Podcast appearances and mentions of Ember days

Fr. Paul Born currently serves as the Parochial Vicar at Mary, Queen of Martyrs Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts.   In Today's Show: During the part of the mass where we name our pope and bishop to pray for them. What do we say when we are in a period with no pope? Can people eat meat on Easter Friday? Does a Saturday night vigil count for Divine Mercy Sunday? When we say prayers to God during mass are we specifically praying to God the Father or to the Holy Trinity generally? Do blessings on YouTube count? Did Mary's soul go to the underworld or straight to Heaven? Why were the chief priests skeptical about the resurrection? Can we actually say that there are male and female souls? What are Rogation Days? Are Rogation Days related to Ember Days? I'm giving to my parish online, but now I feel like I'm sticking out like a sore thumb by visibly giving during mass. Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!

Bethany reads poems from her book of poetry, Etude for Belonging, and spoke about learning to live at the end of the world, like so many others before, here at the edge of the shore. Hope reminds us that it matters how we navigate those endings, and make beauty on the way.

March 15th, 2025: Chastisement and Radical Woke Media; Fasting Empowers Our Prayers; Lenten Embers Days - Good Attitude vs Bad Attitude; Jonah Compared to Jesus; You Might Have a Clean House, but Is God in It?

Order of Vespers, p.224  Lutheran Worship Pre-Service Hymn: “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy” LW #224 Psalmody:  Psalm 25, 6, 91 Office Hymn “O Christ, Who Art the Light and Day”  (The Augustana Service Book and Hymnal #20, TLH 313) Readings:  Sat-Deut 26:12-19, 1 Thessalonians 5:14-23 Catechism: Lord's Supper Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Bulletin: Lenten-Embers-Vespers-Mar-12-14-15-2025-online.pdf Psalms:  2025-Psalms-for-Ember-Days-in-Lent-b.pdf https://vimeo.com/1065871126?share=copy Picture: Ottheinrich Bible 1430  (IV:38) Jesus Before the High Priest in John 18:12-24  

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Patience stands as one of the most misunderstood virtues of our spiritual life. We think it means calmly waiting for our coffee or enduring a traffic jam without cursing. But the paralytic in today's Gospel shows us something far more profound – a man who returned faithfully to the healing pool for thirty-eight years, never abandoning hope despite nearly four decades of disappointment.What does it mean to bear suffering with grace? How do we maintain hope through extended periods of trial? The reflection draws a powerful distinction between momentary patience and long-suffering – that capacity to endure life's most profound challenges without losing faith and hope.The conversation takes a surprisingly personal turn as I share my own struggles with patience – particularly how my melancholic temperament leads me to internalize frustrations with others before eventually unleashing them. This honest admission highlights the teaching from the Imitation of Christ: "Bear with the faults and frailties of others, for you too have many faults with which others have to bear." True patience requires not just outward composure but inner peace.As we journey through Lent, these Ember Days call us to additional fasting, abstinence, and prayer for priests and vocations. Like my experience staying up until 2 AM with excited children to witness a lunar eclipse only to be met with cloudy skies, our spiritual practices don't always yield immediate rewards. Yet it's precisely in these moments of disappointment that patience transforms from mere waiting into a profound spiritual virtue.Join our Lenten journey and discover how cultivating authentic patience might be exactly what your spiritual life needs right now. Take time today for additional prayer, fasting, and if possible, participate in the Stations of the Cross to honor this special Ember Friday.Support the showSponsored by Recusant Cellars, an unapologetically Catholic and pro-life winery from Washington state. Use code BASED25 at checkout for 10% off! https://recusantcellars.com/Also sponsored by Quest Pipe Co. Get your St Isaac Jogues pipe here: https://questpipeco.com/discount/Amish?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fst-isaac-jogues-limited-edition********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Order of Matins, p. 208  Lutheran Worship Pre-Service Hymn: “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy” LW #224 Office Hymn “O Christ, Who Art the Light and Day”  (The Augustana Service Book and Hymnal #20, TLH 313) Psalmody:  Psalm 25, 6, 91 Readings:  Fri-Ezekiel 18:20-28, St. John 5:1-15 Catechism: Lord's Supper Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Bulletin:  2025-Lenten-Embers-Matins-Friday-March-12-2025-online-.pdf Psalms:  2025-Psalms-for-Ember-Days-in-Lent-b.pdf https://vimeo.com/1065099418?share=copy Picture: Ottheinrich Bible 1430  (IV:38) Jesus Before the High Priest in John 18:12-24

