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October 11, 2008                                 Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                     in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Gal 3:22-29 Brothers and sisters:Scripture confined all things under the power of sin,that through faith in Jesus Christthe promise might be given to those who believe. Before faith came, we were held in custody under law,confined for the faith that was to be revealed.Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ,that we might be justified by faith.But now that faith has come, we are no...

"Eternal life" is redundant. If it is "life" it must be eternal, unconquerable by death. John 3:16 then says - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have life". If we believe in Jesus, we are supposed to have life. Got life? Remain blessed, fogman.

ROME, OCT. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- As Christians in India continue to face persecution for their faith, they will have a new advocate in the figure of soon-to-be St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception.Blessed Alfonsa (born Anna Muttathupadathu) is one of four people to be canonized by Benedict XVI this Sunday. The other three are Maria Bernarda Butler, from Switzerland; Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán from Ecuador; and Father Gaetano Errico from Italy.Blessed Alfonsa will be the first woman from India to be canonized. She was a religious of the Poor Clares.Anna Muttathupadathu was born in the Indian state of Kerala...

Two small parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia have quit the denomination over gay ordination and joined a like-minded group of dissident churches based in Northern Virginia. The break-away Anglican District of Virginia announced Friday that Christ Church in Emporia and Grace Church in Purdy had become members. The district now includes 23 parishes that have cut ties with the Episcopal Church. Church of the Messiah in Chesapeake quit the Episcopal denomination in 2006. Grace Episcopal Church in Newport News quit a couple years earlier. The Southern Virginia diocese has about 120 parishes, including more than two dozen...

It’s little wonder that biographer Judith Cabaud considers Eugenio Zolli one of the most remarkable men of the twentieth century. Born in 1881 in Ukraine, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Zolli's baby boy was given the first name Israel. Sixty years later he was chief Rabbi of Rome. In 1944, while in the synagogue celebrating Yom Kippur, Zolli experienced a mystical vision of Jesus Christ. Within a year he was baptized a Catholic at which time he changed his first name from Israel to Eugenio, the same Christian name as Pope Pius XII. He did this to honor...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - October 10 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Faultless before the presence of his glory." - Jude 24 Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, "faultless!" We are far off from it now; but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in his work of love, we shall reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep his people to the end, will also present them at last to himself, as "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." All the jewels in the Saviour's crown are of...

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2008 / 11:35 am (CNA).- On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, with Pope Benedict present, several Church fathers offered their input to the ongoing synod on the Bible. Among them were the president of the Council on the Family, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts.Addressing the assembly, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli spoke about the need to incorporate the Word of God into the lives of families. The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family recommended that families make the Bible a part of their lives by following...

Buenos Aires, Oct 10, 2008 / 01:28 pm (CNA).- Pablo is one of the one hundred Argentinean young people who stood outside the Cathedral of Neuquen on August 17 to shield the church from protests by feminists who want abortion to be legalized.Thousands of people have been moved by a video of the young people posted on CNA’s YouTube channel, which shows the ferocity of the confrontation by the feminists who were gathered for the National Encounter of Women in Neuquen.  They shouted insults and threw objects at the young people who were shielding the Cathedral. One of the young...

Stock Market Stability prayer; US Economic Stability Prayer; Pray to end foreclosures This Prayer has never been known to Fail anyone; Pklease pray it. Mount Carmel Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary > > (Never known to fail) > > > Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, > splendor of Heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of God, > Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity, Oh Star of > the Sea, help me and show me here you are my Mother. Oh > Holy Mary, Mother of God queen of Heaven and Earth, I > humbly...

The many surprisingly advanced civilizations in the New World boggled the mind of the first Europeans that arrived. How could these savages construct amazing buildings and maintain an advanced social structure, when they didn't even know about God? Wild theories were soon introduced to explain the mystery. The most common theory, and one that you will still hear, is that early Europeans or Egyptians must have visited the New World centuries earlier, bringing their wisdom and knowledge. Even though we do know that parts of the New World were indeed visited before Columbus, it is more likely that civilizations developed...

Everybody loves a riddle.  See if you can guess what ties these people together based on the MSM coverage: “Brought up a devout Catholic, [he] aspired to become a priest….”Although a devout Catholic, [she] is happy to face evil in her latest film, she tells Gill Pringle: ..�At home I expose my children to all faiths. I put a different book on the stairs leading up to our bedrooms — books on Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and so on. I want them to get a taste of different religions and see how different people approach things and what their motivation...

Failure and Success: The Scramble for Popularity Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. --Matthew 5:11-12 Popular Judaism slew the prophets and crucified Christ. Popular Christianity killed the Reformers, jailed the Quakers and drove John Wesley into the streets. When it comes to religion, the crowds are always wrong. At any time there are a few who see, and the rest are blinded. To...

