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Teachings from Fr. John Corapi, SOLT

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Human Life - To Know and Love God Fr. John Corapi, SOLT
2/9/2004




God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. So teaches the very first paragraph of the Catechism (CCC #1). At a time in the history of the western world when humanity so often seems to be suffering from the so-called "identity crisis," a cry needs to echo from the rooftops: Awake, arise o sleeper, ascend men and women of the universe to your full potential: Become who you are; become the living presence of Jesus Christ to this suffering world!

How often I have been asked by the people, often enough young people, Why are we alive? What is the meaning of human existence? Those of us who learned our Faith from the old Baltimore Catechism remember that the reason God created us is to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him so that we might be happy with Him forever in heaven. This may seem an oversimplification to some, yet it is absolutely true.

God created us to share his own divine life. He sent his only Son as our Lord and Savior, our Brother and our Friend, that we "might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Jesus Christ, who is incarnate Truth, taught nothing less than himself, and "so that this call should respond throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel..." (CCC #2). Christ taught the Apostles, and they handed on his teaching faithfully to their successors the bishops in union with Peter's successor, the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.

Every one of us, incorporated into Christ through Baptism, has a solemn obligation to hand on faithfully what we have received through the Church. "All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer" (CCC #3; cf. Acts 2:42). Since we have been given the gift of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in our time, catechesis is rightly taking on a reward prominence in the formation of the People of God.

As the Catechism itself tells us (CCC #4), that name catechesis was given from early in the Church's history "to the totality of the Church's efforts to make disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that believing they might have life in his name, and to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body of Christ" (Cf. JPII, Catechisi Tradendae 1;2). We are much in need of an infusion of that life in his name in an era which has an obvious latent death wish. From the first moment of conception to the last moments of old age, life is under attack; from abortion to euthanasia, with suicide and all manner of violence in between, human life is truly under attack. The counterattack to this assault on life is the One who is Life itself--The Way, The Truth, and The Life--Jesus, the Christ.

Catechesis, quite simply, educates us in Christ and through Christ so that we might become everything we have been created to be: the presence of Christ through grace in the world. It is sorely needed today. The Church's own definition of catechesis is helpful: "Catechesis is an education in the faith of young children, young people and adults which includes especially in teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life" (CCC, #5; cf.Catechesi Tradendae, 18).

Most of the misery and unhappiness in the world today is due to the undeniable fact that many do not realize that only by loving, knowing and serving God can man be happy, for only in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, can a man or woman find their true identity and purpose in life. "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God" (CCC, #27); Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in You," said St.Augustine, echoing the inmost reality of our yearning for happiness. Only in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can we find such true happiness.

It is through the Church's Magisterium, authentic and authoritative interpreter of God's revelation, that men and women can be certain that their concept of God is accurate and in accord with the objective reality of God's revelation of Himself to us in the Person of Jesus Christ. It was at Caesaria Phillipi that Jesus asked his followers who people say that He is (Mt. 16:13f). What He received was conflicting and contradictory responses: Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He then asked them who they themselves thought He was. Only one voice rang out with the resonate note of truth, the voice of Peter: "You are the Christ, Son of the living God!" Jesus, for his part, named Peter; "You are the Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell (the very power of eternal death) will not prevail against it." My dear friends, if you want to know Jesus Christ and his teaching, if you want to know the true face of Truth, the true identity of Christ, then look to the successor of St. Peter, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. Do not listen to the discordant and dissident voices of the deceived who go about deceiving others. Look rather to the successor of St. Peter and the bishops united to him, the true teachers and shepherds of the flock. Then, through the gift of obedience, having ears with which to listen, you will be enabled not only to hear, but to become a part of the magnificent symphony of eternal Truth.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
'Upon this Rock I shall build my church'
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT
2/9/2004




Reflecting the thought of the church through the ages, the Catechism (#760) reminds us that Christians of the first centuries said, "The world was created for the sake of the Church." God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by the "convocation" of men in Christ, and this "convocation" is the Church. Many people have problems with the Church quite simply because they do not understand its origins, its mission, or its end. The Catholic Church is not a mere human invention, like a political or social entity. The Church is of divine institution; Jesus Christ himself instituted the Church, not mere men after his Ascension (#763-766).

