Monday, September 29, 2008

God Answered The Prayer!

Do you remember a week or so ago? My brother, James, was in a motorcycle accident while coming home from a Prison Ministry meeting. He missed a curve. It was ugly.

A quick recap of injuries:
  • Broken back in four places
  • Broken ribs
  • Broken sternum
  • Broke both shoulder blades
  • Problems with his groin and ankle
  • Broken collar bone

James came home in 5 days, it would have been less if the doctors would have communicated better.

He has no internal injuries or nerve damage. Can you believe it?! He went on the prison ministry retreat this weekend and gave his conversion story. He didn't even miss his son's football game.

God is so good! Praise the Lord!


Thank you and may God bless you all.

The Key To Knowing God's Will Is?

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

My Dear People,

The Key To Knowing God's Will

Doing the Father's will is the theme of the Gospel today. How do we know what God's will is for us? How did Jesus know what the Father's will was for Him? Jesus prayed. He prayed often. He prayed from the heart. In obedience to the will of God the Father, Jesus, His only Son, always spoke in His Father's Name. Today's Gospel from Matthew, focuses doing what God's asks of us. Being one in mind and heart in union with God, is a key to fulfilling His Divine Will. Our vocation is a life response to the Will of God.

Catholics are called to live three lifestyles; the single state, married life; and priesthood or religious life. This is why it is so essential that a lot of prayer and discernment must go into choosing our vocation. When we enter into the covenantal stage of our vocation, we receive all of the help and grace that we need to complete it. PRAY for the discernment and grace to know and live God's will.

May we support the work in God's vineyard with their time, talent and treasure.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,
Fr. Mark

Friday, September 26, 2008

Father John Corapi - "Catholics Don't Know Their Faith"

"You Can't Vote For A Pro-Abortion Candidate," Fr. John Corapi

In speaking with faithful Catholics all over the world for the past twenty years there is a consensus among them that the average Catholic doesn’t know much about their faith. Likewise there is an overwhelming consensus that if we did, the world would be a very different place. In the United States of America we have over sixty million Catholics. If these Catholic citizens knew their faith and then voted and lived their faith, this country would be incalculably better off. In turn, so would the entire world.

In the past few months leading up to what may prove to be the most crucial presidential election in this country’s history, it is outright frightening how many Catholics think they can vote for a pro-abortion candidate. As many of our good bishops have pointed out, under the current circumstances this is not possible. Abortion is the overridingly most important moral issue of our times, all others being important, but rendered irrelevant if the preeminent right—the right to life—is destroyed.

Voting For Pro-Choice Candidates Is Evil In Itself

As Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon recently pointed out, clarifying the teaching of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in their excellent pastoral letter “Faithful Citizenship,” a candidate or office holder is disqualified from receiving the vote of a Catholic in good conscience if they hold a pro-abortion position. In other words pro- choice candidates under the current set of circumstances are disqualified because of their pro-death political positions. We cannot vote for them. As the Bishops of Kansas recently asserted in their excellent voter’s guide, “Catholics would ‘commit moral evil’ by voting for a candidate who supports abortion and other intrinsically evil things. Voting is a moral act, and voting for pro-choice candidates is evil in itself. One becomes a collaborator in evil by so doing. No amount of rationalization can escape this logical and moral conclusion.

There was some confusion over this based on a statement made some time ago by Pope Benedict, who was speaking in general terms, saying that for a “proportionate reason” it would be possible to vote for such candidates. However, in the concrete situation we face, with a candidate who is pro-life, this would not be possible. No amount of “other reasons” would excuse voting for a pro-choice candidate. The Church clearly teaches that life begins at conception. As Pope John Paul II stated many times, “abortion is murder.” Following logically from this, if a single abortion is murder, then 48,000,000 (the approximate number of abortions in this country since Roe v. Wade) of them is genocide. What would be the “proportionate reason” supporting such an outrage? There is none.

Lack of understanding of what the Catholic Church teaches is grossly harmful to the individual Catholic and to society in general. It is for this reason that I have always tried to promote and teach the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a sure norm for teaching the faith, as Pope John Paul II asserted in promulgating the Catechism. “Guarding the Deposit of Faith is the mission which the Lord entrusted to His Church,” are the first words of the Apostolic Constitution “Fidei Depositum.” These are the words the Holy Father used to introduce us to the Catechism.

