#Father Benedict Groeschel

[tabernacleheart]

A person who is not prepared for their Calvary is a person who will not leave life well.

Father Benedict Groeschel

[jmjprayforus]

“In the formation of His apostles, Jesus Christ constantly taught them the necessity of trust…

He told them to...have faith and hope, and believe that the Father would look after them... that trust in God would outlast the evil and would lead to realities that do not pass away…

The ultimate message of Jesus Christ is to trust in God and His ability to bring good out of evil.”

- Fr. Benedict Groeschel

[arcticdementor]

Douthat has a good piece this morning about how there are times when conspiracy theorists are actually closer to the truth than their critics.

…

In early 2002, shortly after the Boston trial of Father Geoghan blew open the Catholic sex scandal nationwide, I received a tip from a priest that Cardinal Ted McCarrick of DC had a history of sexually abusing seminarians. The priest said a group of prominent lay Catholics who knew this about him flew to Rome at their own expense, trying to prevent McCarrick from being named as Washington archbishop, which would have made him a cardinal. They met with an unnamed Vatican official to tell them what they knew about McCarrick, but it made no difference. McCarrick got his red hat.

The priest gave me the names of two men who had been on that trip, both of them well-known in their professions. I called the first one, who said yes, he had been on that trip, but didn’t want to talk about it. The second one told me that “if that were true, I wouldn’t tell you about it for the same reason Noah’s sons covered their father in his drunkenness.” Translation: yes, it’s true, but I’m not going to talk about it to protect the Church.

I didn’t know what to do next. But then I was called into my editor’s office. He wanted to know what I was working on (I hadn’t told anybody, because I hadn’t made any progress on the story). He told me that he had received a phone call from a very well known public conservative (I’m not going to name him here) who identified himself as a friend of Cardinal McCarrick, and said that the cardinal was aware that Rod Dreher was going to report a story that was true, but not criminal, and that would be very embarrassing to the cardinal. The caller asked my editor to kill the story.

I was stunned. How did McCarrick find out? I told my editor what I was working on, and he simply asked me to keep him informed. Back at my desk, I called the priest who tipped me off. “McCarrick knows,” I said. I asked him how that was possible. I had told no one else. I’m quite sure that neither of the two potential sources I called tipped him off, because it would not have been in their interest. So how did he know?

The priest was shocked. “The only person I told,” he said, “was my spiritual director, Father Benedict Groeschel.”

…

This was a useful lesson to learn, both as a journalist and, well, as a life lesson in how the world works. It happened over and over and over again as I wrote about the scandal. A progressive Catholic journalist and I once shared war stories about covering the scandal, and agreed that the ideological convictions of both the Catholic Right and the Catholic Left prevented people from identifying malefactors who happened to share their ideology. Beyond that, most Catholics simply could not grasp the idea that the institutional Church was in fact honeycombed with networks of perverts. I interviewed a seminarian who told me that his own parents considered him to be a liar when he told them about the homosexual decadence at his former seminary. They found it easier to believe that their son was a lying fantasist than to believe that his seminary was a gay whorehouse.

…

I hardly need to go into detail here about what we discovered over the ensuing years about the networked corruption in the Church. For me, one of the great lessons is that in any institution, corrupt men will take advantage of it, especially if they can work beneath a canopy of presumed innocence. It can happen in a police force. It can happen in the military. This is not just a church thing, not by any means.

Some conspiratorial types like to believe that the media knew all about McCarrick, but refused to report it. That’s not really true. Yes, the stories about McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians were known to some other journalists, but nobody could nail them down. There’s a good reason we have libel laws, and professional journalistic ethics. It’s a very big deal to claim that a man — especially a cardinal — is sexually abusing others. Strong claims like that — claims that could destroy a man’s life — require strong evidence. Off-the-record stories, and the absence of documentation, are not enough. It could have been the case that McCarrick was the target of a conspiracy of liars determined to take him down. Not only would it be morally wrong to accuse McCarrick publicly on the basis of what amounts to hearsay, but any individual or publication that did so could be sued for libel, and could conceivably be destroyed. The only way McCarrick was ever going to be outed is through court documents, and through on the record interviews with victims and others in a position to know what he did. I was dying to tell the truth about McCarrick, but I could not do so without more solid information.