We recall a striking scene from the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus and his disciples are passing through the region of Caesarea Philippi--a region known for its pagan religions. The Master asks his disciples who they say that the Son of Man is. It was perhaps one of the first public opinion polls regarding Christianity. The results of such polls of mere personal opinions, then as now, are less than satisfying: "Some say John the Baptizer, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." These were conflicting and contradictory guesses and opinions that have none of the ring of authority and authenticity the human spirit needs in order to walk confidently in the dark night of faith. Then, one voice rang out, the voice of Simon: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!" The response of the Lord is the definitive answer when it comes to answering the question, "Who founded the Church?": "Blest are you, Simon son of John! No mere man has revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. I for my part declare to you, you are 'Rock,' and on this rock I will build my church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it." Note who the "I" is: the "I" is a divine person, the subject of action is divine; God himself institutes the Church. The Church is not a mere human institution. Christ, the eternal Word, the Father's Son, institutes and builds his Church on the "Rock."

All through the Old Testament, "Rock" with an uppercase "R" refers to God himself Then in the Gospel of Matthew referred to above, we see Jesus, the "Rock," because he is a divine subject of action, renaming Simon "Rock." Jesus, the real "Rock," is also referred to as the "bridegroom" or "groom" as well in Scripture. The Church is his "bride" (#796). We know, also from the Word, that in marriage, whether natural or supernatural, the "two become one flesh." Jesus and his church are one; bridegroom and bride are one. Hence, Christ is naming Peter "Rock", one with himself. There is no other "Rock" other than Christ absolutely speaking. However, the Rock, in a mystical marriage, unites his beloved bride, the Church, to himself. Simon is named "Rock", and whoever hears the Rock Peter is hearing the Rock who is Christ; whoever rejects the Rock who is Peter, rejects the Rock Christ and the One who sent him, the Father.

You cannot separate the Lord Jesus from his beloved body and bride, the Church. To reject the teaching of Peter and his successors the Roman pontiffs, together with the bishops who are united with the Holy Father in teaching the one faith which has been handed down faithfully form the apostles, is to reject the teaching of Jesus Christ, and the One who sent him, the Father (cf. Luke 10:16).

The Catholic Church can never fail ultimately, although her members can and do. The Church is far more than the sum of her human members, for if that were the case the Church would surely have fallen long ago. The most important member of the Church is her head, Christ the Lord (#792-795). The soul of the Church, the life-giving power, the animator and sanctifier of the Church, is the Holy Spirit. The head and soul of the Church is God; the Church will never fail. The storms of time and the tempests stirred up by earthly kings and rulers come and go; their crowns rise, and fall, and roll in the dust, but the Church goes on. Mere personal opinions come and go. Some say this, some say that, but mere personal opinion cannot move the Rock.

Head and body are one; bridegroom and bride are one. Those who attack the Church attack Christ. When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the newborn church on his way to Damascus, he was knocked off his horse by the light who is Christ. "He fell to the ground and at the same time heard a voice saying, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, sir?' he asked. The voice answered, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.'" Saul was "breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples," against the Church. Christ told him clearly that he was persecuting him, Jesus, the Lord. Christ and his church are one. To love Jesus truly, we must love his church. In an age of violence and violent change, it is comforting to know that we are so intimately one with Christ, residing in his body, as his body and his bride, the Church. Transcending time and space, the Church is relevant to all people at all times and in all places. Indeed, to be rooted in the Rock, to be one with the Rock, keeps us from being swept away by the strife and storms of any time and any place.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT
2/10/2004


Only God could have given us a gift so unimaginable that after 2,000 years we still seem scarcely able to fathom it. The architect of all that is gave us himself. The eternal Father, who created everything through his only Word, willed that the Word become flesh and dwell among us.

Since the moment of the original sin when darkness and death entered Eden, man had labored under the heavy weight of banishment from the kingdom. The gates of heaven were closed, like the gates of the garden. Pain and death were a dark spectre that haunted and frightened man, the legacy of that arrogance which inevitably results in disobedience--which just as inevitably ushers in a reign of death.

