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September 9, 2014Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest   Reading 1 1 Cor 6:1-11 Brothers and sisters:How can any one of you with a case against anotherdare to bring it to the unjust for judgmentinstead of to the holy ones?Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?If the world is to be judged by you,are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?Do you not know that we will judge angels?Then why not everyday matters?If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?I say this to shame...

September 3, 2014Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 1 Cor 3:1-9 Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people,but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.I fed you milk, not solid food,because you were unable to take it.Indeed, you are still not able, even now,for you are still of the flesh.While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man?Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another,“I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men?...

August 29, 2014Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist    Reading 1 1 Cor 1:17-25 Brothers and sisters:Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel,and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.For it is written:I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and the learning of the learned I will set aside. Where is the wise one?Where is...

August 28, 2014Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 1 Cor 1:1-9 Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,and Sosthenes our brother,to the Church of God that is in Corinth,to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.Grace to you and peace from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always on your accountfor the grace of God bestowed...

August 27, 2014Memorial of Saint Monica    Reading 1 2 Thes 3:6-10, 16-18 We instruct you, brothers and sisters,in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,to shun any brotherwho walks in a disorderly wayand not according to the tradition they received from us.For you know how one must imitate us.For we did not act in a disorderly way among you,nor did we eat food received free from anyone.On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked,so as not to burden any of you.Not that we do not have the right.Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as...

NEW ORLEANS -- Leaders of the Slap Ya Mama Cajun spice company taped a new commercial in response to the NFL's ban on a popular ad method used for three years during preseason Saints games. "I'm in shock over it, it's wild, it's absurd,"said Slap Ya Mama Vice President Jack Walker.

August 25, 2014Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 2 Thes 1:1-5, 11-12 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessaloniansin God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:grace to you and peace from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters,as is fitting, because your faith flourishes ever more,and the love of every one of you for one another grows ever greater.Accordingly, we ourselves boast of you in the churches of Godregarding your endurance and faith in all your persecutionsand the afflictions...

Priest on Road to Canonization Given Highest US Military Honor Editor of Biography Reflects on What Fr. Kapaun Has to Teach Us Washington, D.C., April 12, 2013 (Zenit.org) Kathleen Naab | Thursday in the White House, President Barack Obama bestowed on Fr. Emil Kapaun the nation's highest military recognition, the Medal of Honor.The priest, who died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean war, is also being considered for canonization.The life that won Fr. Kapaun not only such high military praise, but also possible recognition as a canonized saint, is the subject of a biography called "The...

August 24, 2014Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 is 22:19-23 Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:“I will thrust you from your officeand pull you down from your station.On that day I will summon my servantEliakim, son of Hilkiah;I will clothe him with your robe,and gird him with your sash,and give over to him your authority.He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,and to the house of Judah.I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;when he opens, no one shall shutwhen he shuts, no one shall open.I...

August 23, 2014Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 43:1-7ab The angel led me to the gate which faces the east,and there I saw the glory of the God of Israelcoming from the east.I heard a sound like the roaring of many waters,and the earth shone with his glory.The vision was like that which I had seenwhen he came to destroy the city,and like that which I had seen by the river Chebar.I fell prone as the glory of the LORD entered the templeby way of the gate which faces the east,but spirit lifted...

August 22, 2014Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary    Reading 1 Ez 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD came upon me,and led me out in the Spirit of the LORDand set me in the center of the plain,which was now filled with bones.He made me walk among the bones in every directionso that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.How dry they were!He asked me:Son of man, can these bones come to life?I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”Then he said to me:Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:Dry...

August 21, 2014Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope    Reading 1 Ez 36:23-28 Thus says the LORD:I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it.Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.For I will take you away from among the nations,gather you from all the foreign lands,and bring you back to your own land.I will sprinkle clean water upon youto cleanse you from all your impurities,and from all your idols I will cleanse...

August 20, 2014Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Ez 34:1-11 The word of the Lord came to me:Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israelwho have been pasturing themselves!Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,and slaughtered the fatlings,but the sheep you have not pastured.You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sicknor bind up the injured.You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the...

Featured Term (selected at random:IMITATION OF SAINTS The practice of striving to put into practice in one's own life the virtues that the saints practiced in theirs. This is one of the reasons why the Church canonizes saints, to give the faithful secure patterns of holiness in every period of Christian history and on every level of human society. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

August 19, 2014Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 28:1-10 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man,say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are haughty of heart,you say, “A god am I!I occupy a godly thronein the heart of the sea!”—And yet you are a man, and not a god,however you may think yourself like a god.Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,there is no secret that is beyond you.By your wisdom and your intelligenceyou have made riches for yourself;You have put gold and...

August 16, 2014Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 The word of the LORD came to me:Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverbthat you recite in the land of Israel: “Fathers have eaten green grapes,thus their children’s teeth are on edge”? As I live, says the Lord GOD:I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among youwho will repeat this proverb in Israel.For all lives are mine;the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine;only the one who sins shall die....

August 14, 2014Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr    Reading 1 Ez 12:1-12 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house;they have eyes to see but do not see,and ears to hear but do not hear,for they are a rebellious house.Now, son of man, during the day while they are looking on,prepare your baggage as though for exile, and again while they are looking on,migrate from where you live to another place;perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house.You shall bring out your...

August 13, 2014Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 9:1-7; 10:18-22 The LORD cried loud for me to hear: Come, you scourges of the city!With that I saw six men coming from the directionof the upper gate which faces the north,each with a destroying weapon in his hand.In their midst was a man dressed in linen,with a writer’s case at his waist.They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.Then he called to the man dressed in linenwith the writer’s case at his waist, saying to him:Pass through the city, through Jerusalem,and mark a “Thau”...

August 12, 2014Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Ez 2:8-3:4 The Lord GOD said to me:As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you:be not rebellious like this house of rebellion,but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you. It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me,in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me.It was covered with writing front and back,and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe! He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you;eat...

August 11, 2014Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin    Reading 1 Ez 1:2-5, 24-28c On the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year,that is, of King Jehoiachin’s exile,The word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel,the son of Buzi,in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.—There the hand of the LORD came upon me. As I looked, a stormwind came from the North,a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped in brightness,from the midst of which (the midst of the fire)something gleamed like electrum.Within it were figures resembling four living creaturesthat looked like this: their...