Evolution and the Woman by Henry Morris, Ph.D.   "For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." (1 Corinthians 11:8-9)In spite of the overwhelming scientific evidence against evolution, "Christian evolutionists" still argue (or, at least, allow) that evolution could be God's method of creation.Such a fence-straddling position is logically untenable, however, and gravely dangerous spiritually. There are numerous biblical and theological reasons why evolution, under any guise, must be unequivocally repudiated by Bible-believing Christians, and one of the most...

In any age, there are end-of-the-world predictions in time of societal upset (as well as unusual elections). When there is turmoil -- as there is now turmoil -- the prophetic pulse quickens. It grows dramatic. Or, past dramatic prophecies are rehashed. The question becomes: when does it go beyond credibility? Events such as September 11, the Iraq war, and the Asian tsunami caused a flurry of apocalyptic prophecy, and now we have the "9/11 of finances" (occurring, again -- for those with ears to hear -- in Lower Manhattan). And so now there are many prophecies circulating. Some are extreme...

Read Acts 17:1-15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 When someone begins to tell us what they believe or we read a book talking about spiritual issues, how do we know if what they say is legitimate? What should our response be – our first course of action? Simple: go back to The Book. Search the Scriptures. In today’s passage, we read about Paul’s preaching in Thessalonica. He spent three Sabbaths in the synagogue, explaining and proving that Jesus is the Christ....

Praying the Rosary By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen J.M.J. From the earliest days, the Church asked its faithful to recite the one hundred and fifty Psalms of David. This custom still prevails among priests, who recite some of these Psalms every day. [9] However, it was not easy for anyone to memorize the one hundred and fifty Psalms. Then, too, before the invention of printing, it was difficult to procure a book of the Psalms. That is why certain important books like the Bible had to be chained like telephone books are today; otherwise people would have run off with...

The God of Comfort Today's Scripture “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” (Isaiah 66:13 NIV). Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Oftentimes, when people face challenges, they seek comfort in things that are familiar. It may be work, or an activity, or relationships; and of course, we all know about “comfort food.” But those things only bring temporary comfort. True comfort is found in a personal relationship with God in heaven through His Son, Jesus. According to Webster’s dictionary, comfort means: to give strength and hope; to ease grief or trouble. No matter what...

How Will I Know? " Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ " —Matthew 11:25 We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— "But if we walk in the light," we are cleansed "from all sin" ( 1 John 1:7  ). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly...

Muslims are on the March! Muslims are determined to make the US a Muslim nation, one way or another. In fact, every Muslim is required to make the nation where he or she lives an Islamic nation. They are sending copies of the Koran to American homes and are planning a door-to-door conversion campaign. They are more excited and committed that any of the other cults. They are having meetings across America with thousands attending. In those meetings, they pitch the Koran as a divinely inspired book accurate in every detail; however, they don’t tell anyone that the Koran has...

October 10, 2008                                 Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Gal 3:7-14 Brothers and sisters:Realize that it is those who have faithwho are children of Abraham.Scripture, which saw in advance that Godwould justify the Gentiles by faith,foretold the good news to Abraham, saying,Through you shall all the nations be blessed.Consequently, those who have faith are blessedalong with Abraham who had faith.For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse;for it is written,...

Chicago, Oct 9, 2008 / 01:07 am (CNA).- Vision Vocation Guide and the VocationMatch.com web site have reported that over the past year more than 6,900 people interested in Catholic religious vocations completed online profiles and requested information from religious communities through the web site.The web site gathers information from inquirers and matches their profiles against the profiles of religious communities to produce recommendations, similar to the way matches are made at dating sites. Vision Vocation Guide says in a press release that VocationMatch.com users become “more qualified discerners” who have considered practical questions about a religious vocation, such...

Failure and Success: The Passion for Publicity For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness-God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. --1 Thessalonians 2:5-6 If this is a fairly accurate view of things, what can we say then when Christian men vie with one another for place and position? What can we answer when we see them hungrily seeking for praise and honor? How can we excuse that passion for publicity...

Archbishop Raymond Burke Vatican City, Oct 8, 2008 / 05:58 pm (CNA).- On Tuesday, the former Archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, received an appointment from Pope Benedict XVI making him the head of the Vatican’s bar association. In addition to his duties as the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Archbishop Burke will now serve as the president of the Commission for Advocates. The president of the commission is in charge of admitting canon lawyers to the Vatican’s "bar association." Those who are admitted to represent the Holy See in the Apostolic Signatura must be...

No King in Israel by Henry Morris, Ph.D.   "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6)Four times in the Book of Judges we are told that "there was no king in Israel in those days" (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), indicating that the book must have been compiled either by Samuel (the last judge) or someone else of his or a later generation. The first and last of these (which is the final verse in the book) add that "every man did that...

