Free Republic

7 October 2025 Our Lady of the Rosary on Tuesday of week 27 in Ordinary Time Basilica of Santa Giustina, PaduaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingJonah 3:1-10The Ninevites repent, and God spares themThe word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare: it took three...

When pastor and author TD Jakes fell under suspicion of attending sex parties hosted by hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jakes blamed the rumors on an army of “44,000 bots that were released on me.” According to Jakes, an investigation found that 98% of social media posts connecting him with the sex parties were artificial intelligence-generated. As churches grapple with how to ethically integrate AI into their ministries, unscrupulous scammers are taking advantage of new technologies for their own purposes. The FBI’s Internet Crime Report shows cyber crimes steadily rising over the last five years, and one cybersecurity analyst warned...

6 October 2025 Monday of week 27 in Ordinary Time Inner view of the romaneque church St. Pantaleon, CologneReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingJonah 1:1-2:1,11Jonah flees from his callThe word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and inform them that their wickedness has become known to me.’ Jonah decided to run away from the Lord, and to go to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish; he paid his fare and went aboard, to go with them to...

From this morning's service. The world has a lot to say, but none of it can save. True wisdom, comfort, and hope come from the Word of God alone. Scripture proves the reliability of your faith, the truth of Jesus as Messiah, and the unshakable assurance that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Message is 57:29 mins long

The strange death of ProtestantismThat broad body of Christian belief and practice known to the world as Protestantism originated in Catholic Western Europe in the 16th century, mostly the fruit of the highly original, expansive mind of Martin Luther, and then of the rather narrower and derivative mind of John Calvin. The pivotal doctrine of Protestantism was encapsulated in the easy and elegant slogan: justification by faith alone.In a Catholic culture in which the passion and death of Jesus on the cross were at the very heart of religious sensibility, Luther's message that Jesus's sacrifice was so overwhelmingly sufficient that...

5 October 2025 27th Sunday in Ordinary TimeCelebrating Saint Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Apostle of God's MercyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingHabakkuk 1:2-3,2:2-4The upright man will live by his faithfulnessHow long, O Lord, am I to cry for helpwhile you will not listen;to cry ‘Oppression!’ in your earand you will not save?Why do you set injustice before me,why do you look on where there is tyranny?Outrage and violence, this is all I see,all is contention, and discord flourishes.Then the Lord answered and said,‘Write the vision down,inscribe it on tabletsto be easily read,since this vision is for its...

The Prophet of all Prophets, who just happens to be the very Word of God (John 1:1), described the human condition at the time of the first phase of His Second Coming. Jesus said: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26). Those are strong words, and they open an avenue that runs directly to a signal around which we can build a case for how near this generation must be to the Rapture. I write of the Rapture, and not Christ’s Second Advent,...

Psalm 2 reads: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath...

4 October 2025 Saint Francis of Assisi on Saturday of week 26 in Ordinary Time Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi, Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingBaruch 4:5-12,27-29Take courage, my children, call on GodTake courage, my people,constant reminder of Israel.You were sold to the nations,but not for extermination.You provoked God;and so were delivered to your enemies,since you had angered your creatorby offering sacrifices to demons, not to God.You had forgotten the eternal God who reared you.You had also grieved Jerusalem who nursed you,for when she saw...

3 October 2025 Friday of week 26 in Ordinary Time All Saints Church, Old Town Manassas Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingBaruch 1:15-22We have been disobedient to the Lord our GodIntegrity belongs to the Lord our God; to us the look of shame we wear today, to us, the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, to our kings and princes, our priests, our prophets, as to our ancestors, because we have sinned in the sight of the Lord, have disobeyed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God telling us...

GAFCON, a grouping of conservative Anglican churches across Africa and Asia, said the Church of England's appointment of its first female Archbishop of Canterbury showed that the English arm of the church had "relinquished its authority to lead". "Today's appointment makes it clearer than ever before that Canterbury has relinquished its authority to lead. The reset of our beloved Communion is now uniquely in the hands of GAFCON, and we are ready to take the lead," the alliance said in a statement on Friday.

