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Aug 20, 2026Dr. TONY COSTA,world-renowned Christian apologist,author, conference speaker & highlyseasoned debater, who will address: “An OVERVIEW of CHRIS ARNZEN'sINTERVIEW with Fr. PAUL ROBINSON,an INSIDER with the SOCIETY of ST.PIUS X, on POPE LEO XIV's EXCOM-MUNICATION of THEIR BISHOPS &the IMPLICATIONS of FAVORITISM ofLEFTISTS by the VATICAN” Subscribe: iTunes TuneIn Android RSS Feed Listen:
Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Today's Show: The governor of Massachusetts just signed a bill legalizing abortion until birth. Since she is a self-proclaimed Catholic, will she be formally excommunicated? When may priests use the Eucharistic Prayers for various needs? I've heard that it's not to be used on Sunday. Can you please offer advice for someone living in chronic constant pain how to keep hope and not feel that God has left you behind? Father, countless Flock surveillance cameras have been placed all around the US to create “safer communities.” Many, including myself, believe it is instead creating a surveillance state where our privacy is being violated. Would it be wrong to block or obstruct the view of one of these cameras without damaging them? And more. Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!
Aug 12, 2026Fr. PAUL ROBINSON,Prior of the Society of Saint Pius XParish Saint Isidore Church in Watkins,Colorado, who will address:“A SOCIETY of SAINT PIUS X INSIDERRESPONDS to POPE LEO XIV's RECENTEXCOMMUNICATION of THEIRBISHOPS” (This is NOT intendedto be an ecumenical event–neither thehost nor the guest are ecumenists!!!) Subscribe: iTunes TuneIn Android RSS Feed Listen:
Fluent Fiction - French: Provence Proposal: A Love Story Under Starry Skies Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/fr/episode/2026-08-13-07-38-19-fr Story Transcript:Fr: Aux abords d'un petit village pittoresque de Provence, un charmant bed and breakfast semblait danser au souffle léger du vent parmi les champs de lavande.En: On the outskirts of a small picturesque village in Provence, a charming bed and breakfast seemed to dance in the gentle breeze among the lavender fields.Fr: C'était l'été.En: It was summer.Fr: Le chant des cigales accompagnait le murmure des vignes sous le soleil déclinant de la fin de journée.En: The song of the cicadas accompanied the murmur of the vineyards under the setting sun at the end of the day.Fr: Éloïse avait toujours rêvé de cette saison, de ces couleurs chaudes, dans un décor romantique et envoûtant.En: Éloïse had always dreamed of this season, of these warm colors, in a romantic and enchanting setting.Fr: Elle espérait un geste grandiose de Paul, mystérieusement distant ces derniers temps.En: She hoped for a grand gesture from Paul, who had mysteriously been distant lately.Fr: Elle ignorait que Paul, calculateur mais nerveux, avait prévu de demander sa main ici même dans une scène idyllique au coucher de soleil.En: She was unaware that Paul, calculating yet nervous, had planned to propose to her right here in an idyllic scene at sunset.Fr: Paul souhaitait que tout soit parfait.En: Paul wanted everything to be perfect.Fr: Il avait tout orchestré, du dîner sur la terrasse sous un ciel étoilé, à la bague soigneusement cachée dans sa poche.En: He had orchestrated everything from the dinner on the terrace under a starry sky to the ring carefully hidden in his pocket.Fr: Ce lieu inspira à Paul un espoir presque tangible de bonheur éternel.En: This place inspired in Paul an almost tangible hope of eternal happiness.Fr: Cependant, une ombre vint troubler ses plans soigneusement dessinés : Luc, son ami d'enfance, débarqua sans crier gare.En: However, a shadow came to disturb his carefully laid plans: Luc, his childhood friend, arrived unexpectedly.Fr: Luc, ignorant de tout, pensait passer un simple séjour ensoleillé.En: Luc, unaware of everything, thought he was just having a sunny stay.Fr: La surprise changea les calculs de Paul qui hésitait à révéler son intention à Luc ou à trouver une nouvelle stratégie pour son moment magique.En: The surprise altered Paul's calculations, who hesitated to reveal his intention to Luc or to find a new strategy for his magical moment.Fr: Éloïse commença à remarquer l'attitude étrange de Paul.En: Éloïse began to notice Paul's strange behavior.Fr: Son hésitation et sa nervosité conduisirent à des soupçons.En: His hesitation and nervousness led to suspicions.Fr: Elle se demandait si quelque chose n'allait pas.En: She wondered if something was wrong.Fr: Devait-elle le confronter?En: Should she confront him?Fr: Le soir tant attendu arriva.En: The long-awaited evening arrived.Fr: Les trois amis s'assirent à la table, l'air frais du soir empli de romantisme autour d'eux.En: The three friends sat at the table, the fresh evening air filled with romance around them.Fr: Les plats provençaux emplissaient l'air d'une fragrance délicieuse.En: The Provençal dishes filled the air with a delicious fragrance.Fr: Paul sentait la pression monter, quand soudain, en une phrase aussi innocente que malheureuse, Luc évoqua sans le savoir les intentions de Paul.En: Paul felt the pressure mounting when suddenly, in an innocent yet unfortunate remark, Luc unwittingly mentioned Paul's intentions.Fr: Le temps sembla s'arrêter.En: Time seemed to stand still.Fr: Éloïse fixa Paul, les yeux écarquillés.En: Éloïse stared at Paul, eyes wide open.Fr: Le moment était intense, un mélange de choc et d'émotion.En: The moment was intense, a mix of shock and emotion.Fr: Sans plus hésiter, Paul se leva, un sourire timide mais