Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.
COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.
National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.
Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.
Bishop Accountability
Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability
Voice of the Faithful
A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'
+ Fourth Week of Lent
I am in the heart of God.
Readings: Jeremiah 11:18, 12:19-20 Psalm 7:2-3, 9-12 John 7:40-53
Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will be spoken no more. [Jeremiah 12:19]
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees who asked them, “Why did you not bring him in?” The guards answered, ”Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” [John 7:45-46]
Could it be that we don’t get answers because we don’t ask the right questions? I think we spend a great deal of time, perhaps a great portion of our lives in denial about who we are and who we are to become.
I may not ask the right questions because I’m afraid of the answers. I fear the darkness but hide in the darkness in order to avoid the light. Denial becomes a way of life but in reality it is the path to death.
This is a paradox, however, because unless we willingly succumb to the dark night of the soul, we cannot find the light of God’s truth.
Jesus was not exempt from this process that peaked in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died.
True spiritual freedom is not something that we pursue but something to which we succumb by letting go and letting God. Those who were truly liberated in Christ were not those who simply understood his words but those who were absorbed into his life so that with Paul they could say, “I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” Or to put it another way, “Say not that God is in my heart but that I am in the heart of God.”
Daily Scripture Archive»Info supplied courtesy of Jack Fetrow.
It IS early this year.
Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that the Hebrews used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives and only the very elderly of our population have ever seen it this early before.
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
The next time it will be earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now).
The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has nor will ever see it any earlier than this year!
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