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Vatican Radio) We ask for a lot of things when we pray, but the greatest gift that God can give us is the Holy Spirit. This was Pope Francis’ reflection Thursday morning at Mass in Santa Marta, commenting on the Gospel of the day, which presents the parable of the man who gets what he needs because of his persistence. Pope Francis began his homily by noting that “God has so much mercy” and observing that in the Collect we begin by asking God for forgiveness and to “obtain what prayer does not dare to hope for”: “This got me...

Fr. Ghazwan Yousif Baho speaks with CNA in Rome on Oct. 4, 2014. Credit: Giuseppe Di Molfetta/CNA. Vatican City, Oct 9, 2014 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Ghazwan Yousif Baho had the option to stay in Italy when he recently accompanied an elderly Iraqi couple to an audience with Pope Francis. But he has decided to go back because he can't leave his people. “One of them told me, 'Father, I saw you always from afar, but this week I found out who you are, and it has given me so much strength (to know) that you are a...

Fr. Hanna Jallouf, O.F.M., who was abducted Oct. 5 along with some 20 villagers from Qunaya, Syria. Photo courtesy of Custodia Terrae Sanctae. Aleppo, Syria, Oct 7, 2014 / 04:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Militants linked to al-Nusra Front kidnapped a Catholic parish priest and as many as 20 people from a Christian village in Syria on Sunday night. The priest has been identified as 62-year-old Father Hanna Jallouf, O.F.M. “Let us pray for him and for the other victims of this tragic and senseless war,” the Custody of the Holy Land said on its website. The Custody of the Holy...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm New International Version (NIV) Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Jobs In The Bible Grinder (New International Version (NIV) Remember your Creator
    in the days of your youth,before the days of trouble come    and the years approach when you will say,    “I find no pleasure in them”—2 before the sun and the light    and the moon and the stars grow dark,    and the clouds return after the rain;3 when the keepers of the house tremble,    and the strong men stoop,when the grinders cease because they are few,    and those looking through the windows grow dim;4 when the doors to the street are closed    and the sound of grinding fades;when people rise up at the...

October 9, 2014Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Gal 3:1-5 O stupid Galatians!Who has bewitched you,before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?I want to learn only this from you:did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,or from faith in what you heard?Are you so stupid?After beginning with the Spirit,are you now ending with the flesh?Did you experience so many things in vain?–if indeed it was in vain.Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to youand works mighty deeds among youdo so from works of the lawor from faith in...

UPDATE: EWTN will air domestically a special Sunday Night Prime program — A Tribute to Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR — on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 8:00 pm Eastern, repeated on Monday, Oct. 13, at 2:00 am and 9:00 am Eastern. Sitting down with host Father Andrew Apostoli to honor the holy life and charitable ministry lived out by the beloved Father Groeschel with be members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Father Glenn Sudano and Brother Shawn Conrad O’Conner, and Sister Lucille Cutrone, community servant of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. Specific details for Father Benedict Groeschel’s...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Jobs In The Bible Grape Picker (New International Version (NIV) 7 Concerning Edom: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?     Has counsel perished from the prudent?     Has their wisdom decayed? 8 Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,     you who live in Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau     at the time when I punish him. 9 If grape pickers came to you,     would they not leave a few grapes? If thieves came during the night,     would they not steal only as much as they wanted? 10 But I...

Since today is the feast of the Holy Rosary, in this post I'd like to remind us that the rosary is a powerful weapon in our battle against unchastity and in particular pornography. “To recite the rosary,” wrote Pope John Paul II, “is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.” To commit to praying the rosary, perhaps even daily, is to commit to spending fifteen to twenty minutes in quiet contemplation. Quieting the Mind Often those who use pornography habitually say they experience an inner disquiet that can make contemplation seem almost impossible. The rosary is...

October 8, 2014Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gal 2:1-2, 7-14 Brothers and sisters:After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,taking Titus along also.I went up in accord with a revelation,and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles–but privately to those of repute–so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised,just as Peter to the circumcised,for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Jobs In The Bible Governor (New International Version (NIV) 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah. 8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places...

Thine, O LORD, is the Greatness, and the Power, and the Glory, and the Victory, and the Majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as Head above all. . . in Thy Hand is power and might; and in Thy Hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy Glorious Name. 1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Please Pray for my neighbor's six year old son, Ryan. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital last Wednesday evening with respiratory problems. We (all of the concerned neighbors) were updated today that he remains in ICU, and it apparently is the Enterovirus that has been circulating. Please pray for him, for his parents (who have not been home since they left that day), and for his older siblings who have been staying with friends/family. They are a wonderful family (Catholic, for those of you who wish to include those references in your prayers); and he is the sweetest...

October 7, 2014Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary    Reading 1 Gal 1:13-24 Brothers and sisters:You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measureand tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaismbeyond many of my contemporaries among my race,since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apartand called me through his grace,was pleased to reveal his Son to me,so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,nor did I...

The almost imperceptible lapping of the tide against the hull of the flagship, the stillness of the night, the breathing of the slaves slumped over their oars, and the spirited but hushed murmurs of the small assembly betrayed the fury of the battle that was just hours away. Tension and quiet.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Jobs In The Bible Goldsmith (New International Version (NIV) 18 With whom, then, will you compare God?     To what image will you liken him? 19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,     and a goldsmith overlays it with gold     and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A person too poor to present such an offering     selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker     to set up an idol that will not topple. (Isaiah 40:19)

Psalm 32:8 I will Instruct thee and Teach thee in the Way which thou shalt Go: I will Guide thee with Mine Eye.

October 6, 2014Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gal 1:6-12 Brothers and sisters:I am amazed that you are so quickly forsakingthe one who called you by the grace of Christfor a different gospel (not that there is another).But there are some who are disturbing youand wish to pervert the Gospel of Christ.But even if we or an angel from heavenshould preach to you a gospel other than the one that we preached to you,let that one be accursed!As we have said before, and now I say again,if anyone preaches to you a gospelother than...

Wikimedia/Fair-Use Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once remarked —   Marriage is truly an instrument of salvation, not only for married people but for the whole of society. Like any truly worthwhile goal, it places demands upon us, it challenges us, it calls us to be prepared to sacrifice our own interests for the good of the other. It requires us to exercise tolerance and to offer forgiveness ( General Audience, May 5, 2010). As a path to salvation requiring daily, and sometimes heroic, self-emptying, out of love for one’s spouse and children (just ask any mother of multiple kids how much...