Today's episode explores the themes of Lent, particularly focusing on the Ember Days and the significance of the Beatitudes. Msgr. Timothy Cronin joins Adam to discuss the importance of mourning and comfort in the context of faith, emphasizing the call to self-sacrifice and spiritual growth during this season. They encourage listeners to reflect on their own lives and how they can embody the teachings of Christ, especially in times of suffering and difficulty.   Takeaways Ember Days are a time for fasting and reflection during Lent. The Beatitudes offer paradoxical teachings that challenge our understanding of suffering and comfort. Mourning can lead to deeper compassion for others in their suffering. Prayer is a powerful tool for supporting those in need. Self-sacrifice is essential in our relationship with God and others. Growing closer to God is the measure of a good Lent. Grace is always at work, even when we don't see it. We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Recognizing the suffering of others can lead to meaningful connections. Lent is an opportunity to let go of distractions and focus on spiritual growth. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The simplicity of a child's faith stands at the heart of today's Lenten reflection. Drawing from Matthew 21:16 — "Out of the mouth of infants thou hast perfected praise" — we witness a powerful Gospel scene where children recognize Jesus as the Messiah while learned Pharisees remain blind to what unfolds before them. What prevents these educated religious leaders from seeing what comes naturally to children? Pride and jealousy have plunged their hearts into darkness.For traditionally-minded Catholics, this presents a striking challenge. Many of us excel at learning the intellectual aspects of our faith — memorizing catechisms, studying theological works, mastering doctrinal nuances. Yet Christ reminds us that knowledge alone isn't the goal; rather, it should lead us toward the simplicity and openness of a childlike heart. This Lent offers the perfect opportunity to examine whether our spiritual sophistication has inadvertently erected barriers between ourselves and authentic communion with God.Prayer emerges as the essential practice for cultivating this childlike disposition. We explore practical ways to integrate prayer throughout daily life — carrying a rosary for unexpected moments, offering quick "ejaculatory prayers" during routine activities, and establishing family prayer traditions that help children maintain their natural openness to God. Most importantly, we discuss breaking free from the cultural conditioning that has taught many Catholics to keep their faith private and invisible. Children don't yet feel awkward making the sign of the cross in restaurants — and neither should we. As we approach the Ember Days this week, let's embrace the traditional practices of fasting, abstinence, and prayer with childlike simplicity, gratitude and trust.Support the showSponsored by Recusant Cellars, an unapologetically Catholic and pro-life winery from Washington state. Use code BASED25 at checkout for 10% off! https://recusantcellars.com/Also sponsored by Quest Pipe Co. Get your St Isaac Jogues pipe here: https://questpipeco.com/discount/Amish?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fst-isaac-jogues-limited-edition********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Order of Matins, p. 208  Lutheran Worship Pre-Service Hymn: “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy” LW #224 Office Hymn “O Christ, Who Art the Light and Day”  (The Augustana Service Book and Hymnal #20, TLH 313) Psalmody:  Psalm 25, 6, 91 Readings:  Wed-Exodus 24:12-18, St. Matthew 12:38-50 Catechism: Lord's Supper Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Bulletin:  2025-Lenten-Embers-Matins-Wednesday-March-12-2025-online-.pdf Psalms:  2025-Psalms-for-Ember-Days-in-Lent-b.pdf https://vimeo.com/1064051716?share=copy Picture: Ottheinrich Bible 1430  (IV:38) Jesus Before the High Priest in John 18:12-24

Superfan BaronAlbatross has finally delivered his Ember Days analysis. Surely this will be a very normal piece of content. Very demure. Very mindful.   Second Sunday after Christmas, Matthew 2:13–23

Order of Matins, p.208  Lutheran Worship Office Hymn "Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending" LW #15, HS98 #802 Psalmody:  Psalm 132, 98 Readings:  Isaiah 11:1-5, St. Luke 1:39-47 Catechism:  Lord's Prayer Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Service Bulletin:  Ember-Days-Advent-Matins-12-18-20-2025-Online.pdf Psalms: 2024-Psalms-for-Ember-Days-in-Advent.pdf https://vimeo.com/1040416872?share=copy

