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February 14, 2018 Ash Wednesday If the blessing and distribution of ashes take place outside Mass, it is appropriate thatthe Liturgy of the Word precede it, using texts assigned to the Mass of Ash Wednesday. Reading 1 Jl 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD,return to me with your whole heart,with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;Rend your hearts, not your garments,and return to the LORD, your God.For gracious and merciful is he,slow to anger, rich in kindness,and relenting in punishment.Perhaps he will again relentand leave behind him a blessing,Offerings and libationsfor the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion!proclaim...

February 10, 2018 Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin Reading 1 1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 Jeroboam thought to himself:"The kingdom will return to David's house.If now this people go up to offer sacrificesin the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem,the hearts of this people will return to their master,Rehoboam, king of Judah,and they will kill me."After taking counsel, the king made two calves of goldand said to the people:"You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough.Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.This...

February 8, 2018 Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 11:4-13 When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,as the heart of his father David had been.By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,on the hill...

February 6, 2018 Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs Reading 1 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORDin the presence of the whole community of Israel,and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,he said, “LORD, God of Israel,there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below;you keep your covenant of mercy with your servantswho are faithful to you with their whole heart. “Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,how much less this temple which I have built! Look...

February 5, 2018 Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr Reading 1 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13 The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes,the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel,came to King Solomon in Jerusalem,to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenantfrom the City of David, which is Zion.All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomonduring the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).When all the elders of Israel had arrived,the priests took up the ark;they carried the ark of the LORDand the meeting tent with all the...

February 3, 2018 Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 3:4-13 Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice there,because that was the most renowned high place.Upon its altar Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings.In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.God said, "Ask something of me and I will give it to you."Solomon answered:"You have shown great favor to your servant, my father David,because he behaved faithfully toward you,with justice and an upright heart;and you have continued this great favor toward him, even today,seating a son of his on his throne.O...

Well known is St. John Bosco’s “dream of the two columns” where he foresaw the future difficulties of the Church, envisioned as a ship on stormy seas. Several popes strive to moor the Church and anchor it between two columns which arose amid the dangerous waters. The columns symbolized the two devotions to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary Immaculate, the Help of Christians. Calm and peace for the Church is won only when one of the popes finally succeeds in anchoring the Church between the two columns.  Another St. John Bosco dream/prophecy is less-known, which can shed light...

January 31, 2018 Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest Reading 1 2 Sm 24:2, 9-17 King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,"Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-shebaand register the people, that I may know their number."Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand. Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,and said to the LORD:"I have sinned grievously in what I have done.But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your...

And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12)Notice that Jesus says “When they bring you before…”not “…If …they bring you before…”. Sooner or later every last one of us Christians on some level will be called upon to make the good confession. The setting is never a favorable one, it will range from either mildly hostile to absolutely death dealing hatred,...

We arrived at the forum, and straight away the story went about the neighbourhood near the forum and a huge crowd gathered. We walked up to the prisoner's dock. All the others when questioned admitted their guilt. Then, when it came my turn, my father appeared with my son, dragged me from the step, and said: Perform the sacrifice--have pity on your baby!' Hilarianus the governor, who had received his judicial powers as the successor of the late proconsul Minucius Timinianus, said to me: 'Have pity on your father's grey head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice...

January 28, 2018 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dt 18:15-20 Moses spoke to all the people, saying:"A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for youfrom among your own kin;to him you shall listen.This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horebon the day of the assembly, when you said,'Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.'And the LORD said to me, 'This was well said.I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among...

January 27, 2018 Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17 The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him,Nathan said: "Judge this case for me!In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought.He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children.She shared the little food he had and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom.She...

Eyes that Are Humble - A Meditation on the Conversion of St. Paul Msgr. Charles Pope • January 25, 2018 • Today in daily Mass we read the well-known story of St. Paul’s conversion. There is a detail in the story that I have often pondered. Although I am speculating on the specifics, I think it ought not to be overlooked. Even my choice of the words “speculating” and “overlooked” (both of which refer to the eyes) indicate that we ought to “give an eye” to St. Paul’s eyes.As you probably recall, St. Paul was not just struck down...

January 26, 2018 Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops Reading 1 2 Tm 1:1-8 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godfor the promise of life in Christ Jesus,to Timothy, my dear child:grace, mercy, and peace from God the Fatherand Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God,whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,so that I may be filled with joy, as I recall your sincere faiththat first lived in your grandmother...

January 25, 2018 Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle Reading 1 Acts 22:3-16 Paul addressed the people in these words:"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,but brought up in this city.At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral lawand was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.I persecuted this Way to death,binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.Even the high priest and the whole council of elderscan testify on my behalf.For from them I even received letters to the brothersand set out for Damascus to...

January 24, 2018 Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 2 Sm 7:4-17 That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:"Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD:Should you build me a house to dwell in?I have not dwelt in a house from the day on which I led the children of Israel 319out of Egypt to the present, but I have been going about in a tent under cloth.In all my wanderings everywhere among the children of Israel, did I ever utter a word to any one of the...

January 23, 2018 Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19 David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities.As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the LORD with abandon, as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORDwith shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.The ark of...

January 21, 2018 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jon 3:1-5, 10 The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,and announce to it the message that I will tell you."So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,according to the LORD'S bidding.Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;it took three days to go through it.Jonah began his journey through the city,and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, "when the people of Nineveh believed God;they proclaimed a fastand all of them, great and...

January 20, 2018 Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27 David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag.On the third day a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.David asked him, "Where do you come from?"He replied, "I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.""Tell me what happened," David bade him.He answered that many of the soldiers had fled the battle and that many of...

New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead said he will donate to Children's Minnesota the more than $40,000 raised by a unique fan campaign that began as a tribute to the punter's sportsmanship at the tail end of the Vikings defeat of the Saints Sunday. According to the Vikings' website, Minnesota fan Garrick Shurts posted a call on Reddit for Vikings fans to donate money to Morstead's charity, What You Give Will Grow. "It's just a bunch of happy Minnesota fans that were inspired for some reason. And I just figured the money should stay there to affect people in their...