sincère sur son visage.En: Without further hesitation, Paul stood up, a timid yet sincere smile on his face.Fr: "Éloïse," dit-il doucement, en sortant la bague, "veux-tu être ma femme?"En: "Éloïse," he said softly, taking out the ring, "will you be my wife?"Fr: Les étoiles brillaient au-dessus d'eux, leur éclat répercuté dans les yeux de Paul.En: The stars shone above them, their brilliance reflected in Paul's eyes.Fr: Éloïse comprit alors.En: Éloïse then understood.Fr: Peu importait la planification parfaite.En: No matter the perfect planning.Fr: Le moment présent était bien plus extraordinaire que tous les plans qu'elle avait pu imaginer.En: The present moment was far more extraordinary than any plans she could have imagined.Fr: Elle répondit simplement, les yeux emplis de larmes de joie, "Oui, mille fois oui."En: She simply replied, her eyes filled with tears of joy, "Yes, a thousand times yes."Fr: Dans la douce obscurité de la nuit provençale, une étoile filante passa.En: In the gentle darkness of the Provençal night, a shooting star passed by.Fr: Paul et Éloïse réalisèrent que ce qu'ils avaient toujours cherché était là, sous un ciel plein de promesses infinies.En: Paul and Éloïse realized that what they had always sought was there, under a sky full of infinite promises.Fr: Luc, ému par la scène à laquelle il avait accidentellement contribué, se joignit au couple pour lever un toast à l'amour et aux surprises de la vie.En: Luc, moved by the scene he had accidentally contributed to, joined the couple to toast to love and life's surprises.Fr: À la fin, Éloïse et Paul comprirent que le véritable romantisme résidait dans la spontanéité et l'authenticité des moments partagés.En: In the end, Éloïse and Paul understood that true romance resided in the spontaneity and authenticity of shared moments.Fr: Le manoir provençal avait scellé leur amour sous un ciel brillant de mille étoiles, témoins d'un nouveau commencement.En: The Provençal manor had sealed their love under a sky sparkling with a thousand stars, witnessing a new beginning. Vocabulary Words:the outskirts: les abordspicturesque: pittoresquethe village: le villagethe breeze: le souffleto whisper: murmurerto decline: déclinerthe gesture: le gestemysteriously: mystérieusementdistant: distantcalculating: calculateuridyllic: idylliquethe terrace: la terrassethe pocket: la pochetangible: tangibleunexpectedly: sans crier gareto alter: changerto reveal: révélerhesitation: hésitationa fragrance: une fragranceinnocent: innocentunfortunate: malheureuxto stare: fixerintense: intensethe planning: la planificationthe darkness: la obscuritéa shooting star: une étoile filanteto seal: scellerto witness: être témoin dethe manor: le manoirthe beginning: le commencement
9:00 am Mass
St. Nicholas Catholic Parish - August 02, 2026 - 11 AM Fr. Paul Okello 18th Sunday In Ordinary Time by
St. Nicholas Catholic Parish - August 02, 2026 - 9 AM Fr. Paul Okello 18th Sunday In Ordinary Time by
Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One prayed well and the other did not. One prayed with many words, while another prayed with a few words said over and over. One stood with his eyes lifted up, while the other had his eyes cast down and kept striking his breast. One man went home justified, while the other did not.The parable of the Pharisee and the publican is one of the most beautiful of all of Our Lord's parable. It is clear that the purpose of the parable is to encourage us to practice the virtue of humility and to fight against pride.But the parable also teaches us something else that is very important: it tells us how we ought to pray. When you think about all of the things that you do each day of your life, you must be convinced that praying is probably the most important thing that you do.The reason for this is that prayer is the way in which we communicate with our Father in Heaven, the way that we spend time with Him, the way that we maintain our relationship with Him.And if prayer is the most important of the things that we do each day, we must try to get better at prayer as time goes on. We must learn from Our Lord and the saints how we ought to pray, and try to imitate them in the time that we dedicate to prayer.I particularly want to emphasize that word “dedicate” when talking about prayer today. One of the most important characteristics of good prayer is dedication. Another word for this is “devotion”. A prayer that is devout is one where we are devoted to what we are doing.What do I mean by this? I mean that, while we are praying, we are focused on God rather than on ourselves. I mean that we actually use the time of prayer to pay attention to God and, even more than that, we try to focus our entire being on Him, as far as possible.Have you ever tried doing this? Have you ever tried kneeling down, closing your eyes, and focusing yourself as much as you can on God and praying to Him with your whole heart? It is so important that you not just try this, but that you do it every day of your life.One of the big differences between the prayer of the Pharisee and that of the publican is the question of devotion. The publican seems to be focused on God in his prayer because he is begging God for mercy. His prayer is clearly devout because his eyes are lowered, avoiding distraction; he is striking his breast over and over; and he is repeating the same thing over and over. There is a great focus and intensity to his prayer.Whereas the Pharisee is not even asking God for anything. He is just talking to God about Himself and just saying whatever comes to his mind.
