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Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe.” John 10:24–25Why is it that these people did not know that Jesus was the Christ? They wanted Jesus to speak “plainly” to them, but Jesus surprises them by saying that He already answered their question but they “do not believe.” This Gospel passage continues the...

13 May 2025 Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Chicago, IllinoisReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 11:19-26They started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord JesusThose who had escaped during the persecution that happened because of Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they usually proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus to them as well. The Lord helped them, and...

“‘And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words’” (Matthew 6:7). If we’re honest, all of us have been guilty of repetitive prayers—before meals, at prayer meetings, before bed—with little or no thought to what we are saying or how God feels when He hears us do that. But such prayers are offensive to God and should be to us as well. We should understand, however, that Jesus here is not forbidding the repetition of genuine requests. In His parable of the midnight...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” John 10:2–4Do you recognize the voice of the Shepherd? Does He lead you each and every day, guiding you into His holy will? How attentive are you to what He speaks each day? These are some...

“‘But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus’ primary instruction about prayer here is not about the location, but about our attitude in realizing that God constitutes our audience. If you go to a quiet, private place and shut everything else out as you pray, you’ll turn your focus from yourself and others and over to God exclusively. Jesus regularly got away to pray alone so He could have effective...

12 May 2025 Monday of the 4th week of Eastertide St Pancras Old Church, LondonReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 11:1-18God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to lifeThe apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by point: ‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began,...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” John 10:27–28The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is an endearing image. Many artists have depicted the gentleness of Christ as He leads His sheep or carries a straying lamb on His shoulders. We are given this image today as we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. In our short Gospel passage today, Jesus addressed some of the Jews who were trying to trap...

11 May 2025 4th Sunday of Easter Church of St. Gangulphus, Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 13:14,43-52'We must turn to the pagans'Paul and his friends carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. When the meeting broke up many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas, and in their talks with them Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace God had given them. The next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the...

“‘They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full’” (Matthew 6:5). In Jesus’ time, the synagogues were the likeliest and most appropriate places for sincere public praying. Devout Jews also offered many prayers on street corners, if that’s where they were at the appointed hour of prayer. But the word Jesus uses here indicates a major street, and therefore a major street corner where a bigger crowd would likely be. By inference the hypocrites were at...

Praying daily since 2015: Join with hundreds of FReepers to pray daily on FR for President Donald TRUMP, Vice President,J.D. Vance, and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Healthcare Systems and the Media.And this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us.1 John 5:14

By Dr. John BergsmaThis upcoming Lord’s Day is often known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” since each year the Gospel reading is taken from John 10, the “Good Shepherd Discourse.” It’s also often observed as a day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, since priests and religious are visible manifestations to us of Christ in his role as the Good Shepherd. Most of the Readings are tied together by a shepherding theme. 1. The First Reading continues the traditional Christian practice of reading Acts during the season of Easter. We are up to Acts 13, the point...

10 May 2025 Saturday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Montilla – Basilica of San Juan de ÁvilaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 9:31-42The churches grew and were filled with the consolation of the Holy SpiritThe churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight...

Daily Readings from the USCCBAs a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” John 6:66–67Today’s Gospel concludes the beautiful and profound sermon on the Bread of Life (see John 6:22–71). When you read this sermon from beginning to end, it is noticeable that Jesus moves from more general statements about the Bread of Life that are easier to accept to more specific statements that are challenging. He concludes His teaching just prior to today’s Gospel...

“‘When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full’” (Matthew 6:5). Over the centuries, various questionable practices and attitudes have affected the prayer life of God’s people—ritualization, prescription prayers, limitations of time and place, the love of long prayers, and meaningless repetitions. But the worst fault was when God’s people prayed mainly to be noticed by others, especially by fellow Jews. This fault was...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.” John 6:53–55On a philosophical level, it’s useful to consider various things that appear to be “competing forces.” Good appears to be the opposite of evil. Light the opposite of dark. Heat the opposite of cold. And life...

9 May 2025 Friday of the 3rd week of Eastertide The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Blata l‑Bajda, MaltaMass on the feast of St George PrecaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 9:1-20This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before the pagansSaul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he could find. Suddenly, while...

“‘When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:3–4). When you give as Jesus directs—lovingly, unpretentiously, and with no concern for public recognition—“your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” In other words, if you remember, God forgets; and if you forget, God still remembers. You should simply try to meet every need you can and leave the bookkeeping to Him. This kind...

Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." John 12:27-28 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. (28) Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Luke 22:42-43 "Saying,...

Daily Readings from the USCCBI am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” John 6:51Jesus was starting to stir up the emotions of some within the crowd. They began to ridicule Him because He had said that He was the “bread that had come down from heaven.” Thus, many of those who had sought Jesus out in hopes of another miraculous free meal began to murmur among themselves and ridicule Him. As a result, Jesus began...

“‘When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:3–4). Continuing from yesterday’s list of scriptural giving principles, four more come to mind. First, financial giving correlates to spiritual blessings. God will not entrust things of greater value to those who are not faithful with lesser things. Jesus asks, “If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to...