Hail Mary Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen. Photography by Carlos Weaver. Download: 2560 x 1440; 1600 x 900; iPhone Wallpaper Read more [...]
I’ll never forget when I learned Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th. It shocked me. I felt cheated – like somehow my adolescent life had just lost some of its innocence. Thank God, I thought, Santa was still real – that would have really shattered my holiday season.
Readings for the 4th Sunday in Advent: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29; Rom 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38
The cheers exploded! There was singing and dancing. The outdoor arena was packed with 50,000 teens and the energy was tangible in the air because of their excitement. No, we weren’t at a Lady Gaga concert. We came for the greatest “Lady”—Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. It was the 22nd annual Medjugorje Youth Festival, and I was there to experience the pilgrimage of a lifetime!
About twelve years ago a teen named Billy asked me this question, “Why do you Catholics believe that Mary ascended into heaven, when it’s not even in the Bible?” “Well, first…” I replied, “Mary did not ascend into heaven; the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven. Jesus ascended by His own power. Mary was taken up into heaven by God.” That little difference is a big difference, so I wanted to be sure he understood it.
Billy then replied, “Okay, fine…but it’s still not in the Bible. The Church made it up.”
This is where the conversation got really interesting.
His friends did not believe in the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord. First of all, when the women went to the grave, they did not go to greet the risen Savior. They brought spices to anoint a dead body. Their problem was in moving back the stone. In front of this subterranean grave there was places a great millstone, with a hole in the center through which a pole would be put to roll away the stone. That is why they asked, “Who shall roll us back the stone in order that we may anoint Read more [...]
October 7th is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, so we’ve brought back a great article by Matt Smith about bringing the rosary into your prayer life.
If you can’t stand the rosary, this article is for you. Pope John Paul II loved praying the rosary, and that was a problem for me. I admired the pope’s wisdom, but I was an eighteen-year-old college freshman who couldn’t stand praying the rosary. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being Catholic, but the rosary seemed like the least appealing way to pray…
Olivia, Mark Hart, and Fr. J explain why Mary was a virgin before AND after Christ’s birth.
