Category: Learn & Live the Faith

Reflections for Sunday, July 19, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, July 19, 2015

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by on Jul 15, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6 2nd Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18 Responsorial: Psalm 23:1-6 Gospel: Mark 6:30-34 Being Open to the Promptings of the Holy Spirit His heart was moved. (Mark 6:34) In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus both encouraged and discouraged. He was encouraged because the apostles […]

Take A Friend On The Journey
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Take A Friend On The Journey

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by on Jul 15, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Men, Those in Need
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A March weekend in 2005 has affected my life as profoundly as almost any other event. Not only did my two-day experience improve the quality of my life, it probably saved my life. Numerous times. I gained a true understanding about the invaluable importance of making my spiritual journey with companions. And to think it […]

What Do <em>Twilight</em>, <em>Fifty Shades</em>, and Leviticus Have in Common?
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What Do Twilight, Fifty Shades, and Leviticus Have in Common?

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by on Jul 14, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Live in Christ, On Books, On TV and Movies
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Most who discuss them agree that the Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey fiction series are the same basic story line with different characters. What seems to differ among those discussing the two, however, is why they are so popular that they developed a cult following. I have a suggestion along that line: What if the wild fascination […]

Amos: The Lion of God's Salvation
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Amos: The Lion of God’s Salvation

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by on Jul 10, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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The prophet hears what God proclaims ) and is called to speak in God’s name. The Twelve hear the message of Jesus and are sent forth to preach the gospel. In him we have been chosen to be full of love. The Scriptures often illustrate how God calls ordinary people and empowers them to accomplish great things. The prophet Amos […]

Just Do it!
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Just Do it!

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by on Jul 10, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, MyChurchParish.com
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Everybody likes free gifts.  Advertisers know that a campaign will have much better results if there are free samples or a free gift with every purchase.  A friend of mine lived by this motto: when it’s free, take two. But when we receive a favor, we’re wise enough to know there has got to be […]

One Nation Under SCOTUS: Some Hildebrandian Parallels
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One Nation Under SCOTUS: Some Hildebrandian Parallels

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by on Jul 10, 2015 in Featured, Government & Politics, History, Law & Justice, Marriage, The Homosexual Agenda
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In response to the US Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decree on same sex marriage, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued this statement: …It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage…. Mandating marriage redefinition across the country […]

Was Jesus Really Silent on Same-Sex "Marriage"?
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Was Jesus Really Silent on Same-Sex “Marriage”?

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by on Jul 09, 2015 in Apologetics, Featured, The Homosexual Agenda
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The issue of same-sex “marriage” seems to be everywhere these days. Anyone who voices an objection to it is also, more and more frequently, accused of discrimination and labeled a “bigot.” Now, state and federal governments may very well change the age-old definition of marriage to include people of the same gender and marry two […]

Teach a Haitian Orphan to Sew and You Can Clothe Him for Life
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Teach a Haitian Orphan to Sew and You Can Clothe Him for Life

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by on Jul 09, 2015 in Featured, International Issues, The Social Order, Those in Need
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There is an old proverb that says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Indeed, the best form of charity is to show people how to be self-reliant. It’s not the only form of charity; often immediate measures […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 12, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, July 12, 2015

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by on Jul 08, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Amos 7:12-15 2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14 Responsorial: Psalm 85:9-14 Gospel: Mark 6:7-13 Coming to Know and Understand God’s Eternal Plan … A plan for the fullness of times. (Ephesians 1:10) Today, Paul takes us behind the scenes into the mind of God. Unlike […]

True Strength: Fully Rely on God
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True Strength: Fully Rely on God

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by on Jul 08, 2015 in Evangelization, Featured, Health & Fitness, Live in Christ
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Like many first-born children, I’m a good rules-follower. Unless I suspect danger to my physical or spiritual well-being, I will do what I’m told by people who love me or the people who somehow make or enforce the rules. So I always have been a pretty good “kneeler” in church. By that, I mean that […]

Cross Bearers Needed
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Cross Bearers Needed

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by on Jul 07, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Evangelization, Featured
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In March of this year my father sent out an email to his family marking an important date in his life. It was the anniversary of the day, at thirty years old, he woke up paralyzed. Forty-eight years had passed. I was only eight years old, and the oldest of five children. I cannot remember […]

A Godly Meditation
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A Godly Meditation

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by on Jul 06, 2015 in Columnists, Featured, History
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Give me Thy grace, good Lord….

