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🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(4/6/26)[Prayer]A New Study For A New Year: PersonalitiesExodus 11:1- 11 And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. 2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver and jewels of gold. 3 And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover...

Mmm dd, 2026 Easter Monday Catholic Church of St. Sixtus, Schliersee, Upper Bavaria, GermanyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II).First readingActs 2:14,22-33God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to thisOn the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man,...

A man gave me a print of religious art, which had special significance for him. He had been a soldier in Viet Nam, who, it is unfortunate to say, was just on the point of executing a captured, North Vietnamese prisoner. When he had a mystical experience, that the man's face turned into that of Jesus Christ. So he had the habit of giving out the picture arrayed below. He gave me a copy. I have kept it ever since. .

Brothers and sisters, Christ is risen! Happy Easter! For centuries, the Church has joyfully sung of the event that is the origin and foundation of her faith: “Yes, Christ my hope is arisen / Christ indeed from death is risen / Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning” (Easter Sequence). Easter is the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred. It is a victory that came at a very high price: Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Mt 16:16), had to die — and die on a cross — after suffering an unjust...

I’ve spent much of my life reading and studying religious and philosophical texts. I’ve perused the works of Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, etc. I love such texts and the ideas that these great thinkers share. What all of these figures have in common is a certain calm, a measured manner of sharing what they have learned. And consequently, one reads their texts in a sort of abstracted way. I have wonderful memories of reading great books while sitting by the Seine in Paris when I was a doctoral student: thinking, wondering, reflecting.And then...

On that first Easter the Greatest News the World has ever heard was declared - Jesus is Alive (no description other than the title)

On that first Easter the Greatest News the World has ever heard was declared - Jesus is Alive (no description other than the title)

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.1 Timothy 2:1-2 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4). When your sins are forgiven, you are a happy person! Human sorrow is mourning over some tragic or disappointing turn of events. At such times believers are assured of God's sustaining and comforting grace (2 Cor. 1:3-4). But when Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4), He was referring to godly sorrow, which is mourning over your sin. "Mourn" in Matthew 5:4 translates the strongest Greek word used in the New Testament to express grief. It is often used of the...

The number of candidates preparing to be received into the Catholic Church across England at Easter is at its highest level for 15 years. Dioceses across the country are reporting increases, with Shrewsbury Cathedral holding an additional service to accommodate record numbers of adults seeking baptism and admission into the Church. In a statement, the Diocese of Shrewsbury said: “The numbers of people asking to become Catholics in the Diocese of Shrewsbury – which includes all of Shropshire, Cheshire, the Wirral and parts of Greater Manchester – has almost doubled in the past three years. “The surge in new converts...

the life of Japanese sculptor Etsuro Sotoo offers a striking witness to how stone itself can become a path to faith. For Sotoo, whose decades of carving at Spanish Barcelona’s Basilica of the Holy Family, known as Sagrada Familia, have shaped one of the world’s great sacred spaces, the slow, humbling work of sculpting stone ultimately led him to encounter the God whom Antoni Gaudí — Sagrada’s iconic architect — served, and to enter the Catholic Church through baptism. . Studying the life and vision of Sagrada’s legendary architect — and a spiritual giant — not only shaped his artistic...

Five years ago, Nazlican Soylemez had little connection to religious life. A random discovery in her Jersey City neighborhood changed everything. An avid reader and aspiring nurse, Soylemez, 31, was perusing a "Little Free Library" kiosk near her home when she spied a tiny paperback titled "Jesus Lives." The pages of that Christian devotional book would carry her on a journey toward Catholicism. Soylemez is among 1,700 people in the Newark Archdiocese scheduled to complete her conversion to Catholicism this Easter weekend. She and other spiritual newcomers will be confirmed and receive the Eucharist inside the ornate sanctuary of Holy...

It was July in 2016, and Holland was in the northern Iraq city of Sinjar. He had arrived with a BBC film crew about three months after ISIS, the murderous jihadist group, had tried and failed to retake the town after massacring members of the Yazidis, an ancient religious and ethnic minority in Iraq. Holland knew something about ancient history. He was an award-winning British historian who had written popular books about ruthless Spartan and Roman leaders he called the “apex predators” of the Greco-Roman world. They lived by the Athenian dictum: The strong do what they can and the...

Easter baptism figures for the past five years: 2021: 1,708 2022: 1,569 2023: 1,700 2024: 2,300 2025: 2,400 For a country surrounded by an openly anti-Christian regime, Hong Kong has seen a surprising surge in conversions over the past decade. On Easter of this year, around 2,500 new converts are estimated to join the Catholic Church. Hong Kong has long been a place of refuge for Catholics fleeing Chinese communist oppression. Since 1949, Chinese Catholics have poured into the diocese, seeking religious freedom and distance from the Chinese Communist Party's coercion. However, in following a year of pro-democracy protests in...

Vermonters in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington have celebrated this past week in the leadup to Easter on Sunday, when this year’s class of adults will enter into the Catholic Church. Current estimates indicate that their numbers are increasing substantially, especially among young adults at some of Vermont’s universities. While statewide Sunday Mass attendance has decreased and the diocese is consolidating churches, some local parishes have seen an increase in energy and enthusiasm. In a state with a declining birth rate and an aged population, data from the Diocese of Burlington indicates that conversions among adults are increasing at...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhile they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’” Matthew 28:11–13Imagine being one of the Roman guards tasked with keeping watch outside Jesus’ tomb. They likely had little interest in what seemed to them merely a religious dispute between Jesus, the chief priests, and elders....

President Donald Trump delivered an Easter video message to Christians in the United States and around the world, quoting the Gospel of John and declaring that “evil and wickedness will not prevail.” Describing the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as “the most glorious miracle in all of time,” Trump drew on one of the Bible’s most widely cited verses to anchor his message. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, for whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life,” he said, adding that the words were “beautiful.” Trump said millions of Christians worldwide...

Henry Gerecke was in his early 50’s when he went, cell by cell, to introduce himself to his infamous “congregation.” He invited them to chapel services. Some refused, others wavered, and still others promised to be there. Of the fifteen chairs set up for the first service, thirteen of them were filled. Scriptures were read, sermons preached, hymns sung, prayers prayed... Soon some of the very lips that had once barked, “Heil Hitler!” spoke an Amen as they knelt to receive the body and blood of their forgiving Lord. They expressed a desire for their children to be baptized. One...

Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday to deliver a resounding call for peace in times of renewed war, declaring, “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” On Palm Sunday, Leo said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” He quoted Isaiah 1:15: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.”

5 April 2026 Easter Sunday Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II).First readingActs 10:34,37-43'We have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection'Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I,...