November 21, 2011 at 02:52 PM
Congratulations to the McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets for a great football season. Making it to Round 3 of the play offs is not something to be treated lightly! We here at Archangel Radio have immensely enjoyed broadcasting the weekly football games and look forward to next season. "Friday Night at the Lip" has been very popular with our listeners as well. It's always great to receive feedback from y'all, and we certainly did - phone calls, emails, you name it!
A number of people have questioned the value of broadcasting Catholic high school football on a Catholic radio station - customarily a source for Catholic theology. Here it's important to understand that being Catholic isn't restricted to spouting doctrine or quoting the Catechism. Being Catholic is a way of life; it requires integrating the Faith into ordinary actions. That being said, it makes sense to say there is a Catholic way to do everything - even to peel a potato.
It follows then that there is a Catholic way to play sports. Besides making every action a prayer by offering it to God, an athlete can acquire many skills and virtues through such means as a football game. (Daniel has mentioned this many times on the Morning Show.) Think of all the qualities of a good team, and a good athlete. Don't those same qualities make for a virtuous person? And when those qualities can be observed in action, it provides a wonderful example for the spectators. One can learn a lot from good fans as well! Good sportsmanship on all accounts can be a tool of evangelization. The lessons learned on the football field, or on the tennis court, or on the baseball diamond, etc. are lessons not just to be applied to the hardships of life, but to the struggles of the spiritual life. One could look at the path to heaven as a championship football game. A person who gives into temptation is like the sports team that gives up when losing. The only way for them to win is to keep playing their very best, to persevere despite the difficulties - to keep fighting the temptation. Then there will be a surprise ending, like the Yellow Jackets winning against Fairhope in the last few minutes of the game - like a deathbed conversion!
Anyway, Coach Sessions and the McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets have provided us all with excellent examples to think about and to put into practice. I'm sure those young men have become stronger, better Catholics and men in the process. A hearty congratulations and thanks to them.
November 02, 2011 at 01:26 PM
It has been observed before that All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day should switch places, because after a day dedicated to praying for the Poor Souls, there would be a lot more saints to celebrate. But All Souls' Day is just at the beginning of an entire month dedicated to relieving the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
One means of helping the Poor Souls in Purgatory is indulgences, and while there are many ways of obtaining indulgences, there are a couple indulgences particular to this day and time of year which are very important. One can always obtain a partial indulgence for the Holy Souls by visiting a cemetery and praying for the Faithful Departed, but from November 1 through 8, one can obtain a plenary indulgence each day for the souls in Purgatory. In addition, on All Souls' Day, or the Sunday before, or the day before (All Saints' Day), one can gain a plenary indulgence for the Poor Souls by visiting a church or public oratory and offering an Our Father and the Creed. Both of these indulgences require the usual conditions, which means Communion and confession within eight days, detachment from all sin, and prayers for the intentions of Holy Father (an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be suffice).
Now, a plenary indulgence takes away all the debt of temporal punishment for sins already forgiven. That means that a plenary indulgence can free a soul from Purgatory and send it to Heaven where it will then be a saint. The Poor Souls, however, are powerless to help themselves; they need our prayers to shorten their time in Purgatory. So, during this month of November, do not forget the Poor Souls, and, when they see the Face of God in Heaven, they will never forget you.
November 01, 2011 at 01:04 PM
Happy Feast of All Saints! This is truly a great day for the Church. The feast of All Saints has origins in the early centuries of Christianity when the faithful would celebrate the anniversaries of the martyrs' deaths. Gradually, saints who were not martyrs were added to the calendar, especially once canonization became a standardized process. In the early 7th century, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs, and ordered a commemoration every year on May 13. Then, Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to all the saints, and established its annual celebration on November 1. Finally, Gregory IV, who lived in the the 9th century, extended the November 1st feast to the entire Church.
All Saints' Day is a Solemnity and a Holy Day of Obligation. In the language of the Church, "solemnity" indicates that it is an important yearly celebration with a vigil. In other words, the actual commemoration of the feast begins the night before. And that's where we get Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, the vigil of All Saints. All Saints' Day is also a Holy Day of Obligation, which means the feast day has the same status as a Sunday, the Lord's Day. We Catholics are obliged to assist at Mass, and to observe the feast like a Sunday, insofar as we are able (i.e., abstain from servile work, business transactions, etc.).
On this day, the Church celebrates ALL the saints - known and unknown. Indeed, there are not enough days in a year to celebrate the feasts of all the canonized saints! But there are more saints in Heaven than those canonized by the Church. For instance, a baby who dies after baptism will go straight to heaven; he is a saint. A soul who is freed from purgatory enters heaven; he is now a saint. The title "saint" simply means one who is in Heaven. When the Church canonizes a saint, She declares that this individual in question is in heaven. It does not mean that the person did not commit sin on earth, or did not spend time in purgatory - we know that St. Claude de la Columbiere spent a short time in purgatory - it means this person is in Heaven. That should be such a consolation to us! That means ALL of us can be saints. Everyone celebrated today was born with the stain of original sin. Everyone celebrated today dealt with temptation and concupscience. And yet, they are in Heaven. That means we can get there, too. And then, one day, this will be our feast day as well. In fact, is that not why we are here?
July 19, 2011 at 09:25 AM
"Did that just happen?" many of our listeners are writing in to ask. "I thought I heard a morning show on 1410 this morning and I could have sworn it was . . . " YES! THAT'S RIGHT! YOU GOT IT. We have officially consecrated the airwaves over the Archdiocese of Mobile to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary . . . and we STILL got to go forward with a morning show (clown horn sound effect here). We love getting your posts and emails and phone calls and rubberchickens in the mail! Please keep them coming. Thanks for tuning in. This morning was a blast with Fr Paul Zohgby in the studio with us. Never a dry eye (from laughing so hard!). Find a way to get caught - no - GET BUSTED LISTENING to Archangel Radio each weekday morning at 7. After a show like this, you day can only get better! Wait, that didn't come out right . . .
