from the Pope on today’s Gospel–from his Angelus message. What is the passport that’ll get you into heaven?
From Papa Ratzinger Forum:
Today’s liturgy proposes to us a statement of Christ which is illuminating but at the same time disconcerting. During his last journey towards Jerusalem, someone asked him: “Lord, [...]