Be remembered by what you love not by what you hate.

Consider This

An Old Story:

Once there was a family of matchsticks living in a cramped and dark match box. All their lives they’ve always feared the darkness and longed for light. However, they also know that every time light appears one of their brothers or sisters will be picked by two huge things from the sky, and never to return. That short burst of light is always followed by sadness over their missing sibling.

One day, there was that familiar rumble followed by a burst of light. Then two huge things came down from the sky and picked up one of their siblings. However, this time, a second matchstick was accidentally carried out of the matchbox and fell to the ground. There, he saw, with great horror, as the two huge things strike the head of his brother against a wall. He also saw that his brother’s head suddenly exploded into such great light that he was temporarily blinded.

All of the sudden he felt the two great things pick him up. He closed his blinded eyes because for sure his head will be smashed against the wall. Instead, the two huge things placed him back into the matchbox where from then on he proclaimed to everyone, "Do not fear the darkness for light lives within us."

Moral of the story: We sometimes won’t know our own abilities until we see what others can do or can become. And when we do, that change is irreversible. Knowledge can be transforming.

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1. Sunday Readings: Pentecost Sunday of 2006
   
2. The Vatican Today: A News Feature
   
3. Health News: XanGo Juice from Mangosteen
   
4. Our Engine: SiteBuild It

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Sunday Readings

June 4, 2006
Pentecost Sunday 2006

First Reading: Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under
heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
"Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God."

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

R. (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures;

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters:
No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

or

Gal 5:16-25

Brothers and sisters,
live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.

But if you are guided by the Spirit,
you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, lust, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

Gospel: Jn 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this,
he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this,
he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."

or

Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."

From the Vatican

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney Australia on Islam

Popes only rarely lead by decree. Far more often, their example is decisive, pointing a new direction by what they do and say.

Such has been the case under Benedict XVI on Islam. There's been no Vatican edict, but everyone recognizes something has changed. It's not that Benedict created a more hawkish climate on Islam; those currents were always present, and gathered steam in the post-9/11 period. It's rather that Benedict has unleashed them.

One good example occurred in the unlikely setting of Naples, Florida, in early April, when Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, spoke on Islam to a meeting of Legatus, a group for Catholic businessmen. Pell's blunt language made global headlines, especially when he asserted, "Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion."

For more on news that sometimes rattle some crusty old cages please go to this link.

Got Enough Da Vinci?

Please go to http://www.jesusdecoded.com and let your friends know.

The Web site will explain Catholic beliefs and include articles from theologians, media commentators, art experts and others that provide background and also rebut the speculation and inaccuracies about Christ and the origins of Christianity. Contributing to the Web site is the prelature of Opus Dei.

Also available is a booklet, The Authentic Jesus, which will address questions raised by The Da Vinci Code and other popular portrayals of Jesus. The booklet, produced by the USCCB Committee on Communications, presents authentic Catholic teaching about Jesus and his divinity, the New Testament, Gnosticism, women and the Church, and other important topics in a convenient question–and–answer format. The Authentic Jesus will be available for individual and bulk sale from USCCB Publishing. Also for sale from USCCB Publishing will be a bulletin insert based on the same material.

Jesus Decoded, a CCC documentary that brings authentic Catholic teaching about Jesus Christ into focus, will be available to NBC-TV stations for broadcast starting the third weekend of May. This first-time airing of the hour-long documentary will highlight clear and accurate information about the person of Jesus, his disciples, and the formation of the books in the canon (or list of books) of the New Testament. Shot on location in Israel, Turkey, and Italy for the CCC by NewGroup Media, Jesus Decoded offers a solid Catholic response to "Da Vinci Code believers," concentrating especially on the first three centuries of the development of the Church. The program includes interviews with international scholars versed in art, history, and Scripture that help separate Catholic truth from popular fiction. The documentary will be available for purchase on DVD from USCCB Publishing. Further information about the documentary is available at http://www.jesusdecoded.com.

The Catholic Communication Campaign is an activity of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that develops media programming, public service announcements, and other resources to promote Gospel values. Donations of Catholic parishioners make possible the work of the CCC. For more information, visit our website at: http://www.usccb.org/ccc.

USCCB Publishing can be contacted at 1-800-235-8722.

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References On Catholic Apologetics

I really encourage you to read at least the following:

• ¹What Catholics Really Believe-Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1992, by Karl Keating, director Catholic Answers, a lay-run apologetics and evangelization organization, and editor of the magazine, This Rock. He is also the author of the best-seller, Catholicism and Fundamentalism.

• ²Nuts & Bolts: A Practical Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith, Basilica Press, San Diego, 1999, by Tim Staples, a former Assemblies of God youth pastor who converted to the Catholic Church.

• ³Catholic Source Book, Harcourt Religion Publishers, 2000, by Rev. Peter Klein. Rev Peter Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota.

• ⁴Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Huntington, Indiana, 1998, by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, editor. Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas is the author of eleven books and more than 500 articles. He is the founding editor of Catholic Answer and the administrator of St. John the Baptist Church of Bayonne, New Jersey. He likewise serves as adjunct professor of education at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

For more great information about our faith, please read Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia. This is an excellent addition to a Catholic family library. I refer to this book everytime I come across a questionable term. It is also a very good source of a summary of Catholic Doctines, without the deep and brooding terminologies.

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Cath Humor, Part 1

• Don't let worry kill you -- let the church help.
• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and our community.
• The rosebud on the alter this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
• This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
• Thursday at 5:00 PM there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.
• This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
• Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and do so.
• The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.
• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
• The preacher will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth With Joy."

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