Worship
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C. S. Lewis was the consoling voice of the BBC on Sunday evenings during London’s dreaded blitz during the Second World War. His sensible, basic, wartime religious themes are found today in his still popular book, Mere Christianity. Lewis also penned the lighter “The Screw Tape Letters” in which the devil guides a novice demon through the steps of effective temptation. The Oxford professor also wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia,” with a sort of early Harry Potter theme, made into a movie in 2005. As an insightful Christian, Professor Lewis once astutely and shrewdly observed that religion is ten percent faith and ninety percent culture. The history of the past half century more than confirms this insight. more
In the opening lines of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment, he liberally quotes his predecessors in the Chair of Peter to illustrate that care for our common home — and the persons who live in it — has long been a Papal concern. more
For many years the prison ministry at the Adult Correctional Institution in Cranston was administered by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, priests and brothers who were stationed at St. Joseph Church in West Warwick and at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Warwick. more
The recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States evoked a substantial amount of good will, but it also provoked an added bit of commentary on his latest encyclical on society’s care for creation, humanity’s common home. On the day of his holiness’ arrival, the Woonsocket Call featured a political cartoon of the pontiff floating aloft with angelic wings spread wide. The left-handed wing was immensely larger than the right-sided wing. more
Kim Davis, the beleaguered county clerk from Frankfort, K.Y., stopped issuing all marriage licenses in June after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively re-defined marriage for the nation. Two homosexual couples and two heterosexual couples sued her. more
Few ministries in the Catholic Church have undergone more transformation in the past fifty years than the ecumenical and inter-faith apostolates. Until the mid-twentieth century Roman Catholics hardly set foot inside a Protestant Church or a Jewish temple. Perhaps a wedding or a funeral might have drawn a few Roman Catholics into a non-Catholic edifice, but such Catholics were there as mere observers. Singing hymns, responding to prayers, even standing or sitting with the non-Catholic worshippers was quite unlikely. There was to be no compromise with error. more
A man walked into a pet store and inquired about purchasing a hunting dog. “This dog is great hunter,” the owner remarked. “We call him Napoleon. And this is another great hunting dog, we call him Julius Caesar.” “What about the dog over there,” the customer inquired gesturing toward a canine across the room, “what’s his name?” “Oh, we call him ‘the pastor,’ the salesman replied. “The pastor?” the customer inquired, “why do you call him ‘the pastor?’” The salesman quickly responded, “Oh, he just sits around all day and barks and nobody pays any attention to him, so we call him ‘the pastor.’” more
English novelist W. Somerset Maugham observed that there is nothing particularly blessed about poverty. He wrote, “Poverty is the surest route to bitterness and resentment.” Maugham’s thought contrasts greatly with the pronouncement of Jesus Christ recorded by St. Luke: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” Jesus, of course, was thinking of the Palestinian peasant who earned a subsistent living from the land, strengthened by a hardworking family, faithful to his religious traditions and grateful to God for each of his mercies. Maugham on the other hand witnessed the grinding poverty of urban neighborhoods and rural communities. He saw many persons who were spiritually deprived, economically beholden, educationally wanting, often physically addicted, emotionally confused, relationally deficient, and, most likely, sadly neglected. more
The God of the Old Testament was definitely the God of nature. The opening verses of the Book of Genesis are probably a choral presentation chanted during the temple liturgies celebrating God as the author of the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon as well as the plants and the animals. The God of the Hebrew Scriptures was very much in charge of his universe. Natural wonders continue throughout the pages of the ancient Biblical text. The plagues visited on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna found daily in the wilderness, the quenching water spilling from the rock, the quail quieting the complaints of the wandering Hebrew nation, the thunder, lightning and clouds witnessed at Sinai – each of these phenomena was appreciated by the Jews as coming directly from the hand of God. He was indeed the God of nature. more
It has been fifty years since the Latin Mass of our youth began its transformation into the vernacular Mass of the present day. This alteration of Catholic worship did not take place all at once. First the old Tridentine Mass was translated wholly into the world’s languages except for the Roman canon which was still prayed in Latin. Then the Novus Ordo, the new order, often known as the Mass of Paul VI, with wider readings, a selection of Eucharistic prayers, and other assorted additions and eliminations, became the Church’s regular liturgy. One especially notable revision was the broadening of the former offertory into the more expressive presentation and preparation of gifts. more
