"STAY WITH US, LORD" (Luke 24:29)

Throughout the liturgical year, the Catholic Church makes certain changes to the Mass to reflect the different liturgical seasons. Next to the change in the color of the priest's vestments, the absence of the Alleluia during Lent is probably the most obvious (with the absence of the Gloria during Lent and Advent a close second). Why don't Roman Catholics sing the Alleluia during Lent? The Meaning of the Alleluia The Alleluia comes to us from Hebrew, and it means "praise Yahweh." Traditionally, it has been seen as the chief term of praise of the choirs of angels, as they worship around the throne of God in Heaven. It is, therefore, a term of great joy, and our use of the Alleluia during Mass is a way of participating in the angels' worship. It is also a reminder that the Kingdom of Heaven is already established on earth, in the form of the Church, and that our participation in Mass is a participation in Heave n Our Lenten Exile During Lent, however, our focus...

(The first day of Lent )  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. Following the example of the Nine vites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told "Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return." Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. It is a reminder that this life is short and merely a foreshadowing of what we shall become through the redemption of Jesus Christ on the cross. The work of our redemption will not be complete until we are raised from the dead, in resurrected bodies like His own and called to the eternal communion of heaven. The ashes used to marke...

Each year the Church observes the 40 weekdays of Lent before Easter to singnify the 40 days of Lent, which precedes Easter is based on two Biblical accounts: the 40 years of wilderness wandering by the Israelites and our Lord's Jesus Christ 40 days in the wilderness at which point He was tempted by Satan. We participate in abstinence, times of fasting, confession and acts of mercy to strengthen our faith and devotional disciplines. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies and pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works). Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. That always involves giving up sin in some form. The goal is not just to abstain from sin for the duration of Lent but to root sin out of our lives forever. Conversion means leaving behind an old way of living and acting in or...

Hello brethren in the Lord, Grace to you and peace from our Lord, Jesus Christ the merciful and just one. The merciful Lord has been good to us by bringing us closer to a new season to reform our lives through individual introspections. The season of LENT is once again with us. Lent, a six weeks season, is a season in which the grace of God flows more.  This season reminds us of our Baptism and calls us to Repentance (cf. SC n. 109) This season is characterized by so many acts of Penance to tell God how much we are sorry for having offended him, for making ourselves offerers and refusing to become offerings (cf. chapter 1: Those Mysterious Priests, Fulton J. Sheen) and for becoming adamant to the needs of others. This is a season of FASTING our misdeeds through PRAYER and ALMSGIVING . This is a season where we are being called to a total life in Christ, to holiness (cf. LG chapter 5). We need to submit to the Divine Will of the Father Almighty. Lent is a season where we a...

(Latin: caliae , cup) The cup used at Mass to contain the Precious Blood of Christ, to commemorate that used by Our Lord at the Last Supper. A chalice is usually from 8 to 11 inches in height, with a wide base, a stem with a knob midway, and a cup. The whole may be of gold or silver, or the cup only. In case of poverty it is permitted to make the cup of inferior metal, but this must be gold-plated within. Chalices are blessed by a bishop, who anoints them with holy chrism, a ceremony which goes back to the time of Saint Gregory the Great (590-604). Formerly, if a plated chalice needed regilding it had to be reconsecrated, but under the present law this is not necessary . In art the chalice is a symbol of the Holy Eucharist, and is often depicted with a Host above it. As the Sacramental Cup, it signifies faith. It is also an emblem associated with - Saint Barbara - Saint Bruno of Querfort - Saint John the Evangelist who is represented with a chalice and a serpent issuing therefrom,...

Jesus contrasts intellectual pride with child-like simplicity and humility. The simple of heart are like “babes” or “little children” in the sense that they see purely without pretense or falsehood and acknowledge their dependence and trust in one who is greater, wiser, and more trustworthy. They seek one thing — the “summum bonum” or “greatest good” who is God himself. Simplicity of heart is wedded with humility, the queen of virtues, because humility inclines the heart towards grace and truth. Just as pride is the root of every sin and evil inclination, so humility is the only soil in which the grace of God can take root. It alone takes the right attitude before God and allows him as God to do all. God opposes the proud, but gives Grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6). The Grace of Christ-like humility inclines us towards God and disposes us to receive God’s wisdom and help. Allow the Lord Jesus to heal the wounds o...

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven" ( Indulgentarium Doctrina norm 1). Indulgences in no way forgive sins. They deal only with punishments left after sins have been forgiven. For more information on this - see also the Purgatory section. One never could "buy" indulgences. The scandal around "Buying" indulgences, the scandal that gave Martin Luther an excuse for starting the reformation, involved alms-indulgences in which the giving of alms to some charitable fund or foundation was used as the occasion to grant the indulgence. There is a big difference. Pope Paul VI issued the apostolic constitution  Indulgentiarum Doctrina , which established new norms for the use of indulgences. This document introduced the classification of indulgences as  partial  or  plenary —a simplification of an earlier system of reckoning how many "days" of penance an indulgence represented tha...