Matthew Plese

August 29th is the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, one of the most ancient feasts in honor of a saint found in the Church’s liturgical year. While Roman Catholics today are not bound to fast on this day, the Eastern Catholic tradition has preserved a venerable custom that deserves greater attention: fasting in honor of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. There could hardly be a more fitting saint with whom to associate fasting. St. John lived a life of extraordinary penance.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is inseparable from the Message of Fatima. Our Lady showed the shepherd children Her Heart surrounded by thorns,[1] asked for reparation for the sins committed against It,[2] and promised that Her Immaculate Heart would ultimately triumph.[3] Yet this devotion also reveals the hidden interior life of the Mother of God. Her Heart is the most perfect created model of prayer, recollection, and contemplation.

Catholic etiquette inside a church is not about social convention, personal preference, or aesthetic taste. It is a visible expression of what we believe. How Catholics behave in a church flows directly from what the Church teaches about the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. If Christ is truly present – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – then reverence is not optional, and casualness is not neutral.