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Sadistic, fanatical, controversial in the highest degree, The Passion of theChrist appeals to some of the more vulgar, base strands of thought in American society. It is a film made to exploit evangelicals as well as Catholic schismatic groups. It stands on par with other silly film franchises like the Left Behind series about the apocalyptic notion of the “Rapture.” The Passion was the brainchild of Mel Gibson, an extreme right-wing Catholic who apparently believes the 20th century Vatican II reforms were heretical and that all the appointed popes since then have been illegitimate. Mr. Gibson marketed ThePassion as having been based entirely on the Gospels (with Aramaic and Latin spoken throughout) though in truth he omitted some of the more magical elements found in the New Testament (i.e. all the graves in Jerusalem being opened so the dead could commune again with the living is conveniently…

Let us meditate on the Passion

“In the opinion of Saint Bonaventure, meditation on the Passion is the first and most important of all devotions. And did not all the saints make the sorrows of Jesus Christ the constant object of their contemplations? Thus, to all souls who wished to advance in the love of God, the seraphic Doctor gave the advice never to let a day pass without meditating on the Passion.

According to Saint Augustine, it is more advantageous, and more meritorious for heaven, to shed a single tear at the remembrance of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, than to fast every week for a year on bread and water. The Venerable Louis de Blois says that a meditation, even a simple reading on the Passion, is more beneficial to the soul than any other exercise of piety whatsoever. Nay, more, according to Saint Francis de…

HERE IS OUR DAILY DEVOTION. TODAY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:14

I don’t think it takes a prophet to see that the world is already in a state of tribulation. Many of you are suffering, wondering when will God intervene.

I read an article this morning where even church prelates are speaking of tribulation. It is enough sometimes to make faithful Catholics feel despair.

I often hear Catholics wondering when the Warning will take place. They speak of refuges where people will be safe.

While I read about and think of these things as possible, I want to address a few things in the here and now.

God is allowing this suffering. He is allowing it, not because He wills us to suffer, but…

Rene Lacoste, the world’s top tennis player in the late 1920s, won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him “Le Crocodile,” an apt term for his tenacious play on the court.

Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore “alligator shirts,” the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste’s friends who knew its origin and meaning.

The cross, an emblem of Christianity, holds special meaning for every friend of Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it speaks to us of Christ’s tenacious determination to do His Father’s will by dying for us on Calvary. What a privilege to know Him and be included in…