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[Yes indeedy, boys and girls, I published #9 out-of-sequence just now, so you get 2 for the price of 1 today!] GENESIS 11:1-9 (NIV) Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we...

GENESIS 12:1-5 (NIV) The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran....

GENESIS 6:11-14, 17-19, 22; 8:18-21; 9:8, 11-13 (NIV) Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark...I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the...

We have a powerful weapon - a sword - to defeat Satan and evil. The Rosary. Listen to the “The Rosary:Spiritual Sword of Our Lady.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwVdYXyxln0

Posted on June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope No Other Options: Are you a Saint or an Ain’t ?? In today’s Gospel (Thursday of the 12th Week) we come face to face with the ultimate necessity of allowing the Lord to transform us. The Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount , is offering us a whole new life and we must choose to accept it and see our life change, based on it, or we will simply be unfit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.Our flesh hates these sort of “all or nothing” scenarios. We...

Every thinking reader of the Bible is bound to ask at some point in time, "Does this book actually condone slavery?" To be sure, slavery is not the only issue the Bible causes us to question. The Old Testament is rife with palace intrigues, polygamy, divorce, violence and the like, and godly people are very often part of the problem. Although the New Testament is decidedly improved, it still seems to fall far short of that which twenty-first century human rights would expect. There are no women among the twelve disciples of Jesus and Christian masters do have slaves...

The great American theologian Jonathan Edwards has had a huge influence on Christians on both sides of the Atlantic. The works of the 18th century preacher continue to be widely read; the well-known US pastor John Piper and prominent UK minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones have been among those in recent decades shaped by his writing. Yet there is a darker side to Edwards which is not so well known: the fact that he owned slaves. Indeed, he did so throughout his life – and although he modified his views a little, he continued to support the idea of slavery. In the...

The Church of England has again apologised for its links to slavery, after a report revealed nearly 100 clergymen were paid compensation after its abolition. The state church said on Thursday that its ties to slavery were a “source of shame” after a University College London report revealed that 99 of its clergy had received compensation for lost property and earnings in slave colonies. The money was paid out in accordance with the Abolition of Slavery Act of 1833 when the UK government bought the freedom of every slave in the British Empire, and banned the practice. However, the compensation...

The statue of King St. Louis IX stands outside the St. Louis Art Museum in Missouri. Creative Commons photo.Catholic laity in St. Louis have formed a group dedicated to visiting, protecting and praying for the safety of the city’s monument to King Saint Louis IX, a statue that some residents have recently called to tear down, calling the former French king an anti-Semite and Islamophobe. The group, St. Louis Forever, formed June 21 with an informal email sent out to local Catholics asking them to attend a rosary prayer group at the base of King Saint Louis IX’s statue. “This...

GENESIS 4:2-9 (NIV)Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will...

Posted on June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Three Hard Sayings of the Lord That Irritate Modern Sensibilities The Gospel for today’s Mass (Tuesday of the 12th Week of the Year) features three hard sayings of the Lord’s. They are difficult for us moderns to hear because they offend against modern sensibilities; we are easily taken aback by their abruptness. Here are the first two “offensive” sayings:Do not give what is holy to dogs, (Mt 7:6)or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces (Mt 7:6).This offends...

GENESIS 3:21-24 (NIV) The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a...

Moscow, June 20, Interfax - Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion believes that toppling of statues in the USA is an attempt to rewrite the history. "We certainly should not project modern standards to the past. People of the past lived according to other rules, they spoke a different language, they acted in a different way, and just automatically transfer all acting standards, especially the existing in the West so-called liberal standards, to the past of humanity - it means to rewrite history permanently," the metropolitan said on air Church and the...

Genesis 3:6-13 (NIV) When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the...

Posts Posted on June 21, 2020June 21, 2020 The Measure You Measure Will be Measured Back to You (As seen on T.V.) The Gospel for today (Monday of the 12th Week) gives us an admonition that God will use attitudes we use for others as a standard in our own judgment. Consider well, right now, if being unkind, unmerciful, and unforgiving is a good strategy for your live, given that you will stand in judgment and need mercy, and forgiveness. There are many biblical texts that speak of being generous to the poor, for to do brings bountiful blessings....

A huge marble cross discovered high in the mountains of Baltistan is thought to be up to 1,200 years old A Christian cross believed to be up to 1,200 years old and weighing more than three tons has been discovered in Skardu in northern Pakistan. A three-member expedition team from the University of Baltistan, Skardu, discovered the huge marble cross high in the mountain range of Kavardo in Baltistan. The team — led by vice-chancellor Muhammad Naeem Khan together with director of academics Zakir Hussain Zakir and director of external links Ishtiaq Hussain Maqpoon — visited the site to study...

Here is the Bing page "ADAM & EVE'S TEMPTATION IN ART" showing various painters' conceptions of God's creation of Eve. Several are serious works worthy of interest. Some examples: by an unknown artist by William Douglas by Hiroko Sakai by Brian & Faith Kershisnik by Rae Chichilnitsky by an unknown artist by an unknown artist English early Delftware pottery English Delft bowl by Marc Chagall by Tintoretto by an unknown artist by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Again, here is the Bing page "ADAM & EVE'S TEMPTATION IN ART," with many more images. Here are links to the previous posts in...

Rome Newsroom, Jun 15, 2020 / 05:30 am MT (CNA).- A historic statue of Mary atop a column, torn down by an angry crowd more than 100 years ago, has been restored to its original site in Prague. The placement of the exact replica of the 17th-century statue in the Czech capital’s Old Town Square June 4 was an event 30 years in the making. The Marian column, as it is called, was erected to “the singing of Marian songs, the ringing of bells on the tower of the Mother of God in front of Týn [Church] and the applause...

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Seven Teachings on Hell From St. Thomas Aquinas The teachings of the Lord on Hell are difficult, especially in todayÂ’s climate. The most difficult questions that arise relate to its eternal nature and how to square its existence with a God who is loving and rich in mercy.1. Does God love the souls in Hell? Yes.How could they continue to exist if He did not love them, sustain them, and continue to provide for them? God loves because He is love. Although we may fail to be able to experience...

The Catholic Church could get its second Native American saint if a Vatican research trip to South Dakota this month leads to confirmation of two miracles performed by Nicholas Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux medicine man born in the Civil War era. Fr. Luis Escalante, a Vatican postulator, or researcher for sainthood candidates, recently spent several days in western South Dakota gathering information about Black Elk's life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Escalante spoke with local advocates for the cause, including some who testified to the reportedly miraculous powers of a man who practiced traditional Lakota rituals...