“From the point of view of the Christian faith, man comes in the profoundest sense to himself not through what he does but through what he accepts. He must wait for the gift of love, and love can only be received as a gift… One must wait for it, let it be given to one. And one cannot become wholly man in any other way than by being loved, by letting oneself be loved… If he declines to let himself be presented with the gift, then he destroys himself.” – Pope Benedict XVI

Are you accepting the gift of love that Christ is offering to you each day? Are you giving that gift to others?

“Our mission is to convey God’s love–not a dead God but a living God, a God of love.” -Blessed Mother Teresa

Why can’t non-Catholics receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church?

Find out the answer here!

“I adore You, Lord and Creator, hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I adore You for all the works of Your hands, that reveal to me so much wisdom, goodness and mercy, O Lord. You have spread so much beauty over the earth and it tells me about Your beauty, even though these beautiful things are but a faint reflection of You, incomprehensible Beauty. And although You have hidden Yourself and concealed Your beauty, my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You and my soul recognizes its Creator, its Highest Good, and my heart is completely immersed in prayer of adoration.” -St. Faustina

Read the rest of St. Faustina’s prayer before the Eucharist.

Learn more about the Holy Eucharist and the Mass from CatholicsComeHome.org.

Looking for a powerful prayer experience with the Psalms? Check out this great Mp3 talk by Dr. Tim Gray, “Praying the Psalms.” Discover what it is like to be in relationship with God through the poetic psalms.

“The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.”

-Psalm 145: 8-9

My Protestant friends say that their church goes by the Bible alone, but that the Catholic Church has added a lot of man-made traditions to the Word of God–is that true?

Find out the answer in audio and text format here!

To find answers to more of your apologetics questions, visit CatholicsComeHome.org. You can find John Martignoni’s (from the Bible Christian Society) new YouTube channel dedicated to Catholic apologetics here.

Get a copy of the new book, Walking With God, by Dr. Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins. This fantastic book takes you on a journey through the narrative books of the Bible, unlocking the mysteries and riches of Sacred Scripture, which are applicable and needed in our world and personal lives today.

Want to learn more about Sacred Scripture? Get a copy of Dr. Ted Sri’s The Bible Compass, an excellent companion to help you navigate through the Scriptues and gain a better understanding of the tools needed to help you get the most out of your Bible study experience. This book will remind you that with a Catholic approach to studying Scripture, you can grow tremendously in your relationship with Christ and His Catholic Church.

Get more great books at CatholicsComeHome.org!

Read this article about effective Catholic university education from the Catholic News Agency. In it, Cardinal Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, says that ”Only the Catholic university that conserves its identity will have a future.”

“What is needed in the modern context of permissibility and relativity, he said, is ‘the Catholic university that defends the truth, the objective truth.’”

Take a moment today to pray for the present and future of Catholic education. Pray that it may flourish in its mission to promote authentic Catholic teaching and educate future leaders about the truth of the Catholic faith, so that Catholics students may come to participate more fully in the evangelization mission of the Church.

Some insights on prayer to think about today:

How does prayer help us?

“And the more we pray, the happier we become. The more we pray, the less anxious we become, and we are filled with a greater peace of mind and heart. The more we pray, the more we understand ourselves, for we come to know God more intimately, by experience – and we really only know ourselves to the degree that we know God personally. The more we pray, we begin to see the hand of God in our day to day life, that is, we see Him acting in our life. We begin to see that He loves us, personally. That makes life so much more meaningful.” -Deacon Doug McManaman, “The Importance of Prayer”

How does prayer help the world?

As Catholics, we believe that prayer is astoundingly powerful. The prayers of the saints have had an impact on history unmatched by political and social world leaders over the centuries. All of humanity has benefited from the prayers of the saints. Look at our Blessed Mother Mary. Did not her prayer and submission to God impact the world in the most profound way? Does not her continued intercession on our behalf influence the hearts of all people around the world, as she encourages us always to say our own “yes” to our Heavenly Father?

“…see prayer for what it is: a matter of life or death, your lifeline to God, to life itself. Is this exaggerated? Are there more important things? Love, for instance? We need love absolutely; but the love we need is agape, the love that only God has and is; so unless we go to God for it, we won’t get it. And going to God for it means prayer. So unless we pray, we will not love.” -Peter Kreeft, “Lesson One in Prayer“

Check out this great article on the Integrated Catholic Life by Dr. Peter Kreeft about discernment. In it, he gives practical principles and clues related to finding God’s will for you.

Dr. Kreeft points out: “All God’s signs should line up, by a kind of trigonometry. There are at least seven such signs: (1) Scripture, (2) church teaching, (3) human reason (which God created), (4) the appropriate situation, or circumstances (which he controls by his providence), (5) conscience, our innate sense of right and wrong, (6) our individual personal bent or desire or instincts, and (7) prayer. Test your choice by holding it up before God’s face. If one of these seven voices says no, don’t do it. If none say no, do it.”

You can also listen to the Catholic Answers LIVE audio: Discernment: Is it God or Just Me? by Father Thomas Dubay. In the program, he helps us to discern whether or not God is guiding us at times, or if it is just us…

The Catholics Come Home team is praying for God’s will to be done in your life today and always!

Check out this PDF chart to trace the origins of churches throughout history. See how the history of the Catholic Church started with Jesus Christ and how the Church, Christ’s bride, has continued through until today!

“The Church has ever proved indestructible. Her persecutors have failed to destroy her. In fact, it was during times of persecution that the Church grew more and more; while the persecutors themselves, and those whom the Church would destroy, are the very ones who came to nothing.” -St. Thomas Aquinas

Looking for some good Catholic articles?

Check out these great websites, filled with articles from Catholic authors on faith, family, work, morality, apologetics, culture, and much more!

The Integrated Catholic Life eMagazine (IntegratedCatholicLife.org)
The Catholic Education Resource Center (CatholicEducation.org)

Read something to enrich your faith today!

Happy Feast of Blessed Antonio Lucci from your friends at CatholicsComeHome.org.