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Saturday, July 7, 2018

Bishop Barron's Gospel Reflection July 7, 2018

Your daily Gospel reflection...
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 9:14-17
Friends, in today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus why he and his disciples do not fast when John and his disciples do. Jesus’ answer is wonderful: “How can the guests at a wedding fast while the groom is still with them?” Could you imagine people fasting at a wedding banquet? It would be ridiculous!

Jesus later says, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins.” The new wine is the Gospel. The receptacle for this wine must be conformed to it, not the other way around.
To take in the Good News, we can’t be living in the cramped space of our sinful souls. We can’t have an “expect the worst” attitude. Instead we repent, or change the minds that we have. Another way to get at this is to say that like is known by like. If God is love, then only a soul that is on fire with love will properly take him in.

Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 382

Reading 1 Am 9:11-15

Thus says the LORD:
On that day I will raise up
the fallen hut of David;
I will wall up its breaches,
raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
That they may conquer what is left of Edom
and all the nations that shall bear my name,
say I, the LORD, who will do this.
Yes, days are coming,
says the LORD,
When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the vintager, him who sows the seed;
The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains,
and all the hills shall run with it.
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.


Gospel Mt 9:14-17

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

Pope condemns 'complicit silence' in suffering of Middle East Christians

Pope condemns 'complicit silence' in suffering of Middle East Christians: "Indifference kills," Pope Francis said during an ecumenical prayer for peace in the Middle East with 19 religious leaders in the Italian town of Bari.

The Senate I led put country over party. This one must do the same for Robert Mueller. - The Washington Post

The Senate I led put country over party. This one must do the same for Robert Mueller. - The Washington Post: The Senate should remember that we are at our best when we defend our institutions.

Dive team are all set for Thai cave rescue as rescuers | Daily Mail Online

Dive team are all set for Thai cave rescue as rescuers | Daily Mail Online: The boys and their 25-year-old coach are not ready to be extracted, but Thai authorities are likely to launch a risky rescue attempt in coming days if rain begins flooding the caves.

At Maine retreat, disabled veterans find sense of belonging - The Boston Globe

At Maine retreat, disabled veterans find sense of belonging - The Boston Globe: During a week-long retreat for disabled veterans here, that sense of separation — of being “different” — began to melt away as Lukes, accompanied by his wife and two children, bonded with other post-9/11 combat veterans and their families.

Trump Foreign Policy Sneers at Europe, Winks at Russia

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Saudi Arabia Tops Donor States to Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan | Asharq AL-awsat

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Reporting Hate Crimes: The Arab American Experience – LobeLog

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The Abuse of Egypt's Coptic Christians

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There were 3 million more refugees last year, according to UN

There were 3 million more refugees last year, according to UN

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5 Movies that show what can happen when we leave God out of the picture

If you feel lazy about going to Mass, meet Paddy the Iraqi

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Friday, July 6, 2018

FDA halts one of the first human CRISPR studies before it begins - MIT Technology Review

FDA halts one of the first human CRISPR studies before it begins - MIT Technology Review: A trial planning to use the gene-editing tool CRISPR on sickle-cell patients has been put on hold because of unspecified questions from US regulators.

CRISPR-edited cells might cause cancer, two studies find

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Cancer link casts pall over CRISPR - MIT Technology Review

Cancer link casts pall over CRISPR - MIT Technology Review: Reports suggesting that CRISPR could cause cancer dinged the stock prices of the big three gene editing companies: Editas Medicine, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Intellia Therapeutics all fell by 10 percent or more.

The Politics Behind the Sabotage of the Iran Deal in Europe – LobeLog

The Politics Behind the Sabotage of the Iran Deal in Europe – LobeLog: by Eldar Mamedov As the EU scrambles to offer a viable package of economic incentives to convince Iran to stay in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US withdrawal, some forces…

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Left and Right Have Abandoned American Exceptionalism - The Atlantic

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Can the A.C.L.U. Become the N.R.A. for the Left? - The New York Times

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Russia’s Turn to Its Asian Past

 
The Saturday Essay

Russia’s Turn to Its Asian Past

As nostalgia surges for the eastern conquest of Genghis Khan, Putin maps out his own empire


https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-turn-to-its-asian-past-1530889247

Former Thai navy Seal diver Saman Kunan dies inside cave from lack of air | World news | The Guardian

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Vatican busy with behind-the-scenes diplomacy in Korea

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Beware the Wrath of the Chinese Consumer - Bloomberg

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The Use—and Abuse—of Tariffs - WSJ

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Iran talks in Vienna Friday aim to save nuclear deal after US pullout | The Times of Israel

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Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany is not being discussed, U.S. ambassador to NATO says - The Washington Post

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China Criticizes Iran for Threatening to Block Hormuz Strait Oil Shipments | Asharq AL-awsat

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UN: 750,000 People are at Risk in Southern Syria | Asharq AL-awsat

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VIDEO: President Trump Remarks at Rally in Great Falls, Montana

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Cardinal who led opposition to US invasion of Iraq dies at 75

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Bishop Barron's Gospel Reflection July 6, 2018

Your daily Gospel reflection...
Friday, July 6, 2018
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 9:9-13
Friends, our Gospel for today is the simple but magnificent story of the conversion of Matthew. I urge you to read it and meditate upon it this week, for it’s about you. The Bible says that Jesus told Matthew, "Follow me." The call of Jesus is meant to get into your mind, and then past your mind into your body, and then through your body into your life, into your most practical decisions.
And then we hear that Matthew "
got up and followed him." The verb used here in the Greek is the same verb used to describe the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead: Matthew rose. Conversion means a transition into a higher life, arising from a preoccupation with the goods of the world and a reorientation to the things of God.

