Free Republic

Look Again and Consecrate "If God so clothes the grass of the field . . . , will He not much more clothe you . . . ?" —Matthew 6:30 A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that “if God so clothes the grass...

Because of the bias of the liberal press, Steve Chalke’s recent endorsement of permanent gay partnerships and the extreme unorthodox views of the ‘Accepting Evangelicals’ group, to which he belongs, have had an unhelpfully disproportionate amount of media coverage. Many Christians are understandably confused. I received this letter this week which I think is not an atypical experience. I am publishing it anonymously with permission and have removed the name of the church. ‘My husband and I worship at a leading conservative evangelical Anglican church and we value the teaching we receive there. Our adult children come from different angles,...

January 26, 2013 Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops   Reading 1 2 Tm 1:1-8 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godfor the promise of life in Christ Jesus,to Timothy, my dear child:grace, mercy, and peace from God the Fatherand Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God,whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,so that I may be filled with joy, as I recall your sincere faiththat first lived in your...

Church remembers St. Paul's companions, Sts. Timothy and Titus   By Benjamin Mann   Credit: Joe Thorn (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Denver, Colo., Jan 20, 2013 / 06:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Jan. 26, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, close companions of the Apostle Paul and bishops of the Catholic Church in its earliest days.Both men received letters from St. Paul, which are included in the New Testament. Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians also venerate the saints, but do not combine their commemorations. Instead, the Byzantine tradition remembers St. Titus on Aug. 25...

What does IHS stand for? The meaning of the Holy Name of Jesus   January 3rd, Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus In the Extraordinary Form, the feast of the Holy Name is of the “second class” (making it equal to Sundays throughout the year, complete with the recitation of the Gloria and the Credo), but in the Ordinary Form the memorial of the Holy Name was not even included in the calendar after 1970. Happily, the feast was re-instituted as an optional memorial by Bl. John Paul II – we should think that the Name deserves at...

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's announcement that the military will remove its ban on women in combat drew criticism from several Southern Baptist leaders, who expressed concern over privacy and military effectiveness and also warned the move is part of a larger societal effort to blur differences between men and women. Panetta made his announcement Thursday (Jan. 24), saying the removal of the ban had unanimous approval from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With the removal, about 237,000 positions on or near the front lines of combat are now open to women. "If members of our military can...

Anyone on a faith walk will eventually ask the question, “How do I pray?” Except for the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, there is no easy answer, for prayer is a very personal and personalized pursuit. And, as with all pursuits, practice is the key to success and prayer is no different. You will soon discover the more you pray, the more you will find answers to difficult questions, along with mental or physical healing from various maladies, protection for you or your loved ones and comfort from any number of storms that happen to be raging in...

The 40th March for Life is being held today in Washington DC. Here’s the Facebook page. Lifesite News has a schedule of today’s events. Organizers say today’s rally in the nation’s capital may bring more anti-abortion activists to the streets than last year’s estimated 400,000. Pope Benedict XVI tweeted out his support for the march early this morning...

DENVER - In contrast to typical Church doctrine, lawyers for a Catholic hospital in Canon City are arguing fetuses aren't people, in response to a wrongful death lawsuit that is now being appealed to the state Supreme Court. Although the court case has stalled, a recent article gave it a burst of national attention.Lori Stodghill died of pulmonary emboli on Jan. 1, 2006 at St. Thomas More Hospital, according to a district court judge's summary judgment on the case in 2010. At the time of her death, Stodghill was pregnant with twins who did not survive.Stodghill's husband, Jeremy, filed a...

Two years ago I engaged in an extensive public discussion about whether New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, could, in light of his living arrangements, participate in holy Communion. I argued that he could not. As far as I know, those living arrangements remain unchanged, but, it appears that Cuomo has, since that discussion, respectfully refrained from approaching for holy Communion. In this regard, at least, the governor is not aggravating his conflicts with Catholic belief and discipline. But I also warned then that the ecclesiastical consequences of Cuomo’s pro-abortion activism must eventually be faced. That day seems...

The magnificence of life is really too wonderful too describe. But I found this description some years ago which summons reverence by its very ability to baffle the mind:MIRACLE OF LIFE- Consider the miracle of the human body. Its chemistry is just as extraordinarily well tuned as is the physics of the cosmos. Our world on bothsides of the divide that separates life from lifelessness is filled with wonder. Each human cell has a double helix library of three billion base pairs providing fifty thousand genes. These three billion base pairs and fifty thousand genes somehow engineer 100 trillion neural...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Forty years of legalized abortion have profoundly demoralized American society, not only weakening respect for human life but undermining marriage, parenthood and individuals' sense of duty to others, said U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford. The cardinal, a former archbishop of Denver and former head of two Vatican offices, said that the legalization of abortion was itself a result of flawed ideas about freedom deeply rooted in American history. Cardinal Stafford, 80, spoke with Catholic News Service shortly before the Jan. 25 March for Life marking the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday (Jan. 24) defended the pope’s choice to open a Twitter account even if it exposes him to insults and online abuse. “Twitter is a secular reality ... but we prefer to be present rather than stay away from something just to avoid a risk,” said Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican’s department for social communications, during the launch of the annual papal message for World Communications Day. Pope Benedict XVI opened his Twitter handle @Pontifex on Dec. 3. It has since gathered more than 2.5 million followers in nine languages, including...

Jonathan Cahn, author of ‘The Harbinger’ and pastor/rabbi of Beth Israel Messianic Congregation of Wayne, NJ, gives the key note address at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. 01/21/13

Knoxville, Tenn., known for being the home of Dolly Parton and the Tennessee Valley Authority, was named number one on the American Bible Society's "Most Bible-Minded Cities" list. With research conducted by the Barna Group, the ABS' recently released findings were based off of seven years' worth of telephone and online interviews with a random sample space of 42,855 adults. After Knoxville, the other nine cities on the top ten list in descending order are: Shreveport, La.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Springfield, Mo.; Charlotte, N.C.; Roanoke and Lynchburg, Va. sharing the number 8 spot; Huntsville, Ala.; and Charleston,...

FULL TITLE: Primary school bans six-year-old boy from wearing Christian band in class for 'health and safety reasons' A furious dad has slammed a school after his six-year-old son was banned from wearing a Christian band in class on health and safety grounds. Peter Thompson's son Eddie had been wearing the band, decorated with the Christian symbol of a fish, out of sight for six months. But when a teacher spotted Eddie scratching his ankle she noticed the band, covered by his sock, and ordered him to hand it over. Now he is being kept at home after he was...

Featured Term (selected at random):APOCRYPHA Originally writings that claimed a sacred origin and were supposed to have been hidden for generations; later, a well-define class of literature with scriptural or quasi-scriptural pretensions, but lacking genuineness and canonicity, composed during the two centuries before Christ and the early centuries of our era. Protestants apply the term improperly to denote also Old Testament books not contained in the Jewish canon but received by Catholics under the name of deuterocanonical. The following is a list of the Apocrypha: Apocrypha of Jewish Origin: Jewish Apocalypses; Book of Henoch; Assumption of Moses: Fourth Book of...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation "Liberated Dachau camp prisoners cheer U.S. troops." (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoners_liberation_dachau.jpg) 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed. and gives food...

Bishop Ignacio Carasco de Paula ROME, January 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The head of the Pontifical Academy for Life described the pro-life marches and events being held across the US this week as an historic witness to the sanctity of human life and an important example to the world. “These marches for life that are taking place across the United States are very important, not only for the country, but for the whole world,” Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) yesterday. “These events which favor human life without limits, from conception until the end, have...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures YAHPsalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name YAH, And rejoice before Him.