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"[Love] rejoices with the truth" (1 Cor. 13:6). Love never compromises God’s Word. Paul has just given us a list of things that love does not do: become jealous, brag, act arrogantly or unbecomingly, seek its own, become provoked, keep track of wrongs suffered, or rejoice in unrighteousness. Now he comes to the first of five things love does: "[Love] rejoices with the truth" (v. 6). The contrast in verse 6 is between love's inability to rejoice in unrighteousness and its joy when truth prevails. "Truth" refers to God's Word, which is the standard of righteousness. Paul could have said,...

“‘Do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on’” (Matthew 6:25). God’s Word commands us not to worry. A story I once read reminded me that worry is like fog. According to the article, dense fog covering seven city blocks a hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water—divided into sixty billion droplets. In the right form, a few gallons of water can cripple a large city. Similarly, the object of a person’s worry is usually...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible John (Revelation 10) The Angel and the Little Scroll 10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices...

Essential Catholic Teachings on the End Times Msgr. Charles Pope • August 22, 2016 • We are currently reading from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians in daily Mass, and given the focus of on the “end times,” it might be good to review certain basic Catholic teachings on this matter, the theology of which is called eschatology.The Catholic approach to the end times is different from that in certain (but not all) Protestant circles, especially the Evangelicals, who have a strong and often vivid preoccupation with signs of the Second Coming of Christ. Many of the notions...

DAY 9 – MOTHER UNDEFILED, PRAY THAT WE RECEIVE THE GIFT OF WISDOM GOD’S WORD “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.” (Psalm 25:8-10). HEROES’ WORDS “Dost thou hold wisdom to be anything other than truth, wherein we behold and embrace the supreme good?” -St. Augustine “Let your old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age; that is, so that...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for Presidential candidate DONALD TRUMP and Vice Presidential candidate MIKE PENCE. 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.

“Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father.’ ” - Luke 11:1–2a When Jesus saw merchants and money changers preventing Gentiles from praying in the temple, He got righteously angry and cleansed the Gentile court of commerce that got in the way of true worship (Mark 11:15–17). Indeed, God is looking for people from every nation who will pray to and worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and...

“The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.” Now let’s be clear: it’s not the one who commends himself who is approved; it’s the one whom the Lord commends. 2 Corin. 10:17-18

August 23, 2016 Tuesday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Thess 2:1-3a, 14-17 We ask you, brothers and sisters,with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christand our assembling with him,not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly,or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement,or by a letter allegedly from usto the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.Let no one deceive you in any way. To this end he has also called you through our Gospelto possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.Therefore,...

Alexander Kissler – the well-respected, often subtly ironic, conservative German journalist and editor of the culture section of the German journal Cicero who recently wrote a piercing critique of Pope Francis – has now written another important article on Catholic matters. This time, he reports on the fact that, last year, “in 2015, only 58 men have been ordained as priests in the whole of Germany [with 23,8 million Catholics].” Kissler makes the strong claim that this standing shortage of priests is actually wanted by the guiding progressives of the German Church. “The priests,” says the German journalist, “are in...

Argentina is trying to break with 70 years of populism, corruption, and general economic decline. But in the age of the Argentine pope, what role will the Church play in this process? Before Jorge Bergoglio’s election as the first Latin American pope in 2013, Argentina was famous for many things: tango, its magnificent pampas, the beautiful late-nineteenth century architecture that marks much of Buenos Aires, to name just a few. Unfortunately, other things also come to mind: rampant and persistent corruption, extreme political instability, and, above all, the fact that Argentina is the twentieth century’s textbook-case of largely self-inflicted economic...

"The Eucharist is not a sacrament for the sinner but the sacrament of reconciled sinners. Just as it is the source and principle of mercy. I hope I have been clear! Nicola Bux, August 13, 2016 at a youth meeting in Schio. The theologian spoke on the theme "The sacraments are not a joke." The Eucharist is not a sacrament for the divorced and remarried, but for reconciled sinners. The liturgist Nicola Bux is one of the most reputable practitioners of the liturgical science and is one of the leading supporters of Benedict XVI's intended liturgical renewal. He is a...

August 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – In a new interview, Cardinal Raymond Burke has revealed that he and other “serious-minded” Church leaders are calling on Pope Francis to release a document correcting the confusion emanating from his recent apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. He also decried characterizations that he is an "enemy" of Pope Francis. The cardinal says clarification of Amoris Laetitia is essential “for the sake of souls” because of the rampant confusion right now. “I trust that something will have to happen also because some very formal calls for clarification are in process and they simply will...

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was a most holy Franciscan friar who lived at the monastery of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks' mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the...

A Crisis of Some Depth When one studies the Catholic news this week, it is easy to see that the foxes are abroad in the chicken house. Indeed, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that they have been deliberately placed in control of the chickens. At this stage in the game, only those who are willfully blind can deny this. One of the things that helped me to discover more of the real depth of the crisis facing the Church, was studying the life and times of the great Cardinal Josef Mindszenty of Hungary, about 10 years...

And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:7-8)John saw four “Living Beings”, called “beasts” in the King James Version, worshipping the Holy and Sovereign God in antiphon. The description of the...

Job 11:17,18 Your Life will be Brighter than Sunshine at Noon, And Life's Darkest Hours will Shine like the Dawn. You will Live Secure and Full of Hope; God will Protect you and Give you Rest. You won't be Afraid of your Enemies; Many People will Ask you for Help. But the Wicked will Look Around in Despair And Find that there is No Way to Escape.

"[Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness" (1 Cor. 13:6). Love never justifies sin. To most Christians, the idea of rejoicing over unrighteousness is repulsive because it suggests enjoying deliberate, wanton sin. We've seen sin's tragic effects on mankind and know how it offends God, so how could we ever rejoice in such a thing? But rejoicing in unrighteousness includes any attempt to justify sin in your own life or the lives of others, so it can be a very subtle thing. There are many ways to rejoice in unrighteousness. One is to exchange right for wrong. That's what the prophet...

“‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth’” (Matthew 6:19). You cannot pursue both God and riches. Ours is a society consumed with material things. Status, success, and importance are all too often measured by a person’s financial worth. Those with wealth flaunt it; those without wealth fake it. People often rack up huge debts in their desperate and futile pursuit of happiness through accumulating material things. Sadly, that same materialistic mind-set permeates the church. Instead of offering an alternative, that of being distinct from the world, the church joins the world in its pursuit of riches. Most tragically...

“I am Sending Timothy” - A Brief Summary of St. Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians Msgr. Charles Pope • August 21, 2016 • In daily Mass this week (21st Week of the Year) we are reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. I thought it might be helpful to present some notes I have assembled over the years from various sources. My goal is to bring the text a bit more alive and to provide some context.Overall context – St. Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica was cut short due to persecution, and after he left he had...