For this reason we are making my series “The Teaching of Jesus Christ” more and more available through television, radio, and the lowest prices ever offered for DVD and CD versions. Ignorance of the Faith can prove fatal—for individuals and for nations. Learning our faith is the best investment we can make. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the very best way to do this.

May God bless you, each one, and may God bless America in this time of national crisis,

Father John Corapi



More Fr. John Corapi

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Secret Story of Padre Pio’s Stigmata

The Secret Story of Padre Pio’s Stigmata


Volume Reveals Report of Vatican Investigator

By Mirko Testa

ROME, SEPT. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A volume detailing the report of a Vatican investigator into Padre Pio gives new information on the wounds of the Passion that the friar suffered.

Padre Pio da Pietrelcina received the stigmata from the crucified Christ, who in an apparition invited the Capuchin friar to unite himself to his passion so as to participate in the salvation of others, particularly consecrated persons: This is what we can know with certainty thanks to the recent opening—at the request of Benedict XVI —of the archives of the former Holy Office up to 1939, which contain information on revelations to Padre Pio that were not previously published.

These revelations have been released in a book titled "Padre Pio Sotto Inchiesta: l’‘Autobiografia Segreta’" ("Padre Pio Under Investigation: The ‘Secret Autobiography’"). The volume is prefaced by Vittorio Messori and edited by Father Franceso Castelli, historian for the beatification cause of Pope John Paul II and professor of modern and contemporary history of the Church at the Romano Guardini Institute for Religious Sciences in Taranto, Italy.

Until the publication of this book, many assumed that Padre Pio—whether for reasons of modesty or because he thought himself unworthy of the charisms he had received—had never disclosed to anyone what happened on the day he received the stigmata.

The only known reference to these events was in a letter Padre Pio sent to his spiritual director, Father Benedetto da San Marco in Lamis, in which he speaks of the appearance of a "mysterious person" but does not offer any details.

The new book, which contains the first complete version of the report penned by Bishop Raffaele Rossi of Volterra, (later cardinal), apostolic visitor sent by the Holy See to secretly investigate Padre Pio, clarifies that on the occasion of the reception of the stigmata the saint had a conversation with the crucified Christ.

The book also contains a number of statements that Padre Pio made under oath, which provide an interpretive key to Bishop Rossi’s report.

Asked to swear on the Gospel, Padre Pio for the first time revealed the identity of the one from whom he received the wounds.

It was June 15, 1921, and in answer to a question posed by Bishop Rossi, Padre Pio said:
"On Sept. 20, 1918, I was in the choir of the church after celebrating Mass, making the thanksgiving when I was suddenly overtaken by powerful trembling and then there came calm and I saw Our Lord in his crucified form.

"He was lamenting the ingratitude of men, especially those consecrated to him and favored by him."


"Then," Padre Pio continued, "his suffering was apparent as was his desire to join souls to his Passion. He invited me to let his pains enter into me and to meditate on them and at the same time concern myself with the salvation of others. Following this, I felt full of compassion for the Lord’s pains and I asked him what I could do.

"I heard this voice: ‘I will unite you with my Passion.’ And after this the vision disappeared, I came back to myself, my reason returned and I saw these signs here from which blood flowed. Before this I did not have these."

Padre Pio then said that the stigmata were not the result of a personal request of his own but came from an invitation of the Lord, who, lamenting the ingratitude of men, and consecrated persons in particular, conferred on Padre Pio a mission as the culmination of an interior mystical journey of preparation.

Common theme

Father Castelli, the book’s editor, noted that the theme of the ingratitude of men and especially those favored by God is not something new in the Capuchin friar’s private revelations.

He told ZENIT: "What is decisive is that Padre Pio made no request for the stigmata. This helps us to understand the freedom and the humility of the Capuchin who is clearly completely uninterested in making a show of the wounds.

"Padre Pio’s humility also manifests itself in his reaction to seeing the signs of the Passion traced in his flesh once he had come back to himself. In fact, in the conversation with the bishop, once the mystical scene has finished, it is not elaborated on further."