 26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,In mense autem sexto, missus est angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitatem Galilaeae, cui nomen Nazareth,  27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.ad virginem desponsatam viro, cui nomen erat Joseph, de domo David : et nomen virginis Maria.  28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit : Ave gratia plena : Dominus tecum : benedicta tu in mulieribus.  29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.Quae cum audisset, turbata est in sermone ejus, et cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio.  30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.Et ait angelus ei : Ne timeas, Maria : invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum.  31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum :  32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.hic erit magnus, et Filius Altissimi vocabitur, et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris ejus : et regnabit in domo Jacob in aeternum,  33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end.et regni ejus non erit finis.  34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?Dixit autem Maria ad angelum : Quomodo fiet istud, quoniam virum non cognosco?  35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.Et respondens angelus dixit ei : Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei.  36 And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren:Et ecce Elisabeth cognata tua, et ipsa concepit filium in senectute sua : et hic mensis sextus est illi, quae vocatur sterilis :  37 Because no word shall be impossible with God.quia non erit impossibile apud Deum omne verbum.  38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.Dixit autem Maria : Ecce ancilla Domini : fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Et discessit ab illa angelus. At the beginning of the four seasons in the Ecclesiastical Year, the Ember Days have been instituted by the Church to thank God for blessings obtained in the past year and to implore further graces for the new season. Their importance in the Church was formerly very great. They are fixed on the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: after the First Sunday of Lent for Spring, after Whit-sunday for Summer, after the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross (14th September) for Autumn, and after the Third Sunday of Advent for Winter. They are intended also to consecrate to God the various seasons in nature, and to prepare by penance those who are about to be ordained. Ordinations generally take place on the Ember Days. The faithful ought to pray on these days for good Priests. The Ember Days were once fast days of obligation.

Order of Matins, p.208  Lutheran Worship Office Hymn “O People, Rise and Labor” LW 25 Psalmody:  Psalm 132, 98 Readings:  Isaiah 2:2-5, St. Luke 1:26-38 Catechism:  Lord's Prayer Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Service Bulletin:  Ember-Days-Advent-Matins-12-18-20-2025-Online.pdf Psalms: 2024-Psalms-for-Ember-Days-in-Advent.pdf https://vimeo.com/1039429708?share=copy

Fr. John Brancich, FSSP is the pastor of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. He was ordained into the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in 2004.     In Today's Show Is it sinful to use phrases like “jeez,” “oh my gosh/goodness,” etc knowing they derive from phrases that actually use the name of the Lord in vain? The lack of reverence and hippie hymns make me angry and distracted at my mass, is this a sin? What are Ember days and how do we observe them? What parts of the office are FSSP priests required to pray? And is there a set schedule or do the times vary in their days? Why does the Church have "gluten free" hosts? Isn't it placating to a minority of cases? How should we celebrate Halloween? (To be continued with Fr. Rock, FSSP) My boyfriend was sending flirtatious messages to another girl, what should I do? Regarding excommunication. Where does the Church get it's authority to decide when a person isn't worthy to be in union with the Church? During the consecration the priest said drink and take instead of take and drink. Is this invalid? How do plenary indulgences clear you of all purgatory? Is the confirmation still valid if the priest pours the chrism on the head rather than signing the cross with the oil on the forehead? Was Pope Pius XII a hero or villain? When Christ is questioned, he says that only the Father knows.  How does Christ not know if they are Father, Son and Holy spirit? Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!

Today's Topics: 1) Matthew Arnold joins Terry Gospel - LK 7:36-50 - A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that He was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind Him at His Feet weeping and began to bathe His Feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this he said to himself, “If this Man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said. “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My Feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give Me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing My Feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint My Head with oil, but she anointed My Feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is This Who even forgives sins?” But He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Memorial of Saint Januarius, Bishop and Martyr Saint Januarius, pray for us! Bishop Sheen quote of the day

