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First Week of Advent Matthew 8:5–11Friends, in our Gospel today, a Roman centurion comes to Jesus and says, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully...I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." Any objective observer would say, "Well, this is ridiculous! What this man is asking is impossible." He is not only asking that his servant might be cured; he is asking that he be cured at a distance, with simply a word. He’s at the limit of what he could possibly know or...

Head of German bishops’ conference says he will not accept Vatican’s ‘No’ on women priests 'Access to the ecclesiastical office must be opened up, or it is hard to imagine the future of the Church in our country,” said Bishop Georg Bätzing.(LifeSiteNews) — The head of the German bishops’ conference has declared that he does not want to “accept an irrevocable ‘No’ from the Vatican” regarding the ordination of women priests. According to a report by the German bishops’ own news site katholisch.de, Bishop Georg Bätzing said that “even if Rome sees this point as settled, it is still an...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:8–9These are words spoken by a man who is very familiar with the exercise of authority. He is a Roman centurion, and he states that he himself is “a man subject to...

“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14). Sometimes neither the most persuasive arguments nor the most convincing deeds will change someone’s hard-hearted opposition. Such was the case for the Pharisees’ challenge to Jesus in considering the proper significance and use of the Sabbath. He had irrefutably connected the divine virtues of benevolence, kindness, mercy, goodness, and compassion with scriptural Sabbath observance. But the Phari-sees stubbornly rejected His exhortations and clung to their legalistic works and self-styled traditions. Not even God’s Word or the powerful demonstration by His Son would...

Moses was tending sheep in the desert one day when God called to him from a burning bush. “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (see Exodus 3:5 NKJV). Holy ground is not a physical place. When God commanded Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, he was not referring to a piece of real estate, but to Moses’ spiritual condition. A holy God must have a holy man who is on “holy ground.” God can’t use a man until his...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ JESUS CALLS FISHERS OF MEN ֎ Featuring 30 Paintings. 2 Statues and 8 Windows ֎ MATTHEW CHAPTER 4* As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, SIMON CALLED PETER AND HIS BROTHER ANDREW. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. 1 CARAVAGGIO "The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew" 2 GIUSTO DI GIOVANNI DE'...

28 November 2022Monday of the 1st week of Advent Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Paris, France. Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(I).First readingIsaiah 4:2-6 ©The fruit of the earth shall be the pride and adornment of Israel's survivorsThat day, the branch of the Lordshall be beauty and glory,and the fruit of the earthshall be the pride and adornmentof Israel’s survivors.Those who are left of Zionand remain of Jerusalemshall be called holyand those left in Jerusalem, noted down for survival.When the Lord has washed awaythe filth of the daughter of Zionand cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed...

28th November 2022Monday of the 1st week of Advent Chapel of The Miraculous Medal, Paris, FranceReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet First readingIsaiah 4:2-6 ©The fruit of the earth shall be the pride and adornment of Israel's survivorsThat day, the branch of the Lordshall be beauty and glory,and the fruit of the earthshall be the pride and adornmentof Israel’s survivors.Those who are left of Zionand remain of Jerusalemshall be called holyand those left in Jerusalem, noted down for survival.When the Lord has washed awaythe filth of the daughter of Zionand cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed in herwith the blast of...

“To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue. Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer” (Proverbs 28:21-24).

To God you will never be more healed than you are right now. How can you be anymore healed than "were healed." 1 Peter 2:24 says, you were healed by the stripes of Jesus. The issue is how do you view healing. Now, please understand there's more to healing than when all the symptoms are gone and everything has physically stopped. There's another side that God includes He includes the spiritual side. Remember, Abraham in Genesis 17:4,5 when God told him that He had made him a father of many nations when in fact Romans 4:19 says that his body...

