Free Republic

August 20, 2014Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Ez 34:1-11 The word of the Lord came to me:Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israelwho have been pasturing themselves!Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,and slaughtered the fatlings,but the sheep you have not pastured.You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sicknor bind up the injured.You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the...

You’ve Struggled Long Enough Today's Scripture “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria All through life, the enemy tries to stop us with a yoke of bondage — a yoke of depression, a yoke of low self-esteem, a yoke of compromise. He’ll try to burden you down so that everything is a struggle. You may be working hard, but you can’t get ahead because you have all these yokes controlling you. Maybe you’ve been living with a yoke your whole life. It’s been passed down...

Self-Awareness " Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28 " God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new...

This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. (Zechariah 12:1-3)The last chapters of Zechariah have an amazing relevance...

Time for another ELCA "conversation," this time regarding "who is welcome" to Holy Communion. An innocuous-sounding invitation to participate came out a few weeks ago, and and similar notice appears again in the Summer 2014 Seeds for the Parish, now appearing in snail boxes across the ELCA but not yet on its website. Resources for the conversation will be available at www.elca.org/worship "by mid-August," but so far not yet. Over at lutheranforum.org, Paul Hinlicky will have none of this innocuousness in yesterday's post The Truth about "Radical Hospitality". At its conclusion, he invites readers (I would presume ELCA clergy and...

Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) was elected to his post Aug. 13, 2014. Credit: Maksym Brusnika. Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug 19, 2014 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The newly elected head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate must decide whether that Church can be independent from Russia, Ukraine's eastern neighbor with which it is in conflict, analysts say. On Aug. 13, Metropolitan Onufriy was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, making him the primate of the UOC-MP, which is one of the three primary Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. He...

The Song of Solomon gets a lot of ‘bad press.’ Are there spiritual lessons to be found in this book? The Song of Solomon or Song of Songs has probably roused more confusion than any other book in the Hebrew Bible, similar to the New Testament’s complex Book of Revelation. Roland K. Harrison of the University of Toronto says the Song provides “almost unlimited ground for speculation.” The Bible’s usual piety, preachments, and prayers are totally absent, nor is God even mentioned (except for 8:6 in some translations). Yet readings from the Song are chosen for Judaism’s Passover liturgy and...

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...