Today is Monday, September 16, 2024, The feast of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian (Bishop), a 3rd class feast, with the color of red. In this episode: The meditation: “The Lord Cures the Deaf Mute,” a preview of the Sermon: “Ember Days and the Need for Penance,” today's news from the Church: “Brain Death is in the Spotlight Once Again,” and today's thought from the Archbishop. We'd love your feedback on these Daily Devotionals! What do you like / not like, and what would you like us to add? podcast@sspx.org Sources Used Today: Practical Meditations  (Angelus Press) “The General Who Stands Up to the Pope” (FSSPX.news) https://fsspx.news/en/news/general-who-stands-pope-47411 “Ember Days and the Need for Penance” (SSPX Sermons) Watch on YouTube Listen & Subscribe: SSPX Sermons Podcast The Spiritual Life- Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press) - - - - - - - Please Support this Apostolate with 1-time or Monthly Donation >> - - - - - - - Explore more: Subscribe to the email version of this Devotional - it's a perfect companion! Subscribe to this Podcast to receive this and all our audio episodes Subscribe to the SSPX YouTube channel for video versions of our podcast series and Sermons FSSPX News Website: https://fsspx.news Visit the US District website: https://sspx.org/ - - - - - What is the SSPX Podcast? The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.  - - - - - - What is the SSPX? The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood. Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls. Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it. https://sspx.org

The September Ember Days are a time of penance, but too many of us look at the calendar and remark, “They're not obligatory.” This is entirely the wrong attitude, for the Ember Days are an integral part of the Church's liturgical year and a reminder of our need to seek God's mercy.

https://rumble.com/v5f6z9x-16-sep-24-no-nonsense-catholic-are-all-religions-a-path-to-god.html Today's Topics: 1) Pope Francis: "All religions are a path to God" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dDlMe2r0k8 Ephesians 4.1-6 and Instruction of the One Only Saving Faith 2) Matthew 22.35-46; Perfect Love of God and Two Natures in Christ 3) Can You Exclusively Attend the Novus Ordo and Still be a Traditional Catholic? 4) How the Fight for Tradition is like the Story of Gideon; What are the Ember Days?

In this episode of TBRC, Jeremy and Dave discuss a movie that we really didn't care for: Ember Days. This one was disappointing to say the least. And for some reason, Jeremy can never remember the name. Become a Patron! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/trueblueriffcast/support

The Lemon Twigs “A Dream Is All We Know”:”My Golden Years””They Don't Know How To Fall In Place””Church Bells “”A Dream Is All I Know””Sweet Vibration””In The Eyes Of The Girl””If You And I Are Not Wise””How Can I Love Her More””Ember Days””Peppermint Roses””I Should've Known Right From The Start””Rock On (Over and Over)”The Avett Brothers “The Avett Brothers”:”Never Apart (w/ Vocal Prelude)””Love Of A Girl””Cheap Coffee””Forever Now”Escuchar audio

Fr. John Brancich, FSSP is the pastor of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. He was ordained into the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in 2004.     In Today's Show When a teenager is living at home and looking for employment, is it acceptable to take a job in food service that would require working on Sundays? Does Fr. Brancich have any advice, teaching or thoughts to share about the Ember Days coming up on 5/22, 5/24 and 5/25? Is this the last week of the Regina Caeli in Mass?  What will come next in the Latin mass after Pentecost? What do Catholic believes about the rapture and the end times? Should I allow my non-Catholic husband to share Protestant ideas on this topic with our young son? Do the souls in hell possess infinite dignity? Why should one choose Catholicism over Orthodoxy? What are the differences in their theology and approach to faith? What is Father's opinion on alternative medicine such as chiropractic and natural medicine? I feel like I've been led astray by traditional Western medicine lately. Is alternative medicine safe from "New Age?" Is it sinful and/or inappropriate to applaud during Mass?   Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!

The four sets of Ember Days are a beautiful part of our Catholic heritage. According to Pope Leo the Great, the Ember Days go all the way back to the Apostles. Think about the millions of Catholics for whom the practicing of fast and abstinence on the seasonal Ember Days was just part and parcel of their Catholic life.Despite their age-old practice, they were done away with in 1966 by Pope Paul VI and most Catholics today do not even know what they are.Let us hold on to these important practices so that we can love God more and live our faith better.

