!catholics !christians Happy (somber?) Ash Wednesday!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

First Reading

Even now, says the LORD,

return to me with your whole heart,

with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;

Rend your hearts, not your garments,

and return to the LORD, your God.

For gracious and merciful is he,

slow to anger, rich in kindness,

and relenting in punishment.

Perhaps he will again relent

and leave behind him a blessing,

Offerings and libations

for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion!

proclaim a fast,

call an assembly;

Gather the people,

notify the congregation;

Assemble the elders,

gather the children

and the infants at the breast;

Let the bridegroom quit his room

and the bride her chamber.

Between the porch and the altar

let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,

And say, "Spare, O LORD, your people,

and make not your heritage a reproach,

with the nations ruling over them!

Why should they say among the peoples,

'Where is their God?'"

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land

and took pity on his people.

-Joel 2:12-18

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Responsorial Psalm

R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

and of my sin cleanse me.

R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

For I acknowledge my offense,

and my sin is before me always:

"Against you only have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight."

R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

A clean heart create for me, O God,

and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

Cast me not out from your presence,

and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,

and a willing spirit sustain in me.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

-Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14, and 17

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters:

We are ambassadors for Christ,

as if God were appealing through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,

so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then,

we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

For he says:

In an acceptable time I heard you,

and on the day of salvation I helped you.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;

behold, now is the day of salvation.

-2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Verse Before the Gospel

If today you hear his voice,

harden not your hearts.

-Psalm 95:8

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Gospel

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds

in order that people may see them;

otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms,

do not blow a trumpet before you,

as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets

to win the praise of others.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you give alms,

do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,

so that your almsgiving may be secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

"When you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites,

who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners

so that others may see them.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go to your inner room,

close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

"When you fast,

do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

They neglect their appearance,

so that they may appear to others to be fasting.

Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you fast,

anoint your head and wash your face,

so that you may not appear to be fasting,

except to your Father who is hidden.

And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."

-Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Did you guys know that in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, they have 180 mandatory fasting days for the laity, and 252 for the clergy? At that point I think it must get a little hard to not look gloomy .

The older I get the more I appreciate the seasons of Advent and especially Lent. The disruption it provides to my normal routine is good for getting me to look at my life from a bird's-eye view. What have I done in the past year? How have I improved or worsened in my spiritual life?

The reading from Joel provides good context for fasting. I had been previously aware of its use as a personal devotion and exercise in temperance, but I hadn't thought of the significance of the whole Church fasting together. It's a collective statement of faith and thanksgiving, that by God's grace so many of us can afford to go hungry temporarily, but also of penance, that we as a collective have sinned gravely and are asking for God's forgiveness.

I'll open with my first impressions having given it a reading with my morning tea: It's great! This is by far the most doctrinally clear, Biblically and Traditionally grounded encyclical out of the Pope Francis episcopacy. Not coincidentally, it sticks within a defined theological scope rather than attempting to address hot button social issues (though honestly I wish American Catholics were more keen to submit and obey rather than openly resist). My favorite section is 86-89:

86. Many Jansenists found this difficult to comprehend, for they looked askance on all that was human, affective and corporeal, and so viewed this devotion as distancing us from pure worship of the Most High God. Pius XII described as "false mysticism"[79] the elitist attitude of those groups that saw God as so sublime, separate and distant that they regarded affective expressions of popular piety as dangerous and in need of ecclesiastical oversight.

87. It could be argued that today, in place of Jansenism, we find ourselves before a powerful wave of secularization that seeks to build a world free of God. In our societies, we are also seeing a proliferation of varied forms of religiosity that have nothing to do with a personal relationship with the God of love, but are new manifestations of a disembodied spirituality. I must warn that within the Church too, a baneful Jansenist dualism has re-emerged in new forms. This has gained renewed strength in recent decades, but it is a recrudescence of that Gnosticism which proved so great a spiritual threat in the early centuries of Christianity because it refused to acknowledge the reality of "the salvation of the flesh". For this reason, I turn my gaze to the heart of Christ and I invite all of us to renew our devotion to it. I hope this will also appeal to today's sensitivities and thus help us to confront the dualisms, old and new, to which this devotion offers an effective response.

