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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Paul 8. In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10. and called out, Stand up on your feet! At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. 11. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, The gods have come down to us in human form!...

November 23, 2015 Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dn 1:1-6, 8-20 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon cameand laid siege to Jerusalem.The Lord handed over to him Jehoiakim, king of Judah,and some of the vessels of the temple of God;he carried them off to the land of Shinar,and placed the vessels in the temple treasury of his god. The king told Ashpenaz, his chief chamberlain,to bring in some of the children of Israel of royal bloodand of the nobility, young men without any defect,handsome, intelligent and...

Scenes from the tonsuring and final vows of new monks at Optina Monastery.

The conversation surprised me. I was recently meeting with about a dozen members of a church that was on the precipice of closing. During their perceived "good old days," the average worship attendance was in the 40s and 50s. Now the church attendance was in the teens. The church was on metaphorical life support. I shared with them some items of urgency that might give them some glimmer of hope. So I was surprised when one of the members asked me a question that seemed to come from nowhere: "Will we have to sing from screens instead of hymnals?" she...

These Iowa voters buy into Fox News war on Christmas, and love Ted Cruz's patriotic, end-times rhetoric. Look out.One of the more endearing customs of many of our small town Iowa churches on Sunday morning is story time. The pastor welcomes elementary and pre-school aged kids up front, where he or she sits with the children, and shares a parable. Often the pastor sits down on the steps leading up to the altar, and the children will sit, cross legged at the pastor’s feet. Always the pastor picks a good story, something about the importance of friendship, kindness, sharing, telling...

BALTIMORE, Maryland, November 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - A group of Pope Francis' episcopal appointees and other like-minded prelates provoked an open clash at the American Catholic bishops' fall meeting in Baltimore this week as they pressed the conference to rewrite its election guide for 2016 to downplay the importance of the battle for life and family. Ahead of a vote on a revision to the bishops' Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, Bishop Robert McElroy made a pointed argument that the document was out of step with Pope Francis' priorities - specifically, by putting too much emphasis on abortion and euthanasia,...

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Friday described some Catholic priests as so scary and neurotic he keeps well away from them. In comments that had his audience chuckling at a conference on training for the priesthood, the 78-year-old pontiff revealed he is instinctively suspicious of overly pious candidates. "I will tell you sincerely, I'm scared of rigid priests," he said. "I keep away from them. They bite!" Francis resorted to humour to make a serious point that some people that are drawn to a clerical career are fundamentally unstable -- and that inevitably creates problems for the church...

Is Christ Really Your King? A Homily for the Feast of Christ the King Is Christ Really Your King? A Homily for the Feast of Christ the King Msgr. Charles Pope • November 21, 2015 • On the feast of Christ the King, we are called to acknowledge that Jesus is in fact our King. It is one thing to say that He is our King because the song in Church says that, or the preacher says that, or the Bible says that (yes, faith does come by hearing). But it is quite another for us to personally say that...

Baltimore, Md., Nov 20, 2015 / 03:30 am (CNA).- At their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops voted to issue a new introductory note and make limited revisions to their quadrennial statement on political responsibility. But while the vote was overwhelmingly in favor, it was not without controversy. The 2007 voting guide, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," was among the subjects discussed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this past week. Previously, the bishops had directed a working committee to make limited revisions to the document in order to reflect the magisterium of both the latter part...

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise" (Ephesians 5:15). Walking wisely is a step in the right direction. Sometimes a soldier has the thankless task of clearing mine fields from enemy territory. If you're aware of the procedure, you know the work is both dangerous and tedious. To proceed in an orderly fashion, a soldier marks areas that are considered dangerous and areas that have been cleared. Above all, he makes sure he is careful where he's walking! In the spiritual realm, Paul is telling believers in Ephesians 5:15 to walk carefully. The Greek...

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come" (Heb. 11:20). When you disobey God, you forfeit joy and blessing. Isaac is a fascinating Old Testament character. He was Abraham's long-awaited son, the covenant child, the child of promise. Yet aside from that, he was rather ordinary, passive, and quiet. Just over two chapters of Genesis center on him, whereas the other patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph) command about twelve chapters each. In the final analysis, Isaac believed God and submitted to His will. But overall, his spiritual character seems more reluctant than resolute. After a famine...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Paul 14. At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. 4. The people of the city were divided; some sided with...

The First National Thanksgiving Proclamation November 1, 1777 FOREASMUCH AS it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased Him in His abundant mercy not only to continue to us in the innumerable bounties of His common Providence IT IS THEREFORE recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thrusday, the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and...

November 22, 2015 The Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Reading 1 Dn 7:13-14 As the visions during the night continued, I sawone like a Son of man coming,on the clouds of heaven;when he reached the Ancient Oneand was presented before him,the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.His dominion is an everlasting dominionthat shall not be taken away,his kingship shall not be destroyed. Responsorial Psalm Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5 R. (1a) The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.The LORD is king, in splendor...

This article is politically incorrect and says things that might shock you. Please read the entire article until the very last two paragraphs before making a judgment or writing incendiary comments. This might be one of the clearest things you’ve read on the topic, because it draws on virtue ethics of Thomas Aquinas – something generally ignored in our day and age. – Godspeed, Taylor Marshall

A homily delivered at the celebration of the feast of the Sacred Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos in Levadia during a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, presided over by His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, on November 21, 2010. By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou Every feast of the Mother of God is a cause of joy for the entire Church, and we celebrate it brilliantly, with hymns and doxologies, with a Divine Liturgy and litany, with words and silence, with pure thoughts and prayer of the heart. And this is because...

Organization of delight is here this day, The Body of Christ coming together to form The Bride, lock in and stay, Fear and Doubt is not part of this wardrobe, The Tailor of Virtue has bought this design of Virtue and this dress is sold, Bringing it together with the thread of Unity, Every part of The Body, All in agreement to walk down the isle and meet The Groom, A picture of Delight and The Bride is swooned, So in love with her Boaz and King! She begins to sing ~ ~ ~ The Song of The Lamb and...

There really is no other way to put this story than to let out a sigh of wounded disbelief. News 51 7519 No one may ever accuse actress Kerry Washington of being merely a leftist poser in terms of abortion rights, certainly not after last night's episode of ABC's Scandal, which featured her alter-ego Olivia Pope – the show's main character – having an abortion while the beloved Christmas tune "Silent Night" played in the background. You read that correctly. Kerry Washington and the producers of Scandal actually had the nerve to show the main character abort her and the...

PHILADELPHIA, November 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput has definitively called out his brother bishops in Europe who have allowed Communion for remarried divorcees, saying they have "departed from authentic Catholic teaching." His remarks come in a lengthy essay on mercy published in the December issue of First Things. The Church, he says, "cannot be merciful without being truthful," and a pastoral approach which ignores that we are called to conversion, "out of a thinly veiled pastoral despair and accommodationism will result in less faith, not more." Indeed, continues Chaput, "this is what we see happening in Europe,...

Pope Francis on Friday described some Catholic priests as so scary and neurotic he keeps well away from them. In comments that had his audience chuckling at a conference on training for the priesthood, the 78-year-old pontiff revealed he is instinctively suspicious of overly pious candidates. "I will tell you sincerely, I'm scared of rigid priests," he said. "I keep away from them. They bite!" Francis resorted to humor to make a serious point that some people who are drawn to a clerical career are fundamentally unstable - and that inevitably creates problems for the church if they are not...