From the conversation with Padre Pio, from the letters, from the witnesses questioned by Bishop Rossi and finally from his own report, it is plain that the friar was unhappy about the signs of the Passion, that he tried to hide them and that he was uneasy in showing them at the request of the apostolic visitor, the editor explained.

A 6th wound?

The book conveys Bishop Rossi’s conclusions about the stigmata, of which there had only been partial information, and so provides new information, especially about the form of the wound in the side and a rumored sixth wound on the friar’s back
.

In his report the apostolic visitor says that there was no festering in Padre Pio’s wounds, they did not close and did not heal. The remained inexplicably open and bloody, despite the fact that the friar had tried to stop the bleeding by treating them with iodine.

"Bishop Rossi’s description of the wound in the side," Father Castelli told ZENIT, "is decisively different from those before and after him. He did not see it as an upside down or slanted cross, but as having a ‘triangular form’ and so therefore with definite edges."

Contrary to what certain doctors have said, Bishop Rossi concluded that the wounds did not appear to be externally inflicted.

"This speaks in favor of the authenticity of the stigmata," Father Castelli explained, "because carbolic acid—which according to some was what Padre Pio might have used to cause the wounds—after it has been applied, consumes the tissue and inflames the surrounding area. It is impossible to think that for 60 years Padre Pio could have caused himself these wounds of the same definite shape.

"Further, the wounds emitted the intense odor of violets rather than the fetid stench that degenerative processes, tissue necrosis or infections usually cause."

According to the report, Padre Pio said that apart from the stigmata in his hands, feet and side, there were no other wounds, and therefore no wound on his back as Jesus might have had from carrying the cross. Some have suggested that Padre Pio might have had this wound.

Father Castelli maintains that it is not possible to speculate beyond the information gathered in Bishop Rossi’s 1921 investigation and attribute to Padre Pio any other sign of the Passion.

Hat tip to Father Z

Monday, September 22, 2008

God Is Not Fair! He Is Just!

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

My Dear People,

God is not fair. God is just.

The Kingdom parables are Christ's teachings on the completion of His Father's plan of salvation. Today's Gospel from Matthew, focuses on Our Lord's great generosity. His Mercy and Compassion knows no boundaries. We are beneficiaries of that Divine Love. It is a signature characteristic of the Kingdom. God is not fair. God is just. His Justice is not our justice. God is free to be merciful and loving as He sees fit. No human being can tell God how to love or how to forgive.

The most merciful act of the Father was the love given to us through His only Son upon the Holy Cross. In Jesus Christ we see the perfect love of the Father. It is almost too hard for our mind to grasp. He loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten dying upon the Cross. What a great Father we have in Heaven. Give praise and thanks for our Heavenly Father for the great love He has given us in Jesus!

May we be faithful and generous stewards, joyfully accepting Our Lord's invitation to come and work in His vineyard.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,
Fr. Mark

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

St. Bellarmine Feast Day

Learn more about the great Cardinal Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino click here to get over 40 post about about our beloved St. Bellarmine.

They range from quotes, bios and short stories.

Don't forget your free book written by St. Bellarmine! Just sign up on the right hand side to get one the greatest books every written about the passion of Christ.

Here are some of my favorite St. Bellarmine post.








St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Saint Robert Bellarmine Patron Saint of Catechumens

This comes from a fellow blogger phatcatholic. He did an entire thesis on the history of the catechism. As you may know Cardinal Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino was the king of the catechism. If you did not know, then keep reading to find out why St. Robert Bellarmine is the patron Saint of Catechumens.

In his encyclical Etsi minime, Pope Benedict XIV addressed this problem by proposing the catechism of Robert Bellarmine as the standard for teaching Christian doctrine (Kevane xxxi). Benedict says of it, “There is nothing more effective or opportune for guarding in advance against the errors which can creep into the situation of such a variety of Catechisms for children” (qtd. in Kevane xxxii). He also stated that if a local catechism must be used, care should be taken that nothing be added to it that contradicts Catholic truth, and that these truths are presented in a clear and comprehensive yet concise manner (xxxii).

