The Bronze Serpent

‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life’. John 3:14-15 Jake Allstaedt has written (2020): https://www.1517.org/articles/jesus-is-our-bronze-serpent Jesus Is Our Bronze Serpent Looking at a bronze serpent on a pole cannot remove deadly venom coursing through your veins. But it can if God says it can. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) is a well-known verse. What isn’t so well-known is the sentence right before it: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). That short, seemingly obscure reference is a throwback to an event in the life of God’s people, the Israelites, as they journeyed in the wilderness after having been freed from slavery in Egypt. Understanding that story will enrich our understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to do for us. So, what happened? Throughout the Israelites’ journey in the wilderness God took care of them. He gave them bread from heaven and water to drink. God graciously provided for their every need, yet they turned against Him in the desire for something more than what they had: “And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food’” (Numbers 21:5). Oh, there was food and water. God made sure of that. This complaint exposed their selfish discontentment with what they had been given. They were ungrateful, forgetting that they had been rescued from slavery. These gracious provisions weren’t enough; they wanted something more. God gave them something more: fiery serpents. These serpents bit the people and many died. It was because of these serpents that the Israelites realized that they had sinned against God. They asked Moses to pray for them, that God might take away the snakes. Moses did as the people asked and God had mercy on them. He commanded Moses to lift up a bronze serpent on a pole so that everyone who was bitten could look at it and live. Scientifically speaking, that doesn’t even make sense. Looking at a bronze serpent on a pole cannot remove deadly venom coursing through your veins. But it can if God says it can. God spoke. He attached His promise to that bronze serpent and the Israelites looked to it in faith—believing that God would save them through the way He provided. Let’s go back to John 3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus came to this world because deadly venom courses through our veins too. It’s called sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, were “snake-bitten.” Like the Israelites in the wilderness, God graciously provided for their every need, yet they turned against Him in the desire for something more than what they had. The ancient serpent, Satan, tempted them and they gave in, bringing sin into their lives and into creation itself. The venom of sin has passed from generation to generation. You and I have it. Our kids have it. It’s why you’ll never have to teach your children how to be bad. It’s why our hearts are filled with so much hatred, violence, abuse, racism, pride, selfishness, jealousy, adultery—it’s why we journey through the wilderness of this life often craving something more than what God has graciously provided. We have a sin problem. We’ve inherited it and we commit it. This venom is deadly and it is killing us. But God has mercy on us. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a Savior who would crush the head of the serpent, undoing the deadly consequences of sin, while He himself would be bitten. This Savior, Jesus, the Son of God, was lifted up to death on the pole of the cross. When Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, he lifted up that which was killing the people. God, in effect, was declaring, “Look! That which is killing you is now hanging on a pole! I have put away the snake and its venom. I have put away your sin. Look to this serpent in faith and live!” Jesus is our bronze serpent—He became that which was killing us! St. Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him (that is, Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus was “snake-bitten” for us. He became our sin on the cross—the sin we’ve inherited, the sins we have committed, and the sins we will commit—all of it hung on the pole of the cross in the person of Jesus. Look! The sin that is killing you is hanging on the pole of the cross! God has put away your sin. Look to Jesus in faith and live! Let’s read the words of John 3:16 one more time: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God had mercy on Adam and Eve because He loved them. He had mercy on the Israelites because He loved them. Why does He have mercy on you? Because He loves you. One more time: Because He loves you. He loves us so much that, even though we’ve turned against Him, forgetting His goodness and craving more than He graciously provides, He sent His Son, Jesus, to become our sin and die our death to ensure that you will not perish, but have eternal life. That’s love right there. Anyone—anyone—who looks to Jesus in faith will not perish but have eternal life. 14th September, 2025 Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross

Pope Leo XIV to write a document concerning the needs of the poor

FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV blesses people as he holds a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo© Thomson Reuters By Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo is preparing to publish the first high-level document of his four-month papacy, which is expected to signal continuity with his predecessor Pope Francis and focus on the needs of the world's poor, three informed sources told Reuters. Pope Leo writing first document on needs of poor, sources say Story by Joshua McElwee The text, known as an apostolic exhortation, will likely take the name "Dilexit te" (He loved you) and be published in the next few weeks, they said. The title of the new text suggests a strong tie with Francis, who died in April after leading the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church for 12 years. His last major document, an encyclical, was issued in October 2024 with the name "Dilexit nos" (He loved us). Popes often write a document setting out their priorities in the first months of their tenure, but it is unclear if Leo's text will address several themes or focus on one issue. Francis shunned many of the trappings of the papacy. He often hosted meals with Rome's homeless population and frequently criticised the global market system as not caring for society's most vulnerable people. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost and the first U.S. pope, was elected to replace Francis by the world's cardinals on May 8. Francis' last encyclical, "Dilexit nos," took a different approach from many of his other writings, largely abstaining from talking about political issues and instead focusing on spiritual themes. In that text, Francis urged the world's Catholics to abandon the "mad pursuit" of money and instead devote themselves to their faith. (Reporting by Joshua McElweeEditing by Gareth Jones) Pope Leo writing first document on needs of poor, sources say

