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August 19, 2014Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 28:1-10 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man,say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are haughty of heart,you say, “A god am I!I occupy a godly thronein the heart of the sea!”—And yet you are a man, and not a god,however you may think yourself like a god.Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,there is no secret that is beyond you.By your wisdom and your intelligenceyou have made riches for yourself;You have put gold and...

Yoke Destroyer Today's Scripture “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” (Isaiah 10:27, KJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria A yoke is something that is put around the neck of an ox to help control the animal. It limits its movement. If the ox starts to get off course, the yoke is used to pull it back. Even though an ox is very powerful, this small yoke keeps...

Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sorrow? " When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich —Luke 18:23 " The rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus’ words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to respond. Have you ever been there? Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He...

August 18, 2014Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 24:15-23 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, by a sudden blowI am taking away from you the delight of your eyes,but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead,bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet,do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread.That evening my wife died,and the next morning I did as I had been commanded.Then the people asked me, “Will you not tell...

Are You Discouraged or Devoted? " . . . Jesus . . . said to him, ’You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me.’ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich —Luke 18:22-23 " Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven’t, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him,...

Many of our readers have undoubtedly heard that Holy Innocents Church, the only church in Manhattan where the Extraordinary Form is celebrated daily, faces the possibility of closure by the Archdiocese of New York. Via Rorate Caeli, which has reported on the situation several times, the following brief video published by our friends at Regina Magazine, shows several nice images of the church’s vibrant pastoral life, and ends with a link to a petition to Cardinal Dolan to keep the church open and operating.

Pope Francis celebrates the beatification Mass of Paul Yun Ji-chung and 123 martyred companions in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 16.CNS photo/Paul Haring SEOUL, South Korea - Pope Francis placed 124 Korean martyrs on the last step toward sainthood in a beatification Mass Aug. 16 that brought elation to the 800,000 people in attendance. The sun was searing as Bishop Francis Ahn Myong-ok of Masan, president of the commission for the beatification, asked the pope to pronounce the martyrs blessed. After hearing a brief collective biography of 124 of the original founders of the Korean Catholic Church, Pope Francis pronounced the...

August 17, 2014Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Is 56:1, 6-7 Thus says the LORD:Observe what is right, do what is just;for my salvation is about to come,my justice, about to be revealed. The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,ministering to him,loving the name of the LORD,and becoming his servants—all who keep the sabbath free from profanationand hold to my covenant,them I will bring to my holy mountainand make joyful in my house of prayer;their burnt offerings and sacrificeswill be acceptable on my altar,for my house shall be calleda house of prayer for all peoples. Responsorial...

Does He Know Me . . . ? " He calls his own . . . by name . . . —John 10:3 " When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18). It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet. In fact, any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never...

August 16, 2014Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 The word of the LORD came to me:Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverbthat you recite in the land of Israel: “Fathers have eaten green grapes,thus their children’s teeth are on edge”? As I live, says the Lord GOD:I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among youwho will repeat this proverb in Israel.For all lives are mine;the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine;only the one who sins shall die....

Unlimited Supply Today's Scripture “And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe. ...” (Ephesians 1:19, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria If someone had a thousand gallons of water to give you but you only had a one-gallon container, you wouldn’t be able to receive what they had for you. The problem would not be with the supply; it would be with your ability to receive. If you would get rid of the small container and get something larger, then...

The Evidence of the New Birth " You must be born again —John 3:7 " The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.“But as many as received Him. . .” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result...

Gary Sinise – actor, director, bass player, patriot, philanthropist and convert to Catholicism – was a surprise guest at the Knights of Columbus’ annual convention in Orlando earlier this month. The person who was most surprised about being there may have been Gary Sinise himself. He confessed that “he and his family weren’t part of any religion” until his wife returned to her mother’s abandoned Catholic roots in 2000 and he subsequently slow-walked his way to Confirmation in 2010. He recounted his initial shock and eventual support of his wife’s decision in an interview several years ago. He’d been filming...

The Church of the Holy Innocents, located on 37th Street (Photo by Kaitlyn Flannagan)Down the street from the lights and sounds of Times Square stands the oldest building in the Garment District, the Church of the Holy Innocents. Over the decades its neighborhood has evolved into the tangle of chain stores and litter that it is today while the almost 150-year-old church has remained mostly the same since the day it was built. Step inside and the din is somehow lost, replaced by the last quiet, peaceful haven for New York’s traditional Catholics.Yet what makes Holy Innocents truly unique is...

Down the street from the lights and sounds of Times Square stands the oldest building in the Garment District, the Church of the Holy Innocents. Over the decades the neighborhood has evolved into the tangle of chain stores and litter that it is today while the almost 150 year-old church has remained mostly the same since the day it was built. Step inside and the din is somehow lost, replaced by the last quiet, peaceful haven for New York’s traditional Catholics. Yet what makes Holy Innocents truly unique is that it is the last Catholic church in the city to...

August 15, 2014Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mass during the Day    Reading 1 Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab God’s temple in heaven was opened,and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,with the moon under her feet,and on her head a crown of twelve stars.She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.Then another sign appeared in the sky;it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,and on its heads...

New Thinking, New Living Today's Scripture “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Are you ready for increase? Are you ready to go to the next level, spiritually, physically and emotionally? Many times, people hear that God has more in store and something resonates on the inside. Their spirit comes into agreement with God, but oftentimes, their natural mind will be bombarded...

The Discipline of the Lord " My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him —Hebrews 12:5 " It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense...

August 15, 2014Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Vigil Mass    Reading 1 1 CHR 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the LORDto the place which he had prepared for it.David also called together the sons of Aaron and the Levites. The Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders with poles,as Moses had ordained according to the word of the LORD. David commanded the chiefs of the Levitesto appoint their kinsmen as chanters,to play on musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals,to make a loud sound of...

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.(Leviticus 23:1-2)God has laid out in many ways the future of Israel and of the world. Prophecy is one of them, the Song of Moses for example, Another way that the Lord has clearly told His people and whoever has ears to hear, what the future would be, is in the Festal Holidays of Israel. The word ‘feasts’ in the above cited scripture, is literally,”Appointed...