Then we hear what happened after Matthew’s conversion: "And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples." This deeply annoys the Pharisees, who ask of Jesus’ disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" The answer is that Jesus loves sinners, and he doesn’t require perfection before he approaches them.

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 381

Reading 1 Am 8:4-6, 9-12

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
"When will the new moon be over," you ask,
"that we may sell our grain,
and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?"
We will diminish the containers for measuring,
add to the weights,
and fix our scales for cheating!
We will buy the lowly man for silver,
and the poor man for a pair of sandals;
even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!"

On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun set at midday
and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentations.
I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth
and make every head bald.
I will make them mourn as for an only son,
and bring their day to a bitter end.

Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send famine upon the land:
Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water,
but for hearing the word of the LORD.
Then shall they wander from sea to sea
and rove from the north to the east
In search of the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.

Gospel Mt 9:9-13

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
He heard this and said,
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

Can China build an anti-U.S. alliance?

Can China build an anti-U.S. alliance?



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/can-china-build-an-anti-us-alliance/2018/07/05/2e707e82-808c-11e8-bb6b-c1cb691f1402_story.html?utm_term=.a5f71d87f957

Thursday, July 5, 2018

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Abortion, Roe—and Trump - WSJ

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Does Supreme Court hopeful Amy Barrett belong to a cult?

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How to to Overcome Sins and Faults of the Tongue : Integrated Catholic Life™

How to to Overcome Sins and Faults of the Tongue : Integrated Catholic Life™

Vatican cardinal: Priests have 'no credibility' in marriage preparation

Vatican cardinal: Priests have 'no credibility' in marriage preparation: Priests are not the best people to train others for marriage, according to the head of the Vatican’s office for the family.

What is best in life? Jesus and the Mayo Clinic Know! | Word on Fire

What is best in life? Jesus and the Mayo Clinic Know! | Word on Fire

Fr. Warren's Week Reflection




Clouds
THIS WEEK'S REFLECTION from Fr. Bob Warren, SA
Touching His Cloak and Raising the Young Girl
Imagine yourself in a large, crowded sports event trying to get toward the exit. People are moving in the same direction, jostling along and bumping into one another. A tap on the arm or tug on the sleeve goes entirely unnoticed.
Imagine Jesus in this same kind of a crowd with people pressing in upon him as He walked along the shore of the sea. We can imagine the surprise of His disciples when he stopped and remarked that someone had touched His clothing. How in that crowd could He be aware of a touch?
Jesus was aware of a touch that was out of the ordinary, a touch of faith by a desperate woman. He stops to question, who touched me? He knew power had gone out of Him and He had cured someone, but to Him it was not just a face in the crowd, He had cured a person. He had to meet her face to face, speak with her, reassure her, and comfort her. The woman comes forward, she is fearful and starting to tremble, she needs reassuring, needs kind words. She fell at the feet of Jesus. Jesus simply tells her it is your faith that has cured you, go in peace and be free of this illness.
According to Jewish law, this woman was unclean because of her condition. Therefore, anyone she touched would likewise be rendered unclean. Jesus shows no concern for the ritual laws of purity, His only concern is for her. “Your faith has cured you.”
We also read about Jairus in today’s Gospel. He is an official of the synagogue, part of the establishment. He would normally regard Jesus as an outsider, a heretic, one to whom the synagogue doors would be closed and if you valued your orthodoxy, you would avoid Him. It is not faith that has brought him to Jesus, but desperation. His child was ill, so he forgot his prejudices, his dignity and pride. He throws himself at the feet of Jesus and begs, my daughter is dying, come and cure her. Then a message comes, and he is told, “Your daughter has died.”
Jesus tries to build his faith, He tells him, fear is useless, what is needed is trust. Just as an aside, notice that the little girl is twelve years old, and the bleeding woman has suffered the same twelve years. The ruler calls his beloved child “daughter,” Jesus called the woman healed of the bleeding “daughter,” but in both cases, Jesus touched someone who was considered unclean. Their wholeness mattered more to Jesus than His reputation.
Both the official and the woman who touched Jesus were religious people. Undoubtedly they had prayed to God to help them with their problems. They must have asked themselves the same question that we ask every time we do not understand what is going on in life: Why? Why pain and suffering? Why does a little girl have to die? Pain and suffering continue as part of everyone’s life, we all know this. We neither like it nor fully understand it, especially when it happens to the innocent and the good Why does God create a world in which we have to suffer and die?
These are not new questions. Thousands of years ago, the Jews asked the same question and we read in the Book of Wisdom this morning, God did not make death nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living. For He fashioned all things that they might have being and the creatures of the world are wholesome. Then it goes on to say, for God formed us to be imperishable, in the image of His own nature He made us but by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.
Evil is not God’s doing, but ours because of our free will. The two people in our Gospel today had no claim on Jesus, He did not owe them anything, perhaps their faith came more from desperation than anything else and yet they found His power and love waiting for them.
Just prior to this episode Jesus had cured some blind men. They had called out, “Jesus, Son of David, cure us.” The title “Son of David” was a political one, so they had not understood who Jesus was at all, and yet He cured them.
There is a lesson here for us. It did not seem to matter how people came to Christ, as long as they came. If we feel we cannot reach out to touch Christ until our motives, our faith, and our theology are perfect, we will never touch Him. We have to be like the woman and the leader of the synagogue in the Gospel today.
Just come as you are. Come with your sickness, both physical and moral, and spiritual. It is not how we come to Christ that matters, rather it is that we should come to the one who makes all things new. And just by a touch, He is able to make us what we ought to be.
Whenever I read this Gospel passage, I think of the Broadway show, Cats and the song, Memory. Words of that song could have been spoken by Jesus to both the woman who touched him and the child, and in times of trials and tribulations, He says them to us: “Touch me, just touch me and you will know what happiness is. And a new day will begin.”
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A. Signature
Fr. Bob Warren, SA
P.S. Join with me and my fellow Friars of the Atonement for a wonderful devotion to the Blessed Mother. Please send us your prayer petitions for us to include as we celebrate a Special Mary, Undoer of Knots Novena from July 9th to July 17th. We are privileged to include your prayer petitions in this special devotion to Mary, Undoer of Knots. I pray you will see the spiritual knots be undone in your life!
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For more information call us at 888-720-8247.
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Bishop Barron's Gospel Reflection July 5, 2018

