Mary was human, not divine, so she did not possess the power to miraculously stop the crucifixion from happening. Like the other witnesses of Jesus’ death, she could only stand by, watch, and (surely) pray for her son as he suffered.
If your question is asking whether she could have spoken to the authorities and halted their plans, it’s unlikely that such a thing would have happened. The only one who truly had the power to either order Jesus’ execution or to set him free was Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. The Gospels indicate that he was influenced in his decision by religious leaders and by the crowds, but given the fact that less than a day passed between the arrest of Jesus and his crucifixion, it…

The Book of Jonah is a very short prophetic book. In it, Jonah ran away from his calling (God asked him to preach repentance to the wicked city of Ninevah) only to endanger the sailors whose ship he had boarded. A great storm arose that threatened to sink the ship. Jonah volunteered to be thrown overboard in an effort to quell the storm, and God provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah. He spent three days in the belly of the fish where he had a radical change of heart before he was spewed out upon the dry land.
God again instructed Jonah to preach repentance to Ninevah, and he did so without hesitation. The people repented, and God spared their city. The book abruptly ends with Jonah sulking that God’s gracious mercy extended…

Yes. Depending on what the result of our impatience is, it could be a quite serious sin.
For example, if we are impatient in waiting for someone to die who is in great suffering and we euthanize them ourselves, we commit murder by allowing our impatience to rule us.
Impatience is something that is a bad habit and can be changed with frequent prayer. Listening to where God calls us and spending time in silence allows us to de-stress and relax a bit more with God.
Retreats are another good opportunity to deal with our impatience. We spend time with God away on “God’s time” not ours and realize that there is no place else to be but there for awhile. In doing so we can rest easy knowing that often there is often…

The corporal is a small square piece of white cloth that is placed on top of the altar during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The paten and chalice are placed on top of the corporal for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.…

At the wedding feast at Cana, when Mary tells Jesus that there is no more wine, Jesus responds, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour is not yet come.” (John 2:4). Although this form of address sounds harsh and rude to modern ears, “woman” was actually a term of respect and honor at the time. That said, it was still a rather unusual thing for a person to call his mother. The footnotes to the New American Bible indicate that this verse may seek to show that Jesus did not do miracles to help family and friends; in other words, his response to Mary might indicate that he did not intend to “play favorites.”
On a related note, many scholars have pointed out that this is not the only time that Jesus calls Mary…

Did Jesus know how to read? Someone told me he was illiterate.
The vast majority of the population in Palestine in Jesus’ day would have been illiterate, with some historians suggesting that less than 10% of the population would have been able to read. Members of the peasant class, of which Jesus’ family would have been a part, rarely had the time or luxury of learning to read. That was usually only the privilege of the wealthy elite. However, Luke’s gospel narrates a story in which Jesus is said to have read publicly in the synagogue in Nazareth. “He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is…

Question: If I caught a student cheating, but he’d lose a scholarship to a good college if I turn him in, should I look the other way? He is poor and from the inner city.
This is a complex moral dilemma. Catholic moral teaching is that one cannot do evil that good may come of it — thus in spite of his noble goal of going on to college, the student’s cheating cannot be justified. Similarly, no matter how noble your goal of ensuring his scholarship, you cannot justify overlooking his dishonesty. However, the Church also recognizes that any moral act is comprised of the object, the intention and the circumstances. No moral act happens in isolation; the object (the nature and severity of the particular act of cheating),…

While many Christians wear ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, few, if any, don sackcloth! And yet, the two are often mentioned in the same breath in Scripture (1Mac 3:47; Esther 4:3-4; Is 58:5; Jer 6:26; Dan 9:3; Jon 3:6; Mt 11:21, to name a few). Today, we tend to picture someone wearing sackcloth as someone wearing a burlap bag with holes for the head and arms. In biblical times, however, sackcloth was made from the coarse hair of a black goat. Because it produced some degree of pain or discomfort, it was worn by one who was mourning or as a public sign of repentance, atonement, or submission. Because of this, sackcloth was sometimes worn by the Prophets as an outward sign of their call to repentance.
The purpose…

If you’re already familiar with the US Bishops’ document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, you’re off to a good start. This document, reissued in 2011 in anticipation of the presidential election cycle, helps Catholics discern how the teaching of the Church can apply in matters of public policy. Check out the USCCB website at http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/ for the full text of the document and many other excellent resources. Your next step should be to inform yourself more deeply about the particular issues that are at stake. What policies are being proposed on your local or state ballot, and what does the Church have to say about these issues? What local, state and national offices…

Bringing up the gifts at the offertory is a great ministry mainly because it is so simple—there is no training needed. And as for actually getting to participate sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time! In most parishes, an usher or Mass Coordinator will flag down someone as they are walking into Church and ask if they would be interested in bringing up the gifts. There are some parishes that have sign-up sheets in the Parish Center or at the front of the Church. If this is the case, all you have to do is sign-up for a particular Sunday (and don’t forget which Sunday you signed up for!). Finally, if you still have not found a way to bring up the gifts just ask your Pastor. He will know exactly who you…