St. Cardinal John Henry Newman to be made a Doctor of the Church

Lead, Kindly Light by John Henry Newman (1834) Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on; The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on. Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on. I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, pride ruled my will; remember not past years. So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still Will lead me on. O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone; And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. Fr. Juan Velez has written (2025): https://www.cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com/st-john-henry-newman-to-be-declared-a-doctor-of-the-church/ St. John Henry Newman to be Declared a Doctor of the Church Today, July 31, 2025, the Vatican published the wonderful news that Pope Leo XIV has approved the future declaration of St. John Henry Newman as doctor of the Church. We are delighted with this news and wanted to share with you even if you learned about it earlier today. We have already posted some blog posts on this topic and will soon publish others. Today we wanted to share the news with you and ask to invite friends to give thanks to God for this news and to follow our weekly podcasts. Here is a link to the news from the Vatican webpage and some words by the journalist Alexandro Carolis: “One of the great modern thinkers of Christianity, a key figure in a spiritual and human journey that left a profound mark on the Church and 19th-century ecumenism, and the author of writings that show how living the faith is a daily “heart-to-heart” dialogue with Christ. A life spent with energy and passion for the Gospel—culminating in his canonization in 2019—that will soon lead to the English cardinal John Henry Newman being proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. The news was announced today, July 31, in a statement from the Holy See Press Office, which reported that during an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV has “confirmed the affirmative opinion of the Plenary Session of Cardinals and Bishops, Members of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, regarding the title of Doctor of the Universal Church, which will soon be conferred on Saint John Henry Newman”. The saints give glory to God and teach us how to live as God’s children. We rejoice with the upcoming declaration of Newman as doctor of the Church. …. We read this by Dr. Samuel Gregg, at: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/07/31/john-henry-newmans-long-war-on-liberalism/ John Henry Newman’s long war on liberalism Saint John Henry Newman’s devastating critique of liberal religion remains even more relevant in our own time. Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on July 30, 2017, and is reposted today to mark the news that Newman has been named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV. There is truly nothing new under the sun. That’s the pedestrian conclusion at which I arrived after recently re-reading the address given by one of the nineteenth century’s greatest theologians, Saint John Henry Newman, when Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal on May 12, 1879. Known as the Biglietto Speech (after the formal letter given to cardinals on such occasions), its 1720 words constitute a systematic indictment of what Newman called that “one great mischief” against which he had set his face “from the first.” Today, I suspect, the sheer force of Newman’s critique of what he called “liberalism in religion” would make him persona non grata in most Northern European theology faculties. When reflecting upon Newman’s remarks, it’s hard not to notice how much of the Christian world in the West has drifted in the directions against which he warned. Under the banner of “liberalism in religion,” Newman listed several propositions. These included (1) “the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion,” (2) “that one creed is as good as another,” (3) that no religion can be recognized as true for “all are matter of opinion,” (4) that “revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective faith, not miraculous,” and (5) “it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy.” Can anyone doubt that such ideas are widespread today among some Christians? Exhibit A is the rapidly collapsing liberal Protestant confessions. Another instance is that a fair number of Catholic clergy and laity of a certain age who shy away from the word “truth” and who regard any doctrine that conflicts with the post-1960s Western world’s expectations as far from settled. Yet Newman’s description of liberal religion also accurately summarizes the essentially secular I’m-spiritual-not-religious mindset. At the time, the directness of Newman’s assault on liberal religion surprised people. It wasn’t for idle reasons that the speech was reprinted in full in The London Times on 13 May, and then translated into Italian so that it could appear in the Holy See’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano on 14 May. Everyone recognized that Newman’s words were of immense significance. The newly minted cardinal had hitherto been seen as someone ill at ease with the Church’s direction during Pius IX’s pontificate. Newman’s apprehensions about the opportuneness of the First Vatican Council formally defining papal infallibility was well known. Not well-understood