11:30 am Mass
7:00 - Tom McDonald covers Spiderman: Brand New Day7:20 - Dawn Reese highlights the Women's event at St. Mary's 7:40 - Fr. Paul Zoghby has our Sunday Gospel Reflection
The Springs in the Desert Podcast: Catholic Accompaniment Through Infertility
Marriage and Holy Orders are called "sacraments of service." Husbands and wives vow their lives to each other, and priests vow their lives to Christ in these important moments of grace and surrender. Fr. Paul joins Jillian on the podcast to talk about the meaningful similarities we can draw between these sacraments. They'll discuss:Similarities between the liturgical celebrations of Marriage and Holy Orders, and the symbolism that can help us deepen in understandingThe importance of the domestic churchHow the Holy Mystery of matrimony invites us to give our own Fiat on the path of infertilityIt is our honor to walk with you!Links:Baptism EpisodeReconciliation & Anointing of the Sick EpisodeEucharist EpisodeConfirmation Episode
St. Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death”, meaning that sin leads you to die. We know that sin leads to the death of the soul; that is why mortal sin has its name. It causes a mortal blow to our soul such that the life of God dies in the soul. The soul becomes dead to God.But sin also is a cause of physical death. This is obviously true for the sin of murder, but it is true at a more basic level in that physical death came into this world because of sin. And, quite simply, the disorders of sin are not good for our health.The bottom line with sin is that it causes the death of our bodies, it causes the death of our souls and it leads to the eternal death of Hell after this life is over.This reality makes sin the greatest evil and even the only evil. We as Catholics believe that this is true. However, are we as careful about sin as we should be? Do we treat sin as a perilous danger to be avoided at all costs?It all depends on the state of our conscience. Our conscience acts like the immune system of our body, in that it is our soul's natural defense against sin.If we have a delicate conscience, then our conscience flares up whenever we are in the presence of an occasion of sin.If we have a lax conscience, then we are not very troubled when we are in the occasion of sin or commit sin. The lax conscience is like the body of someone who has been numbed to pain because of injuries. A person burns his hand and loses sensation in his hand. When his hand is injured the next time, he does not feel anything.This perspective on conscience shows us how our conscience can change over time, just like the immune system of our body. Good food and drink, and proper rest, help you maintain your immune system. Whereas staying up late and getting up early, not getting any exercise, binging on junk food, and so on, makes you vulnerable to sickness.Similarly, in our spiritual life, if we pray our daily Rosary, avoid occasions of sin, do spiritual reading, go to confession and Communion regularly, we will maintain our soul in good health. We will be sensitive to sin, pray more easily and be able to live our faith.Whereas, if we regularly consume worldly entertainment, hardly pray, don't go to confession, and so on, then our soul starts to become used to sin and numb to spiritual realities. It becomes harder and harder to live the Catholic faith and be a Catholic.At the end of the day, as long as we are in this life, we are in a state of flux. We are either becoming better Catholics or worse Catholics, as time goes by. We are very capable of changing from what we are today, either for the better or for the worse.We all know people who used to be fervent Catholics and now have left the faith. We also know people who have undergone conversions and are today much holier than they were in the past.The reason I mention this is that both today's epistle and Gospel provide for us examples of the bad path: the slippery slope into mortal sin and apostasy, the numbing of the soul over time by a progressive desensitization to sin.Let us look at these two examples to understand how sin truly leads to death.