When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, it was surely a terrible shock to Joseph. Though he and Mary were betrothed, meaning they had given public and binding vows to each other, they had not yet lived together as man and wife. The only logical conclusion Joseph could reach on his own was that Mary was pregnant by another man – in other words, that she had committed adultery.
Proved adultery was punishable with death by stoning under the Mosaic law. The Gospel of Matthew explains that Jospeh was a “righteous man, yet unwilling to expose [Mary]to shame” so he decided to “divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19). This indicates that although Joseph generally respected the law, he did not want to subject Mary to…

No literature from the Sadducees has survived, so we have little historical information about them. What we do know is that like the Pharisees, the Sadducees comprised a sect of Judaism around the time of Jesus who usually appeared in opposition to Jesus in the gospels. They were part of the wealthy power elite of Jerusalem and they dominated the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court that convicted Jesus. They were conservative in their interpretation of the Law, and unlike the Pharisees, only accepted the Torah, not oral tradition, as scripture. They rejected a belief in the resurrection of the dead in contrast to Jesus and the Pharisees.
Editor’s note: You can remember this last fact about the Sadducees…

As Catholics participating in civic life we have the responsibility to inform ourselves about candidates and issues and to form ourselves with the teaching of the Church, rather than blindly (or lazily) following any kind of party line. Thus you should ask if the positions of the Tea Party are in keeping with the principles of your Catholic faith. The Tea Party, actually a coalition of local and national groups rather than a political party, promotes fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economics. A key principle of Catholic social teaching which can be instructive here is subsidiarity — the idea that decisions should be made at the most local level possible in…

A purificator is a small square piece of cloth, with a cross in the center, that is used during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Specifically, Eucharistic Ministers who distribute the Blood of Christ use the purificator to wipe the chalice clean between each use. Purificators are also used at the end of Communion to purify or clean the sacred vessels.…

Question: At bars, I kiss my roommate (we’re both female) to get the attention of guys. It’s just kinda fun and we think it’s harmless and we don’t go farther than that. Is that a sin?

There exist thin lines between harmless, dumb, stupid, harmful and sinful. Two women using their sexuality in “harmless” ways can often verge on doing or causing great harm. Why are you trying to get the attention on guys this way? What’s the difference between this and flashing your naked breasts?
Chastity is the integration of sexuality into our lives (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2337). Does making out with your girlfriend integrate or disintegrate sexuality in your lives?
St. Ignatius teaches…

During the time of Jesus, the Jewish marriage process involved two separate parts, the first of which was betrothal. This was an exchange of consent made between a man and a woman before witnesses. Betrothal was binding, and it could only be ended by death or divorce. After the betrothal, there was a period of several months in which the woman remained with her family. After that period was up, she would move into her husband’s home, where they lived together as husband and wife. So when the Gospels refer to Mary as being betrothed to Joseph, they are talking about the period of time after the exchange of consent but before they lived together as a married couple.…

The Pharisees were lay leaders, a sect of Judaism that held great influence among Jewish people of Jesus’ day. They were characterized by observance of both the written laws (the Torah or Old Testament teachings) as well as oral tradition. In contrast to the Sadducees, the Pharisees also believed in the resurrection of the dead, angels, and demons. In general, the Gospels portray the Pharisees quite negatively, painting them as hypocrites and strict legalists, often in opposition to Jesus. Such a portrait is probably unfairly exaggerated, reflecting polemics between Christians and Jews at the time the Gospels were being written. Although some clearly opposed Jesus, it is fair to assume that others were…

The Catholic Church’s teaching on all aspects of human sexuality is derived from our belief that God created human beings, male and female, out of love, and gave us a special vocation to love and to communion. As summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity” (CCC, 2335). Thus much of our teaching on sexuality flows from reflection on that special union of man and woman. We believe that certain sexual expressions are reserved to that sacramental union. We also teach that sexual intimacy between a husband and wife has twin purposes: their union, as a couple, and procreation, expressed…

The word liturgy has developed over many years. In classical greek, leitourgia is a work done on behalf of the people. In ancient times, any work that was done by someone for the good of the community could be considered a leitourgia. In the early church, liturgy referred to both the people involved in ministry (church officials) and the actual act of worship (see the New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship for more on this). If you want to read up on the most-up-to-date definition of liturgy, I’d suggest consulting the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy the Second Vatican Council. While the Council Fathers do not give a specific clear-cut definition of the word, this Constitution does provide us with many images and…

There’s zero obligation for Catholics to go to Marian shrines. The decision to visit them is totally voluntary. Many shrines do attract large numbers of pilgrims; the Marian apparition site at Lourdes, France, for example, attracts about five million pilgrims a year. Some come in hope for healing (the spring at Lourdes has been associated with miraculous physical cures), while others come hoping to enrich their prayer lives, while others come out of curiosity. But Catholics are not required to visit any shrine, Marian or otherwise, during their lives.…