MAY THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST, BE ALWAYS IN OUR HEART TO KEEP US HUMBLE, GRATEFUL, MERCIFUL, FORGIVING --- O GOD, BLESS ALL THAT IS COMING FROM YOU AND BREAK ALL THAT IS NOT COMING FROM YOU, AMEN --- This site is just a drop from the immeasurable ocean in JESUS, THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, HOLY TRINITY ONE GOD - HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE - TEACHER, HEALER, REDEEMER --- The main purpose of this site is to make an easier access to Catholic Religion-related links.
From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in his design to promise life in Christ Jesus; to Timothy, dear child of mine, wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
Night and day I thank God, keeping my conscience clear and remembering my duty to him as my ancestors did, and always I remember you in my prayers; I remember your tears and long to see you again to complete my happiness. Then I am reminded of the sincere faith which you have; it came first to live in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I have no doubt that it is the same faith in you as well.
That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but with me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy.
OR:
Alternative First reading
Titus 1:1-5
From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion; and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie and so, at the appointed time, he revealed his decision, and, by the command of God our saviour, I have been commissioned to proclaim it. To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share, wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our saviour.
The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to get everything organised there and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-8,10
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
Give the Lord, you families of peoples,
give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
The world he made firm in its place;
he will judge the peoples in fairness.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
Gospel Acclamation (Lk4:17)
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Luke 10:1-9
Your peace will rest on that man
The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!” And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”’
THE GOSPEL:
Lk 10:1-9 -- The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few - il-ħsad kbir imma l-ħaddiema ftit
Evanġelju
Lq 10: 1-9
Qari mill-Evanġelju skont San Luqa
F’dak iż-żmien: Il-Mulej qabbad tnejn u sebgħin oħra u bagħathom tnejn tnejn qablu f’kull belt u post fejn kien sejjer hu. U qalilhom: “Il-ħsad hu kbir, tassew, imma l-ħaddiema ftit. Itolbu mela ’l sid il-ħsad biex jibgħat ħaddiema għall-ħsad tiegħu. Morru! Araw, qiegħed nibgħatkom bħal ħrief qalb l-ilpup.
Teħdux magħkom, la but, la ħorġa u lanqas qrieq, u fit-triq issellmu ’l ħadd. Fid-dar fejn tidħlu, l-ewwel għidu, ‘Sliem lil din id-dar.’ U jekk fiha jkun hemm bin is-sliem, jistrieħ is-sliem tagħkom fuqu; jekk le, it-tislima tagħkom terġgħalkom lura għandkom. Ibqgħu għand dik il-familja, u kulu u ixorbu milli jkollhom huma, għax il-ħaddiem ħaqqu ħlasu. Toqogħdux idduru mingħand familja għal oħra. F’kull belt li fiha tmorru u jilqgħukom, kulu dak li jqegħdulkom quddiemkom; fejqu l-morda tagħha, u lin-nies għidulhom, ‘Is-Saltna ta’ Alla waslitilkom.’”
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
R/. Tifħir lilek Kristu.
************
Pope: transmit the faith with the courage of truth and witness
During his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta Pope Francis reflected on the how we announce the Gospel message saying that words are empty if they do not reflect real life.
By Linda Bordoni
At the heart ofPope Francis’ homily on Friday morning in theCasa Santa Martawas a reflection on how to transmit the faith.
Taking his cue from the liturgical reading of the day in which the apostle Paul addresses his disciple Timothy recalling his “sincere faith” that first lived in his grandmother and then in his mother, the Pope highlighted the words that indicate how faith is to be transmitted: “son”, as Paul calls Timothy, “mother,” “grandmother,” and finally "testimony".
The 'folly of preaching' according to Paul
The Pope said that Paul generated Timothy with the “folly of preaching.” He said that in the reading a mention is also made of “tears” because, he explained, Paul does not sweeten his preaching with half-truths, he does so with courage because the announcement of the Gospel “cannot be lukewarm”.
“Preaching is - allow me the word – ‘a slap’. A slap that moves you and pushes you forward” he said.
Paul himself, Francis said, describes it as ‘the folly of preaching’: “it's folly, because to say that God became man and then he was crucified and then he rose again ...” There is always a pinch of folly in preaching which must not be tempted by mediocrity and half-truths.
