The following article was written by Fr. Augustine Thompson who is a Dominican of the Western Province. He is a former professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.

We’ve all heard the allegations. Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped Church suppression. Even today modern pagans and witches continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the devil and pagan gods.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The origins of Halloween are, in fact, very Christian and rather American. Halloween falls on October 31 because of a pope, and its observances are the result of medieval Catholic piety.

It’s true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain celebrated a minor festival on Oct. 31 — as they did on the last day of most other months of the year. However, Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Feast of All Saints or "All Hallows" falls on Nov. 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to Nov. 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland. The day before was the feast’s evening vigil, "All Hallows Even" or "Hallowe’en." In those days, Halloween didn’t have any special significance for Christians or for long-dead Celtic pagans.

In 998, St. Odilo, the abbot of the powerful monastery of Cluny in Southern France, added a celebration on Nov. 2. This was a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed. This feast, called All Souls Day, spread from France to the rest of Europe.

So now the Church had feasts for all those in heaven and all those in purgatory? What about those in the other place? It seems Irish Catholic peasants wondered about the unfortunate souls in hell. After all, if the souls in hell are left out when we celebrate those in heaven and purgatory, they might be unhappy enough to cause trouble. So it became customary to bang pots and pans on All Hallows Even to let the damned know they were not forgotten. Thus, in Ireland, at least, all the dead came to be remembered — even if the clergy were not terribly sympathetic to Halloween and never allowed All Damned Day into the Church calendar.

But that still isn’t our celebration of Halloween. Our traditions on this holiday centers around dressing up in fanciful costumes, which isn’t Irish at all. Rather, this custom arose in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. Late medieval Europe was hit by repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague — the Black Death — and she lost about half her population. It is not surprising that Catholics became more concerned about the afterlife. More Masses were said on All Souls’ Day, and artistic representations were devised to remind everyone of their own mortality.

We know these representations as the "Dance Macabre" or "Dance of Death," which was commonly painted on the walls of cemeteries and shows the devil leading a daisy chain of people — popes, kings, ladies, knights, monks, peasants, lepers, etc. — into the tomb. Sometimes the dance was presented on All Souls’ Day itself as a living tableau with people dressed up in the garb of various states of life. But the French dressed up on All Souls, not Halloween; and the Irish, who had Halloween, did not dress up. How the two became mingled probably happened first in the British colonies of North America during the 1700s when Irish and French Catholics began to intermarry. The Irish focus on hell gave the French masquerades and even more macabre twist.

But, as every young ghoul knows, dressing up isn’t the point; the point is getting as many goodies as possible. Where on earth did "trick or treat" come in?

"Trick or treat" is perhaps the oddest and most American addition to Halloween, and is the unwilling contribution of English Catholics.

During the penal period of the 1500s to the 1700s in England, Catholics had no legal rights. They could not hold office and were subject to fines, jail and heavy taxes. It was a capital offense to say Mass, and hundreds of priests were martyred.

Occasionally, English Catholics resisted, sometimes foolishly. One of the most foolish acts of resistance was a plot to blow up the Protestant King James I and his Parliament with gunpowder. This was supposed to trigger a Catholic uprising against their oppressors. The ill-conceived Gunpowder Plot was foiled on Nov. 5, 1605, when the man guarding the gunpowder, a reckless convert named Guy Fawkes, was captured and arrested. He was hanged; the plot fizzled.

Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes’ Day, became a great celebration in England, and so it remains. During the penal periods, bands of revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead of night, demanding beer and cakes for their celebration: trick or treat!

Guy Fawkes’ Day arrived in the American colonies with the first English settlers. But, buy the time of the American Revolution, old King James and Guy Fawkes had pretty much been forgotten. Trick or treat, though, was too much fun to give up, so eventually it moved to Oct. 31, the day of the Irish-French masquerade. And in America, trick or treat wasn’t limited to Catholics.

The mixture of various immigrant traditions we know as Halloween had become a fixture in the Unites States by the early 1800s. To this day, it remains unknown in Europe, even in the countries from which some of the customs originated.