88. I would add that the heart of Christ also frees us from another kind of dualism found in communities and pastors excessively caught up in external activities, structural reforms that have little to do with the Gospel, obsessive reorganization plans, worldly projects, secular ways of thinking and mandatory programmes. The result is often a Christianity stripped of the tender consolations of faith, the joy of serving others, the fervour of personal commitment to mission, the beauty of knowing Christ and the profound gratitude born of the friendship he offers and the ultimate meaning he gives to our lives. This too is the expression of an illusory and disembodied otherworldliness.

89. Once we succumb to these attitudes, so widespread in our day, we tend to lose all desire to be cured of them. This leads me to propose to the whole Church renewed reflection on the love of Christ represented in his Sacred Heart. For there we find the whole Gospel, a synthesis of the truths of our faith, all that we adore and seek in faith, all that responds to our deepest needs.

For our ESL Catholics like @szrotmistrz you can scroll up and find the translation in your local language, including Portuguese, Polish, Spanish etc. Please join me in reading this. For the less interested here is the Vatican News summary.

The text concludes with a prayer, and I ask all !Catholics and !prayerwarriors to join me:

"I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant that His Sacred Heart may continue to pour forth the streams of living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together towards a just, solidary and fraternal world. Until that day when we will rejoice in celebrating together the banquet of the heavenly kingdom in the presence of the risen Lord, who harmonizes all our differences in the light that radiates perpetually from his open heart. May he be blessed forever" (220).

@JoyceScaryOates @Paragon @carpathianHORRORist you neighbors can't escape me by being outside the ping group. Please read this.

!nonchuds !lgbt !cuteandinvalid Chuddy Catholics in shambles HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!

GM

In observance I will be consuming nothing but White Monster for the next forty days except Sundays obv

Post lenten recipes below and don't forget that capybara counts as a fish

There is no free will.

god i hope so

!catholics !christians Happy 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time!

_______________________________________________________________________________

First Reading

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear;

so do one's faults when one speaks.

As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace,

so in tribulation is the test of the just.

The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;

so too does one's speech disclose the bent of one's mind.

Praise no one before he speaks,

for it is then that people are tested.

-Sirach 27:4-7

_______________________________________________________________________________

Responsorial Psalm

R (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,

        to sing praise to your name, Most High,

To proclaim your kindness at dawn

        and your faithfulness throughout the night.

R Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,

        like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.

They that are planted in the house of the LORD

        shall flourish in the courts of our God.

R Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

They shall bear fruit even in old age;

        vigorous and sturdy shall they be,

Declaring how just is the LORD,

        my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

R Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

-Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

_______________________________________________________________________________

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters:

When this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility

and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality,

then the word that is written shall come about:

        Death is swallowed up in victory.

                    Where, O death, is your victory?

                    Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin,

and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters,

be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

-1 Corinthians 15:54-58

_______________________________________________________________________________

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Shine like lights in the world

as you hold on to the word of life.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

-Philippians 2:15d, 16a

_______________________________________________________________________________

Gospel

Jesus told his disciples a parable,

"Can a blind person guide a blind person?

Will not both fall into a pit?

No disciple is superior to the teacher;

but when fully trained,

every disciple will be like his teacher.

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,

but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?

How can you say to your brother,

'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,'

when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?

You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;

then you will see clearly

to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.

"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,

nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.

For every tree is known by its own fruit.

For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,

nor do they gather grapes from brambles.

A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,

but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;

for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks."

-Luke 6:39-54

_______________________________________________________________________________

"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit." Let people's actions speak for them; what kind of self-professed good person does evil things?

!cuteandinvalid !lgbt !nonchuds

I'm a lifelong Catholic, but to be honest, I've never been a fan of Pope Francis. He's a bit woke for me. Hope the next one opposes illegal immigration.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it's sinful or not to hope he dies since his teachings are directly leading the Church to sin.

