READER QUESTION: Is Birth Control ALWAYS Wrong?

Today I received a question from a reader of the blog in reference to the article found here. Here was the question:

Interesting thoughts to have stumbled upon, that birth control is completely immoral for a practicing Catholic. However, I don't think it's as black or white as that.How about in cases where a woman is on certain medications that would prevent healthy pregnancies (for the baby and/or mother), yet they are married? Should they never be intimate with their spouse? Or risk their (or future child's) health? I think of course the answer should be "no."It's not exactly a common case, of course, but some women, after having certain cancers or hormonal conditions are put on birth control pills for optimal health and well-being. Sometimes this is just for a short time, but for others, it's for years. Where would the Catholic church stand on this, in your opinion?

According to Catholic doctrine, birth control cannot be used as an artificial way of preventing pregnancy. However, if a medication is prescribed to treat a particular condition, and as an unintended side effect, prevents pregnancy, then it is morally licit. So it all goes back to the purpose. Kind of like taking drugs to get high would be immoral, but taking drugs to treat an ailment which incidentally caused the person to be high, that would not be immoral.

With regards to the other question, if a woman knew for certain that giving birth to a child could cause damage or problems for her or her child, then this would be a legitimate reason to avoid having sex during fertile times in order to reduce the chance of conception. It would also be acceptable to refrain from sex altogether. The church accepts people understanding their bodies and fertility and doing what is necessary to avoid pregnancy. This does not violate natural law. Sort of like if you knew eating late at night causes weight gain and you avoid this, that is not wrong. But purging after eating would probably not be considered okay.

Again, with adequately serious reasons, Catholics are permitted to take steps to avoid pregnancy, which do not involve artificially altering the way the human body functions.

Hope this helps. If anyone has any further questions, let me know!

Catholic Mass is sometimes a FREE FOR ALL

Have you ever watched a movie which shows a Catholic Church? Usually it is somewhat dark with beautiful architecture all around. You can see a section where there are many candles lit, there are statues and icons of many things all over the place. There are beautiful wooden pews and there are people all around in the pews kneeling down praying silently. Some are probably attending Eucharistic adoration and worshiping Jesus Christ in the holy sacrament. There may even be incense. There is a deep spirituality happening in these scenes. It is a place to go for contemplation, to feel God's presence and to reflect on life.

 Well if you're looking for such a place I suggest that you find them in movies because lately these scenes do not often reproduce themselves and real life very much anymore. Usually when I walk into a Catholic Church people are talking and laughing and shaking hands and patting others on the back and telling jokes and so on. The sad part is that this doesn't just happen before Mass or after Mass this happens during Mass! There is almost no sense of reverence whatsoever. That's why I like to say that Catholic Mass with the vernacular translation and with the catchy homilies by the priest has become basically a free-for-all.

 Today I went to mass and they were having multiple baptisms at the same time. Baptisms are one of the worst times to go if you want to see people acting as they should. During the entire mass in which their child will be baptized into the sacrament of initiation of the Catholic church and become part of the body of Christ, most of the people in attendance again are laughing and joking and telling jokes and playing with the baby and talking very loudly and not paying any attention whatsoever. My question is why are they even there? I think a lot of the time it's because the grandmother or grandfather of the child insists that the child be baptized and that's what happens. But these people have no interest or no information or no knowledge about the church whatsoever and so their presence is just a token appearance. They have no interest or intention of ever continuing to attend mass in any way shape or form. They are simply there to placate the desires of their parents by having the children baptized.

 But I suspect that this may also be the logic behind why so many people act so inappropriately during mass. Even today just before communion actually I saw a woman popping gum or some other form of food into her mouth. It wasn't even as if she had accidentally come into the church with gum in her mouth. She specifically put gum into her mouth right before going up for communion. This is basically a sacrilege and completely unacceptable and wrong.

 I understand that many priests nowadays have this extreme desire to appear hip and trendy and to be seen as a social justice warrior and so on. But these behaviors and activities must end and they must end immediately. People need to be informed on a daily basis that they are attending the holy sacrifice of the mass that was instituted by Jesus Christ and his re presentation of his passion and Death on the cross at Calvary for our salvation. If people actually understood this would they really be telling jokes and laughing out loud in such a context? I really sincerely doubt it. And if they do continue to laugh and joke and carry on even after they understand the meaning of what is happening I think they need to be told by the priests to get out of there. I can already see people's response to what I am saying. They are shocked and aghast that I would ever suggest somebody be told to leave the church. But is this a Catholic Church where we are presenting the body and blood soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ? Or is this some kind of bar downtown where we can go and have a few drinks with buddies and make a few jokes? Well if it's the former then it's really not out of place to tell somebody who has no idea what's going on to leave. There's really no point in even being there if you have no interest in it.