The Word without testimony has no strength
The second word Pope Francis chose to highlight is testimony. Faith, he affirmed, is to be transmitted through witness which gives strength to the Word and he commented on how people used to say of the first disciples: “How they love each other.”
He noted that in some parishes today, many tongues can be heard wagging about this person or that… and instead of commenting on ‘how they love each other’ one could be enticed to comment on how people speak badly of each other, on “how they use their tongues like knives to ‘skin’ the other!”
“How can you transmit the faith in an atmosphere that is spoilt by gossip, by slander?” he said.
True testimony, the Pope explained means never speaking badly of the other, it means doing works of charity, visiting the sick, and it means asking oneself why others behave or live as they do.
Pope Francis also emphasized the fact that evil acts as “counter-testimony” or as bad testimony: it takes away faith and weakens people.
The Church gives life like a mother
The other word and concept picked out by Pope Francis is “mother” and “grandmother”. He explained that “faith is transmitted in a womb, the womb of the Church”.
He said that the “Church’s motherhood is prolonged in the maternity of the mother, the woman”.
He recalled a meeting he had with a nun while he was in Albania. She had been imprisoned during the dictatorship, but sometimes the guards would let her take a walk along the river thinking there could be no harm in that.
But the nun was clever, the Pope said, and the women of the nearby villages would bring their children to her when she went out and she would secretly baptize them in the river.
“I ask myself, he said, are mothers and grandmothers like the ones Paul speaks of?” Or do they trust in the fact that the children will learn when they go to catechism?
“It gives me sadness, Francis continued, when I see children who do not know how to make the sign of the Cross” because their mothers and grandmothers have not taught them.
Let us ask the Lord, he concluded, to teach us to be witnesses and preachers and to teach women who are mothers to transmit the faith.
The example of the Word - Published on Jan 23, 2017
2017.01.21 Holy Mass for the 8th Centenary of the Dominican Order Pope Francis presides over the Eucharistic Celebration for the closing of the 8th Centenary celebrations to markthe foundation of the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans.
Pope Francis will close the jubilee for the Dominicans - Published on Jan 17, 2017
from the last section of a four part Franciscan blessing: MAY GOD BLESS YOU WITH ENOUGH FOOLISHNESS TO BELIEVE THAT YOU REALLY CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD, SO THAT YOU ARE ABLE, WITH GOD’S GRACE, TO DO WHAT OTHERS CLAIM, CANNOT BE DONE.
PROPER GOSPEL on On the memorial of St. Agnes (Virgin and Martyr)
Jan 21 - Homily: St Agnes, Holy Example
Published on 21 Jan 2017
Fr. Ignatius for the retreat titled "Universal Call to Holiness" gives the second homily where he presents St Agnes, virgin and martyr, as a great example for her willingness to go out and give everything she had to obtain the treasure of holiness and the kingdom of heaven. He points out that she overcame the two things that we must overcome to become holy, love of pleasure and fear of pain for she was tempted with many rewards if she was to forsake her faith as well as threatened by many tortures if she did not. Let us choose as well as she did.
PEOPLE NEED NATURE Lee
Pace in Sichuan, China | Conservation International (CI)
God created a perfect Nature to evolve in four seasons – In winter - plants and trees to sleep; birds and animals to migrate to warmer climate or hibernate the whole winter (like bears do) or hide from the cold with enough food stored (like ants do); snow and rain to fall so as to form rivers down valleys, form lakes and water basins to prepare the land for the other drier seasons. BUT MAN DEFIES NATURE: He challenges it for adventure, curiosity, pride, luxury, leisure, greed, superiority, power (not including situations of people forced to live in poverty or fleeing from persecution, which after all are the result of stealing and denying human beings God's providence and freedom for all humanity) We do not STOP to learn from God’s creation ! ...
When the hot Summer season is felt, animals and birds migrate to cooler climate. For us they can never compare to our intelligence BUT who gives them this instinct ? You answer ! Do we ever learn to bow down to nature and accept its power ?