was that concerns about Catholics being misled into thinking they must assent to a pope’s firm belief that, for example, the optimal upper-tax rate is 25.63 percent, didn’t mean that you regarded religious belief as a type of theological smorgasbord. Those who had followed the trajectory of Newman’s thought over the previous fifty years would have recognized that the Biglietto Speech harkened back to a younger Newman and a consistent record of fierce opposition to liberal religion. In 1848, for instance, Newman had lampooned liberal religion in his novel Loss and Gain (1848). One character in the book, the Dean of Nottingham, is portrayed as someone who believes that “there was no truth or falsehood in received dogmas of theology; that they were modes, neither good nor bad in themselves, but personal, national, or periodic.” Such opinions mirror the views of those today who primarily regard Scripture, the Church, and Christian faith as essentially human historical constructs: a notion that invariably goes hand-in-hand with a barely disguised insistence that the Church always requires wholesale adaptation to whatever happens to be the zeitgeist. The end result is chronic doctrinal instability (and thus incoherence) and the degeneration of churches into mere NGO-ism: precisely the situation which characterizes contemporary Catholicism in the German-speaking world. Another of the novel’s characters is Mr. Batts, the director of the Truth Society. This organization is founded on two principles. First, it is uncertain whether truth exists. Second, it is certain that it cannot be found. Welcome to the world of philosophical skepticism, which, Newman understood, is based on the contradiction of holding that we know the truth that humans really cannot know truth. Newman’s antagonism towards liberal religion, however, also reflected another side of his thought that, I suspect, some today would also prefer to ignore. This concerns Newman’s critical view of liberalism as a social philosophy. Newman was fully aware of the ambiguity surrounding terms like “conservatism” and “liberalism.” In his Apologia Pro Sua Vita (1864), Newman specified that his criticism of liberalism shouldn’t be interpreted as slighting French Catholics such as Charles de Montalembert and the Dominican priest Henri-Dominique Lacordaire—“two men whom I so highly admire”—who embraced the liberal label but in the context of post-Revolutionary France: a world which differed greatly from the Oxford and England of Newman’s time. We get closer to the “liberalism” against which Newman protested when we consider a letter to his mother dated 13 March 1829. Here Newman condemns, among others, “the Utilitarians” and “useful knowledge men” whose ideas were propagated by philosophical Radical periodicals such as the Westminster Review. These beliefs and publications were clearly associated with utilitarian thinkers and political radicals such as Jeremy Bentham (the Westminster Review’s founder), James Mill, and, later, John Stuart Mill. In this sense, liberalism was Newman’s way of describing what we today call doctrinaire secularism. This is borne out by the Biglietto Speech’s portrayal of a society’s fate as it gradually abandons its Christian character, invariably at the behest of those Newman calls “Philosophers and Politicians.” Newman begins by referencing their imposition of “a universal and a thoroughly secular education, calculated to bring home to every individual that to be orderly, industrious, and sober, is his personal interest.” Recognizing, however, that utility, pragmatism, and self-interest aren’t enough to glue society together, liberals promote, according to Newman, an alternative to revealed religion. This, he says, is made up of an amalgam of “broad fundamental ethical truths, of justice, benevolence, veracity, and the like; proved experience; and those natural laws which exist and act spontaneously in society, and in social matters, whether physical or psychological; for instance, in government, trade, finance, sanitary experiments, and the intercourse of nations.” But while liberals uphold this mixture of particular moral principles, matter-of-factness and science, Newman points out that they simultaneously insist that religion is “a private luxury, which a man may have if he will; but which of course he must pay for, and which he must not obtrude upon others, or indulge in to their annoyance.” It’s not, Newman says, that things like “the precepts of justice, truthfulness, sobriety, self-command, benevolence,” etc. are bad in themselves. In fact, Newman adds, “there is much in the liberalistic theory which is good and true.” Nor did Newman adopt an “anti-science” view at a time when some Christians worried about how to reconcile the Scriptures with the tremendous expansion in knowledge of the natural world which marked the nineteenth century. Newman wasn’t, for example, especially troubled by Darwin’s Origin of the Species. As he wrote to the biologist and Catholic convert St George Jackson Mivart in 1871, “you must not suppose I have personally any great dislike or dread of his theory.” What Newman opposed was a problem with which we are all too familiar today. This consists of (1) absolutizing the natural sciences as the only objective form of knowledge and (2) using the empirical method to answer theological and moral questions that the natural sciences cannot answer. In such cases, Newman wrote in his Idea of a University (1852), “they exceed their proper bounds, and intrude where they have no right.” It also fosters a mentality which has seeped into the minds of those Christians who prioritize sociology, psychology, opinion polls, and what they imagine to be the “established scientific position” when discussing what the Catholic position on any subject should be. More generally, Newman argued that it’s precisely because these principles are unobjectionable in themselves that they become dangerous when liberals include them in the “array of principles” they use “to supersede, to block out, religion.” In these circumstances, those who maintain that religion, in the sense of divinely revealed truths about God and man, cannot be relegated to the status of football teams competing in a private league are dismissed as