Remembering my mother's home going 1 year this month and with the view of a red-tail hawk in flight with it’s song, also a fish fly by out of the running brook.

Leading this morning's memorial Mass on the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's death, B16 donned a Roman vestment in tribute to the Eternal City's last native to become its bishop... and indicated that the movement toward Eugenio Pacelli's beatification continues well apace: Among other things, Benedict prayed aloud that the cause to declare Pius XII a saint “may move forward happily.” Benedict XVI’s comments came in a homily for a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius XII in October 1958. A reminder of the controversy surrounding Pius came earlier in...

Bishop Martino of Scranton, PA - the hometown of pro-choice Senator Joe Biden - recently wrote a pastoral letter for Respect Life Sunday which focused on the evil of abortion. He told all his priests to read the letter in place of their homily this past Sunday. Here's how the local paper, the Scranton-Times Tribune responded: Gee, I guess depicting the Bishop with a baby cradled in his arms wouldn't convey the kind of point this cartoonist-satirist is comfortable with. I've said before that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice, and this is a perfect example. Imagine a cartoon...

On October 11, tens of thousands of Catholics will take to the public square in 3,500 locations nationwide to pray for the nation in these troubled times. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima campaign are inviting the public to join these Public Square Rosary rallies as a way of spiritually countering same-sex “marriage,” abortion and other immoral customs that are threatening the nation. The campaign believes human efforts to solve America ’s problems are failing. We must turn to God for real solutions. The 3,500 Rosary Rallies in the...

Stop what you are doing for a second. This is important. How important? Well it’s the most important thing EVER. As a country it is my contention that the United States is perched precariously on the edge of a great abyss. It is that same abyss from which the Anti-Christ will arrive. You see the great city of Babylon in the Bible, in my opinion, is the United States, and oh how the mighty have fallen. Senator Barack Obama has said a lot of things that are not true in this election, but one thing he has said that is...

Read 1 John 2:22-24, 4:1-6 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God…I John 4:2-3a When the apostle John writes about confessing the Son and confessing Jesus, he doesn’t mean just saying the name. He doesn’t mean just putting the name in all capital letters and inserting it into the name of your church. He doesn’t mean just tacking the name on to the end of your prayers or statements of faith. If...

Please the Lord Today's Scripture “When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What does it mean to please the Lord? In the book of Hebrews, it says that faith pleases God. Faith is simply believing that God is who He says He is, and that He rewards those who seek after Him. The Bible also tells us that faith without works is dead. In other words, we know that we have faith in our hearts because it impacts our actions....

Building on the Atonement " . . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God " —Romans 6:13 I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to...

SAINT LOUIS BERTRAND Dominican Missionary and Preacher (1526-1581) Saint Louis Bertrand was born in the year 1526, the oldest of the eight children of his good Christian parents, at Valencia in Spain. He was in every way a model of modesty and obedience, and it was foreseen that God had some particular role for him. He devoted himself to the sick in the hospitals. He desired to enter the Order of Saint Dominic, but for some time could not obtain his parents’ permission. Finally, in 1545, he became professed in the Dominican Order, then was ordained a priest in 1547...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - October 9 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Able to keep you from falling." - Jude 24 In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped." If we were...

October 9, 2008                                 Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Gal 3:1-5 O stupid Galatians!Who has bewitched you,before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?I want to learn only this from you:did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,or from faith in what you heard?Are you so stupid?After beginning with the Spirit,are you now ending with the flesh?Did you experience so many things in vain?–if indeed it was in vain.Does, then, the...

Good News for the Liturgy Posted Oct. 7, 2008 3:32 PM || by Dr. Jeff Mirus || category Commentary For liturgical changes over the past generation or so, official preparation of the faithful has been minimal. The vacuum has too often been filled by professional liturgists and liturgical publishing houses with their own agendas, agendas sometimes at odds with the unbroken Tradition of the Catholic Church. But not any more.The Mass is currently being re-translated in a long project arising from two important Vatican initiatives. In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued new principles of proper translation in Liturgiam Authenticam, a...

In many respects, the contemporary church in America looks more like a large corporation than like anything described in the New Testament. Even church leaders sometimes bear a closer resemblance to CEOs and corporate executives than to humble, tender shepherds. Sadly, the good news — that a sinner can find forgiveness for sins before a holy God by placing his trust in and committing his whole life to Jesus Christ — is often eclipsed by “success”-oriented programs and an interest in the bottom line. As a result, many churches have become nothing more than entertainment centers, employing tactics that effectively...

The Fall of Satan's Kingdom "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time" (Revelation 12:12). When we consider the whole picture, we can hold no doubt that this is Satan's world rather than God's. Paul even refers to our era as "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). However, Satan will not always dominate planet earth. Bible prophecy reveals that an astounding series of events will shake our world as never before and usher in a new age—a 1,000-year...

