July 7, 2013 Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus  ”Behold the Heart that has so loved men … instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude …” Devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus has its origins in the eleventh century, when pious Christians meditated on the Five Wounds of Christ. There grew up among the faithful  prayers to the Sacred Heart, prayers to the Shoulder Wound of Christ—private devotions which helped Christians to... Read more
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” my mother would say, explaining why I needed to [choose one] (a) make my bed, (b) pick up my toys, (c) help with the dishes…. The old adage is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, or to the Bible. In actuality, though, the phrase apparently originated with Phineas ben Yair, a rabbi whose writings can be found in the Talmud. This is a reminder that just as your home gets dirty and needs a dusting, so... Read more
DUI charges were dropped Tuesday against Bishop Robert McManus, spiritual leader of the Worcester Diocese’s 392,000 Catholics, after the bishop pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of refusing a breathalyzer test. Bishop McManus was arrested in early May for hitting a vehicle in Narragansett, then leaving the scene of the accident. The investigating police officer reported that McManus had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol. Bishop McManus has lost his driver’s license for six months and has been fined $900... Read more
And he’s a Jesuit! Father Peter Ryan, S.J., has been named executive director of the USCCB Secretariat on Doctrine and Canonical Affairs. This is a very good thing:  Father Ryan is known for his stalwart adherence to Catholic teaching. Read more about his background and qualifications over at the Kresta  In The Afternoon blog.   Read more
Or is that a “Cheesus Burger”? This is just too funny–  From the Ironic Catholic, I bring you….. [drum roll, please]…. the Jesus Burger! An unfortunate billboard placement, indeed.   Read more
Last month in the skies over Guilford, England, just to the southwest of London, observant Britishers might have spotted a strange airborne object. Was it a bird? A plane? No, actually, it was a flying pizza. T + Biscuits, an English creative agency based in Shoreditch, was hired by Domino’s Pizza to test the “DomiCopter”, a prototype of a delivery drone designed to deliver pizzas by air, avoiding potential traffic tie-ups on the road below. The name “DomiCopter” is reported... Read more
Just when you get over the head-wagging over Mayor Bloomberg’s soft drink size restrictions, another guy proposes a new solution to reduce suicides: Stop selling large bottles of Tylenol. Ezekiel Emanuel, bioethicist and proponent of a voucher-based universal health care (aka Obamacare), has penned an op-ed in the New York Times asking the government to consider regulating the number of tablets in a bottle of Tylenol. This, he thinks, is a “simple way” to reduce suicide rates. Here’s the logic: ... Read more
This week the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, the feast instituted in the thirteenth century by Pope Urban IV to honor the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Here in the United States, the feast was celebrated on Sunday; but in Italy and many other countries, the faithful marked the celebration on Thursday. In Rome, Pope Francis led a crowd of about 20,000 pilgrims in a traditional Corpus Christi procession through the streets from the Basilica... Read more
A Cheerios ad featuring an interracial family has drawn a spate of racist comments, forcing maker General Mills to disable comments on its most recent YouTube video. In the thirty-second ad, a young girl asks her white mother whether Cheerios are really good for the heart. The mother responds affirmatively; and in the next scene, a black father wakes from a nap to find Cheerios piled on his chest. The ad ends with the word “Love” against a background evocative... Read more
Those amazing guys over at Spirit Juice Studios have done it again. Always fresh, always new, Spirit Juice productions—such as the Father Pontifex Spoken Word series and the “Zombies vs. Jesus” short film—strive to offer the same production quality seen in secular media. Their creative projects reach an audience who might not otherwise reflect on the role of faith in their lives. This brief video is ideal for the Feast of Corpus Christi because it promotes Eucharistic adoration. Read more
Seasons of Grace
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