Fr. Mitch welcomes newly ordained Maronite priest Fr. Paul Bolus and his wife Theresa to discuss discerning God's call to Holy Orders and her role in his journey to the priesthood.
The Springs in the Desert Podcast: Catholic Accompaniment Through Infertility
If you're confirmed, do you ever stop to think about how you've received the Holy Spirit?! God has given us a wonderful gift in the Sacrament of Confirmation! This grace can strengthen us and our marriages as we carry the cross of infertility.In this episode, Jillian and Fr. Paul talk about:How Confirmation/Chrismation is like a "personal Pentecost"What it means to have received the gift of the Holy SpiritWhy it's important to nurture our friendships with the Saints It is our honor to walk with you!Links:Baptism PodcastReconciliation & Anointing of the Sick PodcastEucharist Podcast
In this life, we find ourselves at a midway point between earth and Heaven. We are some years away from the first moment of our existence and we are likewise some years away from our eternal home.As Catholics, we know that, while we are on the journey of this life, we must live it, in some way, like the life to come. Our life on earth now must resemble what our life in Heaven will be for us to be able to enter into Heaven when we die. “As the tree casts its shadow, so does it fall”The essence of what Heaven will be is that we will delight in God. We will be filled with immense joy and happiness by being in the presence of God.Thus, it would seem to mean that we are meant to possess a certain joy and happiness, through God, on this earth. We know that this is one of the characteristics of the lives of the saints. Though they suffered much, they yet possessed in their souls a continual joy.In the Hail Holy Queen, we call this earth a “valley of tears”. We call ourselves “banished children of Eve”. We say that we come to Our Lady “sinful and sorrowful”. We say that we send up our sighs to her “mourning and weeping”.The trials of this life are very real. But they must be also be accompanied by a real joy.I want to consider what I believe is the main problem we face in striving to have supernatural joy, as well as the resources that we have, as Catholics, to maintain that joy, so that our joy on earth may be a preparation for our joy in Heaven.St. Thomas says that joy is caused by love: either by us being in the presence of the thing that we love or because the thing that we love is in good shape.This shows us that any joy in our life has to come from us loving the things that we have. Do we have blessings in our lives that are able to provide us a constant joy? Yes, we do. If we are not joyful, it is because we do not love them sufficiently.Just to take some examples. We believe that, when we receive Holy Communion, we receive Our Lord Himself into our souls. This is an incredible gift and blessing. Some souls are comforted and strengthened when receiving Our Lord; they delight in dwelling with Him. This is what the Communion verse of today's Mass tells us: “Taste and see how good the Lord is; happy the man who takes refuge in Him.” Others receive Our Lord and it has little or no impact on them.Or think about the fact that we have a Father in Heaven who dwells in happiness and loves us and bestows all manner of goodness upon us. We know this gives great joy to the Church because she expresses it in the Mass, especially at the Gloria: “We praise Thee. We bless Thee. We adore Thee. We glorify Thee. We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory.” What sort of joy does the existence of God give us on a regular basis?Sometimes, traditional Catholics allow the situation in the Church to put a damper on their joy. This is especially true when we are receiving these terrible condemnations from Rome.But there have always been crises in the Church and we must not let the current crisis be an obstacle from us drawing joy from our faith. When I talk to people who are new traditional Catholics, I always tell them: “make sure you do not become obsessed with the crisis. Rather, profit from the traditional Mass and the traditional devotions that you have found. Make them the center of your life, not these Church controversies”.
9:00 am Mass
Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Today's Show: Can I attend a wedding of a Catholic that is not being held in a Catholic church? Is there a shortage of priests as is being told? What kind of TV shows or other media outlets could be used to help influence the youth in a positive way? How do we know whether the Catholic or Orthodox Church is the True Church? How do we handle situations where priests give communion to pro-abortion politicians? And more. Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!
