Note from the Assistant Managing Editor:
"God sleeps while his affairs are about to sink — is that not the experience of our own lives?" writes Cardinal Ratzinger in this week's reflection. "When the storm has passed, we will recognize how foolish our faint-hearted faith was." Still we cannot help but pray.
There is a treasure box of practical spiritual wisdom in Father Hardon's "Examination of Conscience."
"The Religion of the Day," writes Cardinal Newman, is "pleasant and easy," based on a godless religion that does not move past the natural world to deeper meaning. "But how are we concerned with the sun, moon, and stars? or with the laws of the universe? how will they teach us our duty? how will they speak to sinners? They do not speak to sinners at all. They were created before Adam fell. They 'declare the glory of God,' but not His will."
Good friends of mine star in Family Theater's Catholic Central, a webseries that presents "EnterForming* Insights on All Things Catholic" (watch the episode I wrote here). You can read all about the company's founder, Fr. Peyton, one of those men who followed his call regardless of what the world said was possible. See "The Rosary Priest."
Stephen Hawking passed away on March 14, 2018. "Surely a large part of Hawking's appeal was that he demonstrated that man's greatness lies in his capacity — despite the frailty of the flesh he shares with the beasts — to touch the deepest mysteries of meaning." See "World small for brilliant Hawking."
Finally, a review of the new movie "Paul, Apostle of Christ." It's the first feature from ODB Films — and it's good. Find showtimes here.
Have a blessed Holy Week. - Meaghen Hale |
Web version of this CERC Weekly Update here
Previous CERC Weekly Update here
Subscribe/unsubscribe here
|
|
|
"If you love, you will suffer. The only way to protect yourself against suffering is to protect yourself against love — and that is the greatest suffering of all, loneliness." - Peter Kreeft
|
|
|
New Resources
|
|
|
Holy Saturday - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and William Congdon - from The Sabbath of History: William Congdon
There is a scene in the Gospel that anticipates the silence of Holy Saturday in a stimulating way and thus also appears as a portrait of our historical hour.
|
|
|
|
|
Examination of Conscience - Father John A. Hardon, S.J. - from Father Hardon's Catholic Prayer Book with Meditations
It is valuable to reflect on this tactic of the evil spirit before we offer some practical norms for making our daily examination of conscience.
|
|
|
|
|
The Religion of the Day - Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman - Parochial and Plain Sermons
In every age of Christianity, since it was first preached, there has been what may be called a religion of the world, which so far imitates the one true religion, as to deceive the unstable and unwary.
|
|
|
|
|
The Rosary Priest - Father Richard Gribble, C.S.C. - Columbia
The green hills and rocky seacoast of County Mayo, in western Ireland, have been a seedbed of the Catholic faith for centuries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
World small for brilliant Hawking - Father Raymond J. de Souza - National Post
Stephen Hawking was a courageous man, writes Fr. Raymond de Souza, who had a memorable encounter with Hawking in 1995.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ was perfectly consistent - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor
Ralph Waldo Emerson had moments more perceptive than his vague religiosity: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
|
|
|
|
|
Palm Sunday - Father John Horgan - CERC
The details of the passion narratives are part of the Holy Spirit's plan to give us as complete a portrait of Jesus as possible.
|
|
Editorials of Interest:
|
Editorials of Interest
50 Mums | 50 Kids | 1 Extra Chromosome - NC Register
A carpool karaoke lip sync video in support of World Down Syndrome Day features 50 mums and their children singing along to Christina Perri's multi-platinum selling track, "A Thousand Years".
Getting ready for Synod-2018 - Catholic World Report
The upcoming Synod in October, which will discuss youth ministry and vocational discernment, could benefit from inviting some American leaders in youth ministry and vocational discernment.
Always Fear, Always Love - First Things
Amoris Laetitia suggests that an objective assessment of whether or not one is in a state of mortal sin can be replaced with a more subjective "discernment" of one's "interior disposition." While this may seem merciful, it leaves Catholics less sure of how they stand before God.
Is There a Saving Truth? - First Things
This is the fourth in a series of reflections by Cardinal Müller on questions of present importance in the life of the Church.
Cardinal Dolan says Democrats have abandoned Catholics - Catholic World Report
In an op-ed published Friday in the Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York lamented that the Democratic Party's shifting principles have effectively shut out and alienated orthodox Catholics.
Does Faith Reduce Divorce Risk? - Public Discourse
Religious belief and activity, particularly prayer, matter in important ways. They make a deeply practical difference in how husband and wife interact with each other in daily life.
"All Is Grace": Lent, sacraments, and deification - Catholic World Report
Grace seems to have fallen on hard times in our own day and age. Two extremes in its regard are in competition — and both are wrong and damaging to the living of the Christian life.
American teenagers' quiet despair - The Week
One thing that is certain is that the private sorrows faced by children, in 2018 or any other year, are responses to a world created by adults. We can never afford to forget this.
Finding Worth In Your Weakness - The Culture Project
Our worth does not come from what we can do, how we look, or the relationships we have — it comes from who we are. We are sons and daughters of a king.
Summer's Last Sting - First Things
The #MeToo movement, although for the moment quite sincerely explaining itself in other terms, is the bust to end the 1960s boom in sexual permissiveness.
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman and St. Justin Martyr, pray for us |
|