Tag: #CatholicCulture

Daily Reading

Reading 1 IS 49:8-15

Thus says the LORD:
In a time of favor I answer you,
on the day of salvation I help you;
and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,
To restore the land
and allot the desolate heritages,
Saying to the prisoners: Come out!
To those in darkness: Show yourselves!
Along the ways they shall find pasture,
on every bare height shall their pastures be.
They shall not hunger or thirst,
nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;
For he who pities them leads them
and guides them beside springs of water.
I will cut a road through all my mountains,
and make my highways level.
See, some shall come from afar,
others from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Syene.
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.
For the LORD comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.

But Zion said, \”The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.\”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,

I will never forget you.

Responsorial Psalm PS 145:8-9, 13CD-14, 17-18

R. (8a) The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

  1. R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

  1. R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.

  1. R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Verse Before The Gospel JN 11:25A, 26

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;

whoever believes in me will never die.

Gospel JN 5:17-30

Jesus answered the Jews:
\”My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.\”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
\”Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.

\”I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will

but the will of the one who sent me.\”

Faith is the realization

Reading 1 HEB 11:1-2, 8-19

Brothers and sisters:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested.

Daily Reading

Newly discovered ruins of the Sanhedrin at Tiberias

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

READING OF THE DAY

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews
Heb 4: 1-6

Let us be on our guard
while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did.
But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened.
For we who believed enter into that rest,
just as he has said:

As I swore in my wrath,    
“They shall not enter into my rest,”

and yet his works were accomplished
at the foundation of the world.
For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner,
And God rested on the seventh day from all his works;
and again, in the previously mentioned place,
They shall not enter into my rest.

Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest,
so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 2:1-12

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what
they were thinking to themselves,
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that The Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Capernaum
Village At Lake Tiberias In The North Of Historical Judea, Associated With Christ:
Capernaum / Romanized: Kfar NaḼum, Lit. \’Nahum\’s Village. As a Fishing Village Established During The Time Of The Hasmoneans, Located On The Northern Shore Of The Sea Of Galilee. Archaeological Excavations Have Revealed Two Ancient Synagogues Built One Over The Other. A House Turned Into A Church By The Byzantines —-Is Believed To Have Been The Home Of Saint Peter.

Saint Peter\’s Byzantine Church (Capernaum)
By the Editors of the Madain Project
An octagonal Byzantine martyrium structure was built in first century CE is on the purported site of Saint Peter\’s house. According to the excavators, the central hall of this church was originally built as part of a residential structure about the beginning of the Early Roman period, around 63 BCE. Although it is not mentioned specifically where in Capernaum Isa (Jesus) stayed, the fair inference seems to be that he lived at Peter’s house which was fairly close to the Capernaum Synagogue.🔗See more history and information on this subject link-

🔗What is Abrahamic History?
Abrahamic History is the study of history and archaeology with respect to the three Abrahamic Faiths without considering the religious and theological aspects. The goal of Abrahamic History is to understand how and why the religious doctrines and behaviours have evlovled and changed over

🔗Newly discovered ruins of the Sanhedrin at Tiberias

Daily Reading

Feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

READING OF THE DAY

A reading from the Book of Sirach
Sir 3:2-6, 12-14

God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.

Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.
Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard.
Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.

My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
—a house raised in justice to you.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew
Mt 2:13-15, 19-23

When the magi had departed, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled:

Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He shall be called a Nazorean.

WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER

Mary, Joseph, Jesus: the Holy Family of Nazareth which represents a response to the will of the Father: the three members of this family help each other reciprocally to discover God’s plan. They prayed, worked, communicated. And I ask myself: you, in your family, do you know how to communicate or are you like those kids at the table, each one with their mobile phone, while they are chatting? We must resume dialogue in the family: fathers, parents, sons, grandparents and siblings must communicate with one another … This is today’s homework, right on the day of the Holy Family. May the Holy Family be a model for our families, so that parents and children may support each other mutually in adherence to the Gospel, the basis of the holiness of the family. (Angelus, 29 December 2019)—-source: 🔗https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

CREATING ON PURPOSE UNITY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

invite the Holy Spirit to break open these passages for you in ways that are helpful for you

“I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). As you ponder these words, let yourself move into a contemplative state of mind and heart and become united consciously with Jesus. Let yourself, the branch, become one with Jesus, the vine. Focus on that intersection point where you, the branch, intersect and become united with Jesus, the vine. Quietly savor the feeling of oneness with Christ who is the Incarnate Word and infinite being. Open yourself to the vastness of the divinity of Jesus, who surrenders himself entirely to you. Taking some deep breaths, surrender yourself humbly to the infinite God who loves you.