unreasonable, intolerant, lacking benevolence, unscientific, and reflective of (to use the curious words employed in a L’Osservatore Romano opinion piece) a “modest cultural level.” In a word—illiberal. Newman well understood the ultimate stakes involved in the advance of liberal religion and the nihilism it concealed under a veneer of progressive Western European bourgeois morality. It was nothing less, he said, than “the ruin of many souls.” For Newman, there was always the serious possibility that error at the level of belief can contribute to people making the type of free choices that lead to the eternal separation from God we call hell. The good news is that Newman had “no fear at all that [liberal religion] can really do aught of serious harm to the Word of God, to Holy Church.” For Newman, the Church was essentially indestructible. That didn’t mean it would be free of disputation or disruption. Newman himself spent his life immersed in theological controversies. But Newman’s deep knowledge of the Church Fathers made him conscious that orthodoxy had been under assault since Christianity’s earliest centuries. Newman believed, however, in Christ’s promises to his Church. Moreover, Newman ended his Biglietto Speech by stating that “what is commonly a great surprise” is “the particular mode by which . . . Providence rescues and saves his elect inheritance.” Even in times where serious theological and moral error seems rampant, God raises up courageous bishops and priests, clear-thinking popes, new religious orders and movements, lay people who reject liberal Christianity’s mediocrity and soft nihilism, and, above all, great saints and martyrs. Against such things, Newman knew—and we should have confidence—liberal religion doesn’t have a chance.

“The greatest destroyer of peace today is the cry of the innocent unborn child”

“To me the nations who have legalized abortion, they are the poorest nations. They are afraid of the little one, they are afraid of the unborn child, and the child must die because they don’t want to feed one more child, to educate one more child, the child must die”. Mother Teresa Nobel Peace Prize 1979 Mother Teresa Acceptance speech Mother Teresa’s Acceptance speech, held on 10 December 1979 in the Aula of the University of Oslo, Norway. Let us all together thank God for this beautiful occasion where we can all together proclaim the joy of spreading peace, the joy of loving one another and the joy acknowledging that the poorest of the poor are our brothers and sisters. As we have gathered here to thank God for this gift of peace, I have given you all the prayer for peace that St Francis of Assisi prayed many years ago, and I wonder he must have felt the need what we feel today to pray for. I think you have all got that paper? We’ll say it together. Lord, make me a channel of your peace, that where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that where there is error, I may bring truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that where there is despair, I may bring hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring light; that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; to understand, than to be understood; to love, than to be loved. For it is by forgetting self, that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying, that one awakens to eternal life. Amen. God loved the world so much that he gave his son and he gave him to a virgin, the blessed virgin Mary, and she, the moment he came in her life, went in haste to give him to others. And what did she do then? She did the work of the handmaid, just so. Just spread that joy of loving to service. And Jesus Christ loved you and loved me and he gave his life for us, and as if that was not enough for him, he kept on saying: Love as I have loved you, as I love you now, and how do we have to love, to love in the giving. For he gave his life for us. And he keeps on giving, and he keeps on giving right here everywhere in our own lives and in the lives of others. It was not enough for him to die for us, he wanted that we loved one another, that we see him in each other, that’s why he said: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. And to make sure that we understand what he means, he said that at the hour of death we are going to be judged on what we have been to the poor, to the hungry, naked, the homeless, and he makes himself that hungry one, that naked one, that homeless one, not only hungry for bread, but hungry for love, not only naked for a piece of cloth, but naked of that human dignity, not only homeless for a room to live, but homeless for that being forgotten, been unloved, uncared, being nobody to nobody, having forgotten what is human love, what is human touch, what is to be loved by somebody, and he says: Whatever you did to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. It is so beautiful for us to become holy to this love, for holiness is not a luxury of the few, it is a simple duty for each one of us, and through this love we can become holy. To this love for one another and today when I have received this reward, I personally am most unworthy, and I having avowed poverty to be able to understand the poor, I choose the poverty of our people. But I am grateful and I am very happy to receive it in the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the leprous, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared, thrown away of the society, people who have become a burden to the society, and are shunned by everybody. In their name I accept the award. And I am sure this award is going to bring an understanding love between the rich and the poor. And this is what Jesus has insisted so much, that is why Jesus came to earth, to proclaim the good news to the poor. And through this award and through all of us gathered here together, we are wanting to proclaim the good news to the poor that God loves them, that we love them, that they are somebody to us, that they too have been created by the same loving hand of God, to love and to be loved. Our poor people are great people, are very lovable people, they don’t need our pity and sympathy, they need our understanding love. They need our respect; they need that we treat them with dignity. And I think this