July 11, 2011 at 04:14 PM
The month of July began in a special way. Friday, July 1st, had the especial significance of being the Feast of the Sacred Heart and First Friday. Could a day be more blessed than that? Well, it was also the Feast of the Most Precious Blood. While this feast was instituted by Pope Pius IX in 1849, it is a devotion that can be traced back to the earliest days of the Church. Various saints, including St. Catherine of Siena, had a great devotion to the Most Precious Blood. In 1960, Pope John XXIII even wrote an apostolic letter promoting the devotion to the Precious Blood on the Eve of the Feast of the Most Precious Blood. It is a devotion with little publicity these days, but in fact, the whole month of July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood.
In 96 AD, Pope Clement I wrote, “Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that It was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.” What a powerful thought! When Christ died on the Cross, His blood –the blood of the God-Man – was shed to satisfy the Divine Justice and reopen the Gates of Heaven to mankind, who was barred from Eternal Life by Original Sin. Since He is God, Jesus’ suffering is of infinite value; He didn’t have to be scourged, and crowned, and crucified to satisfy our debt. One drop of blood would have been more than enough. Instead, He shed it all – for us. Christ chose to undergo such torments, such humiliation out of love – for us. And each day, His Blood is still offered to the Father in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, the re-presentation of His Death on the Cross. It’s overwhelming, and something to contemplate each day, but especially, each day of this month of the Most Precious Blood.
June 08, 2011 at 12:40 PM
Those of you who made it out to St. Mary's and McGill-Toolen this past weekend don't need any commentary on the events. We were truly blessed to have such excellent speakers as Michael Voris and Father Mitch Pacwa. Beth Burgess and Jacquie Stalnaker also spoke. And then there was Father Dan Good. Father Good not only gave a brief talk on Theology of the Body, but for both events, he holed himself away in the confessionals and heard confessions for hours. What a priest! We can't thank him enough.
For those of you who missed his talk, send your teens to his Theology of the Body for Teens Summer Party Camp July 5th-8th at St. Mary's, and they'll be able to tell you all about it. Check out the Archangel Radio Event Calendar for details.
May 11, 2011 at 03:50 PM
This picture is a familiar sight to many of Archangel Radio's listeners. It's the statue of St. Francis at the entrance to the studio. And if you look closely, you can see St. Francis is not alone. St. Francis was always a social man, making friends with God's glorious creatures. The stories of him talking with the animals, and the animals' great love for him have come down to us through the collected writings of his own followers, known as The Little Flowers of St. Francis. Obviously, that reputation is still alive today. Here, he's being visited by our friend Leder the Lizard. I've seen Leder the Lizard hanging out there in the mums, waiting for his chance for a tete a tete with the Catholic celebrity. This time he got caught in action. We let him be, and in return for these visits, on summer nights, he fends off the bug population outside the studio. It's an excellent arrangement, not to mention a cute sight. Come by the studio sometime, and maybe you'll get a chance to see Leder the Lizard.
April 24, 2011 at 06:18 PM
The peace of the Risen Christ be with all Archangel Radio listeners! After the penitential days of Lent, we now rejoice in the Resurrection of the Lord. The tone of the liturgy switches from sorrow and repentance to complete exultation and exuberance, where it will stay for the rest of the Easter Season. And I stress "season" here. Easter will be over tomorrow in the secular world, but today is just the beginning for us Catholics. Yes, there is a liturgical season of Easter, but Easter isn't just a time or an event. The Resurrection is the greatest miracle performed by Christ, the ultimate proof that He is the Son of God. It gives total credence to all His teachings--and thus to all of our beliefs as Catholics. We have been redeemed by His blood, and that is something to remember tomorrow, and next week, and for the rest of our lives--something that should affect our every thought, word, and action--and something that we will not be able to forget after death, whether we like it or not. Just some food for thought...Happy Easter from WNGL!
April 15, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Walked into the Archangel Radio Studio this morning after a Lenten breakfast at Julwin's in Fairhope to be not-so-subtly reminded that today is . . . . (drum roll...) FRIDAY! Big whoop? Well, that bit of information wouldn't be so newsworthy but today is a Friday in LENT. Still not all that newsworthy, you say? Okay, well, I agree that it's not going to make the Teresa Tomeo news segment, but what makes the fact that it's Friday "real big news" around here is that some people around here aren’t in the habit of keeping track of what day it is (during the week). Infer what you will (i.e., judge if you like), the result will be that no one will eat meat today on accident like they did last week. But don't misconstrue this as playing Church Lady. Oh no! This is full-throttle Catholic charity! Better not to eat meat on Friday when everyone else is abstaining from it than to be sitting at an outdoor BBQ on Saturday eating four plates of coleslaw because you FORGOT it was Friday the day before! Welcome to the Communion of Saints!
Here it is succinctly:
Canon 1250 All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.
Canon 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canon 1252 All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.
Canon 1253 It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
April 14, 2011 at 03:00 PM
Renowned Catholic author, apologist and evangelist Patrick Madrid comes to Archangel Radio to jumpstart our first ever On-Air Radio Festival! We are honored to be hosting a real "radio-man" here at the studio and look forward to his wit and theological smarts. He will be broadcasting live from our studio in Fairhope and will be having conversations with several of our local priests. Get caught listening April 27-29 and find out what Catholic Radio is all about.
WELCOME PATRICK MADRID!
For more information about Mr Madrid, please visit his website at http://patrickmadrid.com/