But what to make of this story that follows?

…

The Times had this story six years earlier, but didn’t publish it. Why not? There are people who assume that the media would never, ever sit on a story that could make the Catholic Church look bad. I am convinced that’s exactly what the Times did in 2012, even though it had hard evidence that McCarrick was guilty. In truth, I have no idea why the Times suppressed the story its own freelancer had, but I’m telling you, do not ever assume that the ideological orientation of a media outlet can reliably predict what they’re willing to report, and refuse to report. Loyalties are complex.

…

These days, it is impossible to find a clear line between realism and cynicism, between a valid critical disposition and sheer paranoia. If we ever do get the true, reasonably complete story behind McCarrick’s rise, it will likely expose the nexus of power, sex, and money in the Catholic hierarchy, with unpredictable results. Similarly, if we ever get the true, reasonably complete story of who Jeffrey Epstein was and how he did what he did, we are likely going to see the nexus of power, sex, and money among the international elites, with unpredictable results.

The world is not ordered as we wish it were. It’s not even disordered as we wish it were. I’m thinking this morning of something a faithful Catholic layman told me in the spring of 2002, about the abuse scandal. He was a close friend of Cardinal Bernard Law, and active in the Archdiocese of Boston. This man — a very intelligent, morally upright gentleman — had direct knowledge of widespread homosexual corruption in the seminary at the time. He told me that he informed his dear friend the cardinal about all of it … and that the cardinal had done nothing. I asked the man how he reconciled his love and respect for the cardinal with the fact that Law had allowed this kind of corruption to flourish unaddressed.

The man sat across from me, unable to speak. The cognitive dissonance left him paralyzed. He could not accept that the world was ordered in such a way that his dear friend the cardinal could be guilty of such gross negligence. I used to be pretty naive, the kind of person who believed that good men (like my interlocutor) almost always wanted to know the truth, and to fight for justice. What I couldn’t have truly grasped until that extraordinary conversation was how the mind will protect itself from having to face something intolerable. That man was not asked to believe a conspiracy theory; he was asked to put two and two together — facts that he did not dispute. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He literally could not summon the will to face the terrible truth about his friend the cardinal, and the truth about the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

What’s so frightening to me today, thinking about that, is how every one of us is susceptible to that same paralysis.

[anastpaul]

Quote/s of the Day – 20 October – The Month of the Holy Rosary

“The Rosary is the prayer that always accompanies my life: it is also the prayer of simple people and saints… it is the prayer of my heart”.

“The Rosary lays before our eyes the beauty of a simple contemplative prayer that is accessible to everyone, great and small.”

Pope Francis

“The rosary is a weapon against depression and hopelessness.”

Servant of God Benedict Groeschel

“I am pleading with you to become apostles of the Rosary. Promote the Rosary. Urge the Rosary. Teach the Rosary. Shall I say, advertise the Rosary. It is through the Rosary that we can bring countless souls back to Christ from whom they have strayed. It is through the Rosary that we can make them lovers of Christ through the mediation of His Mother, the Mother of Miracles since the marriage feast at Cana even to the dawn of eternity!”

Servant of God Fr John A Hardon SJ

(Father Hardon wrote and gave this conference before His Holiness, John Paul II, issued the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae that added five more mysteries (the Luminous Mysteries) to the Rosary.)

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)

[catholiccom-blog]

Why Catholics Adore the Eucharist

Full Question

        Orthodox say the Eucharist should be consumed, not adored. When did eucharistic adoration begin?        

Answer

From the earliest days of its existence, the Church has been centered on the celebration of the Eucharist. Celebration of the Lord's Passion has remained the source of power and grace until the present day. But from the thirteenth century on, in the Western Church great devotion to the eucharistic presence developed even outside of the Mass.

In his book In the Presence of the Lord, Fr. Benedict Groeschel writes: "Since the time of St. Francis and St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century there has not been a single Catholic saint for whom this devotion has not been an integral part of the spiritual life." Actually, such devotion is rooted in the Church Fathers and may have arisen in practice by the end of the sixth century.