In 1869, with the convening of the First Vatican Council, the Church again took up the problem articulated by Pope Benedict XIV. Besides the publication of two Dogmatic Constitutions (Dei Filius and Pastor aeternus), which themselves did much to solidify the Church’s teaching on Divine Revelation and the Infallibility of the Pope, steps were taken to compose a uniform catechism for use throughout the entire Church (xxxiv-xxxv). That the Church, after so many years, would still be concerned with a uniform presentation of the faith is a testament to her constant zeal and concern for the Deposit entrusted to her. She is always desirous to pass it on with the utmost fidelity and to nurture within the hearts of men a true and lasting increase in understanding and conversion to Christ.

The schema presented to the Council Fathers on January 14, 1870 expressed the intent of the Council:
All the members of the Church of Christ diffused throughout the whole world should be of one heart and one soul; hence they must likewise be unified in their lips and their language. It must be recognized, however, that a variety in approach and method of teaching the rudiments of the faith to the faithful is no slight obstacle to this unity. Hence, with the approval of this Council, We shall take care to produce a Small Catechism by Our authority, which all are to use. Thus, the variety of small Catechisms will be removed for the future. (qtd. in Kevane xxxv)
Again, the catechism of St. Robert Bellarmine was held as the standard to be emulated, and after some weeks of discussion, the project for a Small Catechism was brought to a formal vote and overwhelmingly approved by the bishops. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War forced the Council to suspend its work before the disciplinary decree for the Small Catechism could be officially promulgated (xxxvi). “Thus the pastors and the faithful continued after Vatican I with the Roman Catechism together with the several national and regional Catechisms for children as the ongoing teaching aids for handing on the elements and rudiments of the deposit of faith” (xxxvii).


Learn more about the great Cardinal Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Crucifix, A Powerful Form of Deliverance!

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

My Dear People,

The Crucifix, A Powerful Form of Deliverance!

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross is an annual reminder to all of the Catholic faithful that the Crucifix is a powerful form of exorcism and deliverance. The devil realizes that his time is short. Death did not overcome Jesus Christ, because the Father resurrected Him from the dead. When we gaze upon the Holy Cross, we see victory. The devil sees defeat. Many Catholics used to place a blessed cross in every room. This is a powerful form of deliverance from evil. Now, seldom do you find ANY blessed objects in a Catholic home.

Sacramentals are not magic. Our souls must be in a state of grace in order to benefit from them. When we combine Sunday Mass, frequent confession, and sacramentals to our weekly regiment, the devil then knows we mean business. Our life come from Our Lord. He desires to keep us safe from the enemy. Assist Our Lord in keeping our souls and our home safe form all harm and evil. Pray, pray, pray! Go to weekly mass and monthly confession. Show the enemy that your house and hearts belong to the Lord!

May we give generously of our time, talent and treasure, in everlasting love and gratitude for the total sacrifice Jesus gave for us on the CROSS.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,

Scripture Demand Bishops To Correct "Former Catholic Politians"

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Dear People,

Scripture Demand Bishops To Correct
"Former Catholic Politians"

Scandal has become a common place event in our world today. Whether former Catholic politicians who have abandoned Christ and His teachings, or the absolute horror of abortion in our country, the number increases. Jesus addresses the cure for scandal within the Catholic community. We are responsible for each other's salvation. It is a fact.

When a brother creates scandal through sin, we are to confront him alone. If that fails, we are to bring another faith friend. Next, witnesses are to enter the picture. Finally, it is to be brought to the attention of the Church. All this is done, not to humiliate an individual, but to SAVE his very soul. When our Catholic bishops publicly correct Catholic government and civil leaders, it is their moral duty to do so. Christ calls for it. We must pray for our bishops daily. They need to be strong and courageous in these times. We all must be the LIGHT OF CHRIST, for a world immersed in great darkness.

May we be good stewards, managing well all that God has left in our care.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,
Fr. Mark

Sunday, September 14, 2008

His Back Is Broken!

I humbly beseech your prayers.

My brother, James, was in a motorcycle accident last night coming home from a Prison Ministry meeting. He missed a turn. His friend riding his bike behind him said,

"It's not the turn you would want to miss, it's pretty nasty. But God was with him it could have been much worse."

Results:
  • Broken back in two places - Praise the Lord, he can still move his arms and legs!
  • Broken ribs
  • Small punctured lung
  • Excruciating pain
  • His is awake and alert.
Your prayers are a tremendous help.