The Springs in the Desert Podcast: Catholic Accompaniment Through Infertility
At Mass, Catholics hear the words of consecration spoken over the bread and wine. How can the Eucharistic mystery and Christ's giving of His Body and Blood strengthen our faith on the path of infertility and loss?In this episode, Jillian and Ann speak with Fr. Paul about the Holy Eucharist. They'll talk about:Seeing the Paschal Mystery as one event, from the Last Supper through Christ's death and resurrectionReceiving Our Lord in our own "broken" bodiesHow we can open our hearts to Jesus and become more like Him through the EucharistIt is our honor to walk with you!Links:Podcast Episode on BaptismPodcast Episode on Reconciliation & Anointing of the Sick
God is in the business of showing His creatures unconditional love, and this will never change. It is part of His very being. God can only be good to us, because He is goodness itself. God can only love us, because He is love itself.We learn from the first chapter of Genesis that God created us in His own image. “Let us make man to our image and likeness”, God says to Himself.This not only indicates what God made us to be; it also indicates what we must strive to be. We are made in the likeness of God, but we must also strive to hard to be like God.What I am going to claim in this sermon is that we especially do that through the pursuit of our vocation, whether that be the priesthood, the religious life, or the married life.Unconditional love in a vocationThere is a special quality in a vocation, in that it demands of us unconditional love. We are required to commit ourselves up front to pursue a certain path for the rest of our lives, to stay on that path and never deviate from it.This is what married couples do when they exchange vows before the altar; this is what religious do when they make their perpetual vows; this is what a priest does when he is ordained.These vocations require unconditional love because of the fact that they do not know up front all that their vocation is going to require of them. They make a commitment up front to be faithful to a path but they do not know all that is on that path.Spouses, for instance, tell one another that they are going to stay by one another for life, no matter what happens in the future. If one of them gets cancer, if their house burns down and they lose their life savings, if they have quadruplets, no matter what, they will stick together.Spouses offer this unconditional love to one another when they marry. Priests and religious offer it to God. When a priest is ordained, he dedicates his life for the salvation of souls. He says, “I give myself unconditionally for the salvation of souls, for life, no matter what that may demand of me.We know that, for priests, sometimes the demands are costly. A priest does not know how the years of his priesthood are going to play out when he is ordained, and yet he commits himself.He may be asked to leave his home country and live overseas. He may have a superior who does not understand him. He may have faithful who do not listen to him and make bad decisions for themselves and their children. He may at times feel as if he is a failure. He may suffer an apparent excommunication just a week after he is ordained.It is beautiful to think that God created us human beings in His image and likeness and then also created ways to live our live that help us resemble Him, and that those paths of life require unconditional love of us.He created marriage at the same time that He created the human race. Then, when He became incarnate, He instituted two vocations that are intrinsically supernatural: the priesthood and the religious life.But Our Lord did not only institute the life of the Catholic priesthood and the life of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He also lived them. He showed us how to resemble God in these paths of life.
The Springs in the Desert Podcast: Catholic Accompaniment Through Infertility
Do you feel desperately in need of healing – spiritually and physically – on the path of infertility and loss? This episode is for you!Jillian and Fr. Paul talk about the "Sacraments of Healing," Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick. They'll discuss:Why healing is a necessary part of our path to holinessHow regular Confession can strengthen us in our lives and marriagesIf Catholics on the path of infertility should ask for the Anointing of the SickIt is our honor to walk with you!Links:Springs ExamenPurchase the Examen HerePodcast Episode on HopeExamen podcast series:Relationship with God Relationship with spouseRelationship with othersRelationship with self
In response to the consecrations of four SSPX bishops last Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV has taken exceedingly strong measures. He has declared that bishops, priests, and all formal adherents of the SSPX are excommunicated. That means those who “participate habitually in the celebrations of the Society of St. Pius X and formally share formally their doctrinal positions.”These measures are extremely harsh because the Vatican has refused to use the penalty of excommunication for many very serious situations in the Church in the past 60 years. You can deny the Catholic faith publicly, you can offer very scandalous Masses, you can show approval for same sex couples, for divorce and other forms of immorality.But these actions have not resulted in excommunication by those who have done them, in the Church, since the Second Vatican Council. And, certainly, it is extreme and novel for the Vatican to not only excommunicate the bishops of the SSPX, but to excommunicate hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful!How is it possible for Pope Leo to take such extreme measures? Even the secular media outlets have been astonished by what they call the “exceptional harshness” of the decree. The contrast between how outright heretics in the Church are treated in comparison with traditional Catholic would seem to indicate that Rome is seized by a certain Tradition Derangement Syndrome.The one thing that Rome does not want to see in the Church is for the New Mass and the Second Vatican Council to be challenged. It does not want the traditional movement to have the means to continue. It does not want lay faithful to be traditional Catholics.This situation is very sad because it is a situation of a father treating his own children with great injustice. And the father is the representative of Christ on this earth.There is one section of the Church that is booming today, that is full of good, devout Catholics and large Catholic families, while the rest of the Church is dying. And this is the one section of the Church that the Pope harshly punishes.Rome is putting immense pressure on you faithful to stop attending with the SSPX and be assimilated into the Conciliar Church. Instead of promising to start fighting heresy and guaranteeing the practice of the traditional Catholic faith to you, they are offering full communion in exchange for you becoming a Vatican II Catholic.
Eoin and Fr Paul Glennon continue through the YouCat on the Ten Commandments, tackling why the Old Testament forbids images of God and why Christians no longer keep that prohibition — the short answer being that the Incarnation changed everything, confirmed by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. The conversation takes a sharp turn […] L'articolo YouChat – Can Veneration of Statues Go Too Far? – Fr Paul Glennon and Eoin Brennan proviene da Radio Maria.
