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A 1,500-year-old Greek inscription bearing the name “Christ, born of Mary” was unearthed in northern Israel, the Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday. The archaeologists discovered the inscription engraved at the entrance of an impressive building from the Byzantine or early Islamic period, featuring mosaic pavements decorated with a geometric design. The finding was unveiled in a salvage excavation directed by Tzachi Lang and Kojan Haku ahead of the construction of a road inside the village of Taiba in the Jezreel Valley. “We did not know what to expect ahead of the work, but we knew that this was an area...

The first time I heard the name, “Joe Biden,” I wanted to weep. On December 18, 1972, struggling through Washington traffic to my office at the White House, my car radio reported the deaths of a newly elected senator’s young wife and baby daughter in Delaware in a horrific collision. For a moment I forgot that Biden was a political opponent. Instead, as a husband and father myself, I thought of a terribly bereaved human being and choked back tears as I reflected on his grief. Now, all these years later, the last time I heard the name, “Joe Biden,”...

.. PRAISE THE LORD, MY SOUL . P S A L M 1 0 4 New International Version, emphases added Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible . C L I C K : To read PSALM 104 in full To hear MAX McLEAN reading it To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it HIGHLY recommended by Maudeen! To see an ANIMATION of the Psalms 9 7 9 B. C. . PSALM 104 . 1 Praise the Lord, my soul. . . Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. 2 The Lord wraps himself...

January 21 2021 Memorial of St. Patroclus St. Patrokli-Dom in Soest, GermanyBy Frank Vincentz - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4022349 Lectionary 314Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red.Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingHebrews 7:25-8:6 ©He has offered sacrifice once and for all by offering himselfThe power of Jesus to save is utterly certain, since he is living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him. To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above...

Sometimes I worry that by questioning the way God took certain actions, the way he did according to scripture .. I worry that I may be on the thin line between wanting answers to these questions or actual blasphemy!? One of my most nagging questions and one that seems to have no rational (or scriptural) explanation is "why did Jesus have to be tortured and slaughtered like he was?" Why the carrying and dragging of the heavy beams of the cross? That effort was so cruel that he fell many times on the way to where he would be impaled!...

The result of Democrats controlling Washington will be "more regulation, less freedom, more taxation, less religious liberty, more socialism, less democracy [and] more funds for abortion," contends James Dobson. And, he said in his latest newsletter, there will be "less support for the sanctity of human life, less funding for the military, more illegal immigration, more restrictions on speech, less patriotism, more wasteful spending, less support for families, more regulations on business, more appeasement of China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, less support for the electoral college, trillions more dollars for climate nonsense, more LGBTQ propaganda, less moral compunction, more...

.. S A V E M E O G O D. P S A L M 6 9 New International Version, emphases added Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible . C L I C K : To read PSALM 69 in full To hear MAX McLEAN reading it To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it HIGHLY recommended by Maudeen! To see an ANIMATION of the Psalms 9 7 9 B. C. . PSALM 69 . 1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is...

January 20 2021 Daily Readings Memorial of St. Sebastian St. Sebastian's Church, Queens, New York, New YorkBy Antony-22 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79276350 Lectionary 313Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingHebrews 7:1-3,15-17 ©You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, for everYou remember that Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, went to meet Abraham who was on his way back after defeating the kings, and blessed him; and also that it was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of all that he had. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, ‘king...

Here Catholic pro-family activist Peter Wolfgang argues that, despite his failings, Donald Trump did much for the Church and for the causes she supports, and that we will miss him when Biden becomes president. In the companion article, theologian Holly Taylor Coolman argues that, whatever good he may have done, many of his actions were deeply opposed to Catholic teaching, and that alliance of many Catholics with him damaged the Church. Donald Trump’s presidency ended in disaster. He lost his bid for reelection. Democratic victory in the Georgia Senate runoffs will put the pro-life and religious liberty causes at an...

.. PRAISE AWAITS YOU, OUR GOD . P S A L M 6 5 New International Version, emphases added Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible . C L I C K : To read PSALM 65 in full To hear MAX McLEAN reading it To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it HIGHLY recommended by Maudeen! To see an ANIMATION of the Psalms 9 7 9 B. C. . PSALM 65 For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song. 1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. 2 You who...

January 19 2021 Memorial of St. Fillan of Scotland Lectionary 312Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingHebrews 6:10-20 ©In this hope we have an anchor for our soulGod would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for his name or the services you have done, and are still doing, for the saints. Our one desire is that every one of you should go on showing the same earnestness to the end, to the perfect fulfilment of our hopes, never growing careless, but imitating those who have the faith and the perseverance to...

January 18 2021 Memorial of St. Volusian of Tours (died 496 AD) Eglise de Saint Volusien, Foix, France Lectionary 311Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingHebrews 5:1-10 ©Although he was Son, he learned to obey through sufferingEvery high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the...

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” – Thomas Jefferson “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” -George Washington As the laws currently stand, America is still a free nation. In the practical operation of government, I think it is incorrect to say we have one “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Democratic systems are fragile in nature, and they can be easily broken. The left has reached a point where they are so powerful, they can now set all the rules. Anyone...

The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election was the most contentious and corrupt election in the history of America (it has been reported that almost 80% of Republicans, about 30% of Independents, and 17% of Democrats believe there was fraud). The shadow government and globalist elite have used an illegal election to replace a president that wanted to put America first with a president that will push world government, and these people are now closer to their long-cherished goal of a one-world government, economy, and godless global religion than they have ever been. In my last article, I reported that Dr. James...

.. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD. P S A L M 2 3 New International Version, emphases added Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible . C L I C K : To read PSALM 23 in full To hear MAX McLEAN reading it To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it HIGHLY recommended by Maudeen! To see an ANIMATION of the Psalms 9 7 9 B. C. . PSALM 23 A psalm of David. 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he...

The first reading for Sunday Mass speaks to us of the call of Samuel. In examining it, we can see what it is that makes a great prophet. Put more theologically, we can see the ways in which God’s graces form a great prophet.Samuel was surely one of the most significant prophets of the Old Testament and lived at a critical time, as Israel shifted from the time of the judges to the time of the monarchy. Ultimately, it was he who would see Israel through the difficult time of Saul’s reign and prepare and anoint them for David’s...

January 17 2021 Memorial of St. Fursey of Ireland Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, Georgia Lectionary 65Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First reading1 Samuel 3:3-10,19 ©'Speak, Lord, your servant is listening'Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord, where the ark of God was, when the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli said, ‘I did not call. Go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down. Once again the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to...

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI receive their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in the Vatican. By Vatican News The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in the Vatican which began on Wednesday continues with both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI receiving their first doses of the vaccine.

REPORTS of a massacre of 750 people in the cathedral complex that reputedly houses the Ark of the Covenant have emerged from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Accounts have come from those who fled the town of Aksum and walked more than 200km to the regional capital, Mekelle. The massacre was first reported in dispatches from the Belgium-based NGO European External Programme with Africa (EEPA). The area is sealed off to journalists, but many reports of massacres have nevertheless emerged, some of which have been documented by Amnesty International. The former BBC World Service Africa editor and Senior Research Fellow...

January 16 2021 Saturday of week 1 in Ordinary TimeSaint Cecilia’s Church – St. Louis, MO Liturgical Colour: Green.First readingHebrews 4:12-16 ©Let us be confident in approaching the throne of graceThe word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of...