Jesus told Thomas who had doubted, "Put your finger here; look, here are my hands" (John 20:27). Thomas looked and believed. Such recognition caused him to fall prostrate and say: "My Lord and my God!" This is what eucharistic devotion causes people to do as well. If one believes that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is only natural to revere it even when we are not receiving it.

[thewahookid]

We’re in the midst of the most important week in the history of the world: Holy Week, and we’re about to enter into the Easter Triduum: the three days beginning on the evening of Holy Thursday and ending on the Vigil of Easter. Though we will be immersing ourselves in the sorrowful events leading up to Jesus’ painful death, our hope is in Jesus’ triumphant Resurrection! Unite your sufferings with Jesus during this sacred time with the help of EWTN’s Holy Triduum/Easter Sunday programming. Here are some highlights: Thursday, April 18:

2 p.m. ET – Praying with Jesus in the Garden of Olives - A Holy Hour with the Franciscan Custodians of the Holy Land. From the Basilica of the Agony at the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem, Israel.

3:30 p.m. ET – Meditations with Fr. Groeschel: On Holy Thursday – Father Benedict Groeschel offers an insightful reflection on the significance of Holy Thursday and the great outpouring of love revealed by our Lord in the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

5:30 p.m. ET – Choral Meditations and Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper – Live from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

http://www.ewtn.com/wings/2019/041819.htm?_hsenc=p2ANqtz--2h5aonDm1EzodxQpo771w0IlgTIHSWvQf7_Hg4SnYoU-fQNbU6kQH-s8wWMeMGfFeYSOM7Yvqo8H_0buVZkRptA4iSQ&_hsmi=71887706

[fromthefriars]

#repost @tonymangia Day 16 of 40: "Faith is a gift, but it is also a choice. With God's grace we must accept and cherish this gift. We must press it into our minds and hearts." –Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR #LentenJourney #Lent #HowIPray #40Days #Day16of40 #Faith #MostBlessedSacramentFriary #Newark #ArchdioceseOfNewark #CatholicNJ #FatherBenedict #CFRs #franciscanfriarsoftherenewal #BrotherSimon @cfr_franciscans @nwkarchdiocese

[faustinoharold]

Contemplative Prayer - Father Benedict Groeschel

[pamphletstoinspire]

Novena To Mother Teresa of Calcutta - (Short Novena)

Mother Teresa’s Quick Novena

Say the following prayer, the Memorare, nine times in a row:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,

(mention your request here)

but in your mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Prayer to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

(this prayer may also be used along with the above as a quick novena)

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, you allowed the thirsting love of Jesus on the Cross to become a living flame within you, and so you became the light of His love to all. Obtain from the Heart of Jesus

(mention your request here).

Teach me to allow Jesus to penetrate and possess my whole being so completely that my life, too, may radiate His light and love to others. Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cause of Our Joy, pray for me.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for me.

***

History of the Devotion

Modern people expect quick results and may have little patience in practicing the traditional novena prayer form. So when it was made known about Mother Teresa’s “quick novena” - the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal were urging people to pray it after a terrible accident had brought Father Benedict Groeschel, to the threshold of death.

What was this “quick novena”? Why haven’t we heard of it before?

Agnes Gonxhe Bojoaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, the youngest of three children. As a young woman, she became involved with a Sodality of Mary in her parish church, led by a Jesuit priest, who fueled in the young Agnes the desire to do missionary work. When she was seventeen, she applied for admission into the Irish Sisters of Loretto and was accepted. After doing formation work in Dublin, Sister Teresa (named after St. Thèrése of Lisieux) was sent to Calcutta, India, to teach at St. Mary’s School. During her time in teaching, she contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Darjeeling to recuperate. It was while on a train there that she had an experience where she felt directed to leave the convent and to dedicate her life to the poor.

In 1950, she received permission to begin a new community whose mission it was to care for Christ in his many guises (See Mt. 25: 31-40). The Missionaries of Charity would bring Christ not to foreign lands, but to those who were outcasts — in the language of the Parable of the Rich Man, to the “Lazarus at the door.” In 1965, Pope Paul VI gave permission for the order to expand beyond India, and today it exists worldwide.

Mother Teresa was tireless in her efforts to minister to Christ in the poor and sick. While her fame made her a celebrity, she never stopped loving the poor and forgotten, sometimes forgoing an audience with the powerful to minister to the weak. Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, wrote: In the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta we have a clear illustration of the fact that time devoted to God in prayer not only does not detract from effective and loving service to our neighbor but is in fact the inexhaustible source of that service.