The Springs in the Desert Podcast: Catholic Accompaniment Through Infertility
This month, we'll be talking with Fr. Paul about the seven sacraments. In each episode, we'll explore one or two of the sacraments and how we can understand them in a new light on the path of infertility. Jillian and Fr. Paul begin with the sacrament of Baptism. They'll discuss:What happens to our soul at Baptism, and why the sacrament should still comfort us even years and decades laterWhy Romans 6:4 shines light on how we are called to live through difficult seasonsHow all Christians are called to bear witness to their Baptismal grace in the world through nourishing the spiritual lives of othersIt is our honor to walk with you!
I was listening to a debate recently between an atheist and a theist. The theist was arguing that, if there is no God, then there is no objective good. It is impossible to say what is good and what is evil.The atheist replied by asking whether God was a person? And the answer was that, yes, God is a person. But then, said the atheist, if God is a person, then He is a subject. And so God definition of good and evil is merely subjective.This answer by the atheist completely fails to understand what it means for there to be a God Who creates us. It is true that God is a subject, but as Creator of our world, He makes an objective order for His creation.By His act of creation, God establishes for us what we are and what we are made for. This determines what is good and evil for us.For example, God created us to have physical bodies that need air, food, drink, and sleep. This makes it good for us to provide ourselves those things for the health of our bodies and evil for us to use them in an unhealthy way.Another example would be the institution of marriage. God created humans as male and female and gave them the capacity to bring forth children through their union and only in that way. This is what makes marriage to be a good thing. By that, I mean the union of a man and a woman that is for life, that is exclusive, and that has for its purposes the procreation of children and the mutual support of the spouses.The fact that God created us in a certain way has determined for us what is good and what is evil for us. We call this reality “natural law”. It is the law that goes with having the nature that God has given us.This law is objective, in the sense that it is the same for every human being. It does not change based on where you are from, how you feel, how you identify, what you like to do and what you don't like to do. Every single human person is created by God and has a human nature. The fact that we all share the same human nature means that good and evil is the same for all of us, and also that we have no power to change what is good and what is evil.Recently, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia made headlines by stating that, during his time as head of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome, he tried to make changes to move away from what he called “armchair theology” that is grounded in natural law theory and move toward a new paradigm that focuses on the lived experiences of real people in their concrete circumstances.What this means is that he was trying to move towards a moral theology where good and evil are different for different human beings. Homosexuality is good for some people, bad for others. Divorce and remarriage is sometimes good, sometimes bad. The use of artificial birth control is sometimes good, sometimes bad.Anyone who adopts such a mentality effectively overthrows the entire moral order. If good and evil are different for each person, then there is no good and evil, because each person is able to justify anything he does by just saying that, while it may not be good for others, it is good for him.
7:00 - Robert Brennan covers Mr. Smith goes to Washington7:20 - Matthew Estrade on a pilgrimage that is inclusive for those with dementia7:40 - Fr. Paul Zoghby has our Sunday Gospel Reflection
Eoin welcomes back Fr Paul Glennon — the show's original co-host — to begin working through the Ten Commandments in the YouCat, starting with the question of whether they form a coherent whole or an arbitrary list. The conversation finds its sharpest edge on the first commandment: Eoin describes a friend who told his fiancée, […] L'articolo YouChat – Putting Your Spouse First? – Fr Paul Glennon and Eoin Brennan proviene da Radio Maria.
Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Today's Show: Is it wrong to drink in front of my Mormon parents on vacation? I've realized I don't really love God; I fear him instead. What can/should I do? Can being a perfectionist trying to live a sinless life lead to burnout? If so, how can we deal with this? Why have Orthodox and Protestant Christians faced persecution by evil forces if they're not the one true Church? And more. Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!