 But as usual I would really like to hear what you have to say on this topic so please add your comments below and we'll continue this whole discussion in the comments section. Have a great day!

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch: a true pro-life judge!

I'm so glad to see that President Donald Trump has appointed Neil Gorsuch as nominee for Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Gorsuch has a reputation for being very pro-life and in favor of religious liberty. For example he ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby in their lawsuit to prevent them from having to provide contraception even though it was against the religion of the owners of the company. Also he prevented group of nuns from being forced to pay for contraception which was mandated by Obamacare.

Gorsuch is only 49 years old and so we can expect many decades of this pro-life Advocate being on the Supreme Court. And if all goes well Roe versus Wade will be brought back before the court and a new ruling will be made in which case it is very possible that it could be overturned in abortion could be made illegal in the United States of America. We can only hope.

Looks line Gorsuch's Prolife Credentials are Legit!

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-trump-nominates-gorsuch-to-supreme-court?utm_content=bufferb4995&utm_medium=social&utm_source=+lifesitenews%2Bfacebook&utm_campaign=buffer

Trump Selects Supreme Court Justice: Neil Gorsuch

Breaking News!! Trump has chosen a new supreme court justice. Judge Neil Gorsuch.

More to come on his prolife credentials later.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/bc.marfeel.com/amp/www.nationalreview.com/article/444437/neil-gorsuch-antonin-scalia-supreme-court-textualist-originalist-heir

[VIDEO] Bishop Violently Attacked by Thug DURING MASS!

Very shocking and disturbing video has emerged from New Jersey of Bishop Manuel Aurelio Cruz being punched in the face during Mass by an assailant identified as Charles Miller who is aged 48 years old and a citizen of Newark. Charles Miller apparently had no criminal record before this incident. In the video Mr. Miller just casually saunters up to the altar and people immediately become very suspicious because parishioners should not be approaching the altar at this time during the Mass. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere Mr. Miller attacks the priest by punching him in the face. Very fortunately there were guardian angels in the form of police officers immediately available to end the altercation. Although Bishop Cruz has been able to since address the congregation about the incident he nonetheless had injuries which resulted in him needing 30 stitches in his face and also many of his teeth became loose.

Of course because our mind have been poisoned to believe that all Catholic priest abuse children many people are assuming that Mr. Miller was once an altar boy and that he was sexually assaulted by Bishop Cruz. But there is absolutely not one shred of evidence for this assertion but I guess people will continue to believe whatever they want to believe. The fact of the matter is that Catholic priests were no more likely to abuse children than anybody else and any other denomination or religion. In fact, many studies have suggested that the incidence was in fact lower. But we also know that the priests who did these things were horrible, horrendous people who deserve strict punishment and that most of them were gay and that's why they targeted boys as opposed to girls.

 My only caution is not to just jump on the bandwagon and believe that Bishop Cruz was abusing anybody in his role as priest or bishop. This is jumping to conclusions and making assumptions that are not validated and this is extremely unChristian Behavior.

Catholic Response to TRUMP Bans 7 Countries

So a lot of people are very upset with Donald Trump's newest announcement that he will be banning people from 7 different countries.  The countries that are being banned include Iran Iraq Syria Sudan Libya Yemen and Somalia. These countries have been known to export dozens of  terrorists into other countries who have committed savage acts of violence.  However some people say the US has no business Banning people from entire countries. It should be done on a case-by-case basis. For instance if somebody is determined to be a terrorist or have terrorist ties then it will be legitimate to ban that particular person but not to ban an entire country.

 There are a number of problems and things that people are not looking at the situation. First of all no country has a moral obligation to accept any and all refugees from any other place in the world. It is a Prudential judgment how many people a particular country will take in. This can be debated. For one thing Donald Trump won the election which means that he was given a mandate by the People based on what he said he would do during the election. One of his promises was to ban Muslims until we can figure out what exactly is going on and help us to deal with the situation. People decided that this was the best thing to do in this case and they voted for him and now that's what he's banning some people on a limited basis. Again this doesn't affect moral teachings in this area because this is a prudential judgment. We are not obliged to take in every and all refuge in the entire world.