The “quick novena” is an expression that Mother Teresa used to refer to a devotion that she practiced whenever she needed a special favor. She told Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Fr. Andrew Apostoli that in 1983, when a sister had taken ill in Eastern Berlin and needed to be replaced with another who could deal with the Communist government there, the sisters encountered a big problem: the sister’s replacement needed a visa.

Mother gathered the sisters to do the “quick novena,” which consisted of praying the Memorare nine times in a row. When the sisters had prayed the eighth Memorare, the phone rang. It was a Communist official informing Mother that it would take at least six months for the needed visa to be granted.

Undeterred, the sisters completed the novena, after which Mother instructed them to offer a second “quick novena” in thanksgiving, which they did. When they reached the eighth Memorare this time, the phone rang again. This time, it was a Communist official telling Mother that the visa would be granted immediately.

Mother Teresa died September 5, 1997, at the age of 87. Her funeral was televised to a worldwide audience, as people of all faiths considered her a living saint throughout her lifetime. Pope John Paul II beatified her on October 19, 2003.

Click below for pamphlet:

Mother Teresa - Short Novena

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/a84285_0785676aa5e84263a728f7f69f275d87.pdf

[theinstantblog]

A Foolish Response to Suffering

I remember sitting in my Intro. to Philosophy class listening to our professor lecture on the problem of evil. He said something to the effect of, “In presenting this problem, I prefer to call it ‘The Problem of Suffering’ since some philosophers do deny that there is such a thing as ‘evil.’ However, suffering is rather hard to deny, so hereafter I will refer to the problem in the former sense as suffering.” Well, he is right. Some philosophers do deny that evil exists (for example, that it is just an illusion). However, it’s crap.

We are familiar with both. They are real things that happen to us and are real things that especially affect us. I am reminded about a story regarding a beautiful family of four – a mother and father with two kids, boy and a girl. The mother in tears describes her husband’s “freak accident.” On his way to work on Wall Street, a falling piece of stonework became dis-lodged and struck him down instantly. Freak accidents like these emerge to levels known as “acts of God.”

Why do these things happen? Why do bad things happen to me? More generally, “Why?” In the words of Benedict Groeschel, this question is never asked as a question per se, but as a kind of intimate or sincere prayer usually tinged with a bit of rage. It is a cry of pain against the mystery of God.

However, it is quite possible to respond foolishly to our own suffering. One common manner of response is to ignore or avoid it. The Christian response to suffering has actually been the opposite, and indeed has its answer grounded in the One who suffered most – the Cross of Jesus Christ. While I don’t intend to address a question-answer kind of discussion about suffering, I do want to look to a foolish (but common) response to one’s own suffering.

“The Remedy”

While there are a number of remedies to a host of human problems, few have been known to always work. Among the ones that surely never work is to retreat to our own existential caves and write about self-pity all over the walls of our heart; to sit on our rocks and lick our wounds deep.

When God told us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” I think implicit within this command is a kind of self-preservation that looks to works of mercy on others. In the words of Groeschel, “Save another’s soul, and it will save your own.” Now, this doesn’t by any means imply a works-based salvation for the self, but really is an endeavor for the humble self to find medication for wounds not of the flesh but of the heart.

The idea being, if we should think otherwise, we retreat to our caves and say, “Nobody thinks of me in my time of need, so I will not think of them either. I do not need anybody.” Oh, how I remember the sweet feeling of this leaving my lips when I thought of those around me.

Contrary to my prior self and those who do feel this way, it runs against conscience and what Jesus taught. After all, Jesus (as he said in John 15) displayed great love for laying his life down for his friends (cf. John 15:3). Moreover, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The remedy then lies in the caring appliance of one’s self toward the good of another. In other words, to “get out of yourself and help someone else.”