Order of Matins, p. 208 Lutheran Worship Pre-Service Hymn: “The Law of God Is Good and Wise” LW 329 Office Hymn ASBH #44 “That Man a Godly Life Might Live” Psalmody:  Psalm 104, 68 Readings:  Acts 2:14-21, John 6:44-52 Catechism;  Ten Commandments Sermon --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). Service Bulletin:  Pentecost-Ember-Days-for-Online-May-22-24-25-2024.pdf Psalms:  2024-Psalms-for-Pentecost-Ember-Days-On-line-.pdf https://vimeo.com/948800939?share=copy

St. Paul, Our Friend and Guide for Lent *I Just Can't *Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak *Let God Remove the Log From Your Eye  Subscribe and Rate on Apple Podcasts

On this episode of Mother Miriam Live, Mother Miriam shares her thoughts on best practices and devotions for the Lenten Ember Days.To help keep this and other programs on the air, please donate: https://give.lifesitenews.com/sustainlife?utm_source=mml_022124You can tune in daily at 10 am EST/7 am PST on our Facebook Page: http://FB.com/mothermiriamliveSubscribe to Mother Miriam Live at: http://bit.ly/submml Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mother Miriam Live - February 21, 2024 Ember Wednesday and everything you need to know about Lenten Ember Days Responding to spiritual attacks and how to determine if messages are truly coming from God Mother counsels a Turkish Christian refugee Inappropriate uses of church buildings and how to approach the pastor about such an issue

There is an ancient practice in the Church to celebrate Ember Days. Today we begin the Lenten Ember Days and Brenda, Pat, and Eric discuss the practices and traditions of these unique days.Subscribe to the Morning Blend on your favorite podcast platform.Find this show on the free Hail Mary Media App, along with a radio live-stream, prayers, news, and more.Look through past episodes or support this podcast.The Morning Blend is a production of Mater Dei Radio in Portland, Oregon.

The Morning Blend team is together and ready to get your Wednesday started with the joy of our Catholic faith. Hear about the practices of the Ember Days and how a miracle left an image of Mary and the Christ Child several feet into a boulder that is now a pilgrimage site.Subscribe to the Morning Blend on your favorite podcast platform.Find this show on the free Hail Mary Media App, along with a radio live-stream, prayers, news, and more.Look through past episodes or support this podcast.The Morning Blend is a production of Mater Dei Radio in Portland, Oregon.

Planet Poet-Words in Space – NEW PODCAST!  LISTEN to my WIOX show (originally aired December 19th, 2023) featuring award-winning poet and activist MARY GILLILAND, who discusses and reads from her latest poetry collection The Devil's Fools and from her forthcoming collection Ember Days. Pamela Manché Pearce, Planet Poet's erudite and entertaining Poet-at-Large, also joins us on the show.  Visit: Sharonisraelpoet.com. Visit: marygilliland.com. Mary Gilliland is the author of two award-winning poetry collections: The Ruined Walled Castle Garden (2020) and The Devil's Fools (2022). Her latest collection Ember Days is forthcoming from Codhill Press in 2024. Mary's poems are widely published in print and online literary journals and most recently anthologized in Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary Poetry and Prose, and Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms In Our Hands. After college she apprenticed to Gary Snyder in the Sierra foothills where she studied Buddhism and helped to build a wood- framed public school. Mary retired early from teaching at Cornell in order to devote herself to poetry.  “Mary Gilliland's magisterial new collection, The Devil's Fools, opens in myth and magic, but its vast reach is deeply rooted in her reverence for earth and all earthly creations…. At once eco-sensual and erudite, Gilliland writes a nuanced poetry that richly investigates humanity's contradictory capacities to destroy and to love…. From first to last, I am spellbound by the largesse of vision and the beauty of this wondrous collection.” -- Cynthia Hogue “Mary Gilliland brings to her work the rich flavors of the natural world, yet her destination is clearly news of the inner self, its perceptions, its relationships with others.  She is not afraid of delight, neither does she shirk the hard tasks of anger, pain, and deep caring.” —Mary Oliver

Bollhagen gives us his Top 12 Things To Think About When Considering Contentment, and Berg educates us on Ember Days.   Third Sunday in Advent, Matthew 11:2–11