is the greatest poverty that we experience, that we have in front of them who may be dying for a piece of bread, but they die to such dignity. I never forget when I brought a man from the street. He was covered with maggots; his face was the only place that was clean. And yet that man, when we brought him to our home for the dying, he said just one sentence: I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, love and care, and he died beautifully. He went home to God, for dead is nothing but going home to God. And he having enjoyed that love, that being wanted, that being loved, that being somebody to somebody at the last moment, brought that joy in his life. And I feel one thing I want to share with you all, the greatest destroyer of peace today is the cry of the innocent unborn child. For if a mother can murder her own child in her own womb, what is left for you and for me to kill each other? Even in the scripture it is written: Even if mother could forget her child – I will not forget you – I have carved you in the palm of my hand. Even if mother could forget, but today millions of unborn children are being killed. And we say nothing. In the newspapers you read numbers of this one and that one being killed, this being destroyed, but nobody speaks of the millions of little ones who have been conceived to the same life as you and I, to the life of God, and we say nothing, we allow it. To me the nations who have legalized abortion, they are the poorest nations. They are afraid of the little one, they are afraid of the unborn child, and the child must die because they don’t want to feed one more child, to educate one more child, the child must die. And here I ask you, in the name of these little ones, for it was that unborn child that recognized the presence of Jesus when Mary came to visit Elizabeth, her cousin. As we read in the gospel, the moment Mary came into the house, the little one in the womb of his mother, leapt with joy, recognized the Prince of Peace. And so today, let us here make a strong resolution, we are going to save every little child, every unborn child, give them a chance to be born. And what we are doing, we are fighting abortion by adoption, and the good God has blessed the work so beautifully that we have saved thousands of children, and thousands of children have found a home where they are loved, they are wanted, they are cared. We have brought so much joy in the homes that there was not a child, and so today, I ask His Majesties here before you all who come from different countries, let us all pray that we have the courage to stand by the unborn child, and give the child an opportunity to love and to be loved, and I think with God’s grace we will be able to bring peace in the world. We have an opportunity here in Norway, you are with God’s blessing, you are well to do. But I am sure in the families and many of our homes, maybe we are not hungry for a piece of bread, but maybe there is somebody there in the family who is unwanted, unloved, uncared, forgotten, there isn’t love. Love begins at home. And love to be true has to hurt. I never forget a little child who taught me a very beautiful lesson. They heard in Calcutta, the children, that Mother Teresa had no sugar for her children, and this little one, Hindu boy four years old, he went home and he told his parents: I will not eat sugar for three days, I will give my sugar to Mother Teresa. How much a little child can give. After three days they brought into our house, and there was this little one who could scarcely pronounce my name, he loved with great love, he loved until it hurt. And this is what I bring before you, to love one another until it hurts, but don’t forget that there are many children, many children, many men and women who haven’t got what you have. And remember to love them until it hurts. Sometime ago, this to you will sound very strange, but I brought a girl child from the street, and I could see in the face of the child that the child was hungry. God knows how many days that she had not eaten. So I give her a piece of bread. And then the little one started eating the bread crumb by crumb. And I said to the child, eat the bread, eat the bread. And she looked at me and said: I am afraid to eat the bread because I’m afraid when it is finished I will be hungry again. This is a reality, and yet there is a greatness of the poor. One evening a gentleman came to our house and said, there is a Hindu family and the eight children have not eaten for a long time. Do something for them. And I took rice and I went immediately, and there was this mother, those little ones’ faces, shining eyes from sheer hunger. She took the rice from my hand, she divided into two and she went out. When she came back, I asked her, where did you go? What did you do? And one answer she gave me: They are hungry also. She knew that the next door neighbor, a Muslim family, was hungry. What surprised me most, not that she gave the rice, but what surprised me most, that in her suffering, in her hunger, she knew that somebody else was hungry, and she had the courage to share, share the love. And this is what I mean, I want you to love the poor, and never turn your back to the poor, for in turning your back to the poor, you are turning it to Christ. For he had made himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, so that you and I have an opportunity to love him, because where is God? How can we love God? It is not enough to say to my God I love you, but my God, I love you here. I can enjoy this, but I give up. I could eat that sugar, but I give that sugar. If I stay here the whole day and the whole night, you would be surprised of the beautiful things that people do, to share the joy of giving. And so, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and the fruit of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor, it is Christ. And if we really believe, we will begin to love. And if we love, naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, our next door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world. And let us all join in that one prayer, God give us courage to protect the unborn child, for the child is the greatest gift of God to a family, to a nation and to the whole world. God bless you!