Then in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as adopted sons (Galatians 4:4-5). What a night this night of Christ's birth! As the book of Wisdom puts it, "For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half-spent, Your all powerful Word from heaven's royal throne bounded down, a fierce warrior into the doomed land, bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree" (Wisdom 18:14-16).

Humble and unnoticed by the busy world, a poor couple wandered in the night, tired and cold. There was no room for them in the place where travelers lodged (Luke 2:7), fashioning a cold more intense within external cold. To his own he came, yet his own did not accept him (John 1:11). "How cruel," we say, yet "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Today Jesus comes to his own, and, all too often, his own still do not accept him, after having 2,000 years to recognize him. It is easy to mouth the words, "I'm Catholic, I'm Christian," yet do we have room for him in the "inn" of our distracted and dissipated souls? When the dark, cold air of an egocentric culture threatens to all but choke out the fire of love and the light of truth, do we resist the currents of the times or do we go with the flow and float downstream? All too often, dead things float downstream! It takes living faith: minds animated and illumined by eternal truth and wills strengthened by grace to resist the deadly currents of a decaying society.

Mary and Joseph had gone from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to King David's town of Bethlehem in order to register for the census in compliance with the decree of Caesar Augustus. Words are of the utmost importance. After all, it was the "Word" who "became flesh and dwelt among us." The word Bethlehem signifies "house of bread." So that holy night 2,000 years ago in a town called the "house of bread," Mary gave birth to her first-born [and only] Son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger (Luke 2:7). A "manger" is a place where a higher being sets food for lower beings--we put hay in a manger for cattle or other animals.

That "silent night" God arranged that the One who would one day call himself "the Bread of Life" (John 6:35, 6:41, 6:48, 6:51) would be born in a town called "house of bread" and laid in a place where food is made available by a higher being for lower beings. God our Father had given us the greatest gift even God could give--the gift of his only Son, who is One with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

In the stillness of that night of nights, as the Word who had become flesh and was now dwelling among us lay safe in his mother's arms, even then the sacrifice which was the eternal Father's unalterable will was prepared. Soon enough He would suffer, die, and rise on the third day, giving himself to us the "night before He suffered" as the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

The Eucharist is the greatest gift a loving God could ever give--the gift of himself. The eucharistic Lord continues to "come to his own," and how often his own still do not accept him. The same Jesus in his entirety comes to us in the Eucharist: body, blood, soul and divinity--a real, true, and substantial presence--the highest mode of presence on earth. Do we recognize him for all that He is, or do we not recognize who it is that knocks at the door of the inn? The Word who became flesh still dwells among us: Emmanuel--God among us--is among us indeed, on every altar and in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church in the world. We are to become one with the eucharistic Lord Jesus and, filled with him, bring him to all the world. By living his life--a life of prayer, penance and virtue--we become who we are: the body of Christ. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth!
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
I saw a guest reading this thread today... thought it would be a good time to post another one of Fr. Corapi's wonderful articles:

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT
2/9/2004





Pope John Paul II, that great witness of the Gospel, has reminded us that "Evangelization is the most powerful and stirring challenge which the Church has been called to from her very beginning" (Veritatis splendor, 106). This flows from the mandate of Christ to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation" (Mk 16:15).

There is great deal of interest in evangelization and "new evangelization" or "re-evangelization" today. Bishops, priests, religious institutes, and the lay faithful have demonstrated a genuine desire to respond positively to this challenge to evangelize and re-evangelize. However, although programs and policies have been formulated, they often fail to note the most fundamental and necessary element: the absolute necessity and prerequisite for the personal holiness of the one evangelizing (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2013-2014).

There is a fundamental fact of life we must acknowledge: there is only one who truly has the power to evangelize and his name is Jesus Christ. To the extent that we enter into his life and mission we become a force for imparting the Gospel to the church, and through the church to "the whole creation." As Pope Paul VI reminded us in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, "Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness" (#21).

To be an effective witness of the Gospel entails more "being" than "doing." First, we have to become who we are. We are created in God's image, and "the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation" (cf. Col. 1:15) is Jesus. We, through grace, are called to become the presence of Jesus Christ in the world. There is no other authentic meaning of human existence. Indeed, "The man who follows Jesus Christ, the perfect man, himself becomes more of a man," as the Second Vatican Council teaches (The Church in the Modern World, #41).