The Third Sunday in Advent: Faithful Stewards 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 & St. Matthew 11:2-10 by William Klock As Advent continues, our lessons continue to call us to be prepared.  Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  And Christ will come again—to finally bring to completion what he began that first Christmas and that first Easter.  And as we continue with this theme of being prepared, our lessons today focus our attention on the faithfulness of God's ministers.  The Epistle focuses on St. Paul and the Gospel on John the Baptist.  The choice of lessons is linked to the Ember Days.  They fall later this week.  You all know what the Ember Days are, right?  The Embers Days come around four times a year and, at least historically, they were the traditional times for ordinations.  So with that in mind, our advent lessons today call the clergy to faithfulness to our mission and remind the Church of the importance of faithful ministers.  But even though today's focus is on what we might call “professional” ministers, there's a broader application for all of us, because, Brothers and Sisters, never forget that every Christian is a steward and minister of the gospel.  We're all ministers and as our Declaration of Principles makes abundantly clear, Christian ministers are not “priests” in any other sense than that in which all believers are what Peter called a “royal priesthood”. So let's start with our Epistle, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5.  And we'll want a little background to understand it.  The Church at Corinth had a lot of problems and a big part of it was that some of them were having trouble setting aside their old, pagan ways.  They had compromised much.  There were some serious sins in the church that needed to be dealt with, but weren't.  People were justifying them by appealing to Christian liberty.  Some of them were even patting themselves on the back for their tolerance.  (There's nothing new under the sun, is there?)  There were also divisions within the congregation.  Paul had founded this church, but the people didn't want to listen to him anymore.  They'd become enamoured of other preachers.  As far as we know these other preachers were faithful to the gospel.  The problem in Corinth doesn't seem to have been their fault.  The problem was that Paul was about the least flashy person you could imagine and when other preachers came along who were more attractive and who were better speakers than Paul—that was something the Greeks put a lot of value on—the church kicked Paul to the curb.  That, and they didn't like him trying to hold them accountable.  Not only would they not listen to him, he wasn't even welcome anymore.  They judged him a loser.  That's what's behind our Epistle today.  Let's read: This is how we should be thought of, as servants of the Messiah and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.  For I am not aware of anything standing against me, but that isn't what vindicates me. It is the Lord who judges me.  Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time when the Lord comes.  He will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will lay bare the intentions of the heart.  Then each one will receive his commendation from God.   I've always wondered how hard it was for Paul to write this, especially the bit about “This is how we should be thought of: I'm a servant of the Messiah and a steward of God's mysteries.”  Good clergymen tend to err on the side of humility, even to a fault.  The only guys I've ever known to say things like this have been egotists who never should have been in ministry in the first place.  But Paul had one advantage that only the apostles had and that was that they had known Jesus in the flesh and had been commissioned by him personally.  I can't say that and neither can anyone else alive today.  That said, there is a place for God's stewards to assert their calling in the face of unjust judgement.  Most pastors, when faced with unjust criticism just nod humbly, say nothing, and take it to God, but Paul reminds us that there is a time to speak up against these kinds of judgements.  And not just “pastors”.  I think this goes for every Christian.  We're all ministers of the gospel, but we live in an age that is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel and to gospel people.  Sometimes the criticisms we receive can be justified.  Sometimes Christians and sometimes churches have failed and done awful things.  But those are the outliers.  Most of the criticism we face comes from people who hate Jesus and the message of the cross, who don't want to hear about sin and don't want to repent, who have their own ideas of what the world should be like and only want new creation on their terms, not God's.  Jesus warned us this would happen, but most of us still aren't prepared for the attacks.  And so even though we're ministers of the gospel and stewards of the mysteries of God, all too often we let the false judgements and accusations of pagans back us out of the room.  We go silently and sit facing the corner like scolded children—and I think a lot of the time we actually feel guilty when we hear these accusations, even though we know better. Brothers and Sisters, Paul stresses that ministers are to be found faithful.  That goes for apostles and for pastors and for all of us.  Yes, we need to weigh criticism.  We need to ask if there's anything to it.  Sometimes there may be.  Maybe we're not being faithful to Jesus' instructions and we need to hear it.  But Jesus' instructions aren't hard to understand or discern.  