Megiddo Mosaïc called the “greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls”

“This discovery rewrites our understanding of early Christian worship and the theological convictions of its followers”. Alegre Savariego We read at: https://aleteia.org/2024/11/27/megiddo-mosaic-earliest-evidence-of-jesus-proclaimed-as-god/ Megiddo Mosaic: Earliest evidence of Jesus proclaimed as God Daniel Esparza - published on 11/27/24 The Greek inscription reads, “The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.” An 1,800-year-old inscription, described as the “greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” is captivating historians and believers alike. The Megiddo Mosaic, unearthed beneath an Israeli prison floor, is now on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., drawing global attention as the earliest physical proclamation of Jesus Christ’s divinity. A window into early Christianity Dating to 230, the mosaic once adorned a private chapel in what is considered the earliest known Christian house of prayer. Its Greek inscription reads, “The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.” This phrase is remarkable for its clear declaration of Jesus as God, predating the official recognition of Christianity as the Roman Empire’s state religion by nearly a century. “This discovery rewrites our understanding of early Christian worship and the theological convictions of its followers,” states Alegre Savariego, director of the mosaic’s exhibition. The mosaic’s location near a Roman military camp, coupled with the name of Gaianus, a Roman officer credited with commissioning the artwork, suggests surprising levels of coexistence between Romans and early Christians. The legacy of Akeptous and early Christian women The Times of India notes that another striking feature is the inclusion of Akeptous, a woman who donated the table mentioned in the inscription. Her contribution highlights the significant role of women in the nascent Church. “This mosaic reminds us that early Christianity was a community effort, where both men and women played integral roles in the faith’s survival and growth,” says Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible. Symbols of faith and hope Covering 581 square feet, the mosaic is a masterpiece of early Christian art. Alongside the inscription are other traditional early Christian symbols. most prominently, the fish. In Greek, this symbol is known as the Ichthys, the word that simply means “fish.” But the Greek letters — ΙΧΘΥΣ — can also be an acronym, as they are the initials of the words in the Greek phrase that translates “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The presence of the fish symbol offers a glimpse into the lived faith of early Christians and their methods of covert expression during times of persecution. A revolutionary discovery Excavated over four years by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Megiddo Mosaic bridges historical and theological gaps. Its exhibition in Washington has allowed countless visitors to connect with the roots of their faith. “It is truly the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Campo affirms. After its U.S. exhibit concludes in 2025, the mosaic will return to Israel, where it will be displayed at its original site. There, it will continue to inspire pilgrims, scholars, and all who seek to understand early Christian practices. This extraordinary find enriches our historical understanding and reminds us of the enduring faith of early Christians, whose belief in Christ’s divinity laid the foundation for centuries of spiritual tradition.