“It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Open your heart to Christ who lives within you. As in the prayer above, let yourself move into a contemplative state in which you become consciously and silently united to Jesus who lives deep inside you. Savor the feeling of oneness with Christ who is the Incarnate Word of God and who says, as he said to his disciples after his resurrection, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

“[God] is not far from each of us. For ‘in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-27). St. Paul, speaking at the Areopagus in Athens, is describing God as the “God who made the world and everything in it” and “who is the Lord of heaven and earth” and the God who “gives to all mortals life and breath.” Open yourself to this vast God who is nevertheless very close to us. Allow yourself to be consciously united with your omnipresent God, in whom you “live and move and have your being.”

“I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me” (Revelation 3:20). In the first chapter of Revelation, the writer, John, has a vision of the risen Christ. John experiences Jesus’ face to be “like the sun shining in full force” (1:16). When John looked at him, he “fell at his feet as though dead” (1:17). But then the risen Jesus announces: “I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever” (1:18). Thus the stage is set for the above scene—the risen Jesus standing at the door, knocking. How can we best respond to Jesus knocking? We respond by opening the door of our hearts with warm hospitality—and by believing wholeheartedly that the risen Jesus truly wants to enter into our hearts and let us be consciously united with him.

BOOK OF WISDOM 2

For not thinking rightly they said among themselves. Brief and troubled is our lifetime there is no remedy for our dying nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.

For by mere chance were we born
and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been.

Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke and reason a spark from the beating of our hearts. And when this is quenched our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.


Even our name will be forgotten in time and no one will recall our deeds
So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud and will be dispersed like a mist.

Pursued by the sun’s rays
and overpowered by its heat
For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow.

Land our dying cannot be deferred
because it is fixed with a seal and no one returns.

With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience
Let us condemn him to a shameful death for according to his own words God will take care of him.


Come therefore let us enjoy the good things that are here and make use of creation with youthful zest.


Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes and let no springtime blossom pass us by let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

Let no meadow be free from our wantonness everywhere let us leave tokens of our merriment for this is our portion and this our lot.

Let us oppress the righteous poor
let us neither spare the widow
nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time


But let our strength be our norm of righteousness for weakness proves itself useless

Let us lie in wait for the righteous one because he is annoying to us
he opposes our actions
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training

He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD
To us he is the censure of our thoughts
merely to see him is a hardship for us
Because his life is not like that of others
and different are his ways

He judges us debased he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is his Father.

Let us see whether his words be true
let us find out what will happen to him in the end.

For if the righteous one is the son of God God will help him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.


These were their thoughts but they erred for their wickedness blinded them. And they did not know the hidden counsels of God neither did they count on a recompense for holiness nor discern the innocent souls reward

For God formed us to be imperishable
the image of his own nature he made us
But by the envy of the devil death entered the world
and they who are allied with him experience it

GENESIS VI [Vulgate Bible]