How, then, do we personally accomplish this fundamental mission of our lives? How in a practical way can we become who we are called to be: Jesus made present to the world? We are in the month of October, the month the church has traditionally dedicated to the rosary of the Virgin Mary. And here we have the answer: Mary, mother of the Lord, mother of the church, spiritual mother of each and every Christian. Mary shows us the way to her Son, the one who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

It was through the faith and fiat of Mary and the creative artistry of the Holy Spirit, "the Lord and the giver of life," that Life himself was conceived and brought forth in accordance with the Father's perfect and holy will. This same essential dynamism goes on as the Body of Christ is conceived mystically and brought forth in her members.

Authentic Marian devotion, which is Christocentric, and doctrinal in its foundation, will lead a person into this mystery of Jesus Christ (#964). It can help us to enter into the life and mission of Jesus Christ, and this is the only possible way each one of us can be an effective instrument for the "new evangelization."Mary shows us how to "become like little children" in the one who is the only Son of the Father. She is the Father's perfect daughter: docile, humble, faithful, obedient to his will, on fire with love even as far as the cross. In desiring to fulfill the Father's will we say fiat to the Father's most holy will: "Yes, Lord, here I am, come to do your will."

Mary, although at the Annunciation she didn't understand it all, "How can this be...?", rendered the obedience of faith: "Be it done unto me according to your word...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." We, like Mary, are called to give the assent of faith: to believe in God; to believe all that God has said and revealed to us, and to believe all that holy church proposes for our belief because He is truth itself (#1814). In accepting the revelation of God as interpreted authentically and authoritatively by the church's magisterium we bring forth Christ in the world.

In her childlike simplicity and humility Mary becomes perfectly open to the action of the Holy Spirit--the "Lord and the giver of life" as the Nicene Creed calls him. He overshadows her and she becomes his spouse, conceiving the One who is Life itself. Hence, Mary, perfectly obedient to the Father's will, and perfectly receptive to the action of the Holy Spirit, conceives and brings forth the One who is "Way, Truth, and Life" in a world that had lost its way, "exchanged the truth of God for a lie," and rejected life in favor of sin which leads to death ("the wages of sin is death" {Cf. Rom. 6:23).

Mary is the mother par excellence, for she is the mother of God (#495). This God, who is also true man, gave her to us from the cross in the person of his beloved disciple, St. John. As mother of the church Mary continues to fulfill a mother's function (#963). A mother is one who says "yes" to life; one who conceives life and gives it the light of day. She then brings that life to maturity by nurturing it: feeding and educating her children. October is a good time to begin actively praying ther osary for the success of the new evangelization, since that success begins with each of us individually. The rosary is nothing less than the prayer of the Gospels. The Gospel is what evangelization is all about. As we pray the rosary we meditate upon the 15 mysteries, 13 of which are found explicitly in the Gospels, two of which can be deduced from the Scriptures.

The main prayers of the "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" are gospel prayers. We begin to interiorize the Gospel, which means we begin to interiorize Jesus Christ, who is the "Good News" of the Gospel. We thus begin to become who we are. In becoming the living presence of Jesus, "the Light of the world," we also become light for a world sinking into darkness under the weight of its own iniquity. In this way we become a powerful force for the "new evangelization", and, like St. Paul, we can cry out with joy: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me!" (Cf. Gal. 2:20).

http://www.fathercorapi.com/index.aspx
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
I enjoy him sooo much. I could totally picture him in the medieval times fighting off some heresy and becoming a saint.

~Victor
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Do you know his backround? What an amazing story... Green beret to millionaire real estate tycoon.... lost everything to drugs.... then became a Priest. You've got to read anything you get your hands on from or about Fr. Corapi.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
OOhh... I found it!