Sacred Heart an antidote to Pharisee-like smugness, complacency and presumption

by Damien F. Mackey One rarely hears even mentioned the Nine First Fridays (Five First Saturdays) – the Communion of Reparation package so desired by Heaven. Here it was mentioned but not explained; mentioned in a negative context without its benefits being proclaimed. Keeping all the Jewish Law - impossible. We used to be told that if you go to Mass on Sundays and say the Rosary you’re right. So said a Dominican priest during a homily in the context of smug Pharisaïsm. Keep the whole Law and you will be pleasing to God. Jesus, of course, turned all that on its head, calling the Scribes and Pharisees ‘hypocrites’ (Matthew 23:13): ‘Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to’. Similarly, the Dominican priest noted that there was far more to it than just going to Mass on Sundays and saying the Rosary. [There is a verse in Acts (15:29) that almost seems to support the simple view: Do this, and you will be OK: ‘You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well’]. Sadly, there are those who make the effort to have their children baptised and confirmed, thinking, then, they are “done”. Now they can freely get on with their lives, often making quite a success of things in a worldly sense, while ever remaining at an immature level of faith. The Dominican went on to include the Nine First Fridays, the completion of which can be considered by some faithful to make them right. Nothing he said was at all incorrect within its context. We do need to be warned against smugness, complacency and presumption. One rarely hears even mentioned the Nine First Fridays (Five First Saturdays) – the Communion of Reparation package so desired by Heaven. Here it was mentioned but not explained; mentioned in a negative context without its benefits being proclaimed. [A few weeks later, at the same church, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, a Dominican priest in his 90’s did mention the Nine First Fridays, with a brief explanation of them, though he said that they were “not compulsory”]. I could not help wondering that instead of the Nine First Fridays being brought up in passing, in a negative context, wouldn’t it be far better to proclaim the devotion and its marvellous effects and the promises associated with it? Surely Heaven’s remedy will provide a perfect antidote to any tendency to Pharisaïc smugness and the like, promising, as it does, that: “Tepid souls shall grow fervent … Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection”. At the end of the 17th century Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) and asked her to spread devotion to His Most Sacred Heart. In a letter written to her Mother Superior in May 1688, St. Margaret Mary set out what is called The Great Promise Our Lord made regarding the Nine First Fridays and what we must do to earn it: “On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to His unworthy slave, if I mistake not: ‘I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under My displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, My divine Heart making Itself their assured refuge at the last moment.'” We need help with our complacency and presumption, and this is it! We’d be silly to neglect it. If we do these devotions properly, to the best of our ability, the Promises are beyond all telling: https://holycross-olog.vermontcatholic.org/nine-first-fridays-devotion-of-reparation-to-the-sacred-heart-of-our-lord 1. I will give them all of the graces necessary for their state of life. 2. I will establish peace in their homes. 3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions. 4. I will be their strength during life and above all during death. 5. I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings. 6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy. 7. Tepid souls shall grow fervent. 8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection. 9. I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored. 10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts. 11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out. 12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant all to those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment. First Friday Requirements: To meet the requirements for the First Friday Devotion a person must, on each First Friday for nine consecutive months: 1. Attend Holy Mass 2. Receive Communion 3. Go to Confession

Peace is much more than simply the absence of war

“As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace— but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you’.” Luke 19:41-44 “Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss”. Pope Leo XIV Alison Sampson given to Sanctuary on 10 April 2022: https://sanctuarybaptist.org/2022/04/10/the-things-that-make-for-peace/ Luke | The things that make for peace …. Disciples praise his deeds of power and sing of peace; yet Jesus weeps. … Once upon a time, a baby was born. Angels announced it, and a heavenly host sang, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to God’s people on earth!” (Luke 2:13). The little one grew in wisdom and stature, and soon enough taught the ways of peace: good news for the poor; release for the captives; recovery of sight for the blind; freedom for the oppressed; and cancellation of all debt (Luke 4:18). People listened, and followed, and noticed his deeds of power. And in the place where the prophet Zechariah had foreseen a humble king riding on a donkey, a king who would rout all their enemies and send them packing, his disciples gathered with him and walked towards the debt-ridden, cross-encircled, oppressed and occupied city of Jerusalem, a city which longed for deliverance, a city which groaned for peace; and mirroring the words of the angels, a crowd of people sang, “Blessed is the king who comes in the Name of the Lord! Peace in heaven! And glory in highest heaven!” (Luke 19:38). The angels sang of peace on earth; the people sang of peace in heaven: and all to the glory of highest heaven: the very throne room of God. This was a song of mutual hope and blessing so powerful, so viral, that all creation sang! For if they were silent, said Jesus, even the stones would shout! They sang of a glorious peace: God’s peace. Not the bland peace of conflict-avoidance. Not the violently enforced Roman Peace. Instead, they sang of shalom: right relationship between God and people and land. Shalom: the integration of all things: a cosmic harmony. For in Jesus’ storyworld, everything is connected: God and