But what about witches? Well, they are one of the last additions. The greeting card industry added them in the late 1800s. Halloween was already "ghoulish," so why not give witches a place on greeting cards? The Halloween card failed (although it has seen a recent resurgence in popularity), but the witches stayed. So, too, in the late 1800s, ill-informed folklorists introduced the jack-o’-lantern. They thought that Halloween was druidic and pagan in origin. Lamps made from turnips (not pumpkins) had been part of ancient Celtic harvest festivals, so they were translated to the American Halloween celebration.

The next time someone claims that Halloween is a cruel trick to lure your children into devil worship, I suggest you tell them the real origin of All Hallows Even and invite them to discover its Christian significance, along with the two greater and more important Catholic festivals that follow it.

Courtesy of The Crossroads Initiative

Sunday's Readings: Wisdom 11:22-12 1 Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 Luke 19:1-10

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Lover of Souls (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Zacchaeus - Look Who's Coming to Dinner from The Crossroads Initiative


• I Need to Stay at Your House from Salt+Light Television


• Word to Life - October 29, 2010 from The Dominican Province of St. Joseph

Catherine de Hueck Doherty founded Madonna House with her husband, Eddie Doherty, in 1947. Today the community has about 200 laymen, women, and priests, dedicated to loving and serving Christ. The members of Madonna House make promises of poverty, chastity and obedience. They live a life of voluntary poverty, giving up our personal possessions and incomes. Their programs include retreats and spiritual direction for the laity as well as programs for priests. This website serves as a good introduction to Madonna House and its worthy work.

From Catholic Culture.

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St. Anthony Mary Claret

The feast day of St. Anthony Mary Claret is October 24th.

The founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Anthony Mary Claret died in the Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide in France on [October 24th] in 1870. He was canonized in 1950 and listed in the Roman Calendar in 1960. Anthony was born at Salent in the Diocese of Vich in Catalonia, Spain, in the year in which Napoleon invaded Spain. He was trained for manual labor, since his father was a weaver, but in 1829 he entered the seminary at Vich. Ordained to the priesthood in 1835, he was assigned as pastor in his home parish. Later he went to Rome to work for the Propagation of the Faith. He also entered the novitiate of the Jesuits but had to leave because of ill health, so he returned to Spain and was assigned as pastor of a parish. His apostolate consisted of rural preaching, conferences for the clergy and publications (he wrote more than 150 books). Because of his successful apostolate he aroused the animosity of some of the clergy and as a result he left Catalonia for the Canary Islands (1848). After a year he returned to Catalonia and resumed his preaching apostolate.

In 1849 Anthony gathered together five priests who formed the basis of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (popularly known as Claretians). At the suggestion of the Queen of Spain, Isabella II, Anthony was named archbishop of Santiago, Cuba (1850). For the next seven years he made pastoral visitations, preached against the slavery of the [blacks], and regularized numerous marriages. As a result of his activity he was frequently threatened with death and on one occasion an attempt was actually made on his life. In 1857 he was recalled to Spain as confessor to the queen. In this way he was able to exert some influence in the naming of bishops, set up a center of ecclesiastical studies at the Escorial, and work towards the recognition of religious orders in Spain. In 1869 he was in Rome, preparing for the First Vatican Council. He followed Isabella II into exile and at the insistence of the Spanish ambassador, was placed under house arrest in the Cistercian monastery at FontFroide, where he died at the age of 63. His remains were ultimately returned to Vich.

From the EWTN

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The Duties of Children, Part 1

The Catechism speaks to each person's duty as a child to honor his parents.

2214   The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood; this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. the respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by God's commandment.

2215   Respect for parents (filial piety) derives from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and their work, have brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. "With all your heart honor your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?"

2216   Filial respect is shown by true docility and obedience. "My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.... When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you." "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke."

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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On Tuesday, November 2, 2010, Virginians will go to the polls to vote for all of the Commonwealth's members of the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition, in some parts of the state, there are other local elections and ballot initiatives.

