Your Sunday Catholic Homily Minute - Twenty-Ninth Sunday

From the Desk of Father Mark, Your Sunday Catholic Homily Minute - 29th Sunday

My Dear People,

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Eucharistic Prayer Warrior

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, born in Grenoble France around the time of the French Revolution, a devoted religious, lived and worked in Florissant and St. Charles, MO. A Madame of the Sacred Heart, she desired to work with Native Americans from her early childhood. One time, while working in Kansas with the Patwomoni Indian tribe, St. Rose spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Sometimes her prayer would go long into the nighttime hours. Lost in prayer, she would spend 6-8 hours at a time in supplication. Noticing her great love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, some of the children of the tribe wagered a bet that St. Rose actually took breaks in between her prayer time. While she was kneeling in prayer, the children placed twigs on the end of her habit, hoping to find them displaced during the course of the night. Every time they did so, they would return 8-10 hours later only to find them in exactly the same place they were originally laid. So taken back were the Indian children, that they "nicknamed" St. Rose "the woman who prays ALWAYS."

Jesus tells us in the Gospel to "pray always". Like our St. Louis, we ask St. Rose Philippine Duchesne to intercede for us before the throne of God, to grant us a heart HUNGRY for Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. In doing so, may we fulfill the command of Christ in the Gospel for Luke this Sunday...men and women who pray always. If you have yet to sign up for an hour of adoration, please consider doing so soon.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,

Fr. Mark, Your Sunday Catholic Homily Minute - Twenty-Ninth Sunday


May we be good stewards of all the spiritual gifts given at our baptism and confirmation...


Don't Miss Out Get The Rest Of The Catholic Sunday Homily!

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, pray for us.

Archbishop Burke - Defender Of The Eucharist

Archbishop Burke stands firm in the faith and clearly teaches and defends it. He was our Bishop until we moved a quite a few months ago. Needless to say we love Archbishop Burke in our house.

Bishop Preaches Tough Communion Rule

Turn Away Abortion-Rights Backers, He Says

By Daniel Burke

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, a veteran of clashes between Catholic bishops and politicians, has attempted for years to enlist fellow bishops to deny Holy Communion to wayward politicians.

Now, the conservative cleric is invoking the church's highest punishment -- mortal sin -- to persuade the lay and ordained Catholics who distribute Communion at Mass to safeguard the sacrament.

Drawing on the works of the late Italian Jesuit scholar Felice Cappello, Burke says those ministers are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy."

That argument could place Communion ministers on the frontlines of the "wafer wars" as the 2008 presidential race heats up, and as bishops debate a document on "faithful citizenship."

"It is clear that church discipline places an obligation on the minister of Holy Communion to refuse Holy Communion to persons known, by the public, to be in mortal sin," Burke writes in a new journal article.

Burke lays out his case like a legal brief in Periodica de re Canonica, a journal widely read in seminaries and published by Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, an elite school for Catholic clergy.

"No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices, and, at the same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teachings ring hollow," Burke writes.

A former top official in the Signatura, the Vatican's high court, and a noted expert in canon law, Burke previously has kicked off public debates over policing the Communion rail. While bishop of La Crosse, Wis., he ordered clergy to refuse to offer the sacrament to certain pro-abortion-rights politicians.

In 2004, Burke and a handful of other bishops said they would refuse Communion to presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Burke also said Catholics who voted for pro-abortion-rights politicians, such as Kerry, should refrain from taking the sacrament until they confessed their "mortal sin."

In his new article, the archbishop explicitly criticizes his fellow bishops, the majority of whom voted in 2004 to leave the Communion decision up to individual bishops.

Burke retorts: "The question regarding the objective state of Catholic politicians who knowingly and willingly hold opinions contrary to natural moral law would hardly seem to change from place to place."

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the influential conservative Catholic journal First Things, called Burke's article "a scholarly tour de force."

"The (archbishop's) concern is not a political concern," Neuhaus said. "The article is about, how does the church preserve the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist?"

Blogger Commentary: That sums it up perfectly.

But the article is ambiguous in some areas, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.

Important Blogger Commentary: Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. Woodstock . . . ? Theology . . . ? You are kidding me right.

If Burke is calling on Communion ministers to disobey their bishops and deny Communion to Catholic politicians, it would be "revolutionary" and "encourage anarchy," Reese said.

"Most bishops do not want ministers of Communion playing policeman at the Communion rail," he added. "This is a significant change in focus. Suddenly, you're going to have a few thousand decision makers in parishes across the country."

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of St. Louis said Burke was unavailable to comment on this article.

The Columbus Dispatch : Bishop preaches tough Communion rule


Well done Archbishop Burke!

Popes and Eucharistic Adoration

Sit down. Take a deep breath. Hit play. You can't be too busy to watch this.

Now, call in the kids and the wife. And do it all over again.

Will you share the blessings? How could you not? Email this link to your friends.

Mother Teresa, The Rosary and The Eucharist

This is an excellent video featuring Mother Teresa and her deep reflections concerning Jesus' Real Presence in the most Holy Eucharist and in the poor.

You need to watch it all, to get the full effect.


Here is the link.