Free Republic

20 May 2024 Mary, Mother of the Church on Monday of week 7 in Ordinary Time San Bernadino de Siena Parish Church in Xochimilco, Mexico City Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).There is no choice between ferial and memorial readings today, because all readings are proper to the memorial.First readingGenesis 3:9-15,20 ©The mother of all those who liveAfter Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told...

The church set up by Mica Miller's disgraced pastor husband has a total value of properties worth at least $5.59million, DailyMail.com can reveal. And it has its own plane, a $430,000 four-seater, supposedly to be used for missionary work, but which flight records show has only made two trips all year. Scrutiny has been mounting on Solid Rock Ministries in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after it was revealed that church leaders plan to allow John-Paul Miller back to the pulpit following allegations of 'sexual encounters' with underage girls. Last Sunday the congregation was only around 30 people including children The...

Has the definition of Premillennialism changed in the past few decades? I ask this because during the past several years, a few pastors told me they were Premillennial, but they didn’t adhere to a futuristic interpretation of the book of Revelation or the restoration of a kingdom to Israel. For me, Premillennialism has always signified a belief in Jesus’ return to earth after a literal seven-year Tribulation at which time He will setup His thousand-year rule over the nations of the earth, which certainly includes a gloriously restored Israel. What’s causing the shift away from these beliefs that were a...

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." John 17 1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over...

Sunday 19 May 2024 PentecostSt. Dunstan Catholic Church, Millbrae, CAReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II).These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.These readings are for the simple-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.These readings are for the day of the feast itself.These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.First readingGenesis 11:1-9 ©The tower of BabelThroughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They...

In James 1:27, the apostle James gives us insight into what pleases God: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (NASB). The word for “undefiled” is translated “faultless” in the NIV. When interpreting any verse in the Bible, including James 1:27, we should always look at its context to get an idea of what the verse means within the surrounding verses. In this case, we can look at what comes immediately before James 1:27 and get some...

18 May 2024 Saturday of the 7th week of Eastertide Basilica di S. Venanzio, Camerino, ItalyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 28:16-20,30-31 ©In Rome, Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God without hindrance from anyoneOn our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him. After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans....

One hundred fifty-seven Christian leaders representing different streams of Christianity in the United States, wrote a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, under the banner of American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI), to express their disappointment with recent actions by his administration towards Israel. In the letter, the leaders warned that these actions would embolden the mutual enemies of both Israel and the United States and encouraged Biden to make “a course correction.” Among the actions the leaders specified were: Holding Israel responsible for all civilian casualties in Gaza, despite Hamas being the official government of the people there. Repeatedly...

For centuries, the Vatican has been carefully guarding their most precious secrets. In recent years, that has been especially true regarding what they know about UFOs, aliens and the mysteries of the universe. So why have they chosen this exact moment in history to publicly talk about these things? The press conference at the Vatican on Thursday is the very first time that the Vatican has held a press conference about UFOs, aliens and “apparitions” since 1978. So this is a really big deal. It is being reported that the Vatican has decided to issue new guidelines “on aliens and...

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Advocates for victims of abuse at Missouri boarding schools on Monday urged the state’s attorney general to launch an investigation, work with local prosecutors and take other steps aimed at stemming the tide of abuse. Three Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri have shut down since 2020 amid wide-ranging abuse allegations levied by current and former students. Several people affiliated with those schools are facing criminal charges. Advocates who worry that more abuse is going unpunished gathered Monday outside Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s St. Louis office to demand action. “This is a structural problem,” said...

It’s getting harder and harder to ignore the shenanigans that these prosperity charlatans continue to perpetrate, especially with the latest revelations about the extravagant misuse of ministry funds and assets in false prophet, Joni Lamb’s ministry. For the life of me, I cannot wrap my head around the fascination with such people—they contribute absolutely nothing to the body of Christ. According to an investigation by the Trinity Foundation, Lamb has been using Daystar Television Network’s ministry jet for personal jaunts to visit her fiancé (now husband) and to their new condo. The cost of these trips? An eye-watering $769,220. To...

Days ago, still reeling from a 4-hour exposé by apologist Mike Winger- a veritable cinematic cinderblock to the head that’s been viewed on YouTube nearly a million times- arch-heretic Benny Hinn reached out to Stephen Strang, founder and CEO of Charisma News to do damage control and “throw his hat into the ring and try to balance the scales when it comes to the legacy he will leave behind.” Strang, willingly stepping into the role of Hinn’s advocate, posed a series of softball questions that seemed to be crafted by Hinn himself. With the stage set, Hinn took the opportunity...

" I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16 1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should...

17 May 2024 Friday of the 7th week of Eastertide Basilica di Santa Restituta, Naples Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 25:13-21 ©'I ordered Paul to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar'King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation. But I told...

In corporate America today, there’s a permission structure in place to attack, defame, and destroy anyone who dares to be publicly Christian.It didn’t take long for the NFL to come out and condemn recent remarks from Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, saying his views, given during a commencement speech at Benedictine College over the weekend, “are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”What horrible, non-inclusive things did the 28-year-old Butker say? He committed the crime of giving public witness to his faith, espousing...

Pope Francis calls for ‘global financial charter’ at Vatican climate change conference Addressing a Vatican-hosted climate change conference, Pope Francis called for a “new global financial charter” by 2025 that would be centered on climate change and “ecological debt.”“There is a need to develop a new financial architecture capable of responding to the demands of the Global South and of the island states that have been seriously affected by climate catastrophes,” Pope Francis said on Thursday, May 16.The Pontiff’s words came toward the end of his keynote address at the conference “Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” organized jointly by the...

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? "Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church." John 15 1...

16 May 2024 Thursday of the 7th week of Eastertide St. Brendan the Navigator Parish, Camden, MEReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 22:30,23:6-11 ©'You have borne witness in Jerusalem: now you must do the same in Rome'Since the tribune wanted to know what precise charge the Jews were bringing, he freed Paul and gave orders for a meeting of the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin; then he brought Paul down and stood him in front of them. Now Paul was well aware that one section was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, so...

"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. "Peace I leave with you,...

15 May 2024 Wednesday of the 7th week of Eastertide Altar of Saint Isidore the Laborer Parish Church in Lucena City, the PhilippinesReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 20:28-38 ©I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, and its powerPaul addressed these words to the elders of the church of Ephesus: ‘Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood. I know quite well that when I have...