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Proverb 15 (NKJV) A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath 01 A soft answer turns away wrath, 00 But a harsh word stirs up anger. 02 The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, 00 But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. 03 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, 00 Keeping watch on the evil and the good. 04 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, 00 But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 05 A fool despises his father's instruction, 00 But he who receives correction is prudent. 06 In the house of the...

Moscow, July 12, Interfax - The centenary of the execution of the last Russian emperor and his family will be marked by a 21-kilometer nighttime religious procession led by Patriarch Kirill from the Church on the Blood in Yekaterinburg to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Martyrs at Ganina Yama, the patriarch's press secretary Rev. Alexander Volkov told reporters. In this way, the patriarch will pay tribute to the memory of the canonized royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks early on July 17, 1918 at the Ipatyev House, where the Church on the Blood was later built. After...

The meeting, the rapprochement, between the Holy See and China has a thousand faces, of course. There are the questions of faith, of religion, of souls approaching one another, of tension toward the afterlife, and communication with people on this side. All are important points, perhaps the most fundamental and profound. But seen from China, the question is essentially about power and politics. So, for the benefit of the meeting and approach, it is perhaps appropriate to understand the Chinese position. This has three acts, as in classic tragedies. A comparison of empiresFor China, the Holy See is first and...

The Vatican’s ambassador to Canada says Pope Francis is opening the door to an apology to the country’s Indigenous people for the abuse of children at Catholic-run Indian residential schools. A papal apology was one of the calls to action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which spent years investigating the schools. And Canada’s Parliament has voted to ask Francis to visit this country and make the requested statement of regret. At a private gathering for foreign dignitaries and Canadian politicians held late last month at his residence in Ottawa, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, the Papal Nuncio, said the request...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem The Shared Meal 
 (New Testament) John 15 The Vine and the Branches 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless...

Almighty God saw our desperate need for His righteousness and for deliverance from the tyranny and bondage of our transgressions (Rom. 7:24-25). These have separated us from Him and have brought His wrath upon us (John 3:36; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 2:1-2, 14). In His great ETERNAL love Almighty God sent forth His only Son from Heaven’s glory to pay the price for our transgressions, to be our propitiation and to rescue us from the ETERNAL ramifications of our transgressions and godless folly (John 3:16-17; Rom. 7:24-25; Gal. 1:4; Eph 2:14; 1 John 2:2). If this is you my dear friend,...

My Savior's Hands - Lyrics (Isa. 53, Zech. 12:10, Mark 1:41, John 9:6-7; 20:20, 1 Peter 3:18, Rev. 1:7; 16-18; 22:3-5) I waited patiently for my Lord and He heard my cry He spoke to me from His precious Word and said, I am nigh And at this time, He brought me to see, His precious hands Those hands, His precious hands, were pierced right through for all our sins And when I think, on such wondrous things, O my Savior's hands Those hands, My Savior's hands, testify of all His selfless love And EVERMORE, all shall see, His precious...

July 15, 2018 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Am 7:12-15 Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos,“Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying,but never again prophesy in Bethel;for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet,nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” Responsorial Psalm Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 R. (8) Lord, let us...

White Double IN THE MIDDLE AGES, this Sunday was called, the sixth and last Sunday after the Natalis of the Apostles (that is, the Feast of St. Peter); it was, indeed, the last, for the years when Easter had been kept was late in April as was possible; but, it was only the first after that Feast of St. Peter, when Easter immediately followed the spring equinox. We have already noticed the variable character of this last portion of the liturgical cycle, which was the result of Easter’s being kept on a different day each year; and that, in...

White Semidouble HENRY OF GERMANY, the second King, but the first Emperor of that name, was the last crowned representative of that branch of the house of Saxony descended from Henry the Fowler, to which God, in the tenth century, entrusted the mission of restoring the work of Charlemagne and Leo III. This noble stock was rendered more glorious by the flowers of sanctity adorning its branches, than for the deep and powerful roots it struck in the German soil by great and long-enduring institutions. The Holy Spirit, who divideth his gifts according as he will, was then calling...

Does Suffering in the World Disprove God’s Existence? By Philip Cottraux War. Plagues. Starvation. Natural disasters. Children dying in the streets. Rapes. Massacres. The Bible says For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16), yet why does He allow these things? If He is all-powerful, couldn’t He intervene and stop all of it in an instant? This is perhaps the most common argument against His existence, at least from my experience. If an atheist sniffs out a tweet I’ve made about God’s love, they’ll respond with an image of a child’s body blown to...

1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? 5...

I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me.(John 14:6)We have been studying the threefold sign of eternal life, as taught by the Apostle John in His First Epistle. We have stressed that Eternal Life is a gift of God, it cannot be merited, it can only received freely by faith. But how does one know whether or not he has received the gift of eternal Life? After all, in our day as well as in John’s there were many teachers, and prophets who were redefining the knowledge of God, and...

Proverb 14 (NKJV) The Ways of Life and Death 01 The wise woman builds her house, 00 But the foolish pulls it down with her hands. 02 He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, 00 But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him. 03 In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, 00 But the lips of the wise will preserve them. 04 Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; 00 But much increase comes by the strength of an ox. 05 A faithful witness does not lie, 00 But a...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God:that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Lord Father in heaven, we humble ourselves before You, and pray for your continued guidance as you watch over us. As we enter another day in this world of confusion and hate, we pray for Your wisdom to guide the...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem The Shared Meal 
 (New Testament) John 14 Jesus Comforts His Disciples 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am...

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). True Christians long for the return of their King. The words of the old hymn, “This world is not my home,” express the attitude of every true child of God. True Christians have a hope in their heart, a hope focused on the...

"You are a chosen race" (1 Pet. 2:9). Election is the spiritual privilege from which all others flow. Unlike those who are destined to destruction because of their rejection of Christ (1 Pet. 2:8), Christians are an elect race of people, bound together by God's redeeming grace. That's cause for great celebration! First Peter 2:9 is an allusion to Deuteronomy 7:6-9, which says, "You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the...

July 14, 2018 Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin Reading 1 Is 6:1-8 In the year King Uzziah died,I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,with the train of his garment filling the temple.Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:with two they veiled their faces,with two they veiled their feet,and with two they hovered aloft. They cried one to the other,“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!All the earth is filled with his glory!”At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shookand the house was filled with smoke. Then...

LUXEMBOURG, July 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The native-born population of the European Union (EU) is on the decline thanks to more deaths than births in 2017, new government figures reveal. On Tuesday, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat released a report on the latest population data, just in time for World Population Day on Wednesday. It reveals that the EU saw 5.3 million deaths and 5.1 million births in 2017. The overall population increased from 511.5 million to 512.6 million, however, thanks to immigrants making up the difference. “With 82.9 million residents (or 16.2% of the total EU population on...