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EL PASO, Texas - Some sheriffs, residents and immigrant advocates along the nation's southern edge raised doubts Monday about President Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guardsmen to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border. While some welcomed the idea, others expressed concern that the troops — especially those returning from tours in Iraq — might shoot first and investigate later, despite assurances from the White House that deployed troops at the border likely would serve only a support role. Those people worried about a repeat of the 1997 fatal shooting of an 18-year-old...

December 24, 2005Saturday of the Fourth Week in AdventMass in the Morning Psalm: Saturday 2 Reading I2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 When King David was settled in his palace,and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,he said to Nathan the prophet,“Here I am living in a house of cedar,while the ark of God dwells in a tent!”Nathan answered the king,“Go, do whatever you have in mind,for the LORD is with you.” But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD:Should you build me a house...

December 23, 2005Friday of the Fourth Week in Advent Psalm: Friday 2 Reading IMal 3:1-4, 23-24 Thus says the Lord GOD:Lo, I am sending my messengerto prepare the way before me;And suddenly there will come to the templethe LORD whom you seek,And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.But who will endure the day of his coming?And who can stand when he appears?For he is like the refiner’s fire,or like the fuller’s lye.He will sit refining and purifying silver,and he will purify the sons of Levi,Refining them like gold or like...

December 22, 2005Thursday of the Fourth Week in Advent Psalm: Thursday 2 Reading I1 Sm 1:24-28 In those days,Hannah brought Samuel with her,along with a three-year-old bull,an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh. After the boy’s father had sacrificed the young bull,Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:“Pardon, my lord!As you live, my lord,I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request. Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;as long as...

December 21, 2005Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Advent Psalm: Wednesday 2 Reading ISgs 2:8-14 Hark! my lover – here he comesspringing across the mountains,leaping across the hills.My lover is like a gazelleor a young stag.Here he stands behind our wall,gazing through the windows,peering through the lattices.My lover speaks; he says to me,“Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,and come!“For see, the winter is past,the rains are over and gone.The flowers appear on the earth,the time of pruning the vines has come,and the song of the dove is heard in our land.The fig tree puts forth its figs,and the...

December 20, 2005Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Advent Psalm: Tuesday 2 Reading IIs 7:10-14 The LORD spoke to Ahaz:Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!But Ahaz answered,“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”Then Isaiah said:Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men,must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and shall name him Emmanuel. Responsorial PsalmPs 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 R. (see 7c and...

Opinion The mayor of Boston recasts its Christmas tree as a “Holiday tree.” The mayor of Montgomery, Alabama insists on calling the annual Christmas parade a “Holiday parade.” Rev. Jerry Falwell urges Christians to boycott Target stores because of the chain’s failure to use the word, “Christmas,” in its advertising and its prohibition of Salvation Army bellringers at its front doors. Faithful Christians, seeing yet another sign of the demise of faith and piety in our society, look for someone to blame, and call for a round-up of the usual suspects: the ACLU, People for the American Way, and liberal...

Meditation on Isaiah 52:7-10 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, publishing the glad tidings of peace, announcing the word of salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns! Gospel, Godspell, God's story, Love's story, how the rejected Lover reclaimed his bride, how the willful child found a loving Father in spite of his actions how the contrite found hope, how the sinful, redemption, the brokenhearted, healing. See how the guardians in their watchtowers call out the news - joy unbounded in the songs that angels sang to the outcasts with their flocks,...

December 19, 2005Monday of the Fourth Week in Advent Psalm: Monday 2 Reading IJgs 13:2-7, 24-25a There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,“Though you are barren and have had no children,yet you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drinkand to eat nothing unclean.As for the son you will conceive and bear,no razor shall touch his head,for this boy is...

Perfectly little baby, Mary's little son, lying in her loving arms While Joseph looks on, The joy of his mother, God's only son, and the heavens sing out their song while shepherds look on. Wondrous young man, Mary's little son, sitting in the temple while the teachers looked on. Frightened was his mother for God's only son, Feeling how the sword would feel As she searched on. Battered was his body, Mary's precious son as they pulled him off the cross as soldiers looked on. The sorrow of his mother for God's only son when they laid him in her...

December 18, 2005Fourth Sunday of Advent Psalm: Sunday 2 Reading I2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 When King David was settled in his palace,and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,he said to Nathan the prophet,“Here I am living in a house of cedar,while the ark of God dwells in a tent!”Nathan answered the king,“Go, do whatever you have in mind,for the LORD is with you.”But 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?’ “It was I who...

December 17, 2005Saturday of the Third Week in Advent Psalm: Saturday 1 Reading IGn 49:2, 8-10 Jacob called his sons and said to them:“Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,listen to Israel, your father. “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise-- your hand on the neck of your enemies;the sons of your father shall bow down to you.Judah, like a lion’s whelp,you have grown up on prey, my son.He crouches like a lion recumbent,the king of beasts – who would dare rouse him?The scepter shall never depart from Judah,or the mace from between his legs,While tribute is brought to him,and he receives...

December 16, 2005Friday of the Third Week in Advent Psalm: Friday 1 Reading IIs 56:1-3a, 6-8 Thus says the LORD:Observe what is right, do what is just;for my salvation is about to come,my justice, about to be revealed.Blessed is the man who does this,the son of man who holds to it;Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation,and his hand from any evildoing.Let not the foreigner say,when he would join himself to the LORD,“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,ministering to him,Loving the name of the LORD,and becoming his servants –All...

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December 15, 2005Thursday of the Third Week in Advent Psalm: Thursday 1 Reading IIs 54:1-10 Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,For more numerous are the children of the deserted wifethan the children of her who has a husband,says the LORD.Enlarge the space for your tent,spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;your descendants shall dispossess the nationsand shall people the desolate cities. Fear not, you shall not be put...

December 14, 2005Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church Psalm: Wednesday 1 Reading IIs 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25 I am the LORD, there is no other;I form the light, and create the darkness,I make well-being and create woe;I, the LORD, do all these things.Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;let justice also spring up!I, the LORD, have created this. For thus says the LORD,The creator of the heavens,who is God,The designer and maker of the earthwho established it,Not...

December 13, 2005Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr Psalm: Tuesday 1 Reading IZep 3:1-2, 9-13 Thus says the LORD:Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted,to the tyrannical city!She hears no voice,accepts no correction;In the LORD she has not trusted,to her God she has not drawn near. For then I will change and purifythe lips of the peoples,That they all may call upon the name of the LORD,to serve him with one accord;From beyond the rivers of Ethiopiaand as far as the recesses of the North,they shall bring me offerings. On that dayYou need not be ashamed of all your...

December 12, 2005Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Psalm: Monday 1 Reading IZec 2:14-17 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,and they shall be his people,and he will dwell among you,and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land,and he will again choose Jerusalem.Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD!For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling. or Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a,...

Magnificat anima mea Dominum I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 Magnificat anima mea Dominum! Magnify, Yes, magnify the Lord, O my soul, Yes my soul magnifies you, O my Lord, for the glory of being touched by divine Fire, undeserved, unearned, touched only because of your love, an amazing thing. Magnificat anima mea Dominum!...

December 11, 2005Third Sunday of Advent Psalm: Sunday 1 Reading IIs 61:1-2a, 10-11 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me;he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,to heal the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captivesand release to the prisoners,to announce a year of favor from the LORDand a day of vindication by our God. I rejoice heartily in the LORD,in my God is the joy of my soul;for he has clothed me with a robe of salvationand wrapped me in a mantle of justice,like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,like...