There's a lot of talk about justice and forgiveness as the world recently watched Erika Kirk publicly forgive her husband's alleged assassin. In this episode, Pastor Jack shares insights into what the Bible has to say about forgiveness and how we are to apply it to others, as well as what it means in regard to our relationship with God. This is a podcast and is 26:42 minutes long.

2 October 2025 The Holy Guardian Angels on Thursday of week 26 in Ordinary Time The Church of St. Leodegar, Lucerne. The Altar of the Deposition of Jesus from the CrossReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingNehemiah 8:1-12All the people listened attentively to the Book of the LawWhen the seventh month came, all the people gathered as one man on the square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses which the Lord had prescribed for...

The claim that Marian devotion in Catholicism is derived from pagan goddess worship—specifically Ishtar, Diana, or Astarte—is a persistent but thoroughly discredited myth rooted in 19th-century anti-Catholic propaganda, most notably Alexander Hislop’s *The Two Babylons* (1853). This narrative, often recycled in modern social media and evangelical circles, alleges that Mary’s veneration as the Mother of God (Theotokos) or Queen of Heaven is a Christianized version of ancient pagan goddess cults. However, linguistic, historical, biblical, and cultural evidence reveals no connection. This compiled text is inspired by discussions with our fellow freepers and I hope offers a detailed, accessible refutation of...

1 October 2025 Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor on Wednesday of week 26 in Ordinary Time St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church - Lansing, MI Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingNehemiah 2:1-8'Give me leave to go to the city of my ancestors and rebuild it'In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, the wine being my concern, I took up the wine and offered it to the king. Now I had never been downcast before. So the king said,...

It's 6am on December 25, and I’ve just finished Fajr prayer, the first prayer of the day. I hear the quiet scurries of my mum downstairs beginning to prep the food for Christmas Day. I sit in peaceful silence in my room like I do every time after praying. It’s my time between me and God. I look around my room and above my desk, I see pictures of me at 2023 Manchester Pride sporting a T-shirt with ‘Queer, Muslim & Proud’ written on the front. ...I was in Thrace, on the shores of northern Greece when I first heard...

Five years after the doors of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville, Missouri, were closed, its owner Stephanie Householder pleaded guilty to abuse charges against the girls in her care, according to KRCG. Earlier this month, Householder received a sentence of 120 days in prison, to be served concurrently, for the child abuse charges, but was given credit for time served. She was sentenced to five years of probation for charges of endangering the welfare of a child. If she violates the terms of her probation, Householder will have to serve eight years in prison. Her trial was set...

30 September 2025 Saint Jerome, Priest, Doctor on Tuesday of week 26 in Ordinary Time St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church, ChicagoReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingZechariah 8:20-23Many peoples and great nations will come to seek the Lord of HostsThe Lord of Hosts says this: ‘There will be other peoples yet, and citizens of great cities. And the inhabitants of one city will go to the next and say, “Come, let us go and entreat the favour of the Lord, and seek the Lord of Hosts;...

In the latest of many, many predictions of the end of the world, the Earth is set to end on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, according to a conspiracy theory going wild on TikTok and X. Every now and then, someone (sometimes, but not always, Isaac Newton) suggests that the world is about to end in some horrifying new way. Without exception (see: you aren't dead) they have all turned out to be nonsense, sometimes to the embarrassment of the "prophet" who suggested it. If you're older than 13, you have already lived through being dinosaured by imaginary planet Niburu several...

* Stand with thousands of pro-life individuals throughout the USA and Canada in honor of millions of babies whose lives have been lost to abortion. Pray for people in crisis situations and for our nations. * You'll be a light in a darkened world as you help put an end to abortion through prayer! * Bring your whole family! * Water, lawn chairs, umbrellas and strollers are welcome and encouraged! * Rain or shine! * Signs proclaim "Abortion Kills Children," "Adoption the Loving Option," "Jesus Forgives & Heals," "Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation," "Abortion Hurts Women," "Life - the...