As a minister, I'm called to preach the word, especially the gospel about Jesus, and to administer the sacraments.  It's not quite that simple, but that is the core.  And for all of us, we're called to proclaim the gospel about Jesus to the world around us and to live in a way that accords with being the people of God.  We proclaim Jesus and we live the life—the fruit—of the Spirit. We need to reflect on our lives in light of that and ask if we're being faithful.  This is one of the reasons we need to steep ourselves in God's word.  If we don't know what God expects, how will we be faithful?  It's a bit like a bread recipe—one of the simplest things in the world.  But first you have to read it and then you have to follow it.  Start changing things up and you spoil the bread.  But that's what we all too often do.  It's not that we're not well-intentioned.  We want to see things happen, but sometime we get impatient.  We take shortcuts.  Or we think we can make better bread by changing the recipe.  People out there don't like to hear about sin, so we'll tone that part of our preaching down.  People out there don't like commitment, so we'll make church commitment-free.  People out there don't like liturgy and sermons, so we'll have a rock concert and preach pop-psychology instead.  People don't feel like getting up on Sunday mornings and driving to church, so we'll broadcast it to their TVs and computers instead.  We're not confident in the power of the gospel and the Spirit to change hearts and to bring them to Jesus, so we instead build churches around programmes and activities that people do want or we use manipulative techniques to get them to believe.  We make the gospel about them and not so much about Jesus and the glory of God.  These things can and often do bring short-term gains, but in the long-term they've been a disaster.  We wonder why people won't commit, why they're still worldly, why we're losing our children, and why we're seen as increasingly irrelevant.  It's like we've tried to bake bread by replacing the flour with glitter.  The end product might look exciting, but in the end it's not only unable to nourish, it's slowly poisoning us.  In contrast, the real work of the gospel is rarely flashy.  Sometimes it brings persecution and even martyrdom.  It means relying on God, not ourselves.  And it means being in it for the long-haul.  Consider Israel.  God called Abraham and it was two thousand years before Israel's story culminated with Jesus.  And the in-between was as full of hardship, slavery, judgement, and exile as it was prosperity and growth.  And that was God working with a single, small people.  Brothers and Sisters, our mission is the world. So be faithful to the gospel, build churches around word and sacrament, pray and fellowship together, raise covenant children who know Jesus.  Proclaim the good news and call your friends and family and neighbours to take up their crosses daily and to follow Jesus.  And let them see you do it—when it's a joy to follow Jesus and when you struggle to bear that cross.  And as we do that, remember that the judgement that matters is not the judgement of other people or the world, but of God.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't have an ear to the ground.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to the world's judgements.  Sometimes we need to know how the world sees us—even if it's false—so that we can better know what we're up against.  So that we can better respond with the gospel.  And, sometimes, the world's rebukes may have some truth to them.  Jesus promised that his people would be persecuted for his sake, but we need to make sure that we're actually being persecuted for his sake and for our faithfulness to his word.  I know some Christians who claim they're being persecuted, but when you get down to it, it's just that people don't like them because they're jerks, not because they're preaching Jesus.  People will still hate us for preaching Jesus, but Friends, we do need to be sure that as we preach Jesus and as we stand firmly on the Scriptures that the world rejects, we remain committed to being a godly people in every respect.  We need to live the gospel as much as we preach the gospel.  We're to announce God's judgement on sin, yes, but we're also to announce God's mercy to repentant sinners. So that's the Epistle.  Let's turn over to today's Gospel in Matthew 11as we continue with this theme.  Again, what does it look like to be gospel ministers who are prepared.  John the Baptist.  In the Gospel, John has gone from announcing the coming kingdom and baptising people in the Jordan to being locked up in prison.  He got there by way of criticizing Herod.  It wasn't just some off-the-wall criticism.  Tied up with his announcement of the kingdom was John's denouncement of Herod for marrying his former sister-in-law.  Herod couldn't help but draw a connection between John's fiery preaching and himself.  If John was saying that the King was soon to come, it meant John was saying that Herod wasn't really the king.  So poor John is now in Herod's dungeon and he's frustrated and confused.  He'd been faithful in his divine calling to herald the coming Messiah—his cousin, Jesus—and he's landed in prison.  No big surprise there.  He wasn't the first prophet to offend a king and end up in prison.  But Jesus—the Messiah—was on the outside, preaching, teaching, healing, forgiving, having dinner with tax collectors and sinners…and leaving John to rot.  Something was wrong with Jesus' priorities, or so John was beginning to think.  We'll pick up from there: Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  (St. Matthew 11:2-10) I don't think John was really doubting whether Jesus was the Messiah.  