by Father Alonzo Q. Cox
AS A GIFT for my First Holy Communion, my mom and dad presented me with my first Bible. It was, of course, a Bible meant and designed for children. It included illustrations depicting many of the biblical passages. The first page had my name, First Holy Communion date and who it was from. It was actually my first encounter with Sacred Scripture. I was excited to have a Bible of my own. And I still have that Bible with me, 27 years later.
JUST A FEW years ago, when I was in my first parish assignment, I celebrated the funeral Mass for one of our most active parishioners, Alban Brown. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Holy Name Society, usher and to top it off, a retired NYPD officer. He was a man filled with the spirit of the Lord. You could always call upon him, day or night to help with events or activities happening in the parish.
We cannot fall into the concept of just giving ourselves to Jesus on Sunday mornings. Our Lord wants an undivided heart.
In his jealously of humankind, Satan is out to distort the reality of the Lord’s creation. Indeed, he is out to turn things upside-down, telling us that we are in charge, not God; urging us to put ourselves first, not God and the things of God.
THE WORDS UTTERED by Our Lord in today’s Gospel, taken from the Evangelist John’s “Bread of Life Discourse,” are utterly true. The Lord Jesus says: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
ROD DREHER’S BOOK, “The Benedict Option” (2016) has been the source of much discussion in both the Catholic and secular press. Dreher, a conservative columnist, is a man of faith. He was raised Protestant, then converted to Catholicism, and in 2006, after the clerical sexual abuse scandal in the U.S., decided to convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
LET’S LOOK AT the recent history of our Church: On a chilly winter day, Jan. 25, 1959, Angelo Roncalli, guiding the Barque of Peter known as John XXIII, stood at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, gathered members of the Roman Curia and called for a Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
by Msgr. Joseph P. Calise
I can still remember how excited I was in the mid-1960s when my family bought our first color television set. “Gilligan’s Island” was the first show we watched in color.
by Msgr. Joseph P. Calise
PROBABLY THE MOST famous of all the parables is the parable of the Prodigal Son.
by Msgr. Joseph P. Calise
MOTHER’S DAY HAS a very interesting history. The idea was first proposed by Ann Jarvis who held a memorial in 1905 for her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, to pay tribute for all she had done to help the wounded on both sides of the Civil War.
