Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
At some point over the last few months, many people in our parishes have received a book in the mail entitled The Great Controversy.  I received a copy too.  Some people have approached me asking about it and wondering if they should read it.  When I first saw the book, I became a little skeptical since no author was indicated… so I did some research.
 
The Great Controversy was a book written by Ellen Gould White in the 1840s (if you tried reading the book you received in the mail, you could probably tell this by the somewhat antiquated style of writing).  White was one of the key individuals in the founding of the Seventh-Day Adventist movement. 
 
Who are the Seventh-Day Adventists?  Seventh-Day Adventists trace their origins back to an American Baptist preacher in the 1840s by the name of William Miller who made predictions about the date of Christ’s second coming.  These predictions, of course, were unfulfilled, but splinter groups formed and the movement continued.   While Seventh-Day Adventists hold many of the same beliefs as Catholics (i.e., the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, etc.), they also hold beliefs that are quite contrary to our faith (i.e., that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that communal worship should take place on Saturday rather than Sunday, and many other things).  Needless to say, the beliefs of Seventh Day Adventists are very anti-Catholic.  While some of their beliefs are similar to those of many Protestants (i.e., that the Bible alone is the rule of faith, and that justification comes through faith alone), many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists argue they are not even Christian.
 
If you read The Great Controversy, you will find many anti-Catholic claims and presumptions.  If you are interested in learning more about this book and about Seventh-Day Adventism, this website offers a nice summary: http://www.catholic.com/tracts/seventh-day-adventism.
 
Now, if after reading this you are still wondering what to do with the book you received in the mail, here’s my recommendation: the recycling bin would be a great home for it.  I would not recommend giving it away and enabling false teaching to be further circulated.  If you’re up for a challenge though, and would like to be able to better explain and defend your own Catholic faith, read The Great Controversy and use www.Catholic.com and other such reliable apologetic resources to refute its claims.  You can always talk to a priest too if you have questions.

​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
Lent, as you know, is a time a great time to focus on growing in virtue – i.e., growing in the habit of doing what is good in some area of our life.  Perhaps we may pick some area of weakness or vice and work to grow in a virtue that counters that weakness or vice.  One great virtue that we must strive to develop throughout our lives, but one that is often misunderstood, is humility.
 
Back in December, I came across a newspaper editorial entitled, “Parenting in the Age of Awfulness.”*  The article’s author bemoaned how children today are immersed in a culture that promotes disrespect toward parents, teachers, and each other.  The author, a physician, recounted how recently a mother was in his office with her 10-year-old son.  The boy was playing a videogame on his cell phone while the mother was answering questions posed by the doctor.  After the mother stated how long she thought her son had a stomachache, her son chimed in, “Shut up, mom.  You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
 
The article, I believe, rightly stated that this attitude of disrespect is much more prevalent today among children, and that while we still see kids who are very courteous and respectful towards their parents and others, the difference is in the parents.  Children must be taught to be respectful.  The author listed several recommendations based on what parents have taught him: “Require respectful behavior at all times.  It’s OK to disagree.  It’s never OK to be disrespectful.  Prioritize the family.  The family meal at home is more important than piling on after-school extracurricular activities.  Instead of boosting self-esteem, teach humility.  Fight the cultural imperative to be ‘awesome.’”
 
That last recommendation to teach humility rather than focusing on self-esteem boosting and being “awesome” struck me as particularly thoughtful.  Do we think enough about teaching our children the virtue of humility?  Today, it seems there is a lot of emphasis in parenting on raising our children to have self-confidence and to be affirming of them.  Certainly, those are good things.  However, having real self-confidence depends on our ability to see ourselves as we really are, including our strengths and our weaknesses.  And that is what real humility is: having a true opinion about ourselves.  It is not, as some would have it, merely having a low opinion about ourselves.  Nor does humility mean being a doormat and letting others take advantage of us.  Humility is rooted in the truth about who we are as God created us.  Someone who is confident beyond their ability (i.e., not in touch with the truth about themselves) will always be disappointed in themselves.  They may also have difficulty accepting the fact that they need others in their life to depend on, especially God.
 
We want our kids to succeed and to do well in the world.  We want them to be confident, but also respectful.  The proper balance of these good things that we want for our children is found only in the virtue of humility, and teaching them to see themselves as God sees them.  For starters, we must teach them to be thankful, to recognize the times they are wrong and to apologize, and to be courteous.
 
* Leonard Sax, “Parenting in the Age of Awfulness,” Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2015.

