NB Because this article is so long, yet so important for the month of November, it will be my only article this week (except for perhaps another one on the infrequently-viewed Life-Update pull-down.) November is the month where we pray for our faithful departed, for those who repose in the Lord.  Clearly, those in heaven cannot benefit from our prayers.  Similarly, those in hell cannot benefit from our prayers, either.  Thus, our prayers on earth may only benefit those who are currently in Purgatory.  Purgatory is that temporary state of purging fire that heals the deceased who are saved, yet must still answer to God's justice for those sins for [...]

As we will see below, the order of operations is: 1) Accept Christ.  2) Abjure past errors and make a profession of the Catholic Faith.  3) Actual (or conditional baptism.)  4) Lifetime confession.  5) All other sacraments. Recently, God has been using me to bring some older folks into the Catholic Church. One of these was the mother of a friend of mine who had been raised Lutheran. After her daughter and her granddaughter and I visited her in the nursing home, she decided to go from Lutheran to Catholic on her deathbed. At the time she made this decision, she had almost no dementia or senility, so no one [...]

The following is a guest-post from an anonymous priest: I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones we used to find in libraries listing titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read “People I Have Liked.” I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I [...]

Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.—St. John 5:28-29 In the above passage, Our Lord Jesus Christ describes an important part of the Creed, namely, that on the Day of Judgment (the last day of humans on earth before "the new heavens and the new earth") Christ will return and we will all begin the resurrection of the body. What will happen to everyone? Everyone in Purgatory [...]

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him..—Mt 2:1-2, Gospel for Epiphany. Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser was a Catholic priest and prophet of the 17th century.  He outlined the seven ages of the Church which some say refer to the seven candlesticks of the Apocalypse (see medieval manuscript as featured image above.)  The fourth age was the Middle Ages. The fifth age began an age of schism and [...]

What did it mean to pray for the Jews to pray for the First Coming of the Messiah? What does it mean for Christians to pray for the Second Coming of the Messiah? Notice that for the former, it was not a matter of despair, but rather of hope, to pray for the first coming of the Christ. This is revealed in the life of St. Anne as seen in a vision by Ven. Mary of Agreda in the Mystical City of God: The most fortunate Anne had a house in Bethlehem and was a most chaste, humble and beautiful maiden. From her childhood she led a most virtuous, holy [...]