June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.The devotion to the Sacred Heart is a devotion to the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ for us, especially His love for us as manifested in the Holy Eucharist.This devotion to Our Lord's physical heart, as a symbol of His love for us, existed during the Middle Ages, but in the 1600s, Our Lord Himself came down on earth to explicitly ask for Catholics to practice this devotion and for this feast to be instituted.The timing and place was important. Our Lord appeared in France at a time when the heresy of Jansenism was rampant in the Catholic world. This heresy made the hearts of Catholics cold towards God and so, a few decades after its appearance, Our Lord reminded the world of His great love for us and of our duty to love Him in return.If we fast forward to 2026, we find that we as Catholics and even as traditional Catholics very much struggle to love Our Lord as He deserves to be loved. This is why it is important for us to have a devotion to Our Lord's Sacred Heart. This helps us to love Our Lord.We must remember what our catechism teaches us, namely, that we are made to know, love and serve God in this life. We are made to love God. Loving God is to fulfill the very meaning for our existence, to accomplish the purpose for which we exist.There are two pieces of knowledge that are very important for us to possess in order for us to love God: one is an understanding of sin and the other is an understanding of God's love.These two things are mentioned in the beautiful Collect of the Mass of the Sacred Heart: “O God, Who in the Heart of Your Son, wounded by our sins, mercifully lavish upon us the infinite riches of love”.There are two great truths there: a) our sins wound Our Lord; b) Our Lord lavishes His love on us. Both of these truths are attacked today by two great illusions.One is the illusion that our sins do not hurt God. This is one of the reasons why sin is not taken seriously today. People do not worry about sin; they do not worry by saying to themselves, “If I engage in sinful behavior, I will offend God and He will send me to Hell”.This is particularly true of the sin of heresy. Heresy has always been considered to be one of the greatest sins because it is a willful rejection of what God has taught us. Our Lord came on earth, He taught us the truths that we are to believe about Him and which we need to get to Heaven. And the heretic says, “I refuse to believe; I choose not to believe” Offensive!But this is also true with sins against the moral law. Many people have the idea today, including many Catholics, that no matter how you live your life, God is still pleased with you. If you have a homosexual lifestyle, God blesses you; if you divorce and remarry, God blesses you; if you contracept your children, God blesses you.It is a hallmark of love that you seek to avoid anything that might displease the one that you love. But today's mentality is that nothing that I do can displease God, whether it be in thought, word or deed.This idea is false; it is sinful. Liberalism is a sin.The other blind spot we have today is not seeing how much God loves us, only understanding God's love in a minimalist way.
9:00 am Mass
Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Today's Show: Father Born's advice to a Muslim who is exploring the Catholic Church. Are some Catholic universities affirming Pride month? Does a layperson have the right to exorcise themself? Can a priest celebrate Mass without their missal? Are prayers more efficacious if we say them out loud? What is the moral responsibility of a couple to seek medical treatment for infertility? And more. Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!
11:30 am Mass
Two weeks ago, we celebrated Mothers' Day in order to honor our physical mothers, who brought us into this world and nourished and took care of us when we were children.During the whole of this month of May, we honor our spiritual mother, Mary, Our Lady, who takes care of all our spiritual needs as mediatrix of all the graces we receive.With today's great feast of Pentecost, we honor yet a third mother, we have yet another Mother's Day in the month of May. The mother we honor today is Holy Mother Church.The Church is our mother because she is the bride of Our Lord Jesus Christ and is so united with Christ that we say she is His Mystical Body. They are, as it were, two in one flesh.United together, Our Lord and His bride bring forth children unto eternal life. They do this by governing, teaching and sanctifying their children, that is, Catholics. We are born into new life by baptism, we are healed by confession and we are nourished by the Holy Eucharist. Our Mother the Church does all these things for us.Today's feast is like the birthday of our mother the Church. While Our Lord is the head of the Church, the Holy Ghost is her soul. He descended upon the Apostles today and gave them the spiritual gifts they needed to fulfill their priestly functions. The day of Pentecost is the day when they began their mission of going to all nations to baptize people and bring them into the Church. It was the day that the Church came forth and manifested herself to the world.We have a duty to love all of our mothers, and Holy Mother Church is no exception. We must be grateful to be Catholics and desire to do our part, in our life, to assist our mother the Church.This is all the more true today, when our mother is being attacked. What we are witnessing today has often been compared to Our Lord's Passion. In past centuries, the Church at times resembled Our Lord in His public life or even His triumph over His enemies. But today, she resembles Our Lord on the Cross, in that she is wounded and being disfigured by her enemies.One of the most painful aspects of this passion is that, just as Our Lord was betrayed and abandoned by the Apostles, so too the Church today is being betrayed by the successors of the Apostles. The Church remains the Spotless Bride of Christ in herself, but her external appearance has been disfigured by false teaching and bad liturgies.It is like a difficult situation in a family. Consider if the sons of a family started honoring other women as their mother than their actual mother. This would take away from their proper mother the honor due to her. Say they brought those women over their house, gave them presents, and told them they loved them, all in the presence of their own mother.This is similar to today's Popes showing all this respect to false religions: kissing Korans, hosting Pachamama idols, honoring fake Anglican prelates, praying with leaders of all different religions. These things make it seem like these false religions are able to be mothers of souls, as if they can lead souls to Heaven, as if they can do only what the bride of Christ can do.
