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Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Catholics, what will you be giving up for Lent, or what will you be doing for Lent?

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. 46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. 48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to...

Now to Him who by His power within us is able to do far more than we can ask or imagine—to Him be Glory in the assembly through Christ Jesus for ever and ever, Amen! Ephesians 3:20:21

February 17, 2015Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,and how no desire that his heart conceivedwas ever anything but evil,he regretted that he had made man on the earth,and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said:“I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,and not only the men,but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,for I am sorry that I made them.”But Noah found favor with the LORD. Then...

Psalm 116:5 God is Gracious—it is He Who Makes Things Right, Our Most Compassionate God. God Takes the Side of the Helpless; When I was at the End of my Rope, He Saved me.

I would like to collect some scriptures for the purpose of prayer that promise God's outpouring. Can you help? Here are some; Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. (Hosea 6:3) Isaiah 64:1, 2: Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing....

February 16, 2015Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 4:1-15, 25 The man had relations with his wife Eve,and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,“I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”Next she bore his brother Abel.Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORDfrom the fruit of the soil,while Abel, for his part,brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,but on Cain and his offering...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a] for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are...

February 15, 2015Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,“If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotchwhich appears to be the sore of leprosy,he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest,or to one of the priests among his descendants.If the man is leprous and unclean,the priest shall declare him uncleanby reason of the sore on his head. “The one who bears the sore of leprosyshall keep his garments rent and his head bare,and shall muffle his beard;he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’As long as the...

Lent is a season of penance and ascetical warfare. The enemy is concupiscence, the world, and the devil. The goal is pure hearts so that we can joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord at Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year. In a way, Lent should be a microcosm of our entire struggle on earth, just as the Paschal feast of Easter is a microcosm of our heavenly triumph in Christ. Yet, a good Lent takes focus and discipline, and it can easily be wasted.In my own experience, I often begin the lenten season with the best of intentions. I imagine...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 11 Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.) 4 So Moses...

February 14, 2015Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop    Reading 1 Gn 3:9-24 The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, “Where are you?”He answered, “I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself.”Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”The LORD God then asked the woman,“Why did you do such a...

Details:  In response to the desecration of ten parishes since October, including five on February 6-7, the bishop of Bellay-Ars has ordered the Blessed Sacrament removed from the tabernacles of all parish churches and chapels.The Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Pascal Roland decreed, must be kept in a more secure location, and tabernacle doors must be kept open to indicate that the Eucharist is not present. The order (via Google Translate):  Blessed Sacrament will be removed [from] tabernacles of all parish churches and chapels and be kept in a secure location.The door of the tabernacle [will] remain conspicuously open.For the purposes of...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. 24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm Joshua 1:9 “ …Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Detail from "Carrying of the Cross" [1308-11] by Duccio (WikiArt.org) The phrase “Lenten journey” has become ubiquitous in contemporary Catholicism, but for once, AmChurchSpeak makes an important point: Lent is a journey—a journey to Calvary with the Lord and an opportunity to reflect on how well we’ve each picked up the cross daily (as instructed in Luke 9: 23) and followed him. The day-by-day quality of the 40 Days hit home during the best Lent I ever spent: Lent 2011, when I made the Lenten station church pilgrimage in Rome with the Pontifical North American College. Every morning, I’d be up...

February 13, 2015Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Gn 3:1-8 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animalsthat the LORD God had made.The serpent asked the woman,“Did God really tell you not to eatfrom any of the trees in the garden?”The woman answered the serpent:“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;it is only about the fruit of the treein the middle of the garden that God said,‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”But the serpent said to the woman:“You certainly will...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm Psalms 18:31-36 For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?—the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” 3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God...