Just wondering your thoughts

!catholics !christians happy Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time! 77th thread for the 7th Sunday.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First Reading

In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph

with three thousand picked men of Israel,

to search for David in the desert of Ziph.

So David and Abishai went among Saul's soldiers by night

and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade,

with his spear thrust into the ground at his head

and Abner and his men sleeping around him.

Abishai whispered to David:

"God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day.

Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear;

I will not need a second thrust!"

But David said to Abishai, "Do not harm him,

for who can lay hands on the LORD's anointed and remain unpunished?"

So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul's head,

and they got away without anyone's seeing or knowing or awakening.

All remained asleep,

because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.

Going across to an opposite slope,

David stood on a remote hilltop

at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.

He said: "Here is the king's spear.

Let an attendant come over to get it.

The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.

Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp,

I would not harm the LORD's anointed."

-1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Responsorial Psalm

R (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

        and all my being, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

        and forget not all his benefits.

R The Lord is kind and merciful.

He pardons all your iniquities,

        heals all your ills.

He redeems your life from destruction,

        crowns you with kindness and compassion.

R The Lord is kind and merciful.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,

        slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

        nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

R The Lord is kind and merciful.

As far as the east is from the west,

        so far has he put our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

        so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

R The Lord is kind and merciful.

-Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8-10, 12-13

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters:

It is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being,

the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

But the spiritual was not first;

rather the natural and then the spiritual.

The first man was from the earth, earthly;

the second man, from heaven.

As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly,

and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.

Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one,

we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

-1 Corinthians 15:45-49

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:

love one another as I have loved you.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

-John 13:34

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gospel

Jesus said to his disciples:

"To you who hear I say,

love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

To the person who strikes you on one cheek,

offer the other one as well,

and from the person who takes your cloak,

do not withhold even your tunic.

Give to everyone who asks of you,

and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

For if you love those who love you,

what credit is that to you?

Even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you,

what credit is that to you?

Even sinners do the same.

If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,

what credit is that to you?

Even sinners lend to sinners,

and get back the same amount.

But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,

and lend expecting nothing back;

then your reward will be great

and you will be children of the Most High,

for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"Stop judging and you will not be judged.

Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give, and gifts will be given to you;

a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,

will be poured into your lap.

For the measure with which you measure

will in return be measured out to you."

-Luke 6:27-38

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Stop judging and you will not be judged, stop condemning and you will not be condemned." This goes for yourself, as well. Judge yourself and God will follow your example, condemn yourself and God will agree. You are not so great a sinner that you overpower God's mercy. The greatest commandment is to do unto others as you would have done to yourself; how can you stop judging and condemning others if you cannot stop judging and condemning yourself?

The Bigger, Blacker Pope.

He would certainly trigger the Chuds.

There's also these honkeys.

Edward Pentin, the National Catholic Register's longtime senior Rome correspondent, released a book in August 2020 called "The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates." In it, he lists 19 cardinals that he considers frontrunners, including some American candidates such as Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, former archbishop of Boston, or Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who was previously archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri.

Sean Patrick O'Malley? Could he be any more of a Mick?

My 14-year-old asked me yesterday, "Why's the government so obsessed with people's genders?" and I froze like a deer in headlights.

I'm just trying to raise decent humans without losing my faith or my mind.

its not christianity its Decent-Human-Being-ism

!nonchuds !lgbt !cuteandinvalid Based based base

!catholics !christians happy Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First Reading

Thus says the LORD:

        Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,

                    who seeks his strength in flesh,

                    whose heart turns away from the LORD.

        He is like a barren bush in the desert

                    that enjoys no change of season,

        but stands in a lava waste,

                    a salt and empty earth.

        Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,

                    whose hope is the LORD.

        He is like a tree planted beside the waters

                    that stretches out its roots to the stream:

        it fears not the heat when it comes;

                    its leaves stay green;

        in the year of drought it shows no distress,

                    but still bears fruit.

