Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee , Rembrandt  [ Web Gallery of Art ] We begin Year C, which highlights St Luke's Gospel Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)      Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.  People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.   ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed

St Peter in Prison , Rembrandt  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Mark 8:27-35 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’  And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’  He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’   And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and bega

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus- Friedrich Overbeck [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel Mark 1:29-39 ( NRSV, Anglicised Catholic Edition ) As soon as they left the synagogue, Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he p

The Latin Mass is often called “the closest thing to heaven on earth.” Rich in history with a language that most closely resembles the spirit of the Gospels, the Latin Mass is considered, by many, to most accurately reflect the mystery of the presence of Christ at the altar. After decades of Novus Ordo (Latin for “New Order” is the 1969 Mass of Pope Paul VI in which the Mass was offered in English with additional changes such as the priest facing the congregation instead of the altar), there is a renewed interest in the Latin Mass. Indeed, with Benedict’s 2007 interest in revising the Latin Mass, many Catholics have been introduced to the beauty of the Latin language for the first time while others are recalling their great love for Latin. read more here

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus Friedrich Overbeck, 1825 [ Web Gallery of Art ] Today's gospel, Mark 5:21-43, weaves two different healing stories into one, that of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and that of the daughter of Jairus, aged twelve, who had just died. In the scene below, taken from Franco Zeffirelli's  Jesus of Nazareth , the director focuses only on the story of the little girl. I don't know if the servant of Jairus, whom the latter addresses as 'Thomas' is meant in Zeffirelli's mind to be the future Apostle already showing the honest directness of the saint often referred to as 'Doubting Thomas', the saint who was to make the most explicit act of faith in the whole Bible,  My Lord and my God . In this scene Jesus immediately leaves what he was doing in order to respond to an emergency. Much of our life is like that. Zeffirelli retains words of Jesus that we find in the version of St Mark of this incident a