In today's epistle, we have this very astonishing scene where Our Lord is speaking to the Apostles, instructing them. And then, suddenly, Our Lord starts lifting up from the earth and goes up into the heavens until He disappears in the clouds. The way it is described, it almost seems like he is in the middle of speaking to them when this happens. Whereas, the way it is described in Luke, the same author, He gives them a last blessing and then goes up to Heaven.The Apostles are not sad about Our Lord going up to Heaven. Rather, St. Luke says that they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.But I think that we ourselves want to ask Our Lord questions about what has just happened. We especially want to ask Him, “Lord, why are you leaving us? Why don't you stay here on earth and be with us and help us? Please stay to cure our sicknesses, cast out our devils, and raise our dead.”This is an important question and we are curious to know how Our Lord would answer. We do not have an explicit answer in the Gospels but I do think that we find the answer there, if we look closely, not just one answer, but multiple ones.
Find this episode on YouTube: Fr. Paul Girgis joins HTL to talk about American Orthodoxy, what's happening culturally, Lebanon and the Hezobollah question among many more.Discover more about Fr. Paul here: @Floridoxy -----------------------Conrad's Deli - The best jerky you'll ever have: https://conradsdeli.com/ use promo code "FIRST THINGS" for 10% off.-----------------------✒ Substack: https://johnheersftf.substack.com/ⓧ https://x.com/johnfromftf
Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Today's Show: What should reparation look like for calumny and detraction? What is the difference between a Bishop and an Archbishop? Is a double-sided crucifix disrespectful? Can a layperson add regular salt to exorcised salt to increase the amount? Father Born's reading recommendations for the Ascension? Can devotions border on being superstitious? How do we know if we are receiving signal graces? Why do people consecrate themselves to Mary and the Saints? What is the Catholic teaching on aliens? Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!
In today's epistle, St. James tells us that God, “of his own will hath begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be, as it were, the first-fruits of his creatures.”In the New Testament, we hear a lot about this idea that our Father in Heaven “begets” us. It is mentioned in every Mass, at the Last Gospel, when we hear: “As many as received him, Our Lord gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”At the beginning of his first epistle, St. Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has begotten us again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope, unto an incorruptible inheritance”.But what does this mean when Scripture says that we are begotten by God the Father?
“Shout with joy to God, all the earth. Sing you a psalm in his name. Give glory to His praise.”These words of today's Introit are inviting us to rejoice in God and not only to praise Him but to give glory to His praise. How are we to do this? By singing.As human beings, singing is one of the best means we have to express the joy that is in our hearts and also give solemnity to our rejoicing.God has given us the great gift of our human voice and practically everyone around the world uses it at times to sing.The human voice is considered to be superior to all musical instruments for a number of reasonsBecause it is an instrument that is part of our body, we are able to produce many more sounds with it, and especially we are able to form words.Humans respond emotionally more to the sound of the human voice than to any instrument.The human voice alone functions as both a wind and a string instrument at the same time.It is for this reason that humans have always made music using their voices, using it to accompany their work, their gatherings, and especially their religious ceremonies.And just as the Catholic Church provides us with the greatest act of worship of God, the Holy Mass, so too she provides us with the greatest music to accompany the worship of God.The need to compose proper music for the Mass has been so great that the Mass has often been referred to as the foundational pillar of Western music. It was because of the Mass that musical notation was standardized, that polyphonic music was developed, and that musicians had employment over the centuries.For a long time, in the history of the Church, all Masses were sung Masses; the Low Mass only came into being in the Middle Ages. St. Paul already speaks about singing in his epistle to the Ephesians, when he invites them to “be filled with the holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18-19). This is the epistle for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost.The Fathers of the Church spoke of the importance of singing at Mass:St. Augustine explained that we sing at Mass to show our love for God.St. Basil the Great says that our liturgical songs are like a spiritual incense that raises up to God.St. John Chrysostom said these beautiful words: “Every believer is a musical instrument made by God, and at the same time a musician. If the musician (the soul) keeps the instrument (the body) pure and uses it properly, the two together raise to the Creator a hymn of praise that is pleasing to God.”The bottom line is that one of the main reasons for which God created the human voice is for singing, and the best possible use of the human voice is singing to God at Mass.
We welcome Fr. Paul Sullins of the Ruth Institute to talk about what conversion therapy is, and what the recent victory at the supreme court means. It's not what you've probably been told. Show Notes Ruth Institute Applauds Supreme Court Counseling Freedom Case New Evidence: Sexual Orientation Can Change. Therapy Can Help. – Ruth Institute Amicus Brief Yes, Some Moral Acts Are Disordered—Here's Why – Catholic World Report Resource Centers – Ruth Institute Courage International
In this episode of Catholic Answers Live Classics, Fr. Paul Check breaks down the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com