"Be on guard!"

In response to Our Lord's warning we pray, as He teaches in the text of the Our Father: "deliver us from the Evil One". It is in the spirit of watchfulness that we are "on guard" against temptation and worldly anxiety.

"This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to 'lead' us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both 'do not allow us to enter into temptation' and 'do not let us yield to temptation.'

"'God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one'; on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle 'between flesh and spirit'; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength."

-- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2846.

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the First Sunday of Advent.

(Photo of Halaberdiere Stefano del Croce, Pontifical Swiss Gaurd, at the Porta delle Campane, Basilica of Saint Peter's, Vatican City State, by Donald L. Richardson.)

Give thanks...and remember

Click here and remember all of those who are not with their families today because they serve our freedom far away...

"The world as we know it is passing away"

Pray for victims of terror in Mumbai and elsewhere around the tortured world, "groaning in agony", as it awaits the justice and judgment of God.

Turning Together to the Lord in Tulsa

Archbishop Slattery of Tulsa will celebrate the liturgies of Advent and Christmas in his Cathedral "versus Deum" that is, "toward the Lord" and expresses his hope "that this common posture of the Church at prayer will help you to experience the transcendent truth of the Mass in a new and timeless way" and "that this restored practice will help us understand that at Mass we participate in the authentic worship which Christ offers to His Father by being ‘obedient unto death.’"

(Photo courtesy of NLM: Archbishop Slattery)

Fight FOCA

Visit "What do Catholics Really Believe?" to find out about FOCA and resolve to fight this law which the President-elect has promised to sign and which will, when passed, replace Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, legalizing a supposed "right" to end the lives of unborn children, discovered and "legislated" by the Supreme Court in 1973.

"My kingdom is not of this world"

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world." Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice." (Jn 18. 36-38)

Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he has "come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." (Jn 18:37) The Christian is not to "be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord." (2 Tim 1:8) In situations that require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges. We must keep "a clear conscience toward God and toward men." (Acts 24:16) (CCC 2471)

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, Universal King.

(Photo: Christ in Majesty, National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Holy Mass: "Ineffable" gift

"A new translation

"We also approved, after intense discussion, and a number of amendments, many prayers to be included in the new missal. Our readers may wonder why the church is, once again, looking to change the prayers at Mass, which we have been praying now for many years. Let me say, that I am entirely supportive of this change. The new translations restore a certain sacredness to the words in these prayers.

"My old friend and former colleague, Archbishop Al Hughes, served on a commission in Rome, where he goes several times a year, called “Vox Clara” (“Clear Voice”). The archbishop, like myself, graduated from Boston College High School, but I dare say he is a much better Latinist than I am. Remember, the church has very little experience with Mass in modern languages. For 500 years, the text of the Mass of the Roman rite was Latin, which at one time was almost a universal language.

"The effort was to protect the sacredness of the text, and also to protect sound theology. An excellent job has been done, and we expect within a few years there will be a whole new translation of the Mass. I am not anxious about that change. I welcome it and support it.

"Surely, there will be a serious pastoral responsibility, especially on the part of priests and bishops to work hard to prepare our people for this change. But I have always found
that if we catechize and teach properly, if we explain the reasons for it and show that this is better and more beautiful, our people will rally behind it. It is a pastoral task, which we can face together.

"Also, the Mass is not something that we make up. We receive it as a gift, an enormous and ineffable gift from Christ through the church. This translation would be better English, more sacred, and will help us to pray. It is a change, which is foundational and helpful and will require the collaboration of all of us.

"Also, this is favored by the Holy See, and a keen obligation of the bishop is always to be in communion with the successor of Peter."

--His Excellency the Most Rev. John M. D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend on deliberations at the November conference of the USCCB.