The omnipotent God who lived as human among us, teaches us to be humble and live a simple life ! He lived so Himself ! Why do we complicate it ? Why do we give in to what the devil lures us - More work for more money for more extravagant holidays for more pleasures - even if they dry out like vapour as soon as we pack to go back to start work again ... & even just to be away from our 'dear' ones. What a disappointed and unhappy person is he who lives an envious and ego-centric life...But God is always ready to help us become conscious of the true happiness of wisdom in taking good decisions...focusing more on other's needs and offering a helping hand.
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Non esisteva rischio valanga su Rigopiano -
Published on 24 Jan 2017
Il geologo teramano Leo Adamoli, tra i principali studiosi dei monti di Farindola, spiega il perchè il rischio valanga in quel luogo non è stato mai segnalato da alcuna carta geo-morfologica. Inoltre, il terreno sul quale è stata costruita la struttura recettiva era un conoide di detriti ma per Adamoli era solido nel sottosuolo. Si sarebbe trattato di una imprevedibile concentrazione di eventi negativi che ha portato al disastro
Angelus: Pope Francis remembers victims of the avalanche at Hotel Rigopiano - Published on Jan 23, 2017
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Homilies for Holy Mass Readings for Friday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Pope Francis: Forgiveness should change one's mindset - Published on Jan 20, 2017
Pope Mass: ‘Christians need to overcome a self-centered mindset’ - 2017-01-20 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called on Christians to overcome the self-centered mindset of the doctors of the law who know only how to condemn. His words came at the morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
Taking inspiration from the Letter to the Hebrews, Pope Francis said the new covenant which God makes with us in Jesus Christ renews our heart. God renews all things “from the roots, not only in appearance”, he said. “This new covenant has its own characteristics.” First, he said, “the law of the Lord is not an external way of acting”; rather, it enters the heart and “changes our mindset”, as well as causing “a change of heart, a change of feeling, of way of acting, and a different way of looking at things.” Overcoming the egotistical mentality of the doctors of the law who know only how to condemn The Holy Father offered the example of a work of art, which an architect can behold either with cold envy or with joy and goodness. “The new covenant changes our heart and allows us to see the law of the Lord with this new heart, with this new mindset. Consider the doctors of the law who persecuted Jesus. These men did everything prescribed by the law. But their mindset was distanced from God. Theirs was an egotistical mindset, focused on themselves: their hearts constantly condemned [others]. The new covenant changes our hearts and minds. There is a change in mindset.” God forgives our sins; the new covenant changes our lives
The Lord, he added, “goes ahead” and assures us that God will pardon our iniquity and remember no longer our sins. “At times, I like to think about joking with the Lord: ‘You don’t have a good memory!’ This is the weakness of God: when God forgives, He forgets.”
“He forgets, because he forgives. Before a penitent heart, He forgives and forgets: ‘I will forget, I will not remember their sins’. But this too is an invitation not to remind the Lord of our sins, that is, to not sin any more: ‘You have forgiven me, you forgot.’ A change of life, a new covenant renews me and changes my life, not only the mindset and heart, but my life. To live without sin, far from sin: this is to recreate. This is how the Lord recreates us.”
The Lord changes our hearts to change our mindset
In conclusion, the Pope spoke about the ‘change of appearance’. He said, “We belong to God, other gods do not exist… A change of mindset changes the heart, life, and appearance.” He reiterated that this “is the recreation, which the Lord makes even more glorious than the first Creation.”
He then exhorted Christians to follow through with this covenant and to be ever true to it.
“The seal of this covenant is faithfulness, to be faithful to this work which the Lord has completed to change our mindset, to change our hearts. The prophets said, ‘But the Lord will change your heart of stone into a heart of flesh’: To change one’s heart and life and to sin no more, not reminding the Lord that He has forgotten our sins.”