Historic Prayer for the United States
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Historic Prayer for the United States

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by on Jul 04, 2015 in Columnists, Featured, Government & Politics, History, Law & Justice, The Social Order
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For the welfare of the Republic.

SCOTUS
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SCOTUS

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by on Jul 04, 2015 in Government & Politics, History, Law & Justice, Poetry
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With bluster, ink, and bray. Lawyers five, get their way. Out with God; in with sex drive. Salute Sodom; so they connive. Let them preach right prim of legality, That man’s law must be obeyed. But ‘tis base to bow, when reality Has the highest law betrayed. T’would be wrong to supersede, Against authority properly […]

Miracles Jesus Could Not Do
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Miracles Jesus Could Not Do

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by on Jul 04, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, MyChurchParish.com
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Over the last two Sundays, the gospel of Mark has been making it abundantly clear that Jesus is indeed God Almighty, ruler of the world and lord over life and death. But this week we come to a story that leaves us scratching our heads.  Jesus goes to his own native place, and receives less […]

The Coming Battle
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The Coming Battle

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by on Jul 02, 2015 in Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage, The Homosexual Agenda
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If you are like me, you are in mourning. Not merely for a battle lost, but for the thousands of misguided souls who may be lost due to the Supreme Court’s misguided attempts at fairness. The legalization of same sex marriage is not a sudden event, however. Judging by the reactions on both sides, it […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 5, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, July 5, 2015

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by on Jul 02, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Ezekiel 2:2-5 2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Responsorial: Psalm 123:1-4 Gospel: Mark 6:1-6 Trusting in God’s Desire to Speak His Word and Message to Us Rebellious, stiff-necked, obstinate. Why would God go to the trouble of sending Ezekiel to speak his message to […]

Reluctantly Seeking Humility
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Reluctantly Seeking Humility

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by on Jul 01, 2015 in Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ
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During the last several months, I have felt a distinct and powerful calling to obtain and embrace a certain virtue. It has led me to daily reciting a certain prayer to the point of writing it on my heart. I have found it one of the most difficult prayer devotions I ever have attempted. The […]

persecution, crucifixion, crucifix, cross, suffering
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Faith in Action

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by on Jul 01, 2015 in Featured, Live in Christ, The Social Order
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“I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing […]

A Tireless Pastor Leaves the Killing Fields of Syria
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A Tireless Pastor Leaves the Killing Fields of Syria

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by on Jun 30, 2015 in Featured, International Issues, Those in Need
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It would be hard to find a more dangerous posting in the Jesuit order today than ministering to the faithful of this city in the heart Syria’s “Valley of the Christians.” And Syrian Jesuit Father Ziad Hilal has been based here for half a dozen years, witnessing some of the worst horrors of the country’s […]

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel
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Front Row With Francis: The Wounds of the Family

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by on Jun 29, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Marriage, The Catholic Family
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Envy, greed, selfishness, harsh words, sibling rivalry, infidelity, illness, tragedy, violence, abuse – the list sounds like much like the headlines on your average nightly news show or the subject of anguished conversations among distraught parents and grandparents lamenting the discord they witness daily in their own families. We listen to the stories, shake our […]

The Playgrounds of War I
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About an Unwanted Boy

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by on Jun 29, 2015 in Featured, Reproductive Technology, Those in Need
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I’ve just watched an in depth report about a baby boy born via surrogacy in India on November 12, 2012, and left behind by his Australian parents. This tragic story highlights the dirty side of buying and selling and trafficking in children, the complicity of government officials, and the corrupt $500 million per year surrogacy […]

The American Address
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The American Address

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by on Jun 28, 2015 in Catholic Bioethics, Contraception & Abortion, Evangelization, Featured, Government & Politics, Law & Justice
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The 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision said that Dred Scott, his wife, and their unborn child were not human beings, but were property to be bought and sold. Led by proslavery Chief Justice Roger Taney, the Court created a new national constitutional right to own slaves. Taney, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic, was […]