A statement of faith that passes through the lips of Roman Catholics and many other Christians Sunday after Sunday acknowledges the vital mission of the Holy Spirit in salvation history. “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.” This brief creedal formula confesses the Holy Spirit to be truly Divine. He is Lord and Life-giver. These words also admit the Spirit to be worthy of honor and praise equal to the other two Divine persons. The Holy Spirit’s revelatory role in making the mysteries of God fathomable to believers is likewise professed. But in the midst of these tributes to the Spirit of God are three English words “and the Son” (which are actually one Latin word: “filioque”). For reasons both political and doctrinal, this miniscule phrase has divided Eastern and Western Christianity officially for a thousand years and theologically for maybe fifteen hundred years. more
The four Gospel accounts from Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written perhaps thirty, forty, even fifty years after the events which they relate actually occurred. These four accounts were written possibly in Jerusalem, maybe in Syria, perhaps in Rome or elsewhere. One or two of these narratives were destined for Jewish readership; the other two were destined for Greek, Roman and Gentile circulation. more
It is often reported that young adults don’t go to church, don’t marry and don’t vote. Any pastor can relate that young people disappear shortly after their Confirmation and return when it is time to get married or, more likely today, when they want their first baby baptized. The latest Pew Survey found that while church attendance is off, generally “the main reason for the decrease was due to millennials (18 to 35 year olds) leaving the church.” Pew researchers offer a similar bleak statistic regarding marriage: “If current trends continue, 25% of young adults in the most recent cohort (ages 25 to 34 in 2010) will have never married by 2030. That would be the highest share in modern history.” And the data from the US Census Bureau on voting is not much more encouraging: “In every U.S. presidential election from 1964 on, 18 to 24-year-olds voted at lower rates than all other age groups. In contrast, Americans 65 and older have voted at higher rates than all other age groups since the 1996 election.” more
The sad news from Pew Research Associates that the percentage of Rhode Islanders who claim to be Catholic has diminished to 42% is matched by the equally distressing information that the number of Rhode Islanders who have no religious affiliation at all has increased to 20 percent. more
The solemnity of Pentecost was a Jewish feast day long before Christians began to commemorate the powerful arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Church community at Jerusalem. And truth be told, the Jewish observance of this early summer festival certainly had agricultural roots in the fulfillment that farmers experienced as their early spring plantings came to fruition. This spring planting would have occurred seven weeks earlier around the time of the Jewish feast of Passover and the later Christian observance of Easter. Then the next two months would have coincided with the farmers’ anxious witness of the first sprouts, the lengthening stems, the hardy stalks, the ripe kernels and the successful harvest of sweet rye, wheat, and barley. From a human perspective, the festival that later became Pentecost was a celebration of natural fulfillment, completion, accomplishment. more
Father Joseph Egan was a long-time dogmatic theology professor at St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, New York. It was always his contention that St. Luke wrote Acts of the Apostles in order to justify the missionary activity to the Gentiles by St. Paul in light of the prior if somewhat limited outreach to the Gentile world by St. Peter. By the time St. Luke was writing Acts, St. Peter’s stature within the Christian community was acknowledged and respected enough that any precedent St. Peter had initiated could justifiably be cited as reason for other followers of Christ, like St. Paul and St. Barnabas, to venture out into similar even if more extensive challenges and apostolates. Accordingly, St. Luke devotes an entire chapter of Acts to the conversion by St. Peter of the Gentile but God-fearing centurion Cornelius and his household. more
Believers are certainly not surprised to hear Jesus’ words proclaiming love as a principal pillar upon which the Christian life rests. Nor is the believer surprised to read the words of the sacred authors of the Gospels and epistles joining Jesus in his demand that love be central to all Christian activity. St. James writes, “However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” St. Paul joins him while writing to the Galatians, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And again the Apostle confirms this belief in writing powerfully to the Romans: “…whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” The Gospel accounts of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke are unanimous and unequivocal in placing love at the heart of the Christian message. St. Mark writes for all three when he records: “Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And for the Christian love is to be understood in its broadest sense: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” more
In the front vestibule of St. Joseph Church in Pascoag there is a small stained glass window depicting a bishop in liturgical attire, staff in hand, attended by servers. Perhaps unique in stained glass artistry, his Excellency is wearing eye-glasses. The episcopal motto featured below his likeness reveals the historical accuracy of the bespeckled prelate’s unusual portrait. more
Every Sunday Catholics through the world along with a number of other Christians solemnly professes the venerable words of the Nicene Creed: “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” more
Perhaps no sacrament has evolved (or maybe the word should be devolved) over the centuries like the sacrament of Penance. And canonically it still is the sacrament of “Penance.” The official publication of the Catholic Church for the instruction of ministers confecting the sacrament is entitled “Ordo Paenitentiae,” i.e., the Order of Penance. The modern term “Reconciliation” is a mid-twentieth century application that ordinarily connotes equality between offending parties. more
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