people; heaven and earth; economic justice and the health of the land; and through Jesus, shalom flows from God through the whole cosmos: from the highest reaches of heaven down, down through the skies right down into sheep and shepherds and earth and stones; and so angels and people and even boulders sing. All creation hums with this promise of right relationship between heaven and earth, a promise fulfilled by the one who comes in God’s blessed Name. So surely Jesus is singing and dancing, swept up in this cosmic celebration of love, healing and redemption: but instead, we are told that he stops. While his disciples are praising his deeds of power and raising their voices in song, he looks over the suffering city, and his heart cracks wide open: he weeps. And with tears in his eyes, he turns to his disciples and says, “If you, even you, had only recognized the things that make for peace!” Wait a minute! They’re right there, aren’t they, praising his deeds of power, singing of peace, and joining in the cosmic parade? Haven’t they recognized the things which make for peace? On the surface, it’s all very puzzling; so let’s zoom out. In Luke chapter 9, we are told that Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem; then for the next ten chapters, he taught. He told parables about the kingdom. He preached. He commissioned; he debriefed; he explained; he exhorted; he encouraged; and he told many, many stories. In everything, he taught. Through all this teaching, he revealed the promise at his birth: the way of peace. He showed that it’s all about trusting him, and only him: not our right theologies, not our moral behaviour, not our own efforts, and not our bank accounts. He called on his little flock to free themselves of their possessions and all false reliances, and he promised that in God’s kingdom they would have enough. He taught that the faithful can be rejected, and suffer, and die; and he located his own body among the marginalized poor. In stories such as the neighbourly Samaritan, he raised up hated enemies as righteous; and he repeatedly shared meals with all the wrong people, breaking bread, drinking wine, and revealing a culture in which everyone is welcome at the table and the greatest are those who serve. Through these and similar teachings, he showed his disciples how to live. But as they are walking towards Jerusalem, his disciples seem to forget his teaching. Instead, they seek the destruction of a Samaritan village. They argue and jostle among themselves for high status in the kingdom of God. Outside Jericho, they try to block a blind man from receiving sight. And once they are in Jerusalem, rather like many observers of a certain mega-church today, they praise the awe-inspiring Temple, while the impoverished widows who gave everything for its construction and maintenance are completely invisible to them. And as they walk and sing, his disciples are praising not his teaching, but his deeds of power: for perhaps they long for this power to crush their enemies and save them. The sort of power promised by Zechariah, whose humble king would lead an army to devour their enemies and “drink their blood like wine” (Zechariah 9:15-16). Perhaps now, even now, they still long for a triumphant military peace. A routing of the Romans. A renewed autonomy. Blood running through the streets. And so Jesus weeps, because even his disciples have not internalized his teaching, and he sees where this will lead: Betrayal. Denial. Humiliation. Crucifixion. And some years later, the brutal destruction of the city and all of its inhabitants. So he weeps, and he says to those who are walking with him, “If you, even you, had only recognized the things that make for peace!” You want deeds of power: but not my teaching. You want financial security: but not kingdom economics. You want love: but not for your enemies. You want forgiveness: but not to forgive. You want good news: but not for others. You want shalom: but you will reject the fulfilment of God’s peace: indeed, you will reject me. And so disaster is coming, “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” (Luke 19:44) As people who lift their voices with the cosmic choir in the company of our weeping Saviour, I wonder: What blocks us from living by his teaching? Do we, too, want God’s peace, but not the uncomfortable person of Jesus? What are the many ways we betray and deny him, and undermine and avoid his teaching? And on the other side of denial and disaster, will we accept the sting of forgiveness, and his renewed words of peace, and commission, and blessing? …. Pope Leo XIV led a peace plea at St. Peter’s Square amid Donald Trump-approved U.S. strikes on Iran. Mega© OK Magazine (AU) Pope Leo XIV issued a stark warning of an "irreparable abyss" as U.S. forces conducted airstrikes on Iran following President Donald Trump's go-signal to target the nation’s critical nuclear sites. The Pope used his Sunday Angelus prayer at St. Peter's Square to emphasize the need for peace and global diplomacy amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. On June 21, Trump approved the strikes in coordination with an Israeli offensive, marking a larger hostility as Iran pledged to protect its territory. "Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss," the Pope declared during his weekly address in Piazza San Pietro. He urged for "rational attention" to peace negotiations and noted that "now, more than ever, humanity calls out for peace, a plea that requires rational attention and should not be silenced." Pope Leo continued, "No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflict." The pontiff did not shy away from addressing the ongoing strife between Israel and Palestine, highlighting the suffering of civilians in Gaza and other areas. He pointed out that humanitarian needs are becoming increasingly urgent amid the dramatic circumstances. …. In Iran, anxiety mounts over the potential for a deeper, more chaotic conflict as tensions rise, particularly following a week marked by conflict with Israel. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the U.S. military actions on Sunday, calling it a "dangerous military operation" and warned of "everlasting consequences." During a rapid press briefing the evening before, Trump praised the armed forces and expressed gratitude to God for their success in the operations. …. Former Pope Francis, who served for 12 years, previously criticized Trump's mass deportation plans and the president's approach to immigration, asserting that "a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian."