Sunday Meditation for Pentecost: Can a Pope Be a Heretic and, If He Is, Does He Automatically Lose the Chair?

On this Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church, let's consider a question on the mind of many faithful Catholics these days: Can a pope be a heretic? If he does fall into heresy, does he automatically lose the Chair of Peter. And a further question: Who has the authority to make a declaration of heresy and judge that the visually reigning pope is, in fact, no longer pope?

Fr. Tom's Reflection on the Coming Feast of Pentecost and the Need for Penance

Anthony Van Dyck 1599 – 1641 The Descent of the Holy Spirit

As we prepare for the celebration of the Solemnity of Pentecost this year, I am disturbed by the fact that this celebration, if lacking a serious commitment to integration into Christ, will be merely emotional, and not transformative.

Sunday Meditation: Pray for the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Country. We Need It!

Come, O Holy Spirit, and wake us up. Pour out all your gifts on each of us who desires wholeheartedly to know You, love You, and serve You. Confirm us in our baptismal promises this day and every day. Help us to "just say no" to all the deceits of Satan and his minions. Let us not return evil for evil, but imitate You who transforms evil into opportunities for good. Give us all of Your gifts that we might have the wisdom to know the truth, the understanding to interpret all things according to God's will, the courage and kindness to counsel gently, and the fortitude to persevere. Give us the grace to kneel humbly at the foot of the cross with our Mother Mary enfolding us in her mantle. Send our guardian angels to guide and rule us as servants and foot soldiers for You. May we never run away from the battle, but be faithful members of the Church Militant under our king, Jesus Christ, and his twelve star general, Our Lady.

Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen

Sunday Meditation: Unintended Consequences? Or Opportunities from the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and Every Day!

From the perspective of Big Government, a crisis may be a "terrible thing to waste" and the coronavirus certainly offers a great opportunity for tyrannical bureaucrats as we've seen; but there are unintended consequences in the wind that are more promising. Big Brother may be surprised at what he's unleashed. At LewRockwell.com, Bill Sardi writes about the flip side of the virus:

Pentecost Sunday Meditation: Come, O Holy Spirit, Fill the Hearts of Your Faithful...

...and kindle in them the fire of Your love.

Have you ever burnt yourself? Remember the relentless pain only relieved by continuous icing. Think of the power of fire, its power for good, its power for evil.

Fire can cook your food, heat your home, provide a cheerful warmth in the fireplace on a snowy night when Jack Frost nips at your nose. It can make a fun, happy memory for little ones at an outside bonfire or an indoor winter picnic with hot dogs and marshmallows on the menu.

A Pentecost Walk in the Capitol: Pour Out Your Spirit, O Lord!

I love Stuart Shepherd's Stoplight! He's pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, and a man after my own heart with a sense of humor that's spot on. I think his "stoplight" is also a "spotlight" exposing liberal lunacy. And when you think of all the things liberals believe that simply aren't true (like a man who feeeels like a woman is really a woman or the rectum is a sex organ or killing a baby in the womb is "health care")...well...lunacy is the only word that describes it. If I put on a toga and insisted I was Julius Caesar, people would say I was a few eggs short of an omelet and might need to be restrained, but a man who tells everyone he feeeeeeeels like a woman can get away with sitting around nude in the women's locker room at the pool, etc. and liberals all nod like bobble heads. Of course, he's "transgendered" and has a right to expose himself  to all the little girls entering the locker room. If their mommies don't like it they can put up a curtain where the kiddies can change.

The emperor has no clothes, but it doesn't matter to liberals. They will go to their grave claiming the right of the nudist to expose himself in public. Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our country to open the eyes of the blind and and change cold stony hearts into hearts of flesh and blood that beat in union with the heart of Christ.

In the octave of Pentecost - Saints on Fire

I offer this little bouquet of saints who are best represented by the flower called the red hot poker (also called torch lily). They were literally "on fire" for God and for their neighbor. Share the stories of these saints with your children who in our culture of death may be called on to suffer for the faith. The inspiration of such courage can't help but invite imitation.

Blessed Miguel Pro - The Greatest Pro of Them All - He suffered death by "fire," the firing squad.

St. Joan of Arc who literally "burned" for the Lord.

St. Lawrence who was martyred by being cooked on a gridiron.

Martyrs of Rome - First Nero burned Rome, then he blamed the Christians and martyred many by covering them in pitch and using them to light his garden. (This article offers a unit study on the Roman era for home schoolers)

North American Martyrs - Saint John de Brebeuf and Saint Gabriel Lalemont were burned at the stake by the Mohawk indians after indesribable tortures including having scalding water poured over them and red-hot coals and hatchet heads placed on their heads and shoulders.

Blessed Thomas Tzugi was from the Japanese nobility. Educated by the Jesuits he became a priest and was burned at the stake in Japan about 1627 during a persecution of Christians. Ask his intercession for the unfaithful Jesuits of our day.

St. Edith Stein (Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and was burned in the camp crematorium. This bride of Christ offered herself as a "sacrifice of atonement." Let us offer our daily sufferings with the same spirit.

Be a soldier for Christ! Remember the Church Militant doesn't need spiritual wimps, but spiritual warriors. If you haven't enlisted in Christ's army, if you're watching from the sidelines, respond to Gabriel's trumpet call and sign up. Our twelve star general (as Lambs of Christ priest Fr. Norman Weslin calls Our Blessed Mother) needs you! Put on the armor of God and hold your ground. (See Ephesians 6:13) We are promised the victory!

Pentecost Sunday - Are you on fire?

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Do you want to light the fire of Christ's love on the earth? What one thing can you do today to become a burning furnace of charity as St. Teresa of Avila said? What one candle can you light to dispel the darkness. Remember that darkness is the absence of light. One candle pushes it back, 100 candles create an oasis of light. A million candles may be as bright as a sunny day. It all begins with the first candle, the first tongue of flame on an apostle's head.

If you feel like a spent match, put your hand in Christ's and ask him to remake you. The apostles in the upper room weren't exactly paragons of zeal. But once they were filled with the spirit, they lit a flame on the earth that still burns (even if sometimes dimly). You make a difference; the world needs your light. Don't hide it under a bushel basket.