According to a press release from the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Gordon, who is the executive producer of Fox’s drama “24”, released a statement in which he said: “After being contacted by a number of people whose opinions I respect and after reviewing Obsession with their criticisms and concerns in mind, I have asked the film makers to remove my endorsement from the Obsession website and from any future promotional materials. While I remain committed to the film’s essential message—that the hate-mongering promoted by radical Islamism presents a real threat to western values of tolerance and pluralism—I also...

"Pray for the Christians of India, pray for our people . . . so that they may understand that God is greater than anything, and can overcome evil with good": this is the message that Sr. Nirmala Joshi, superior of the Missionaries of Charity, has given to AsiaNews during her visit to Orissa, where for more than a month radical Hindu groups have unleashed a pogrom against Christians. The Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa's order, have been struck by the wave of violence; orphanages and hospices for lepers where they welcomed the abandoned have been destroyed. The brutality of the...

On How St. Paul Knew Christ "Jesus Lives Now and Speaks With Us Now" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the previous catecheses on St. Paul, I spoke of his encounter with the Risen Christ, which fundamentally changed his life, and then of his relationship with the Twelve Apostles called by Jesus, particularly with Sts. James,...

None But the Hungry Heart #2 Number two of None But the Hungry Heart is shared with the specific purpose of setting forth some of the scriptural principles of growth in the Christian life. An over-all knowledge of the Word of God is very important, and can produce a certain amount of spiritual development. However, careful study and experiential heart knowledge of the explicit truths for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ are required to bring us to spiritual maturity. The contents of this booklet are prayerfully designed to guide the believer to his satisfying source--Christ Jesus, our life....

I need help to find a quote by the Pope about voting for the lesser of two evils (paraphasing) A while ago I said on a thread that I could not vote for John McCain because of his support for embryonic stem cell research. A FReeper gave me a quote from the Pope stating basically that we are charged as Catholics to vote for the more pro-life candidate. Could someone give me that quote again? A bunch of women are STILL voting for Ron Paul because of the stem cell issue.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Learning to pray with the Scriptures, improving homilies and ensuring an accurate interpretation of Bible passages were the major themes of formal presentations, open discussion and small-group work Oct. 7-8 at the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible. Canadian Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the synod's English-language briefing officer, said the three concerns came up repeatedly during the Oct. 7 open-mike discussion in the synod hall and in small groups Oct. 8. Pope Benedict XVI was not present for the Oct. 7 evening session, and he does not participate in the small-group discussions. Father Rosica said...

Inclusivism The belief concerning the destiny of the unevangelized that the blood of Christ is the only way for a person to be saved, but that one does not necessarily have to hear and believe the Gospel in order to be saved by the blood of Christ. In other words, Christ is needed ontologically, but not epistemologically. Inclusivists would argue that heaven will be populated by many who did not ever accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ such as Old Testament saints (who never heard it) and those who are mentally unable (infants and the mentally handicapped). Therefore, according to...

Statement on Senator Biden's Recent Comments on Church Teachings on Abortion Bishop W. Francis MaloolyDiocese of Wilmington, Delaware Statement of Bishop W. Francis Malooly, Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, regarding Senator Biden’s statements on Catholic Church teachings on abortion: September 10, 2008 Earlier today, our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement to clarify remarks recently made by Senator Joseph Biden. They explain the truth of the matter in a clear and concise way. As your Bishop, I want you to understand our Church teaching, embrace it and promote it. The USCCB statement is as...

Parents should teach their children to pray. The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say. The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared. In time, when the child is away from home and family, prayer can provide the shield of protection the parent will want so much for them to have. Parting can be hard, particularly when...

Was to watch out for deceivers... In your opinion, was he speaking of the *Church* if so what Church? Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. (Mat 24:4, 5) The Lord also mentioned the success that false prophets will have in their deceptions. This should cause all Christians to stay on their spiritual guard, for many will be deceived: Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. (Mat 24:11 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,...

(ANSA) - Vatican City, October 8 - One of Italy's top journalists and historians on Wednesday defended controversial wartime pope Pius XII from the charge that he did not speak out against Hitler. ''Pius XII was a great pope, equal to the situation,'' Corriere della Sera editor and bestselling historian Paolo Mieli said. In an interview with Vatican daily Osservatore Romano on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the pope's death, Mieli said people had been seeking evidence that Pius was culpably silent about the Holocaust since the early 1960s. ''They've been looking for proof of his guilt since...

New York, NY, October 7, 2008 … On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII and due to renewed efforts by some to use incomplete historical evidence and testimony as the basis to reach definitive conclusions asserting that he did all he could to save Jews during the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is again calling on the Vatican to fully open its wartime archives. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: The need is greater than ever for the Vatican to fully open its wartime archives. It is essential that...