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Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, bishops and martyrs
Today’s readings Saint Cornelius was ordained as the Bishop of Rome in 251. His major contribution was to defend the faith against the Novatian schismatics, a group who denied the readmission into the Church of those who had lapsed in the faith when they performed a ritual sacrifice to pagan gods, under the threat of…
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Our Lady of Sorrows
The more years I live, the more I find myself relating to Mary. I know that she experienced all of the joys and sorrows we do: frustration, fear, love, worry, and especially what we celebrate today, sorrow. She was the one who rejoiced at the birth of her son and took pride in what he…
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Stabat Mater
Music for today’s feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
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The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today’s readings In a lot of ways, this is a strange feast we are celebrating today. Think about it. This is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which in Jesus’ day would have been as big an oxymoron as one could possibly imagine. It’s like us saying that we are going to celebrate the exaltation…
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The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s readings Today we celebrate a new-ish feast of Mary on the American version of the Church Calendar. The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, King John Sobieski, of Poland, brought an…
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Memorial of 9-11
Today’s readings I think today’s Gospel reading presents some challenges on this particular day. “Love your enemies” is a fine instruction in times of peace and security, but we don’t live in those times. I wonder if anyone ever did, after Eden. I think many of us will never forget where we were eight years…
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Saint Peter Claver, Priest
Today’s readings Saint Peter Claver was ordained in 1615 in what is now Colombia. During that time, the slave trade was vigorous, and the port of Cartagena was a central entry point for African slaves. Ten thousand slaves would pour into Colombia through Cartagena every year under extremely foul conditions. Around a third of them…
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The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s readings In a town called Nazareth in Galilee, a long time ago, Mary lived with her parents, Joachim and Ann. Mary was only a young girl, maybe 14 years old. She came from a quiet little area of the world, and just looking at them, you’d have to say nothing about her family was…
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The Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings I have to say, when the Scriptures talk about prayer, I get a little uneasy. Not because I don’t like to pray, or think prayer is a bad thing. But more because I think mostly we misunderstand prayer, and usually a brief mention in the readings can do more harm than good. This…
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Friday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings One of the most frustrating things to hear from people is that the argument that we shouldn’t change something because, “we’ve always done it that way.” And I don’t think God likes that line of reasoning any better than we do. Because God is not done creating the world yet. His work of…
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