-Jeremiah 17:5-8

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Responsorial Psalm

R (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Blessed the man who follows not

        the counsel of the wicked,

nor walks in the way of sinners,

        nor sits in the company of the insolent,

but delights in the law of the LORD

        and meditates on his law day and night.

R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

He is like a tree

        planted near running water,

that yields its fruit in due season,

        and whose leaves never fade.

Whatever he does, prospers.

R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Not so the wicked, not so;

        they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

For the LORD watches over the way of the just,

        but the way of the wicked vanishes.

R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.\

-Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters:

If Christ is preached as raised from the dead,

how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,

and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain;

you are still in your sins.

Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,

we are the most pitiable people of all.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead,

the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

-1 @Nightcrawler s 15:12, 16-20

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad;

your reward will be great in heaven.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

-Luke 6:23

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gospel

Jesus came down with the Twelve

and stood on a stretch of level ground

with a great crowd of his disciples

and a large number of the people

from all Judea and Jerusalem

and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

        "Blessed are you who are poor,

                    for the kingdom of God is yours.

        Blessed are you who are now hungry,

                    for you will be satisfied.

        Blessed are you who are now weeping,

                    for you will laugh.

        Blessed are you when people hate you,

                    and when they exclude and insult you,

                    and denounce your name as evil

                    on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!

Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

        But woe to you who are rich,

                    for you have received your consolation.

        Woe to you who are filled now,

                    for you will be hungry.

        Woe to you who laugh now,

                    for you will grieve and weep.

        Woe to you when all speak well of you,

                    for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way."

-Luke 6:17, 20-26

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I find it interesting how famous the Beatitudes are, while what I will now dub the "Reverse Beatitudes" are rarely spoken of. "Woe to you" is not a phrase most people associate with Jesus. "Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings." I think the point is that mortal success is no proof of divine favor or personal holiness, and thus to take pride in such things is foolish.

"Did Jesus really raise form the dead? I don't know."

United Church of Christ Minister Pat Langlois says she doesn't know if Jesus rose from the dead, and also that it doesn't matter if he didn't. pic.twitter.com/FsRYNpmTow

— Protestia (@Protestia) February 13, 2025

I'm not familiar with the United Church of Christ, is this a commonly held belief of it's members?

His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, has instructed the American Bishops to get the various trash and right-wing "Catholics" (polytheistic LARPers who love Catholic aesthetics and nothing more) in line with Christ's teachings.

The Pope is rightly concerned with the dehumanizing program of deportations taking place in the United States:

I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations.

His Holiness reminds us that

Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.

Yes, this applies to refugees and immigrants too, even if they're "illegal:"

the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society

Earthly laws follow fundamental rights and dignity, not the other way around:

Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.

Natural law commands us to take care of all people, especially the vulnerable and oppressed:

This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable

His Holiness explicitly calls out the chud circle of caring chart. If you post that chart to try to own the libs, you are announcing your failure to follow Christ:

Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation.

JD Vance, Catholic "Convert" and opportunistic LARPer, has weighed in on the concept of ordo amoris, a supposedly a hierarchical ordering of whom you are supposed to care about. The His Holiness Pope Francis would like you all to know that JD Vance is r-slurred:

The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the "Good Samaritan" (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.

He closes, asking us to live up to the example set by Jesus Christ, Son of God:

I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.

Reminder, if you are actually Catholic you must agree with the Pope. He speaks, literally, on behalf of Jesus Christ and Saint Peter. Various clout-seeking LARPers should stfu and make their own hateful religion.

!catholics !christians

!catholics !christians happy Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First Reading

In the year King Uzziah died,

I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,

with the train of his garment filling the temple.

Seraphim were stationed above.

They cried one to the other,

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!

All the earth is filled with his glory!"

At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook

and the house was filled with smoke.

Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed!

For I am a man of unclean lips,

living among a people of unclean lips;

yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Then one of the seraphim flew to me,

holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it, and said,

"See, now that this has touched your lips,

your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

"Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?"

"Here I am," I said; "send me!"

-Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Responsorial Psalm

R. (1c) In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,

for you have heard the words of my mouth;

in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;

I will worship at your holy temple

and give thanks to your name.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

Because of your kindness and your truth;

for you have made great above all things

your name and your promise.

When I called, you answered me;

you built up strength within me.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD,

when they hear the words of your mouth;

and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:

"Great is the glory of the LORD."

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

Your right hand saves me.

The LORD will complete what he has done for me;

your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;

forsake not the work of your hands.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

-Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3. 4-5. 7-8

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Reading

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,

of the gospel I preached to you,

which you indeed received and in which you also stand.

Through it you are also being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,

unless you believed in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the Scriptures;

that he was buried;

that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures;

that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

After that, Christ appeared to more

than five hundred brothers at once,

most of whom are still living,

though some have fallen asleep.

After that he appeared to James,

then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,

he appeared to me.

For I am the least of the apostles,

not fit to be called an apostle,

because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am,

and his grace to me has not been ineffective.

Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;

not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Therefore, whether it be I or they,

so we preach and so you believed.

-1 Corinthians 15:1-11

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Come after me

and I will make you fishers of men.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

-Matthew 4:19

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gospel

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening

to the word of God,

he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.

He saw two boats there alongside the lake;

the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,

he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.

Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,

"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Simon said in reply,

"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,

but at your command I will lower the nets."

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish

and their nets were tearing.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat

to come to help them.

They came and filled both boats

so that the boats were in danger of sinking.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him

and all those with him,

and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,

who were partners of Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;

from now on you will be catching men."

When they brought their boats to the shore,

they left everything and followed him.

-Luke 5:1-11

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

"Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

"When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.""

Isaiah, Peter, and Paul, three extremely holy men, all said they were unholy and unworthy. This is very humble of them, admitting that any grace they have is a gift from God, but it's also a teaching example. You don't have to be perfect to share the Gospel; the Good News are still good when coming from a bad person. A common question I see here is "how can you be preaching about Catholicism on rdrama of all places? Good Christians shouldn't have anything to do with this site." While it may be true that good Christians shouldn't be here, it's certainly better to be here and share your Christianity than to be here and not do so.

Loving your kid is not a sin, shake off the dust of any church that teaches otherwise.

Jesus said just be nice and stuff

Churches need to get back to spreading the actual message of Jesus Christ.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked person from among you."

A bunch of years ago my church, which didn't have an official stance on gay relationships, had a gay choir director. He'd been there for years and was widely loved. He didn't tell anybody at church, but eventually it got out that he had a partner. A significant portion of the church demanded that he be fired. People who had prayed, laughed, and cried with him suddenly saw him as somebody deserving of nothing.

Even though he had support from church leadership, this drove him not only away from my church but away from Christianity altogether. Last I knew, he never regained his faith.

My pastor was unable to take an official stance because of hierarchical problems (later fixed, but too late) but did give a sermon about the sin of driving people away from Christ. This was not enough.

I can only hope that you do not let this horrible experience drive you from God. There are people who love you. Loving your son is not wrong. I believe that you can find another church that will treat you right.

darn imagine following the Bible's teachings, what a horrible experience

I've never understood how churches like this could think they're loving without twisting love the ways abusive parents do until it means cruelty and abuse. The Bible should be our guide for spiritual matters. Using it as a guide for matters outside the spiritual is abusing it, not respecting it. It's not a science text and it shouldn't be used as such

We shouldnt take scripture seriously because sometimes there is allegory!

The hate for trans people is growing to a crescendo, fueled by the personal anti-trans obsessions of some of history's most wealthy people, and the advantage many politicians find in stoking it. Obviously "Jesus is an obedient attack dog, kept tightly leashed by the world's wealthiest and most powerful, hating whoever they command him to hate" is absurd on the face of it, but... well, we live in an absurd era.

The (((wealthiest and most powerful))) are to blame for christians not accepting tr4nnies cutting off their peepees

Apparently they didn't read Galatians 3:28: "There is neither male nor female, for we are one in Christ". I hope you find a more accepting church!