Archives for February 2017

Funerals

Funerals

Have you been to a Catholic funeral? Like every funeral there are the deceased’s friends and loved ones who feel the pain of their loss. There is the final goodbye and some closure that will never be enough. They will be missed and the world feels somehow less with them no longer in it.

All certainly true, but that must NOT be the primary focus of their funeral. Nor is it remotely correct to canonize the person as a saint (“they are in heaven now,” “they are with the Lord,” or the wrong on several levels “they are an angel now”). That is for God to judge. In fact, if we assert that the person is in heaven then we deny any need to do what we actually can and should do: pray for them. Pray that they died in God’s friendship in final perseverance. Pray that they will soon be at true peace with Him.

We do this in the context of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The most sublime prayer we can offer to God, in the presence of His Son on the altar of sacrifice before us. We are joined by all the angels and saints in offering worship and thanksgiving to our most merciful judge.

Fr. Mike Schmitz just posted this piece on The Real Purpose of Funerals:

Here is the outstanding homily (begins around the 2:25 mark) by Fr. Paul Scalia given at his dad’s funeral Mass:

Finally, funeral homilies are also an opportunity to reach people who have fallen away or who are otherwise not fully embracing their faith (or may never have had it). The end of one such homily given by Msgr. Charles Pope is an excellent example:

7 Quick Takes Friday (set #209)

7 Quick Takes Friday

This week: The latest issue of New Evangelists Monthly awaits your perusal. In addition to that, this 7QTF special edition takes a fun look at “snowflakes” but recognizes the extremely dangerous political correctness on steroids game they are playing.

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New Evangelists Monthly

Issue #50, February 2017, of New Evangelists Monthly is ready for your enjoyment! Scores of faithful Catholic bloggers have contributed their very best pieces from January. Contributing authors this month include: Fr. Stephen Morris, Virginia Lieto, Matthew Coffin, Stephen Korsman, Fr. Ben Hadrich, Dave Wanat, Ellen Gable Hrkach, Blythe Kaufman, Carolyn Astfalk, Mike Landry, Jamie Jo, Birgit Jones, Chris Capolino, Matt Marks, Jenn Tatum, Susan Stabile, Vijaya Bodach, Barbara Szyszkiewicz, Adam Crawford, Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Shannon, Tony Agnesi, Rick Rice, Larry Peterson, Lisa Laverty, Rick Becker, Christina Nagy, Nancy Shuman, David Wong, John Schroeder, Roxane Salonen, Ellen Kolb, Robert Collins, Anthony Layne, Larry T, Brian Gill, Tucker Cordani, Melanie Jean Juneau, Rich Maffeo, Dn. John Donaghy, David Torkington, Lianna Mueller, Lisa Ponchak, Fr. Errol Fernandes, Michael Seagriff, Fr. Adrian Danker, Sr. Maresa Lilley, Tom Smith, Barbara Hosbach, Leslie Klinger, De Maria, Bonnie Way, Bartimaeus Timeo, Erin Cupp, Jim Hahn, Debbie Gaudino, Jeff Walker, Thomas and Deborah Richard, Deanna Babineau, AnneMarie, Claire McGarry, Fr. David Bird, Tracy Smith, Elizabeth Reardon, Tom Perna and Rita Buettner.

This monthly “meta-magazine” showcases faithful Catholicism from theology to family life and “everything in between.” Enjoy it now at NewEvangelists.org.

Read Now

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Snowflakes are delicate and must be treated with the utmost caution, as humorously portrayed here:

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Continued…

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Far from unity, an initiative is under way in California to secede from the Union. Seriously. Perhaps they should adopt this flag:

Dont Trigger Me

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Do not be misled. The snowflake, trigger, safe space, micro-aggression, junk is a deadly serious attack on freedom of speech. It is 100% political and related to a single political ideology. When snowflakes do not get their way, this happens:

This is but 1 of many, many similar (non-spontaneous, completely planned) “reactions” around the country.

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This Is War

Still not getting their way, they are literally promoting violence. The Mayor of Berkeley said violence is justified. Yes, when speech occurs that they disagree with, violence, not dialogue, is an appropriate response.

This is extremely dangerous. Those peaceful people violently attacked so far have been caught off-guard. It seems highly probable to me that they will take precautions in the future to defend themselves (their moral right, BTW) and it will not turn out well. Perhaps that anarchy is what the “protesters” want.

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Trying hard to end on a lighter note, I offer this:


Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was begun by Jennifer Fulwiler and is now continued by Kelly Mantoan. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Kelly for hosting this project!

New Evangelists Monthly – February 2017, Issue #50

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From the archive (set #23)

Archive

Tomorrow is time for New Evangelists Monthly to begin a new edition. Today, I would like to bring to your attention 2 original, brief essays plus a resource list that you may have missed. If you don’t have time to read all three, I especially recommend the first one — Open year-round.


Open year-round

In his homily the week before, our pastor commented that we will see many new faces. He also predicted some level of confusion for them with the corrected translation of the Mass. He was right on both counts, of course! I noticed some folks who were just generally confused. Maybe they were non-Catholics, visiting for Christmas (which is wonderful!). Some were probably Catholics who had not been to Mass for a long time and by God’s grace, they have returned to Him.

…read it all:   Open year-round


Why exactly do people pray the Rosary? The short answer is “it works.” All prayer is powerful and the Rosary is like prayer on steroids. It gives many benefits, including 15 specific promises revealed by Our Lady to St. Dominic. Praying the Rosary regularly will also help you increase your holiness. It is so valuable that Holy Mother Church grants a plenary indulgence when prayed with others.

…read it all:   The Holy Rosary


Catholic Radio

One of the great, often overlooked, resources for learning our faith and increasing personal holiness is Catholic Radio. It is an ideal source of information while ?multi-tasking.? Listen while you are driving to work, preparing dinner, cleaning the garage, exercising or doing other tasks. Depending on the particular show, radio can also play a role in your prayer life such as at bedtime, waking-up or at some other specific time.

…read it all:   Catholic Radio


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