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Spirituality

Digital tool kit collects resources for young adult ministry

Young adults in the Catholic church: Where are they? You could say they're all over the place: Some are regular Mass attendees, some are away from home, some don't attend Mass, some are mothers, some are in...

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Conservative law firm fights atheists' suit over cross at 9/11 museum

A lawsuit that was filed by the group American Atheists to keep a revered cross out of the National September 11 Museum is being challenged by a conservative law firm that defends the public display of...

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Parousia postponed

It’s impossible to understand today’s first and third readings without an appreciation of the idea of biblical apocalyptic literature.    

The Bible isn’t a book, it’s a library. Not only does it include books written by different authors at various times, but, like any library, it contains works composed in different genres. We need only walk into our local library and look at the names above the bookshelves to surface those genres: history, fiction, reference, biography, etc.

Scriptures give us extraordinary examples of generosity

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This morning’s Scriptures give us some extraordinary examples of generosity and sharing of goods. Both the first lesson and the Gospel lesson give us the example of the poor, even the poorest of the poor, sharing everything they have. That widow from Zarepheth who is encountered by Elijah asking her for food tells him, “This is all I have, the last cup of flour and this little bit of oil. When I bake the bread and my son and I eat it, we will die.”

Two daring women

Jesus chose unlikely role models for his disciples to emulate. In a society where children were regarded as the property of their fathers, with no rights or voice of their own, Jesus set forth a child and claimed that the kingdom of God belongs to “such as these.” He also held up people who were thought to be ritually unclean or even sinful because of a physical malady or their ethnicity (the Gerasene demoniac, the woman with a hemorrhage in Mark 5; the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7; the boy with a demon in Mark 9; blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10).

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Bare before the truth of the word

Gathered together once again in the presence of God’s living and effective word, we are revealed for who we are before God and others and, even better, God is revealed, yet again, in our midst. Like the author of Hebrews (second reading) who understood the power of God’s word to cut to the quick of all matters so as to lay bare the truth, the 12th-century doctor of the church Bernard of...

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How to find community in a church in schism

Viewpoint: It seems that the older I get, the more reflective I become. I tend to move slower but think deeper.

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In the footsteps of saints, contemplative tradition persists on Lindisfarne

In central London, a stone's throw from St. Pancras rail station, is one of the world's largest libraries, container of national treasures including the Lindisfarne Gospels, begun about the year...

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In This Issue

May 10-23, 2013

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