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From   The Gospel of John   (2003) directed by Philip Saville John 20:19-31 Today is now known also as 'Sunday of Divine Mercy' and in some English-speaking countries as 'Low Sunday'. Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 20:19 - 31 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them...

August 9 is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (also known as Edith Stein), virgin and martyr, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who later became a Discalced Carmelite nun and was martyred at Auschwitz. She is the patron saint of converted Jews, loss of parents, martyrs, and World Youth Day. Edith Stein was born on October 12, 1891, of Jewish parents, Siegried Stein and Auguste Courant, in Breslau, Germany, the youngest of eleven children. Although her parents were practicing Jews, Edith became an atheist during her adolescent years.  A critical thinker and a gifted scholar, Edith studied philology and philosophy at the universities of Breslau and Goettingen. Read the entire article at Catholic Fire.

There is no excel spreadsheet in heaven of all the prayers or good works that you must do to be granted access to heaven.   We can do no action that benefits God in any way, because He is God, He is eternal, already complete and if we could do an action that benefited Him, then in some way He would be found to be lacking in something.   This is why the gift of the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus is completely, free and unmerited, because if all the human beings that have ever lived prayed constantly from their conception to their death could still not open the gates of Heaven and save us from the eternal suffering of hell they way that the blood of Jesus did.   Yet, God gives us an 'action' plan of salvation.  We are not to just stay in our... TO READ MORE CLICK HERE!

Nine people died last Thursday, at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. A little while later, their killer also died: Lucero Alcaraz, 19 Treven Taylor Anspach, 20 Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18 Quinn Glen Cooper, 18 Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59 Lucas Eibel, 18 Jason Dale Johnson, 33 Lawrence Levine, 67 (teacher) Sarena Dawn Moore, 44 the killer, 26 ( CNN ) Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said that he was not going to use the killer's name, since one of the killer's goals was almost certainly to gain notoriety. ( BBC News ) I think that is probably a good idea. What I have to say doesn't require the killer's name. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Saint Peter, El Greco,1610-13 Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Spain [ 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   Matthew 16:13-20  (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”   And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”   He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”   Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,   the Son of the living God.”   continue gospel reading> Pope Francis in Korea , 13-18 August 2014 [ Wikipedia ] In his  homily on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June 2013 , Pope ...

Clement Shahbaz Bhatti   شہباز بھٹی (9 September 1968 – 2 March 2011) 'I do not want popularity, I do not want positions of power. I only want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak of me and say that I am following Jesus Christ .' Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Matthew 6:24-34  ( New Revised Standard Version,Catholic Edition , Canada)  Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot se...

Thinking of what has formed me spiritually, I look at the martyrs.   These holy ones inspire me not because I like suffering (which I definitely do not), and not merely because their intense gift of self to Christ is challenging (although it is).  I think I am enamored of them because their accounts pull me out of self-pity when I'm feeling arthritic, headachy, unable to find the car keys, or when it's raining for the ninth day in a row. A witness of, say, an Ignatius of Antioch can hush my whines at such times.  And fast.... (continue reading at The Breadbox Letters)

Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus .~ from the Te Deum When I wrote to Dr. Moss requesting her latest work The Myth of Persecution , I received a prompt and gracious reply assuring me of a copy. Dr. Moss hoped that I would not see the book as an attack upon the Church. I responded that I did not see the book as an attack on the Church and even if it was, the Church has been through worse. We have nothing to fear from the truth of history. After reading the book my reply is not altered. It is a well-written book with clear explanations indicative of a skilled teacher. However, I recommend Myth to others with reservations, since in spite of the genuine scholarship which Dr. Moss shares with us, there is a contemporary political slant given to the narrative which clouds the objectivity of how the historical evidence is presented. For instance, my cognitive processes are strained to envision St. Justin Martyr (pp. 109-112) and Glenn Beck (p. 250) as conf...

Adoration of the Magi , Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639-40 ( 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   Matthew 2:1-12   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Jud...

I have been living the missionary life for the past 12 years.  Many times, I need to "die" to myself, face persecutions with humility of heart, and submit completely to the will of God.  Being a missionary is not a perfect life.    But no matter what, it is a life worth living.  Today, World Mission Sunday, I honor all the missionaries around the world, who have selflessly devoted their life to spread the Good News about God, transform lives and inspire more people to strive to be living witnesses of God's unconditional love.  Significantly, it is also an honor for me to witness a fellow Filipino and Missionary canonized to sainthood - Saint Pedro Calungsod.  Reading more about his life, I am deeply inspired by his courage, loyalty, humility, and faith.  A young boy, with so much of life ahead, committed to serve God in a foreign land.  A ch...

Saint Peter , El Greco, painted 1610-13 [ 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   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." And he charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and...

, The Charity of St Lawrence , Bernardo Strozzi, painted 1639-40 Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel  John 6:41-51  (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) The Jews then murmured at Jesus, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. ...

Ascension , Rembrandt, painted 1636 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)  Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 17 May, in Scotland and the USA, and on Sunday 20 May in England & Wales, Ireland and the Philippines. I'm not sure about other countries. I won't be posting Sunday Reflections for the Seventh Sunday of Easter . Gospel Mark 16:15-20 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Jesus said to the Apostles, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt th...

Transfiguration of Christ , Paolo Veronese, painted 1555-56 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Mark 9:2-10 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus. 'Rabbi', he said it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, 'This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.' Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them an...