Thank you and may God bless you all.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

911, Abortion & Weak Leadership - Father John Corapi

"Poor and Weak Leadership is Punishment for Sin!" Fr. Corapi SOLT


From the desk of Father John Corapi

Today the world remembers the day of infamy that has come to be called 911. On September 11, 2001 the unthinkable happened—We were attacked by a hostile force deep within our own country. We were all shocked, many people were surprised, angry, saddened, or had their faith shaken.

Political correctness and genuine civility restrain us seven years later from saying much of what many of us think. We must love our country in season and out of season, convenient or inconvenient, whether the rest of the world does or not. That, however, does not mean we can’t correct ourselves, better ourselves. “Know thyself,” the Philosopher says.

Seven years later I admit that I am weary of the arguments at both extremes. At times the far left seems to truly despise the hand that feeds it. America bashing in some quarters has taken on the respectability of a rite of passage, if not a religion. You might expect it from some of the western European nations we have repeatedly bailed out of the hell visited on them by the Hitlers, Stalins, and other assorted thugs and mass murderers. It is shocking, however, when immigrants that have gone from relative rags to riches (most of us) hate themselves so venomously (We are the country after all).

On the other hand, there are those on the far right that seem to have a blind patriotism that discounts the evils this poor nation “under God” has subjugated itself to. We are in an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, not just because of dependence on foreign oil, the housing crash, etc., but because of the crass negligence of the leaders we have voted into office—in both parties. Poor and weak leadership is punishment for sin. In an indirect way, so are all of the other evils that beset creation. An increasing number of countries hate us for various reasons. Terrorism has intruded itself into our daily life. We worry constantly about a host of evils. Why?

Do you suppose that a nation and the people that have democratically elected the leaders of that nation can be pleasing to God if they were guilty of the outrageous crime of genocide? If a nation legally and systematically had murdered 48,000,000 unwanted women over 60 years of age, would that nation be favored, blessed, and protected by God? Alright, change it to men under 30 years of age. Human beings are human beings.

We have under the specious pretext of law—the law of the highest Court in the land—murdered 48,000,000 innocent human beings through abortion in this country since that dark day Satan donned judicial robes and issued his decision in Roe v. Wade. The nation, and most of the world, is “bewitched” into thinking that this is somehow acceptable because a court of morally blind, if not insane, men said so. Hitler said many things, as did Stalin, and every other individual or institution living apart from God and His unalterable law. They are all gone. The immutable will of God and His truth still stand and always will.

As we recall the hell of 911 and pray for the victims, their families, and the nation in general, remember that God is not a fool, nor is He a disinterested party in the affairs of men. God knows every human being He created from all eternity by name. He loves each one as if they were His only child. How shall one nation under God answer God when He calls for an accounting for these beloved souls? Will we be protected from our enemies, from a never-ending cascade of natural disasters, from financial ruin?

"Love the good and fight evil tirelessly"

May the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life, enlighten our minds and strengthen our wills to love the good and fight evil tirelessly; to defend the most innocent and helpless of our brothers and sisters—the unborn. The hour is late, darkness is falling, a day of reckoning is fast upon us. Now is the time to attack the evils of the day, abortion being the preeminent evil, for if the right to life is undermined, eroded, and ultimately destroyed, no other rights are relevant or meaningful.

God Bless You,

Father John Corapi, SOLT



Blogger Note: 911 Baby picture and her abortion testimony here.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Father John Corapi "Happy Birthday Mother"


Did You Remember The
Blessed Virgin Mary's Birthday?


From the desk of Father John Corapi

The universal Church celebrates September 8th in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s birthday. This is an excellent opportunity for each one of us to do something to show our love and appreciation for the Mother of God and our spiritual Mother. From all eternity, God in his infinite wisdom decreed that Mary would be the Mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ. She was with Jesus at all of the important moments throughout his life from the Incarnation, to his death on the cross. Before our Savior died He gave his Mother to each one of us in giving her to his beloved disciple, St. John.

Let Us Give Thanks?

This September 8th let’s thank God our Father for his beloved Daughter; thank Jesus for his Mother, full of grace; and thank the Holy Spirit for his immaculate Spouse, our Mother Mary. Offer a Rosary in thanksgiving to God for the gift of his own Mother as our Mother. Tell your Mother you love her, and most of all follow her example of holiness, humility, and perfect fidelity to Jesus and his teaching.

