How Do the Saints Help Us?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
May 9, 2020
Do you think that saints can help us out? Can you be sure that they are there and that sometimes they talk to you?
Posts from:
Pat McCloskey, OFM
Pat McCloskey, OFM, is the Franciscan advisor for St. Anthony Messenger and the writer of its "Ask a Franciscan" column.
How Are Mass Readings Chosen?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
April 29, 2020
A non-Catholic friend asked me how the Scriptures at Mass are selected. Who started this and when was the present system adopted?
Vatican II’s 1963 “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” called for a wider selection of biblical texts to be used at Mass. The current Lectionary (book of those readings) was prepared by an international committee of experts and went into use in 1970.
Who Was the ‘Beloved Disciple ‘?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
March 27, 2020
In the Gospel of John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved ” is at the foot of the cross (19:26) and is entrusted with caring for the mother of Jesus (19:27). Who is this disciple and what makes him more loved than anyone else?
For centuries, most Christians have thought it was the Apostle John, but biblical scholars have more recently questioned this. The “Beloved Disciple, ” who appears only in the Gospel of John, is introduced in 13:23 with later references in 18:15–16; 19:26–27; 20:2–4, 8; and 21:7, 20, 23–24.
Quick Questions and Answers
Pat McCloskey, OFM
March 27, 2020
What governs whether we stand or kneel when receiving holy Communion?
The biggest factor should be safety. While distributing Communion, I have seen a person who kneels abruptly almost trip the unsuspecting next person in line. Kneeling is not necessarily more reverent than standing. Safety should be our default in such situations.
A Deep Wound
Pat McCloskey, OFM
February 26, 2020
How could God take my precious son at age 43 and yet allow rotten people who have stopped believing in God to keep on living? My son was a great Catholic and spent eight years in Catholic schools.
Quick Questions and Answers
Pat McCloskey, OFM
February 26, 2020
Before my sister died of lung cancer, she quit going to church. I tried daily to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for her. Is it possible that she is in heaven?
Yes, that is entirely possible. Each of us needs to resist the temptation to shove God aside and pass divine judgment on someone whom we cannot know nearly as well as our Creator does.
Why Bother with Confession?
Pat McCloskey, OFM
February 26, 2020
When I became a Catholic at the age of 20, I loved the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Now, more than 40 years later, my behavior is morally acceptable, but I am tortured interiorly by inappropriate thoughts, lacking focus and concentration. While polite and kind outwardly, I get irked or offended by others’ behavior. I am impatient, judging inwardly in my mind.