 Secondly, reports from Gallup and others have indicated that approximately 138 million people would and really want to come to United States to live as immigrants. However each year the United States takes in just 1 million people which represents .7% of the total who applied. This means that the United States refuses immigration to 99.3% of people who want to come. Obviously the country must arbitrarily decline Millions upon millions of applications to become immigrants. To me it does not seem overly crazy for the United States to ban people from a few countries that have been known to support and export terrorists into other countries. Another way to look at it is to realize that beforehand the United States was banning 99.3% of immigrants into the country. Now they are increasing that to 100% for certain countries. It's not as if the US was taking every single Refugee from all around the world and now they've suddenly stopped taking anybody from anywhere. The chances already of entering the United States as an immigrant were infinitesimally small.

 The people  who have a real moral obligation to take care of refugees are the actual countries themselves where the refugees live. We must make sure to place the blame on what is causing all of these refugees in the first place. For instance there are wars being caused by Islamic extremists which are displacing millions of people. We have to realize that the Islamic extremists are the people to blame not the United States or Donald Trump just because he doesn't want to allow terrorists to come into the country.

 Anyway as usual many Catholics and Christians in general have made the question of immigration and allowing and refugees the number one issue in their faith. But this is far from the truth. We must more than ever focus on being good moral and decent people. If you want to help somebody else, clothe the naked or feed the hungry please go ahead and do so but that does not mean that if somebody does not want to take in people from certain regions of the world which have been known to sponsor terrorism that that makes them a bad person no more than you not inviting every single person you meet into your home to live there makes you an evil person.

 Plus we are entering into the realm of prudential judgement which means that there can be a legitimate debates among Catholics on this issue. This is unlike abortion where there is no room for legitimate debate on that topic. It's morally wrong and that's all there is to it. However when it comes to immigration and accepting refugees that is a different story. In those cases we must follow our conscience is to decide what is the most moral way to proceed but we cannot vilify others just because they do not share our opinions. I've heard some pretty awful nasty things coming from so-called Christians and Catholics on this issue. They will call anybody who disagrees with them Hitler and they will say that anybody who supports immigration limits are the same as Hitler. Well I want to make 100% clear that Hitler actually slaughtered millions of innocent people. If all Hitler did was prevented immigration into Germany from certain other countries nobody would even know his name anymore. So let's calm down the rhetoric and try to have some good will towards other people who may not share our opinions word-for-word.

TRUMP stands up for Christians

Yesterday, Sunday, January 29, 2017, trump wrote the following:

Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017

He's absolutely right! According to the Center for the Study of New Religions, in 2016, Christians were the most persecuted religion in the world. 90,000 Christians were executed for their faith. Obama pretty much did nothing. Our Canadian Prime Minister doesn't even care about Christians who are being persecuted. He has focused exclusively on bringing in Muslims into the country.

I think a lot of people are upset because Donald Trump is challenging this view of many people that all religions are absolutely identical. So saying that we need to stand up for Christians who are being persecuted more than any other religion is really terrible to these people. They somehow think specifically mentioning the plight of Christians will diminish their belief that all religions are the same despite the fact that they are absolutely and completely different in practically every way.

Christians have a view of the universe and of God which is very spiritual and goes beyond our human nature. However Muslims do not have the same view. Islam is a very human religion which sees God as sort of a master and that we must serve him or we will be punished severely. However if we obey our Heavenly master then we will be rewarded with lots of food and virgins and all of our carnal desires will be fulfilled.

Christians have a much more spiritual and transcendent view of the afterlife and the rewards that are in store for those who follow God's will. Another difference is that Islam would find it repulsive to call God Father. They do not see God as a father but as a harsh master who is punishing people for disobeying him. Christians obviously on the other hand see God is a loving father who is loving them so much that he would do anything for them including giving his only son to die for them so that they could have eternal life in spiritual union with God.

It's so refreshing to finally have a president of the United States who is willing to call things what they are. He says that Christians are suffering and he actually uses the word Christian. He doesn't just say many people of various different faiths or something very generic like that. He points them out and he names them. Secondly he points to the root cause of so many of our world problems which is Islam. He doesn't beat around the bush and call it "other people" or radicalism or some other generic euphemism. He comes right out and calls it what it is - Islamic extremism.