In anticipation of the November 2 general elections, the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC) sent (via certified mail, return-receipt requested) an 8-item questionnaire to all Virginia candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives on July 9. Candidates were sent reminder letters on August 6 and September 8, and were contacted additional times by phone and by e-mail.

Displayed here is a chart containing the names of all candidates and their responses, or a blank line if no responses were received. The questions are also displayed (after the chart).

If you wish to pose these questions directly to the candidates in your district who did not submit responses to the VCC, their contact information can be found on the Virginia State Board of Elections website.

The display of responses and questions linked above is authorized by Virginia’s two Catholic dioceses for use at any parishes that wish to download, copy, and make them available to parishioners. Please also note that no voter-education materials prepared by organizations other than the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops or the VCC are authorized by the two dioceses for parish use.

Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

This novena prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all who asked for his prayer. You are invited to recite it daily, so as to be spiritually united with the prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina.

I. O my Jesus, You have said "Truly I say to you, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." Behold I knock, I seek, and I ask for the grace of . . . .

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father... Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

II. O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you." Behold, in Your name, I ask the Father for the grace of . . . .

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father... Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

III. O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away, but My words willl not pass away." Encouraged by Your infallible words, I now ask for the grace of . . . .

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father... Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have mercy on us sinners, and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender mother and ours.

Say the Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina) prayer. Conclude with: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

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St. Edward the Confessor

The feast day of St. Edward the Confessor is October 13th.

King of England, born in 1003; died 5 January, 1066. He was the son of Ethelred II and Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, being thus half-brother to King Edmund Ironside, Ethelred's son by his first wife, and to King Hardicanute, Emma's son by her second marriage with Canute. When hardly ten years old he was sent with his brother Alfred into Normandy to be brought up at the court of the duke his uncle, the Danes having gained the mastery in England. Thus he spent the best years of his life in exile, the crown having been settled by Canute, with Emma's consent, upon his own offspring by her. Early misfortune thus taught Edward the folly of ambition, and he grew up in innocence, delighting chiefly in assisting at Mass and the church offices, and in association with religious, whilst not disdaining the pleasures of the chase, or recreations suited to his station. Upon Canute's death in 1035 his illegitimate son, Harold, seized the throne, Hardicanute being then in Denmark, and Edward and his brother Alfred were persuaded to make an attempt to gain the crown, which resulted in the cruel death of Alfred who had fallen into Harold's hands, whilst Edward was obliged to return to Normandy. On Hardicanute's sudden death in 1042, Edward was called by acclamation to the throne at the age of about forty, being welcomed even by the Danish settlers owing to his gentle saintly character. His reign was one of almost unbroken peace, the threatened invasion of Canute's son, Sweyn of Norway, being averted by the opportune attack on him by Sweyn of Denmark; and the internal difficulties occasioned by the ambition of Earl Godwin and his sons being settled without bloodshed by Edward's own gentleness and prudence. He undertook no wars except to repel an inroad of the Welsh, and to assist Malcolm III of Scotland against Macbeth, the usurper of his throne. Being devoid of personal ambition, Edward's one aim was the welfare of his people. He remitted the odious "Danegelt", which had needlessly continued to be levied; and though profuse in alms to the poor and for religious purposes, he made his own royal patrimony suffice without imposing taxes. Such was the contentment caused by "the good St. Edward's laws", that their enactment was repeatedly demanded by later generations, when they felt themselves oppressed.

Yielding to the entreaty of his nobles, he accepted as his consort the virtuous Editha, Earl Godwin's daughter. Having, however, made a vow of chastity, he first required her agreement to live with him only as a sister. As he could not leave his kingdom without injury to his people, the making of a pilgrimage to St. Peter's tomb, to which he had bound himself, was commuted by the pope into the rebuilding at Westminster of St. Peter's abbey, the dedication of which took place but a week before his death, and in which he was buried. St. Edward was the first King of England to touch for the "king's evil", many sufferers from the disease were cured by him. He was canonized by Alexander III in 1161. His feast is kept on the 13th of October, his incorrupt body having been solemnly translated on that day in 1163 by St. Thomas of Canterbury in the presence of King Henry II.

