The Mystery of the Catholic Mass

There is only One , Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ

I am the Lord thy God, Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me .

811 "This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic."256 These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, 257 indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.

812 Only faith can recognize that the Church possesses these properties from her divine source. But their historical manifestations are signs that also speak clearly to human reason. As the First Vatican Council noted, the "Church herself, with her marvelous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission."258

Beatification of Father Jerzy Popieluszko , Praise the Lord !

"CZESTOCHOWA, Poland, MAY 7, 2010 (Zenit.org) - In Poland, true patriotism is united to the Catholic faith, as shown by Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was assassinated by Communist secret service agents and will be beatified June 6.

Father Mariusz Frukacz of the Archdiocese of Czestochowa, journalist and editor of the Catholic weekly Niedziela, emphasized this in an interview with ZENIT.

The 37-year-old priest was the chaplain of the Polish Solidarity movement, and was martyred in 1984 when Communist agents beat him and threw him into the icy waters of the Vistula River.

Some 400,000 people attended his funeral, and since that day, 17 million have visited his tomb. Every October 19, a 24-hour vigil is held to commemorate the day he was killed.

A national Polish hero, he has been recognized by the Catholic Church as a martyr and will be beatified in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square on June 6."

Pope recalls confident hope of the Virgin Mary :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

the faithful, can now “live in the same confident hope that the Word made flesh in Mary’s womb will never abandon us. He, the Son of God and Son of Mary, strengthens the communion that binds us together, so that we can bear witness to him and to the power of his healing and reconciling love."

Pope recalls confident hope of the Virgin Mary

Benedict XVI: The Cross saves the world

The world needs the cross, the pope said, celebrating Mass in Nicosia in the second day of his trip to Cyprus. The Cross is not just a private symbol of devotion, it has nothing to do with the imposition of a creed or a philosophy by force.. It speaks of hope, it speaks of love, it speaks of the victory of non-violence over oppression, it speaks of God raising up the lowly, empowering the weak, conquering division, and overcoming hatred with love. A world without the cross, the Pope added, would be a world without hope, a world in which torture and brutality would go unchecked, the weak would be exploited and greed would have the final word .

ANGELUS 2010-06-06

Thank you Holy Father for the awesome Angelus of the Corpus Christi Sunday

Pope: Europe, and the whole world, needs Jesus

Pope asks Mary to protect families from falling apart

On Sunday afternoon, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Oak as part of his pastoral visit to area surrounding Viterbo. While at the shrine the Pope prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and read out a prayer calling upon the Virgin Mary to protect families that are at risk of being divided .
Addressing the religious the Holy Father said: "To you I entrust my intentions, the intentions of the pastor of this diocese and the needs of everyone who lives in this land. In this Year for Priests I especially entrust you with clergy, seminarians and vocations. ... Offer the Lord the sacrifice of your lives for their sanctification and for the good of souls.”

Returning to his request for his prayer in his role as a successor to St. Peter, Benedict XVI asked Mary to extend her “maternal protection" to him and “the Church entrusted to his care.” “Queen of peace,” he prayed, “obtain the gift of harmony and peace for peoples and for all humankind.”

The Holy Father also prayed that the Blessed Virgin would "keep our families united, which today suffer threats from all sides, and make them centers of serenity and harmony where patient dialogue dissipates difficulties and contrasts. Watch especially over those that are divided or in crisis."

Those who seek to spread the Gospel to the world were also on the Pope's mind as he prayed, "make the will of those whom the Lord of the harvest calls to be workers in His vineyard firm and decided, so that, resisting all the temptations and pitfalls of the world, they may persevere generously in following the path they have taken and, with your maternal help, be witnesses of Christ, attracted by the brilliance of His Love.”

Finally, Pope Benedict implored Mary to: "Console those who weep, who suffer for human injustice; support those who waver under the burden of fatigue and look to the future without hope; encourage those who work to build a better world in which justice many triumph and fraternity reign, in which egoism, hatred and violence may end. May every form and expression of violence be overcome by the pacifying power of Christ.”