Happy birthday Mother

Happy birthday Mother, from all of your children still trying to fight the good fight and run the race to the finish line. We love you and ask you to intercede for each one of us with Jesus your Son. Keep us safe in the enclosed garden of your Immaculate Heart. Protect us from the wiles of the Devil. Lead us safely home to Heaven, to be with you, the most holy Trinity, and all of the angels and saints. Pray for us sinners, dear Mother, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Father John Corapi SOLT

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Speaker Pelosi To Meet With Her Bishop

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accepted the invitation for a confidential chat with Archbishop George Niederauer, AP reports. The archbishop had said that he wanted to have such a conversation because of Pelosi's outspoken public advocacy for unrestricted legal abortion.

Pelosi said in a letter to Archbishop George Niederauer that she'd "welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters."

Attributed to Catholic Culture


Here is the background taken from here

The uproar continues over the recent statements of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who defended her pro-abortion stance or, to be more nuanced, her “pro-choice” stance supporting a woman’s “right” to choose between having a child or an abortion.


In her statement, she made it clear she was speaking “as an ardent, practicing Catholic” about “an issue that I have studied for a long time.” After saying that “the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition” of when life begins, she cites Saint Augustine to buttress her thesis and concludes that abortion is a decision “that a woman has to make with her doctor and her God.” For, she explains, “God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions.” She proposes contraception as a solution to diminish the number of abortions. [1]


May God anoint the meeting and give the good Archbishop Niederauer courage.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Father Corapi, "The Dignity of Human Labor"

Father John Corapi

"Using Labor To Overcome Depression & Anxiety"


My Dear Brethen,

As we celebrate the secular holiday of “Labor Day” it’s helpful to reflect on the dignity of human labor. The Church holds work, “labor,” in great esteem. Those who work for a living exercise an essential element of human existence and in so doing support their families, contribute to society in their own unique way, and show forth the dignity of both the labor and the laborer.

I have seen so many examples in the course of my life of how working can truly make a person feel good about themselves. I would go so far as to say that if we don’t work in some productive manner it is more difficult to feel good about ourselves. Even those who are challenged in some way through physical or emotional injuries or disabilities must engage in some form of activity that can benefit others if they are to fully experience their own human dignity. One of the greatest ways to overcome emotional challenges such as depression and anxiety is to work in earnest at some productive enterprise. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, visit the sick, give encouragement to the suffering. In so doing you will begin to feel better, having concentrated on something other than your own problems.

Prayer Is The Greatest Form of Labor

Taking away a human being’s incentive to work is one of the most destructive things we can do to a man or woman. It is essential that all individuals that are able to function productively should do so. Children should be shown very early in life the joys and fulfillment of hard work and the benefits it can bring. The elderly should be encouraged to do something productive as well, whether actual labor or labor related to a hobby or craft. Work keeps the mind, the body, and the soul engaged, remembering that prayer is the highest and most productive work of all.

May God bless all of the labor and all the laborers in a most abundant way.

Fr. John Corapi


More Fr. John Corapi

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Politicians Beware, Wolves In Sheep Clothing! Your Catholic Sunday Homily

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Dear People,

Catholic Politicians Beware,
Wolves In Sheep Clothing!

Jeremiah was faithful to his call as a prophet. Even though he was very young, God blessed him tremendously. In our reading today from the Old Testament, Jeremiah is in the pit of darkness and despair. Crying out from his heart, he pleads with the Lord to spare him the suffering of being a witness and prophet. Jeremiah says, "all day long I am the object of mocking and laughter." But like any holy and devoted lover of God, he cannot deny his Lord and God. Oh, but for such witnesses today.

It is common place for so called Catholic politicians to deny the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Church publicly, in order to win the esteem and approval of men. Such men are mentioned specifically in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that if we deny Him in public, He will deny knowing us before the Lord. Apostates abound today. They come like wolves in sheep's clothing. Jesus warns us not to be misled by them, especially in the voting booth. Ask for the truth of Jesus Christ to come alive in your heart and soul. Do not follow the ways of the many public apostates today. Know your Catholic faith, and be proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord!

May we each have the strength and courage to put Jesus first in our lives, above worldly ways and materials gains.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,
Fr. Mark