From the EWTN

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The Family and Society, Part 2

The Catechism teaches us that the Christian family is a particular creation of God that reflects His Divine Nature and His creation of all things. The family is the foundation of society. And the family's relationship to society reflects its unique role as the basis for society. Part 1 is available here.

2211   The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:

• the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family's own moral and religious convictions;
• the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family;
• the freedom to profess one's faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children in it, with the necessary means and institutions;
• the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate;
• in keeping with the country's institutions, the right to medical care, assistance for the aged, and family benefits;
• the protection of security and health, especially with respect to dangers like drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.;
• the freedom to form associations with other families and so to have representation before civil authority.

2212   The fourth commandment illuminates other relationships in society. In our brothers and sisters we see the children of our parents; in our cousins, the descendants of our ancestors; in our fellow citizens, the children of our country; in the baptized, the children of our mother the Church; in every human person, a son or daughter of the One who wants to be called "our Father." In this way our relationships with our neighbors are recognized as personal in character. the neighbor is not a "unit" in the human collective; he is "someone" who by his known origins deserves particular attention and respect.

2213   Human communities are made up of persons. Governing them well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts. Right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good will in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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Magnificat

The feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist is on October 18. In his Gospel, he records the beautiful hymn of the Blessed Virgin Mary that is called the Magnificat because that is the first word of her song in Latin. The hymn was sung by Mary after she was greeted by St. Elizabeth who proclaimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary was the Mother of our Lord.

The Magnificat became part of the Liturgy early in the life of the Church. There is evidence of its being included in the Divine Office as early as the Fourth Century with one tradition citing St. Benedict of Nursia as the one who placed it in the prayers of Vespers.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.

Magnificat anima mea Dominum;
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo,
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae; ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen ejus, Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam brachio suo;
Dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis, et divites dimisit inanes.
Sucepit Israel, puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae, Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semeni ejus in saecula.

(Lk 1:46-55)

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Sunday's Readings: 2 Kings 5:14-17 Psalm 98:1-4 2 Timothy 2:8-13 Luke 17:11-19

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Returning Thanks (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Thanksgiving -- Are You Grateful? en Español Naamán y los Diez Leprosos from The Crossroads Initiative


• A Day of Remembering from Salt+Light Television


• Word to Life - October 8, 2010 from The Dominican Province of St. Joseph

The Catholic Liturgical Library features historical and current information about the liturgies of the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. Currently this includes the missal of 1970 (Novus Ordo) and the missal of 1962 (Tridentine). This is a great source for all things related to the liturgy. Whether you have a question about what is allowed during the Mass, or you want to read the related Church documents, or you would like to learn how to better participate at Mass, you will find what you need here.

From Catholic Culture.

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Our Lady of the Rosary

The Church celebrates the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th.

Apart from the signal defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the Rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that Heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the Rosary should be made upon that day, and at the request of the Dominican Order Gregory XIII in 1573 allowed this feast to be kept in all churches which possessed an altar dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI after the important victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene on 6 August, 1716 (the feast of our Lady of the Snows), at Peterwardein in Hungary, commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. A set of "proper" lessons in the second nocturn were conceded by Benedict XIII. Leo XIII has since raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and has added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary". On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the "Portiuncula" of the Rosary.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

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The Family and Society, Part 1

The Catechism teaches us that the Christian family is a particular creation of God that reflects His Divine Nature and His creation of all things. The family is the foundation of society. And the family's relationship to society reflects its unique role as the basis for society.

2207   The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. the family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

2208   The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor. There are many families who are at times incapable of providing this help. It devolves then on other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to provide for their needs: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

2209   The family must be helped and defended by appropriate social measures. Where families cannot fulfill their responsibilities, other social bodies have the duty of helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's prerogatives or interfere in its life.