BREAKING NEWS: 5 DEAD IN MOSQUE SHOOTING

Photo Credit: CBC News

There are very few details yet, but it seems not long ago, there was a shooting at a Quebec City mosque. One report says there are 5 dead. This happened in Quebec City, which is in the province of Quebec in Canada. In total there are about 250,000 Muslims in the province of Quebec out of a total of about 8.18 million, or about 3%.

Quebec was once the hub of Canadian Catholicism, but since the 60s, Quebec has turned strongly against the Church. There was a massive revolt. It's so bad that most Quebecois swear words are words from Catholicism, such as references to the tabernacle, the wounds of Christ, the chalice of Holy Communion and more.

Let's hope this incident is now over.

More information here:
CBC
Globe and Mail
Global News

What I think faithful Catholics want to see from Pope Francis

Pope Francis needs to focus way more on speaking to the faithful about personal sanctity and how to achieve peace and joy in our lives. He seems to spend an awful lot of time talking about the environment or calling pro-lifers and people who like the traditional Latin Mass “rigid” and other mean words. Basically any traditional Catholic can find himself at the end of a critical comment by the pontiff. What’s going on with this? A couple of days ago, he issued a statement about the US election where he insinuated that Trump’s rise is the same as HitIer’s and we must be very weary of Trump as president for the same reasons. I don’t recall him mentioning anything about how Trump is pro-life and has ended funding for international ab0rtions.

The thing I also find is that the pope will say pro-lifers and traditional Catholics are rigid and mean-spirited and not loving enough, but then he will say things like capitalism is the greatest evil, and just use very over the top language when describing people or behaviors he doesn’t like. He bashed anyone who questioned his encyclical about giving communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. So while he is saying some people are mean, he acts very meanly himself.

I think part of the blame lies in the reporting that we hear. Whether or not the pope is aware, the media yearns for stories of dissent, or for any indication the Church will accept their immoral views. So those stories are widely reported with glee. The pope has issued strong statements opposing ab0rtion and many lgbt causes, but these are less reporter and often when they are it’s in the context of something like “although he has said x, the pope is changing the direction of the church”.

As I’ve said before I think the pope should stick to official pronouncements and seek to avoid confusion rather than adding confusion through off the cuff interviews on an airplane or issuing encyclicals and denouncing anyone who asks questions about it. These actions add confusion which we definitely don’t need right now.

The Young Pope: My Review

First of all, I want to mention that I haven't watched all episodes of this new show called "The Young Pope" yet. In fact, I have not watched complete episodes. What I have watched is a large selection of 1-5 minute clips available on YouTube of this show.

The show seems somewhat interesting from a fictional point of view. But I think it's very far from reality. As with most shows and movies from secular sources, they portray the Vatican, the pope, and cardinals in a very particular way. Let me know explain.

In most fictional portrayals of the Holy See, the pope and cardinals are seen as very and exclusively political. They have little, if any, spiritual aspect whatsoever. Usually cardinals are scheming and plotting in order to advance their own causes. They are seeking most power, but also wealth and notoriety. These "church politicians" have people blackmailed, assaulted, or even killed to advance their evil. Plus they are so powerful, little can be done about it.

This particular series is no different. It is produced by Sky and HBO, and it has a clear resemblance with the Sopranos, also produced by HBO. The pope, played by Jude Law, is ambitious, rigid, and Machiavellian. He is a control freak and power hungry. He is not very Christ-like.

The activity within the Vatican seem no different than within a political party or something portrayed on West Wing, except in West Wing the characters aren't nearly as evil.

In the show, the pope and cardinals discuss doctrine as if it is as changeable as the policies of any political party. For example, the pope and a bishop who was almost elected are discussing abortion. But the way they talk about it was the bishop was urging the pope to change the Church's teaching on abortion. To say that it's not the intentional killing of a human person and therefore murder. They made it seem like the pope, on a whim, could easily just change the Church's teaching.

This betrays a complete lack of understanding of how doctrine works. It's not a "coincidence" that most popes don't change anything with regards to doctrine. Rather, once something is declared a doctrine it does not change. The only things that are changeable are disciplines. For example, not eating meat on Friday is a form of penance and practice, but not an eternal moral law. Therefore, a pope, or the church in general can change this teaching. But the Church does not see itself as having the ability to change the teaching on murder or abortion or marriage, or other issues such as this. I hope that makes sense.