Homily for Seventeenth Sunday Year A by Fr Tommy Lane, Ireland

John Corapi grew up in Hudson, New York. He always wanted to be somebody. In high school he was a football star and thought he was on the way to being somebody but sports didn’t work out for him. During the Vietnam War he thought he could be somebody by being patriotic so he enlisted in the army and became a Green Beret. He was on his way to being somebody until he got hurt in an accident and then he was sent to Germany on administrative duties. After finishing in the army he decided to become an accountant. A friend’s father, a business executive, invited him to Las Vegas. As he drove into Las Vegas and saw all the lights he got excited and thought to himself, now he would be somebody. He began doing the round of the casinos conducting audits, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Flamingo Hilton and so on. He met famous people and began to make money. Through the state governor he got a job for the Nevada Gaming Control Board and investigated gaming fraud all over the country. He was beginning to like it and to think that this is the meaning of life and that he was somebody now. But when the governor didn’t get re-elected he lost his job and went to Los Angeles, California, where there was a real estate boom in the 1970's. When he arrived he looked through the biggest adds for residential property brokers. He went to the company with the biggest add, they gave him a job. Within a few months he was vice-president of the company. He began to make money and have standing. He moved into a pent-house suite overlooking the golf course in Beverly Hills. He said, “Now I really have arrived, this is it.” His clientele were the rich and famous. You would know who most of them, they are in the entertainment business. He would invest their money in real estate. He began eating and drinking with the wealthy and went to their parties and fell into their fast lane life. One day an actress at a party took from her purse a small gold container and said, “Meet my best friend, cocaine.” He began to take the drug that evening. His conscience was dead and so it didn’t bother him if he did immoral things. He gradually lost everything and ended up in hospital due to drugs. For over a month he neither ate nor spoke nor functioned. The only thing he desired was death. For a couple of years he saw no possibility of ever having a normal life or being somebody again. It was absolute darkness, he felt sick in every cell of his being. His mother, who had kept in contact with him all the time, asked him to come home and sent him a one-way ticket. She didn't sent him the money for it because she knew what he would do with it so she sent him the ticket. He began to say one Hail Mary a day, and he didn’t even know it by heart, he had to read it. Then he prayed a Rosary a day, and that led him on to read the Bible every day. Eventually he decided to go to Confession after twenty years of not being to Church. He said the priest was probably brain-damaged after hearing his confession. After that he spent two years in a monastic environment discerning his future, then he entered seminary and on 28th May 1991 he was ordained a priest in St Peter’s Basilica by Pope John Paul II. He wishes he could convey how much he loves the priesthood. Now he has found the meaning of his life, faith in God and being a priest. Some of you may have seen Fr John Corapi S.O.L.T. teaching on EWTN, the Catholic TV Channel. He travels widely teaching.

I was reminded of Fr John Corapi’s story by today’s Gospel. He tasted many of the world’s treasures but eventually he found the treasure hidden in the field, faith in God, thirty-seven years after he made his First Holy Communion. He had experienced many of the world’s pearls but eventually he found the pearl of great value, belief in God. The wisdom of the world says you are somebody when you have money, when you get promotion after promotion. When John Corapi drove down Rodeo Road in Beverly Hills in his red Ferrari people used to turn their head and say, “he’s somebody.” That’s the wisdom of the world. But all of that kind of wisdom only led John to darkness. In our first reading, Solomon showed himself to be really wise because the gift he asked from God was to discern between good and evil. Have we been brainwashed by the media and by our culture into thinking that you are somebody when you have money, when you get promotion after promotion? Are we being brainwashed into thinking that the pearl of great value is one which really only the dust of this world?



Again and again the Bible reminds us that we will find the pearl of great value and the hidden treasure only in God. These are some beautiful passages:
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
John Corapi's Amazing Story
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What Listeners Say

John Corapi's Amazing Story" is just that: amazing. You'll have to listen to it yourself to appreciate how one man can go from the utter depths of despair to the heights of supernatural happiness.

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The Ineffable Power
Because it was the first recording released to the general public featuring Father Corapi, virtually no one in America knew who he was at the time. Of course, Father Corapi has since become one of the most influential Catholic speakers of our times, appearing at countless conferences, parish missions, as well as regularly on EWTN, the global Catholic television network.

Many believe that he has the ineffable power of God fueling his speaking ability, giving him supernatural influence beyond the meaning of his words.

We warmly invite you to experience this miraculous talk in your own way.

Order your free copies online now.
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
I haven't heard his complete story. I think I have his tape somewhere. I need to listen to it.

~Victor
 
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