Sunday, August 27, 2017

My Stogie Mystagogy - Catholic Podcast from Joe Catholic

Check out our Podcast on Ongoing Converstion

This Week's Topic - Expect Miracles.
http://www.mystogiemystagogy.com/2017/08/27/expect-miracles/

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Pope Francis' Apostolic Letters on the Annulment Process

You will be reading all over the secular media that Pope Francis has made significant changes to the annulment process. Rather than trust their reporting, I suggest you actually read the text of both letters. You can find their links below:

Mitis et Misericors Iesus

Mitis iudex Dominus Iesus

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Navarre Bible Commentary:
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From eSermons
Mark 6:30–34
30 The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.   
Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches  that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are not cited in the Catechism.
Commentary:
6:30–31. We can see here the intensity of Jesus’ public ministry. Such was his dedication to souls that St Mark twice mentions that the disciples did not even have time to eat (cf. Mk 3:20). A Christian should be ready to sacrifice his time and even his rest in the service of the Gospel. This attitude of availability will lead us to change our plans whenever the good of souls so requires.
But Jesus also teaches us here to have common sense and not to go to such extremes that we physically cannot cope: “The Lord makes his disciples rest, to show those in charge that people who work or preach cannot do so without breaks” (St. Bede, In Marci Evangelium expositio, in loc.). “He who pledges himself to work for Christ should never have a free moment, because to rest is not to do nothing: it is to relax in activities which demand less effort” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 357).
6:34. Our Lord had planned a period of rest, for himself and his disciples, from the pressures of the apostolate (Mk 6:31–32). And he has to change his plans because so many people come, eager to hear him speak. Not only is he not annoyed with them: he feels compassion on seeing their spiritual need. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6). They need instruction and our Lord wants to meet this need by preaching to them. “Jesus is moved by hunger and sorrow, but what moves him most is ignorance” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 109).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome  

Friday, July 3, 2015

Video: The SCOTUS Case on Same-Sex Marriage and Its Impact on Religious Liberty

Overview
This video is a one hour presentation by Dr. Ben Nguyen of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in which he details the legal historical context leading up to the recent Supreme Court case which redefined marriage. Additionally, he outlines the moral impact of the decision and its potential threat to the freedom to freely express our faith in the public arena. Nguyen cites a number of court cases, Vatican II documents, Sacred Scripture and natural law.

Brief Bio
Dr. Ben Nguyen is a Canon lawyer and theological advisor to Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey, STL, DD of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Wisconsin. Nguyen has recently served as an Associate Professor in the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Ave Maria University where he taught Canon Law, Liturgy and Sacraments, Moral Theology and Pastoral Theology. In addition to all the work he does for the Church, Dr. Nguyen is married and has five children.

Audio/Video

Thursday, July 2, 2015