The sad part about all of this is that people are left with completely incorrect views of how the Church functions and the people in it. The pope isn't a politician who can change any law, no more than a physicist can change any law of physics, even if he is the head of a department. Also, after watching the show, many non-Catholics and fallen away Catholics are left with the impression that the pope and cardinals, and others in the Church are conniving, ambitious, immoral people, which is very far from the truth. To see why, we need look no further than the last several centuries of popes to see their personal holiness which is usually exemplary.

For example, both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were known for living very simply. JPII didn't even usually remember what he ate because he was too focused on his dinner guests. They had small rooms and did not live in luxury. To improve himself spiritually, John Paul II would even use a discipline or small whip to "mortify" his flesh. These great holy men would pray (and in the case of Benedict XVI continue to pray) for hours daily for the needs of the Church and the world.

The papacy is not somewhere a traditionally ambitious person would want to end up. Most of a pope's days are spent entertaining guests and dignitaries, attending events and making big decisions. When a bishop is first elected pope, he goes to a room to get his outfit. This room has been dubbed the Room of Tears, given that most new popes break down in tears upon realizing the huge responsibility they are now charged with. Pope Benedict XVI made clear his desire not to be pope, but when elected anyway, he accepted.

On the bright side, it is possible that if people find this show interesting, they may seek more information themselves. Perhaps in their search they will find the truth and be attracted to it.

In the Netherlands, this prodigy would have been killed!

Last night my fiancée and I were watching a show about a man named Derek Paravicini.  He's an extraordinary piano Prodigy who can play any piece of music after hearing it just once. He is also able to improvise with very complex patterns of music. But there's something unique about this person. He was born premature and after being exposed to high levels of oxygen he became blind. He is also extremely autistic and cannot even take care of himself to do normal day-to-day activities. He doesn't interact with people in a normal way. However his musical genius outperforms almost anybody currently living.

 Then this morning I was going through my Facebook feed and I noticed an article from lifesitenews where they explained that doctors in Groningen Netherlands are legally allowed to kill children who have been born if the doctor believes that the quality of life of this child won't be sufficient. And their definition of what constitutes a good quality of life to these doctors is more stringent than you may think. As far back as 1992 the Dutch  Royal Society of Medicine decided that it's best to kill a child if that child would not be able to live independently and experience self realization which includes the ability to hear read write and labor among other things as well as having meaningful interpersonal relationships. They decided that if a child does not meet these criteria he does not have the right to even live and should be killed by the doctor.

Obviously Derek Paravicini would not qualify for life under these strict conditions. Clearly Derek does not have the ability to live independently as he requires people to take care of him. He is not able to read or write or labor in the normal sense of the word. Obviously killing Derek would not make the world a better place but this is precisely what doctors in the Netherlands feel is the best course of action. This is absolutely unbelievable and extremely shocking and sad. That a so-called modern society can even get away with such atrocities is unimaginable. We are currently seeing Eugenics and genocide occurring before our very eyes in countries we thought more advanced but clearly are more barbaric than almost any others.

Even though the situation is particularly terrible in places like the Netherlands and Belgium, where the Culture of Death is, ironically, alive and well, we too have our fair share of blame. In our so-called modern Western cultures, over 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. Down Syndrome people are some of the happiest, joyful, and unconditionally loving people in the world. And yet, they are killed before they see the light of day.

Whenever a small opening is allowed for the culture of death into a society, it inevitably expands. At first, doctor-assisted suicide was allowed in some countries under strict conditions. But as years go by, the conditions are continually reduced, and more and more people start being killed. Before you know it, anyone can become a victim. And so it goes in so many area.

Let's do everything we can to end these barbaric practices in our so-called modern societies.

Here's the video about Derek:

Latin Mass Tip: Read the English

I hope I don't cause any controversy by saying this and if I'm making some kind of a mistake or doing something I shouldn't be doing please let me know as soon as possible in the comments section below. But what I wanted to mention was an idea that I have for facilitating and making the Latin Mass more approachable. One of the things that I like to do is especially when the priest is doing silent prayer and there is silence in the church is to read the English side of the prayer book to keep track of where the priest is and to follow along with the Mass.

I find this extremely beneficial because you are engaging your mind and your soul in participating in the Mass. I will also do this during parts of the Mass where the priest is reciting passages out loud. I find reading the English side of the Missal to be very beneficial in my spiritual attendance at Mass and I do not drift off in thought.