[apostleshop]

For God So Loved the World Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Great News has been shared on https://apostleshop.com/product/for-god-so-loved-the-world-gallery-wrapped-canvas/

For God So Loved the World Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Traditional Catholic art gains a compelling new medium in gallery wrap canvas.  Canvases featuring this modern art trend combine special printing technology and the technical skill of our Steubenville craftsmen to carefully wrap and tuck the canvas around the back of a 3/4″ thick engineered wood mount. This method creates an impressive visual display with a faux 3D effect as the image continues around all visible sides of the mount.  The canvas is free of visible staples or tacks and stands alone with no need for a frame.  Each canvas hangs with a wire in the back and has an attractive satin-matte finish.   Our gallery wrapped canvas depicts one of our most beloved images: For God So Loved the World. The 18th century original escaped destruction, which was in a centuries-old church slated for demolition. A priest from Michigan saved it from its certain ruin and brought it to the United States, where it became a family heirloom for a young Catholic doctor and his family. As far as we can tell, the original was painted in the 1700’s by an unknown artist. The Latin inscription at the bottom reads, “Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum,” and is translated, “For God So Loved the World” (John 3:16). This beautiful image, which bears a strong resemblance to the Shroud of Turin, has been an inspiration for thousands since we began publishing it in 1997.   Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Catholic author and speaker, has used it extensively in his books and meditations. He tells the story of how angry, torn, and sad he was on the afternoon of 9/11, when many of his friends and associates were killed in the World Trade Center attacks. This image of the Sacred Heart, which hung in the monastery chapel, ministered deeply to him a message of forgiveness and mercy. Soon after, he used the image as the basis of a series of meditations in his book The Cross at Ground Zero.   A simple, neat, and beautiful way to adorn your home, office, or parish – or even to give as a gift to a friend, relative, or priest. Handcrafted at our shop in Steubenville, OH.     ( GWC-150 )

[tabernacleheart]

Not everything is going well for everyone. Calvary is all around us and we don't see it.

Father Benedict Groeschel

[fromthefriars]

#repost @psnyone "Me praying at Tomb of Father Benedict Groeschel CFR" (at Most Blessed Sacrament Friary)

[faustinoharold]

Show #120 "Death & Purgatory" Father Benedict Groeschel CFR

[apostleshop]

For God So Loved the World Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Great News has been shared on http://apostleshop.com/product/for-god-so-loved-the-world-gallery-wrapped-canvas/

For God So Loved the World Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Traditional Catholic art gains a compelling new medium in gallery wrap canvas.  Canvases featuring this modern art trend combine special printing technology and the technical skill of our Steubenville craftsmen to carefully wrap and tuck the canvas around the back of a 3/4″ thick engineered wood mount. This method creates an impressive visual display with a faux 3D effect as the image continues around all visible sides of the mount.  The canvas is free of visible staples or tacks and stands alone with no need for a frame.  Each canvas hangs with a wire in the back and has an attractive satin-matte finish.  

Our gallery wrapped canvas depicts one of our most beloved images: For God So Loved the World. The 18th century original escaped destruction, which was in a centuries-old church slated for demolition. A priest from Michigan saved it from its certain ruin and brought it to the United States, where it became a family heirloom for a young Catholic doctor and his family. As far as we can tell, the original was painted in the 1700’s by an unknown artist. The Latin inscription at the bottom reads, “Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum,” and is translated, “For God So Loved the World” (John 3:16). This beautiful image, which bears a strong resemblance to the Shroud of Turin, has been an inspiration for thousands since we began publishing it in 1997.

  Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Catholic author and speaker, has used it extensively in his books and meditations. He tells the story of how angry, torn, and sad he was on the afternoon of 9/11, when many of his friends and associates were killed in the World Trade Center attacks. This image of the Sacred Heart, which hung in the monastery chapel, ministered deeply to him a message of forgiveness and mercy. Soon after, he used the image as the basis of a series of meditations in his book The Cross at Ground Zero.

  A simple, neat, and beautiful way to adorn your home, office, or parish – or even to give as a gift to a friend, relative, or priest.

Handcrafted at our shop in Steubenville, OH.

    ( GWC-150 )

[tabernacleheart]

Pope Benedict XVI has issued a call for a return to biblical theology and has given a powerful example of it in his own writings... The Holy Father has said that as a result of the exclusive use of certain forms of scriptural criticism, the figure of Jesus has become more and more remote to many people. This is a tragedy. He identifies “intimate friendship with Jesus” as the foundation “on which everything depends” in Christianity.

Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R.