Join together with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.'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.' 1 Timothy 2:1-2Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind.'And this is the Confidence that we have in Him, that, if we Ask Anything According to His Will, He Heareth us.' 1 John 5:14

The Vatican said on Saturday that Chinese authorities had violated the terms stipulated in its provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops.A statement released on Nov. 26 said that “the Holy See noted with surprise and regret” that Bishop John Peng Weizhao had been installed as an “auxiliary bishop of Jiangxi,” a diocese that is not recognized by the Vatican. Bishop Peng’s installation ceremony in Nanchang, China, “did not occur in accordance with the spirit of dialogue … and what was stipulated in the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops, on September 22, 2018,” it said.The Vatican statement also...

Canadian religious leaders are speaking out with growing concern as the clock ticks down on the activation of new policies that would allow mentally ill people to be euthanized with remarkable speed — just 90 days after two doctors approve the request for assisted suicide. Canada legalized assisted suicide, which it prefers to call by the euphemism Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), in 2016. Euthanasia was initially limited to patients over the age of 18 suffering from a terminal illness — but, as critics predicted, the standards have been relentlessly loosened with every passing year. Canada is now one of...

While cleaning one set of Byzantine mosaics in Hippos of the Decapolis, the archaeologists found more mosaics. An unknown bishop, a goldsmithing priest and an anxious couple have come to lightPeople of yore were deeply religious, it seems – including in Hippos (Sussita) of the Decapolis, a Greco-Roman city perched high above the Sea of Galilee. No less than seven churches have been found in the city from the early Christian era. Now, four inscriptions newly discovered in one of its ancient churches – the Martyrion of Theodoros, or “Burnt Church” – during the summer 2022 excavation season shed rare...

ATLANTA (LifeSiteNews) — The Georgia Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s decision to block the state’s six-week abortion ban. “The State of Georgia’s Emergency Petition for Supersedeas seeking a stay of the order of the Superior Court of Fulton County in [STATE OF GEORGIA v. SISTERSONG WOMEN OF COLOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE COLLECTIVE et al.] is hereby granted,” the court wrote in its brief unanimous decision ruling on Wednesday. Last week, the Superior Court of Fulton County had overturned the “Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act,” colloquially named the “heartbeat act,” which makes abortion illegal after an unborn child’s...

His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira of the Orthodox Church of Greece was found not guilty yesterday of violating the COVID lockdown in March 2020. The hierarch was arrested on Friday, March 20, 2020, for opening the doors of Holy Cross Cathedral and inviting the faithful to pray at the Salutations to the Theotokos. The state had ordered at that time that all services be canceled. Met. Seraphim said several times throughout the pandemic that closing churches only exacerbates the situation. According to the Orthodoxia News Agency, the trial at the Criminal Court of Piraeus lasted all of 15 minutes...

[Catholic Caucus] “Last of Vatican Fathers” Proposes Killing Children as He Nears His Particular Judgement (Rome) The "last living council father", the "red bishop", wants to justify the killing of unborn children as his last act before his death - at least up to the "fourth/fifth month". The process of disintegration in the church, illustrated by a concrete, shocking example.IMonsignor Luigi Bettazzi will celebrate his 99th birthday in three days. In 1946 he was ordained after his training at the seminary of Bologna and in 1963 was installed by Pope Paul VI. as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of...

Friends, today’s Gospel reminds us to be prepared as we await the Lord’s coming again.I don’t think it is the least bit accidental that when Paul wrote back to the community at Thessaloniki (the earliest Christian document we have), his major motif was the end of the world as we know it and the longing for Christ to come to remake the cosmos.When Paul speaks in that text of Christ arriving on the clouds and the Christians going up to meet him in the air, he is not predicting a great escape from the world of matter; rather, he is...

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" "But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may...

Our world is full of uncertainty. Chaos and unrest seem to spread hourly, causing fear to run rampant. My prayer each day is, “God help us not to murmur or complain. Teach us that these are signs of impatience and distrust of you, our faithful Lord.” In Exodus 17, Moses described murmuring as “tempting God.” The children of Israel were at Rephidim and there was no water to drink. Doubt and fear were spreading through the encampment. The people forgot all the times in the past they had been delivered and once again began to doubt that the Lord was...