Now, as I mentioned, I'm not sure if this is what you are supposed to do. Are we always supposed to just read the Latin side and to recite the Latin prayers? I'm not 100% sure. In fact it is my understanding that we are not required to recite all parts of the Latin Mass designed for the congregation. I find in the Latin Mass that I attend that a lot of people will read the vast majority of these parts but while I was speaking with one of my friends who is very knowledgeable in this area he said that it is not required for Catholics to read aloud most of the parts of the Mass.

In fact he said the requirement is only to read two or three things during the Mass such as the Nicene Creed. Anyway as I mentioned this is just a tip that I find beneficial for connecting to the Mass on a deeper level. I hope to share more of these tips in the future weeks and months ahead. Have a great New Year!

Reason #152 I Like Latin Mass: No Talking Before and During Mass

One of the things I really prefer about Latin Mass over the typical vernacular Mass is the atmosphere. I went to mass this past Sunday and when I walked in there weren't a whole pile of people just talking about anything under the sun. In fact there were very few, if any, people talking whatsoever.

Usually when I walk into a church for Mass every single person is talking - many are talking at a very loud volume. But when I go into the Latin Mass church, people are silent and praying and being reflective as they should be. I even remember in one of the other churches that I attend where they have the ordinary Mass and they have a sign up that says "please respect the peace and quiet of this church while you were waiting for Mass to begin". But very few, if any, people actually follow this.

So from that standpoint being able to go into a church where people are prayerful and Silent is a really huge help and also during mass people listen to and respond to the prayers as they should and nobody is talking during the mass. It's so much better.

Forgotten Tradition of Blessing Mother After Birth

I found a fascinating article about an ancient tradition in the Catholic Church wear by a mother was reintroduced back into the church after giving birth to a new child. It was a form of blessing for the mother and for her health and for the health of her new baby and a form of Thanksgiving for the birth of the child. In earlier times children were always baptized very soon after birth often the same day or the next day. Nowadays it can be a little bit longer because the fear of a child dying soon after birth are diminished and often children are baptized a week or maybe 2 weeks after birth. But check out this fascinating article about this form of blessing for a new mother after giving birth.

The Forgotten Tradition of “Churching,” the Ancient Post-Partum Blessing

WARNING: Pot-Smoking Nuns FAKE

CAUTION: THESE ARE NOT REAL NUNS!



 There has been a video that has been circulating widely about a group of nuns who are in the business of growing and selling marijuana. They wear a habit just like ordinary Catholic nuns but it must be pointed out that these are not legitimate real actual Catholic nuns that are sanctioned by the Catholic church in any way shape or form.

These are in fact imposters who for some reason are trying to make themselves look like their actual Catholic nuns or sisters but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I don't believe they follow any form of Catholic spirituality whatsoever. The only reason they are wearing a seemingly Catholic outfit is to give themselves an appearance of legitimacy. Obviously all around the world especially in the United States there are all kinds of people who are growing and selling marijuana. But nobody is covering them as a news story because they don't seem  noteworthy. But when they don a religious habit all of a sudden they appear to be more legitimate.

I strongly urge you to reject these people and to call them out to tell them to stop imitating Catholic nuns because they have no business doing so and they should stop doing it immediately.

Happy New Year AND Feast Day of Mary, Mother of God

First of all I want to say Happy New Year to all of the people who read this blog. I hope 2017 is your best year yet and that it brings all kinds of joy peace and happiness in your life. January 1st is celebrated as New Year's Day in most of the world but for Catholics it also marks another very special day. It is the solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. It is celebrated exactly one week after Christmas and it is especially celebrated to contemplate Mary's unique motherhood of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

 The title of  Mother of God in relation to Mary was officially adopted and defined at the First Council of Ephesus in the year 431 however even before then Mary had been called the Mother of God. It follows an unavoidable series of logic:

1. Jesus is God.
2. Mary is the mother of Jesus.
3. Therefore Mary is the mother of God.
In Greek the name is Theotokos which technically means God Bearer or She Who Gave Birth to God.

 In Canada the solemnity of Mary the Mother of God is a holy day of obligation. Every country has its own list of holy days of obligation which by definition are days on which Catholics are obliged to attend Mass but which are not Sundays. In Canada there only two such days. One is Christmas day and the other is January 1st, the solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. This particular Christmas season both of these days fall on a Sunday which means you actually do not have to attend any additional masses this year.

 So once again happy and joyful New Year and may 2017 be your best year yet!