​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
The great season of Lent is upon us.  It’s a season of penance that is meant to call us to deeper conversion and put us more in touch with Jesus our Lord and the events by which he made salvation and life forever with him possible.  It’s a beautiful season of examination for us in which we are to make concrete steps to root out the things in our life that are not of God.  As great as this time of year is though, I must admit that there is always part of me that does not look forward to it.  The idea of making some act of sacrifice, giving up something, doing some extra spiritual practice or act of charity outside of our normal routine for all the weeks of Lent can be a little daunting.  In fact, throughout the season, many of us experience some degree of failure in keeping our intended observance.  While it’s not a bad thing to experience some failure (for humility’s sake) in our Lenten observance, we may still wonder what we can reasonable do throughout the whole season of Lent so that it may be truly fruitful for us.
 
Well, who says we must do one thing throughout the whole season?  Perhaps there are different things we can do – perhaps something different each week.  I’d like to borrow a few great suggestions offered by our very own Bishop Callahan last year at this time, plus a few others:
 
1st Week - Contemplate your baptism.  Everybody knows their birthday, but very few people know the date (or even place) of their baptism.  That’s a shame, because the date of our baptism marks the beginning of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity within our souls – the moment when we were given a new and permanent supernatural identity.  Find your baptismal certificate and display it in a place in which it will serve as a spiritual reminder to you.  In your prayer each day, reflect on the fact that you are a son or daughter of God, and reflect on the spiritual journey of your life up to the present.  What has works God done and how has he been present throughout your life, both in the joys and sorrows?  The joy you find in your baptism should be connected to the joy of Easter to come.
 
2nd Week - Do some spiritual practice or activity.  Take up some special prayer or devotion that you don’t often do – perhaps the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Go to daily Mass throughout the week if it is at a time you are able to go.  Read about the life of a particular saint and develop a relationship with them to assist you in your walk with the Lord.
 
3rd Week - Corporal Works of Mercy.  Since we are in the Holy Year of Mercy, focus on performing one or more of these corporal works: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead.
 
4th Week - Spiritual Works of Mercy.  Focus on performing one or more of these spiritual works: admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses willingly, comfort the afflicted, pray for the living and the dead.
 
5th Week - Learn more about your faith.  Dedicate time each day to reading the Scriptures, a portion of the Catechism, or some other catechetical book.  Check out the Lighthouse Media Kiosk or website.
 
6th Week - Fully engage Holy Week.  Attend as many of the Holy Week liturgies as you are able.  Read the Passion narratives beforehand and place yourself in them.  Of all the persons mentioned in the narratives, whom do you identify with most?

​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
Dates and anniversaries are very important in the life of the Church and in our faith.  You may recall one significant date not too long ago: December 8th, 2015.  Most of us would recall that this was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  It also marked the beginning of the new Holy Year of Mercy.  But there was at least one other thing that was significant about that date that was a bit less publicized.  December 8th, 2015 marked the 50th Anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council.
 
What was the Second Vatican Council (a.k.a. Vatican II)?  Many people, when they hear the phrase, immediately think of the changes that happened in the Mass, such as going from Latin to English, and the priest now facing the people.  Liturgical changes were only a small portion of what the Council was about – and ironically, many of the liturgical changes that we saw actually happen were not even explicitly stated by the Council, but flowed from other agendas attached to it. 
 
Vatican II was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church – “ecumenical council” referring to a gathering of the entire Church, through her bishops, that seeks to address one or more issues vital to the life of the Church at a given time.  The first recognized ecumenical council of the Church took place in Nicaea in the year 325.  Flowing from that council, we have the Creed that we say together every Sunday at Mass. 
 
The Second Vatican Council was announced by Pope St. John XXIII in 1959 and officially opened on Oct. 11, 1962.  By the middle of the 20th century, the world had seen a great deal of change, and the essential purpose of the Council was to help the Church meet the pastoral needs of this new era.  Some of the main goals included: making the Church more accessible in the contemporary world; addressing the disunity among Christians; and seeking a deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of the Church and its Tradition, and articulating this in a way that wasn’t merely reactionary to Protestantism and secularism.
 
Many people have been alarmed by all the controversy and misinterpretation that surrounded the recent Synod of Bishops on the family.  Well, things were no different with Vatican II.  In fact, controversy and misinterpretation still surrounds it.  One reason there has been so much misunderstanding about the Council is that few people have actually read the documents it produced.  In total, sixteen documents were written.  Of the most significant, the first was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) in 1963.  Second was the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) in 1964.  Third was the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation in (Dei Verbum) 1965.  Fourth was the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) in 1965.  Other documents included topics on ecumenism, relations with other religions, Eastern Catholic Churches, social communication, Christian education, religious freedom, the training of priests, the renewal of religious life, the role of the laity, missionary work, the ministry and life of priests, and the role of bishops.
 
Consider having a look at one or more of the documents of the Council.  You might be surprised at what they say, or don’t say.  You can find them easily on the Vatican website (www.vatican.va).