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English Translation

1 And when men had begun to multiply upon the earth, and had brought forth daughters,
2 When the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, they took for themselves wives of all whom they had chosen.
3 And God said: My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, because he is flesh: and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.
4 And there were giants upon the earth in those days: for after the sons of God had gone in unto the daughters of men, and they had borne them, these are mighty men of renown for ever.
5 And God seeing that there was much wickedness among men in the earth, and that every thought of the heart was intent on evil at all times,
6 He repented of what he had done to men on earth. And touched by the inner pain of the heart,
7 I will wipe out, says he, the man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man to the animals, from the reptiles to the birds of the sky: for he repents that I have made them.
8 But Noah found favor before the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just and perfect man in his generations; he walked with God.
10 And he begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth is corrupt before God, and is filled with iniquity.
12 And when God saw that the earth was corrupt (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth),
13 He said to Noah: The end of all flesh has come before me: the earth is filled with iniquity from their presence, and I will scatter them with the earth.
14 Make yourself an ark of hewn wood; You shall make the little houses in the ark, and line them with bitumen inside and outside.
15 And you shall make it thus: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16 You shall make a window in the ark, and you shall finish the top of it in a cubit; below, the upper room and the sad faces in it.
17 Behold, I will bring the waters of the flood upon the earth, that I may slay all flesh in whom is the spirit of life under heaven: all that are on the earth shall be consumed.
18 And I will make my covenant with thee: and thou shalt enter into the ark, thou and thy sons, thy wife, and the wives of thy sons with thee.
19 And of all living creatures of all flesh you shall bring two into the ark, that they may live with you: male and female.
20 Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts according to their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind: two of all shall go in with thee, that they may live.
21 You shall therefore take with you all the food that can be eaten, and you shall carry it with you: and it shall be for you as well as for food for them.
22 So Noah did all that God commanded him.

——————-————————————-

Vulgate (Latin): Genesis Chapter 6

1 Cumque cœpissent homines multiplicari super terram, et filias procreassent,
2 videntes filii Dei filias hominum quod essent pulchrĂŚ, acceperunt sibi uxores ex omnibus, quas elegerant.
3 Dixitque Deus: Non permanebit spiritus meus in homine in ĂŚternum, quia caro est: eruntque dies illius centum viginti annorum.
4 Gigantes autem erant super terram in diebus illis: postquam enim ingressi sunt filii Dei ad filias hominum, illĂŚque genuerunt, isti sunt potentes a sĂŚculo viri famosi.
5 Videns autem Deus quod multa malitia hominum esset in terra, et cuncta cogitatio cordis intenta esset ad malum omni tempore,
6 pœnituit eum quod hominum fecisset in terra. Et tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus,
7 Delebo, inquit, hominem, quem creavi, a facie terræ, ab homine usque ad animantia, a reptili usque ad volucres cæli: pœnitet enim me fecisse eos.
8 NoĂŤ vero invenit gratiam coram Domino.
9 HĂŚ sunt generationes NoĂŤ: NoĂŤ vir justus atque perfectus fuit in generationibus suis; cum Deo ambulavit.
10 Et genuit tres filios, Sem, Cham et Japheth.
11 Corrupta est autem terra coram Deo, et repleta est iniquitate.
12 Cumque vidisset Deus terram esse corruptam (omnis quippe caro corruperat viam suam super terram),
13 dixit ad NoĂŤ: Finis universĂŚ carnis venit coram me: repleta est terra iniquitate a facie eorum, et ego disperdam eos cum terra.
14 Fac tibi arcam de lignis lĂŚvigatis; mansiunculas in arca facies, et bitumine linies intrinsecus et extrinsecus.
15 Et sic facies eam: trecentorum cubitorum erit longitudo arcĂŚ, quinquaginta cubitorum latitudo, et triginta cubitorum altitudo illius.
16 Fenestram in arca facies, et in cubito consummabis summitatem ejus: ostium autem arcæ pones ex latere; deorsum, cœnacula et tristega facies in ea.
17 Ecce ego adducam aquas diluvii super terram, ut interficiam omnem carnem, in qua spiritus vitĂŚ est subter cĂŚlum: universa quĂŚ in terra sunt, consumentur.
18 Ponamque fœdus meum tecum: et ingredieris arcam tu et filii tui, uxor tua, et uxores filiorum tuorum tecum.
19 Et ex cunctis animantibus universĂŚ carnis bina induces in arcam, ut vivant tecum: masculini sexus et feminini.
20 De volucribus juxta genus suum, et de jumentis in genere suo, et ex omni reptili terrĂŚ secundum genus suum: bina de omnibus ingredientur tecum, ut possint vivere.
21 Tolles igitur tecum ex omnibus escis, quĂŚ mandi possunt, et comportabis apud te: et erunt tam tibi, quam illis in cibum.
22 Fecit igitur NoĂŤ omnia quĂŚ prĂŚceperat illi Deus.