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Aug
29
Co-Workers of the Truth 8/29
Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI | Leave a Comment
God wills that all people be saved. After all, he is the Creator of all and he loves what he has created. He created men for life, not for death. He created the world to exist, not to be destroyed. The Creator is himself also the Redeemer. But how does this redemption come about? For this elementary question there is a basic answer: God wills that everyone be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. Salvation is not to be separated from truth. The Bible then, cannot possibly be saying that we must all do what seems right to us; when all is said and done, God cannot condemn his own creatures. Such expressions are only apparently expressions of confidence in God’s goodness. In reality, there is concealed in them a contempt for God and for mankind. For they label human life as being, in the last analysis, indifferent: it becomes just a theater; actually, it matters not at all what we do. Our own decision seem much too unimportant to be important before God. Freedom from moral responsibility is not really thereby entrusted to men. On the contrary, the ability to know the truth is thereby denied them. But is it really worth God’s while to bother himself about such wretched creatures? And what value can there be in salvation that is based neither on truth nor on true moral freedom? The Bible sets a higher value on mankind. It tells us that God created us for the truth. The joyfulness of its message is precisely this: that we encounter in Jesus Christ the one genuine truth about God and ourselves. If only we Christians were to find once again the courage to say this and to think it - what joy would dwell in us! What joy would radiate from us!
From: Roman homilies, September 18, 1983
Aug
29
Mark 6: 17 - 29
Filed Under Today's Gospel | Leave a Comment
17 For Herod had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Hero’di-as, his brother Philip’s wife; because he had married her.
18 For John said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19 And Hero’di-as had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not,
20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he was much perplexed; and yet he heard him gladly.
21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and the leading men of Galilee.
22 For when Hero’di-as’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it.”
23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”
24 And she went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the baptizer.”
25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.
27 And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.
29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
Aug
29
St. Vincent de Paul
Filed Under The Wisdom of the Saints | Leave a Comment
Surely nothing is too much for Him when there is a question of sanctifying a soul. He hands over the body and soul to weakness in order to purify them in contempt of earthly things and in the love of His Majesty. Let us accept these appearances of evil in order to have the real goods they produce, and we will be happy both in this life and in the next
– St. Vincent de Paul
Aug
28
St. Monica
Filed Under The Wisdom of the Saints | Leave a Comment
Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.
– St. Monica
Aug
28
Matthew 24: 42 - 51
Filed Under Today's Gospel | Leave a Comment
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
43 But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.
47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, `My master is delayed,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken,
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know,
51 and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
Aug
27
CSPYA DAILY BROADCAST
Filed Under Events | Leave a Comment
| September 18, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| September 27, 2008 | ||
| 9:30 am | to | 4:30 pm |
| September 29, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| October 6, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| October 20, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| October 27, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| November 3, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
| November 10, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | ||
Dear Friend in Christ,
On September 18, 2008, we have our annual CSPYA Open House. This open house is a CSPYA tradition. It is at this event where you can learn about our mission and what we do. We will also be talking about our events for the Fall 2008 season, which is our busiest time of year. Plus, this is an excellent opportunity to meet young adults! Please RSVP to info@cspya.org. Dinner and soda will be served. The place to be is the Cathedral of St. Patrick Parish House, 14 East t51st Street, between Madison and 5th Avenues (follow the signs that lead downstairs).
On September 27, 2008, we will be having our Apple Picking Trip! The cost to you is just your train ticket and admission to the orchard ($34.50 in total). Lunch and taxi ride will be provided for you. We will meet at the main clock of Grand Central Station at 9:30am sharp (yep, in the morning!) and then take the train at 9:50am and head to the Poughkeepsie. We will have lunch, head to farm, pick apples, and then take the 4:30pm train back to NYC. Please RSVP to info@cspya.org. At Grand Central, look for the core group members holding signs for CSPYA.
Theology on Tap-NYC has a new name: FAITH ON TAP-NYC!
The first lecture of the season is on September 29, 2008, at Metro 53 Restaurant, 307 East 53rd Street, at 7pm. The topic is “Conscience, Your Morals and Mine.” The first talk is by Fr. Thomas Williams, LC, Vatican analyst for CBS News and author of Spiritual Progress, Greater Than You Think, and Knowing Right from Wrong. Here is a preview of the other speakers and topics:
October 6, 2008: Kathryn Lopez, editor of National Review Online, will talk about “Faith and Politics: What is a Catholic to Do?”
October 20, 2008: Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, director of Catholic Charities, will talk about “God’s Plan for Your Life: Our Call to Charity.”
October 27, 2008: Monsignor William Smith, Catholic author and teacher from St. Joseph’s Seminary, will talk about Humanae Vitae
November 3, 2008: Fr. Richard Gill, LC, moderator of Faith on Tap-NYC, is back for “Grill the Priest: an Open Forum of Questions.”
November 10, 2008: Eve Tushnet, Catholic author and blogger, will be speaking this evening (Topic TBD).
Aug
27
St. Augustine
Filed Under The Wisdom of the Saints | Leave a Comment
In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love.
– St. Augustine
Aug
26
Co-Workers of the Truth 8/26
Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI | Leave a Comment
Vatican Council II reminded us that the Gospel is the common rule of all religious orders. In the beginning, there existed only the great contemplative vocations; the nineteenth century, on the other hand, responded to the needs of the times in a very special way by giving birth to the active vocations - to the ministry of the word and to the ministry of love.
Ultimately, all of these are ministries, for even - and even precisely - those leading a life of contemplation and total commitment to the Gospel do not simply abandon other people; on the contrary, by placing themselves at the center of the Faith, by taking their place in the heart of the word, they go forth from Jesus Christ to their fellow men in a way that could never be achieved by an external approach.
When we look at the life of St. Therese of Lisieux, for example, we become aware, in a particularly convincing and impressive way, of that internal “ability-to-be-present” in spirit to the active life and its needs that is the product of a life led in the spirit of the Gospel. Nevertheless, it is also true that there is a direct ministry to mankind, to the sick, to the suffering, that is not simply and not primarily a paid job that one can later abandon to return to one’s private life but is rather the content and law of life itself, which, in such a sharing with the other and his needs, finds its own freedom and fulfillment.
From: Ordinariatskorrespondenz, no. 31, September 28, 1978
Aug
26
Matthew 23: 23 - 26
Filed Under Today's Gospel | Leave a Comment
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity.
26 You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
Aug
26
St John of the Cross
Filed Under The Wisdom of the Saints | Leave a Comment
The soul of one who serves God always swims in joy, always keeps holiday, and is always in the mood for singing.
– St John of the Cross
