Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist | USCCB
Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Sunday, April 24, 2022... View More

Sunday, April 24, 2022

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY)
JOHN 20:19-31
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Thomas says that he will not believe in the Lord’s Resurrection unless he puts his finger in the nailmarks and his hand in Jesus’ side. Thomas is a saint especially suitable for our time. Modernity has been marked by two great qualities: skepticism and empiricism, the very qualities we can discern in Thomas.
And when the risen Jesus reappears, he invites the doubter to look, see, and touch. But then that devastating line: “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
If we stubbornly say—even in the area of science—that we will accept only what we can clearly see and touch and control, we wouldn’t know much about reality. This helps us to better understand Jesus’ words to Thomas. It is not that we who have not seen and have believed are settling for a poor substitute for vision. No; we are being described as blessed, more blessed than Thomas. God is doing all sorts of things that we cannot see, measure, control, fully understand. But it is an informed faith that allows one to fall in love with such a God.

Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, PO Box 170, Des Plaines, IL 60016, United States
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Alleluia Jn 20:29
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen me, but still believe!... View MoreAlleluia Jn 20:29
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen me, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel


Saturday, April 23, 2022... View More

Saturday, April 23, 2022

SATURDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER
MARK 16:9-15
Friends, in today’s Gospel, the risen Lord commissions the eleven Apostles to proclaim the Good News to everyone. And this commission to evangelize the people of the world extends to all baptized Christians.
To evangelize is to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. When this kerygma, this Paschal Mystery, is not at the heart of the project, Christian evangelization effectively disappears, devolving into a summons to bland religiosity or generic spirituality. When Jesus crucified and risen is not proclaimed, a beige and unthreatening Catholicism emerges, a thought system that is, at best, an echo of the environing culture.
Peter Maurin, one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement, said that the Church has taken its own dynamite and placed it in hermetically sealed containers and sat on the lid. In a similar vein, Stanley Hauerwas commented that the problem with Christianity is not that it is socially conservative or politically liberal, but that “it is just too damned dull”!
For both Maurin and Hauerwas, what leads to this attenuation is a refusal to preach the dangerous and unnerving news concerning Jesus risen from the dead.

Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, PO Box 170, Des Plaines, IL 60016, United States
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Alleluia Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.... View MoreAlleluia Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia
Your Daily Prayer - Christian Podcast
Every morning, the team of women behind iBelieve.com bring you a devotional and prayer to help you start your day in conversation with God.


Friday, April 22, 2022... View More

Friday, April 22, 2022

FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER
JOHN 21:1-14
Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the appearance of the risen Jesus to seven disciples by the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Peter and six other Apostles were in a boat on the sea. Seeing Peter and the disciples in a boat, we are meant to think of the Church, and the peculiar number of seven—evocative of completion or fulfillment—is meant to make us consider the eschatological Church, the community of Jesus approaching the end of its journey.
On the shore (though they don’t recognize him at first) is the Lord Jesus. At his command, they lower their nets and bring in an extraordinary catch. Well, this is the work of the Church until the end of the age: to gather in souls and to bring them to Christ.
When they empty their nets they discover 153 large fish. Many theories as to the meaning of this figure have been proposed. My favorite is the one put forward by St. Augustine. According to the science of that time, Augustine argued, there were 153 species of fish in the sea, and therefore, this extraordinary number is meant to signal the universality of the Church’s salvific mission.

Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, PO Box 170, Des Plaines, IL 60016, United States
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Alleluia Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.... View MoreAlleluia Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospe
Dear Lord,
Thank you for being with me as I face difficult people today. Keep my eyes on you as I look for you to make it all good. Keep my focus on the dreams and plans that you have for my life. G... View MoreDear Lord,
Thank you for being with me as I face difficult people today. Keep my eyes on you as I look for you to make it all good. Keep my focus on the dreams and plans that you have for my life. Give me your words to speak in response to the difficult words. Keep my heart from becoming discouraged and bitter. Lord, let the calling you have placed on my life be a blessing and bring encouragement to the lives of others who are struggling.
In you your name I pray.
Amen and Amen
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