Tifkira
Franġiskana ta'
SAN BERARDU U SHABU
PROTOMARTRI FRANGISKANI
Berardu, Pietru, Akkursju, Adjutu u Ottone kienu l-ewwel hames missjunarji li
baghat San Frangisk lejn l-artijiet tal-missjoni. Kif dawn waslu Spanja ma tawx
kas tal-periklu u qabdu jippritkaw il-Bxara t-Tajba tal-Vangelu fil-moskej
tal-Musulmani. Malajr qabduhom u haduhom quddiem is-sultan u dan amar li
jixhtuhom il-habs. Imbaghad keccewhom lejn il-Marokk, izda qalulhom biex ma
jibqghux jippritkaw izjed id-duttrina Nisranija. Imma huma xorta wahda baqghu
jaqdu dmirhom bi qlubija kbira. Ghalhekk regghu qabduhom, tawhom bosta torturi
horox u qatghuhielhom ghall-mewt. Il-qaddisin hadu l-martirju ta’ qtugh ir-ras
nhar is-16 ta’ Jannar 1220. Meta San Frangisk sema’ b’dan il-martirju msebbah
qal: “Issa nista’ nghid b’wicci minn quddiem li ghandi fl-Ordni tabilhaqq hames
Patrijiet Minuri.” L-igsma tal-Martri ttiehdu lejn Coimbra fil-Portugall, u
meta Sant’Antnin ta’ Padova, li sa dak iz-zmien kien ghadu Kanonku Agostinjan,
sema’ l-grajja ta’ dawn il-hames Frangiskani, qataghha li jsir Frangiskan huwa
wkoll biex, jekk tkun ir-rieda ta’ Alla, bhalhom imut martri. Il-Protomartri
Frangiskani kitibhom fl-album tal-qaddisin il-Papa Frangiskan Sistu IV fl-1481.
Jan 16 - Homily - Fr Alan: Love casts out all fear
Jan 16 - Homily: True Friars Minor - St. Berard & Companion Protomartyrs
When our holy Father St
Francis learned by divine revelation that God had called him and the members of
his order not only to personal perfection but also for the salvation of the
souls of others, he entertained an ardent desire to convert the Mohammedans,
whose inroads at that time frequently endangered Christian countries and the
Christian Faith.
While he himself and a
companion traveled to the Orient in order to approach the Sultan, he sent 6 of
the brethren to the Mohammedans in the West; Votalis, Berard, Peter, Accursius,
Adjutus, and Otho.
On the journey, Vitalis,
the superior, fell sick in Spain, and when his illness refused to mend, he
submitted to the will of God and remained behind, while he permitted his
brethren under the guidance of Berard to proceed.
At Seville, in southern
Spain, which the Mohammedans occupied at the time, St Berard and Companions
preached fearlessly in the mosque that the teaching of Mohammed was falsehood
and deceit, and that salvation could be found only in the Faith of Christ.
Burning with rage, the
Mohammedan ruler, who had been listening to them, ordered that their heads be
cut off at once. But his son, who was with him, appeased the anger of his
father, and at his suggestion the friars were permitted to sail across the sea
to Morocco.
This was quite in
accordance with their wishes, since there among the Saracens they were right in
the midst of the Mohammedan people. Coming upon a group of Saracens, Berard,
who had a good command of the Arabic language, began at once to preach the
Faith of Christ to them.
On another day when King
Miramolin and his suite appeared on the scene, he again fearlessly preached the
doctrine of Christ and called Mohammed an imposter. The king gave orders that
Berard and his companions should be expelled from the country; but they escaped
from their guards and returned a second and then a third time.
Then it happened that on
their way through the desert St Berard and Companions came upon the royal army,
which was nearly perishing because of thirst and could find no water anywhere.
Berard prayed, struck his staff upon the ground, and at once a spring bubbled
forth, which refreshed and saved the entire army.
More gently disposed
because of this miracle, the king ordered the brethren to appear in his
presence, and promised them wealth, positions of high honor, and all the
conveniences of life if they would remain with him and become Mohammedans. But
the champions of the Faith answered:
"We despise all those
things for the sake of Christ."
They proceeded to urge upon
the king the necessity of his conversion to their Faith. Stung by
disappointment as well as by their audacity, Miramolin then seized his sword
and split the head of everyone in turn.
Thus St Berard and
Companions obtained the martyr's palm on January 16, 1220. Pope Sixtus IV
canonized them in 1481 after many miracles had occurred through their
intercession.
*from: The Franciscan Book
of Saints, ed. by Marion Habig, ofm.
Psalm 115New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Psalm 115
The Impotence of Idols and the Greatness of God
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. 8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; 13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great.
14 May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time on and forevermore. Praise the Lord!