2210   The importance of the family for the life and well-being of society entails a particular responsibility for society to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Civil authority should consider it a grave duty "to acknowledge the true nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster them, to safeguard public morality, and promote domestic prosperity."

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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We are God's Servants

On October 3, 2010, The Holy Father visited the city of Palermo and celebrated an outdoor mass at Foro Italico Umberto I for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Part of his homily focused on Jesus' parable about the servant returning from the fields who is asked to continue to serve the master rather than to take his rest.

"The second part of today's Gospel (Luke 17:7-10) presents another teaching, a teaching about humility that, nevertheless, is closely connected with faith. Jesus invites us to be humble and offers the example of a servant who works in the fields. When he returns home the master asks him to continue working. According to the mentality of Jesus' time the master had every right to do this. The servant owed the master his complete availability; and the master did not think himself obligated to him if he carried out his orders. Jesus makes us aware that, before God, we find ourselves in a similar situation: we are God's servants; we are not his creditors but we are always debtors in relation to him because we owe him everything, because everything is his gift. Accepting and doing his will is the way that we must live every day, in every moment of our life. Before God we must not present ourselves as those who believe that they have done a service and deserve a great recompense. This is an illusion that can arise in everyone, even in persons who do a much work in the Lord's service, in the Church. We must instead be aware that we never do enough for God. We must say, as Jesus suggests: 'We are useless servants. We did what we were obliged to do' (Luke 17:10). This is an attitude of humility that truly puts us in our place and permits the Lord to be very generous with us. In fact, in another passage of the Gospel, he promises us that 'he will gird himself, have us sit at table and will serve us' (cf. Luke 12:37). Dear Friends, if we do the Lord's will every day, with humility, without expecting anything from him, Jesus himself will serve us, help us, encourage us, give us strength and peace."

-- October 3, 2010 homily on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time given at an outdoor mass at Palermo's Foro Italico Umberto I.

From the Zenit.

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Messages from the Holy Father are featured on a regular basis. These words of wisdom will include quotes from homilies or addresses given by the Holy Father along with a link to learn more about the full text and context of the address.

The St. Anselm Institute at the University of Virginia will again this year host a number of guest lecturers throughout the academic year.

The first lecture is on Wednesday, October 7, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Minor Hall. The lecture will be presented by Trent Pomplun who is an Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University-Maryland. He will be presenting a talk based on his book Jesuit on the Roof of the World (Oxford). The book presents the adventures of the Jesuit missionary priest Ippolito Desideri who lived in Tibet from 1715 to 1721. The lecture is open to the public.

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

The feast day of St. Francis of Assisi is October 4.

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to
comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

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Sunday's Readings: Habakkuk 1:2-3;2:2-4 Psalm 95:1-2,6-9 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14 Luke 17:5-10

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• A Great Chasm (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• If You Had Faith (and Indeed You Do) from Salt+Light Television


• Word to Life - October 1, 2010 from The Dominican Province of St. Joseph

Defenders of the Catholic Faith is a web venture of Steve Ray, a convert from evangelical Protestantism and the author of Crossing the Tiber, Upon This Rock, and other books. The site is dedicated to explaining the Catholic Faith, especially to those of an evangelical persuasion.

This is an excellent site which provides many good apologetical insights.

From Catholic Culture.

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Souls without prayer are like people whose bodies or limbs are paralyzed: they posses feet and hands but they cannot control them. In the same way there are souls so infirm and so accustomed to busying themselves with outside affairs that they seem incapable of entering into themselves at all. - St. Teresa of Avila

The Holy Father's prayer intentions for October are:

General:   That Catholic Universities may more and more be places where, in the light of the Gospel, it is possible to experience the harmonious unity existing between faith and reason.

Mission:   That the World Mission Day may afford an occasion for understanding that the task of proclaiming Christ is an absolutely necessary service to which the Church is called for the benefit of humanity.

Pro-Life Prayer Intention

That citizens may exercise their duty to vote in a way that advances the Culture of Life.