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Do You REALLY Love?

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Liturgy of the Word A Reading from the Book of Exodus This is what the Lord says to his people: "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not exploit widows or orphans. If you do, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. When you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it as a business venture; charge no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering they have. What else will they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear them, for I am compassionate." The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God A Reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians Brothers, you know how we lived among you for your sake. You became im...
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The Didache - The REAL Early Church

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INTRO      If you've been around Christianity for awhile,  someone may have told you this line, or you've heard it somewhere... maybe even YOU have used it: ”The early Church was simple. Nothing more than a house meeting. A Bible. Not much else.  And everything Catholics do today came along centuries later. The images. The fasting. The Liturgy. Bishops and priests.... All that jazz was made up centuries later.”     Fo r good measure, this may also include something about how it was all the Roman emperor Constantines' doing.      Interestingly, there are actually a lot of Christians who claim they undid all that “bad Catholic stuff,” and have reverted to just as it was 2,000 years ago. They even like to refer to themselves as, “apostolic.”     Well, first  off, there was no Bible widely available for centuries after the Apostolic period. So, if that is included, well, right away there's an issue. And if Constantine en...
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St, Paul and "The Law"...Real Talk

INTRO     I recently found myself drawn to St. Paul's discourse on, " the law ," while reading from Galatians. Its fair to say that I found it a bit puzzling. However, I wanted to move past modern, conflicting Protestant interpretations to discover what the Apostle truly meant when he wrote the letter.  So how to get there? By going to the source.     Rather than relying on individual, post-Reformation theories that arose many centuries later, I turned to the Catholic Church. She offers an ancient, continuous perspective; after all, she is the authority that originally compiled the Bible in the fourth and fifth centuries. Likewise, the Church has preserved and studied these texts in their true historical context from the very beginning, maintaining a consistent origin understanding without the habit of re-interpretation.      So, what is the Catholic perspective on, " the Law ," as presented in the Book of Galatians?      ...
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Why Call Priests Father

  Why Do Catholics Call Priests “Father”? One of the most common objections Catholics hear from the opponents of the Church actually sounds pretty straightforward: “ Jesus said, ‘Call no man father.’ So why do Catholics call priests Father!?” Its not an unfair comment, if one only scratches the surface, and it may indeed sound like Catholics are ignoring a direct command from Jesus. But once you read the passage in context, understand its culture and language, and compare it with the rest of Scripture — the Catholic practice makes much more sense. You might still reject it, since most discount what they don't want to hear. But at least you'll know. THE CLAIM JESUS SAID, "CALL NO MAN FATHER." The objection comes from Matthew 23:9: “ Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.” But stop and think: If that verse meant Christians could never use the word “father,” for another human being, then we would also have a problem calling our own ...
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