Month: April 2021

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Saint of the Day – April 28 – Saint Louis Marie De Montfort

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673 – 1716) was born in Brittany, France, to a large farming family. As a child he displayed an unusual spiritual maturity and spent much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. At the age of 19 he went on foot to Paris to study theology at a prestigious school with the support of a benefactor; along the way he gave his possessions to the poor and made a lifelong vow to live in poverty supported entirely on alms. He was ordained a priest at the age of 27, and at 32 discovered his calling to be an itinerant preacher, receiving the title of “Apostolic Missionary” from the Pope after his bishop tried to silence him. For the next 17 years he preached missions in countless towns and villages throughout France with an emphasis on renewal and reform. His fiery devotion, oratory skill, and identification with the poor led many souls to conversion. He was persecuted by the Jansenists, who, in their spiritual pride, poisoned him, banished him from preaching in their dioceses, and made an assassination attempt on his life. He had a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and taught on the power of the Holy Rosary. He also wrote a number of classic works on Marian devotion, the most famous being True Devotion to Mary. His feast day is April 28.

//The Catholic Company//

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Meditation of the Day – God Wishes to Use Others in His Cultivation of Souls

“How many souls might reach a high degree of sanctity if properly directed from the first. I know God can sanctify souls without help, but just as He gives the gardener the skill to tend rare and delicate plants while fertilizing them Himself, so He wishes to use others in His cultivation of souls. What would happen if the gardener were so clumsy that he could not graft his trees properly, or knew so little about them that he wanted to make a peach tree bear roses?”— St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 64

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Morning Offering: Be Peace-Loving

“Be peace-loving. Peace is a precious treasure to be sought with great zeal. You are well aware that our sins arouse God’s anger. You must change your life, therefore, so that God in his mercy will pardon you. What we conceal from men is known to God. Be converted, then, with a sincere heart. Live your life that you may receive the blessing of the Lord. Then the peace of God our Father will be with you always.”
— St. Francis of Paola

//The Catholic Company//

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Why do Catholics Have a Longer Bible?

Have you noticed that the Catholic Bible has more books than the Protestant version?

It’s true. We do have a longer Bible, with seven more books, because we use a different translation. While our Protestant brothers and sisters’ Bible is based on the Hebrew translation, we use the Greek translation, known as the Septuagint, which includes more books.

Many Protestants say that their version is the correct one and is not “missing books.” They have several arguments for this. One of the arguments claims that there were “400 Silent Years” between the time of Malachi (their last book) and the time of Jesus. In other words, they say that there were no divinely-inspired prophetic utterances during this period.

In his book, The Bible Is A Catholic Book, Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin explains what’s wrong with this argument. First, he says, there’s no evidence that all of the books of the Old Testament were written before 400 B.C. Jimmy also says that, while each book of the Bible is divinely inspired, a writer did not have to be an official prophet to pen a divinely-inspired book:

While all of the biblical authors were divinely inspired, this didn’t mean that they functioned in society as prophets. Psalms and Proverbs attribute many passages to David and Solomon, but they were kings, not prophets. The truth is, we don’t know who wrote many Old Testament books, including all the historical ones (Joshua to 2 Chronicles), and it’s just supposition to claim that they were written by prophets. We also have no evidence that New Testament authors like Mark and Luke ever received prophetic revelations.

While there may not have been any prophets between the time of Malachi and Jesus, that doesn’t mean that God didn’t give any revelations to the writers of the remaining books in the Old Testament, which is just one of the reasons why the Catholic Church recognizes that these additional books are also divinely inspired.

//The Catholic Company//

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Why are We Catholic AND Christian?

Have you ever wondered how we became known as “Catholics” and “Christians”?

Before they were called Christians or Catholics, Jesus’ earliest disciples were known as “People of the Way.” This is likely because Jesus called Himself “the way, the truth, and the light” (John 14:6). Many names were used to describe the followers of Jesus in the early days before the term “Christians” stuck.

Acts Chapter 9, the story of St. Paul’s conversion, says, “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way… he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

Later, the “People of the Way” would come to be universally known as “Christians.” The name “Christian” comes from the Greek word Christianos, which means “Follower of Christ.”

So how did Christians become known as “Catholics”?

The Greek word for “church” is katholikos, which translates to “universal.” The word “catholic” comes from katholikos. Since the true Church is universal, “making disciples of all nations” as Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19), the precise wording “Catholic Church” is fitting. It simply affirms that she is the “Universal Church,” the true Church established by Christ.

So, we are “Christians”—those who follow Christ—and we are also “Catholic,” that is, members of the one universal and undivided Church united throughout the whole world thanks to the evangelization of the Apostles and their successors.

//The Catholic Company//

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Minute Meditation – Finding Rest in Humility

When we move low, back toward the soil from which we can learn the lessons of our true humanity, we are able to enter a kind of peace. Humility is not about struggle or diminishment but rather is the relief that we are not God, that we are mere creatures. Wendell Berry gives voice to this truth in one of his most popular poems, “The Peace of Wild Things”:

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— from the book Wendell Berry and the Given Life 

by Ragan Sutterfield

//Franciscan Media//

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Saint of the Day – April 27 – Saint Zita

St. Zita (d. 1271) was born into poverty in Tuscany, Italy. Her mother taught her to develop a strong prayer life, which, combined with her happy disposition, enabled her to seek God’s will in all her life circumstances. At the age of twelve she became a servant for a noble Italian family. The family she served lived near a church, and Zita would rise early to attend daily Mass before beginning her duties. She saw her work as being in the service of God, which she executed with care and diligence. Because of her goodness she suffered harsh treatment and even physical abuse at the hands of both her employers and the other servants. From her patient endurance of such mistreatment, Zita’s humility and virtue became evident to all. She was eventually respected and promoted to a leadership role of managing the entire household and its servants. Throughout her life she exemplified hard work, gentleness, and a life of prayer, despite being overworked. She died at the age of 60 serving the same family, and after her death many miracles occurred through her intercession. The family contributed to the cause for her canonization. St. Zita is an incorruptible, and her relics are kept in the Basilica of St. Frediano where she attended Mass. She is the patron saint of maids, domestic servants, butlers, waiters, rape victims, lost keys, and people ridiculed for their piety. St. Zita’s feast day is April 27th.

//The Catholic Company//