Your daily Gospel reflection...
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 9:1-8
Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus heals a paralytic, but not before first forgiving his sins: "People brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.’" Jesus read the hearts of scribes who had decided he was blaspheming, and so he replied, "Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk?’" When no reply came, Jesus sent the man off home carrying his stretcher.

The story affirms that Jesus offers us forgiveness and healing. Even though we are sinners, even though we are hopeless in our hatred and stupidity, even though we had gone (and would still go today) to the limits of killing God’s own son, God still loves us; God still forgives us. We know that nothing can possibly separate us from the love of God because we hear in the greeting of the risen Jesus that any and every sin can be forgiven.

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 380

Reading 1 Am 7:10-17

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam,
king of Israel:
"Amos has conspired against you here within Israel;
the country cannot endure all his words.
For this is what Amos says:
Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land."

To Amos, Amaziah said:
"Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!
There earn your bread by prophesying,
but never again prophesy in Bethel;
for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."
Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet,
nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;
I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.
The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
Now hear the word of the LORD!"

You say: prophesy not against Israel,
preach not against the house of Isaac.
Now thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city,
and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by measuring line,
and you yourself shall die in an unclean land;
Israel shall be exiled far from its land.


Gospel Mt 9:1-8

After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
"Courage, child, your sins are forgiven."
At that, some of the scribes said to themselves,
"This man is blaspheming."
Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said,
"Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
But that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins"–
he then said to the paralytic,
"Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

Freedom and Its Consequences - Ascension Press Media

Freedom and Its Consequences - Ascension Press Media: Fr. Mike points out the false lesson of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which fails to show that freedom to do whatever you want has consequences. He teaches that true freedom is the ability to do what one ought to do. This is the Christian idea of freedom found in the Bible, and it was the idea of freedom the founders of the U.S. knew could not be abandoned if their country was to survive. This Independence Day, and every day, let’s live by the Christian, and only true, idea of freedom. Fr. Mike is also a presenter in these faith formation programs from Ascension: Belonging: Baptism in the Family of God Chosen: This is Your Catholic Faith Altaration: The Mystery of the Mass Revealed YOU: Life, Love, and the Theology of the Body Get 18 of Fr. Mike’s best Ascension Presents videos in this exclusive DVD from Ascension: Ascension Presents … Fr. Mike Schmitz Fr. Mike spoke at the Ascension Cafe during the World Meeting of Families. Watch him and other speakers get fired up about the gospel in the Ascension Cafe DVD. MORE FROM ASCENSION: Ascension’s main website Ascension Presents Ascension Podcasts Ascension Blog SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Subscribe

A Post-Roe World

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Moon Shines in Moscow | The National Interest

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Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world. - The Washington Post

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Shifting Paradigms and Abandonment of Palestine, Part 1

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Former US Envoy to Moscow Calls Intelligence Report on Alleged Russian Interference ‘Politically Motivated’ – Consortiumnews

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By Jack Matlock
Did the U.S. “intelligen

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