I think this was his way of saying, “Um…Jesus.  Shouldn't the Messiah be getting his faithful herald out prison?”  Of course, that also meant all the other things to go along with it.  A simple jailbreak wouldn't do.  The jailbreak would have to be part of a wholesale overthrow of Herod and the Romans—which, of course, is what most people expected the Messiah to do.  Here's what Jesus says to John's men in return:  “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  (Matthew 11:5-6) You see, John expected the Messiah to be like Elijah, confronting the prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven.  John wanted to see fire and brimstone.  There is a place for that.  In a sense John wasn't wrong.  Jesus is the Judge and, you can be sure, he will judge the world and everyone in it.  There will be a time for fire and brimstone and judgement.  I suspect that being a fire-and-brimstone sort of prophet—and that is what John was called to be so there's nothing wrong with that—I suspect that being that kind of guy means that you get a little fixated on judgement.  And Jesus responds by saying something like, “You expected Elijah…and you've got Elijah…but before I come in judgement, there are a lot of people…people like the widow of Zeraphath…people who need to know God's mercy.”  As Jesus says in John's Gospel: “I came not to condemn, but to redeem.”  Brothers and Sisters, remember: Sinners already stand condemned.  Judgement is coming.  Announcing that judgement and calling people to repentance was John's mission.  But before the judgement comes, what Israel needed most was to know God's mercy, to know his salvation.  This is why Jesus' road to the throne had to be by way of the cross. So Jesus corrects John.  He sets him straight about the Messiah.  But he then turns to the crowd and praises John: As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?  Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.  What then did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,          who will prepare your way before you.' (Matthew 11:7-10) Even though Jesus' mission was one of humility and of mercy, Jesus praises the faithfulness of John to his ministry as the fiery herald of judgement.  Again, John was expecting the Messiah to come like Elijah, bringing confrontation and fire from heaven, but what Jesus says—albeit a little obliquely for reasons that get beyond our lesson today—what Jesus says here is that John is the prophet like Elijah.  John is the fire-and-brimstone preacher.  John is the herald announcing judgement and calling the people to repentance.  Jesus quotes from Malachi 3 and confirms two things: John is truly the one sent to herald the Messiah and, two, that means that Jesus truly is the Messiah—the one whom Malachi said would come both to refine Israel and to make her offerings pleasing to the Lord and to judge the unrepentant. Now, in the short-term this was bad news for John.  It was bad news for Jesus, too.  Both the Messiah and his herald would be put to death.  But death was not the end.  As it turns out, we know, it was by the death of Jesus that deliverance was bought and in his resurrection he was vindicated and the unjust verdict on him overturned.  In his resurrection and his ascension, Jesus was confirmed as the Messiah, as Lord.  In that we see the faithfulness of God to his promises and knowing God's faithfulness, we have hope.  As St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall surely be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).  This is one of those parts of the gospel that we often prefer to ignore or to leave out of our preaching, because it offends.  We've sort of got the opposite problem John had.  John was fixated on judgement and on fire from heaven.  Like so many Jews, he wanted to see God vanquish Israel's enemies and he nearly forgot about God's mercy.  Our problem is the opposite.  We've become so afraid of preaching about sin and about judgement, that we can't even preach mercy and grace anymore—because mercy isn't mercy and grace isn't grace if we're not guilty of anything and if there is no judgement headed this way.  And if we gut our preaching of mercy and grace, we can talk all day about the love of God, but there will be no depth to it.  We will make the cross of Jesus pointless.  Why?  Because we can only begin to plumb the great depths of God's love when we see that he gave his Son to die for our sake—for the sake of sinners who would otherwise stand condemned to destruction. And that brings us back to the recipe for bread.  Brothers and Sisters, bread is simple and often kind of boring.  But if you make it right, it nourishes.  It keeps us alive.  There's a reason why Jesus used it as a metaphor for himself when he said, “I am the bread of life.”  There's a reason why it's a symbol over and over in the story of God's people for his faithful care and sustenance.  And it points to the way God works and the way his gospel and his word work in the world.  It's hardly ever flashy.  And you have to be patient, because it takes time to rise and it takes time to bake.  But like the Messiah, who humbled himself to take on lowly human flesh, who humbled himself to be born of a lowly virgin, and who humbly went to death on a cross, the simple bread of the gospel, the good news that Jesus died, that he rose, and that he is Lord, brings life to the world.  To preach it faithfully means to preach it whole and to preach it pure.  Friends, be faithful stewards.  Stick to the recipe.  Preach the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen to give forgiveness and life to sinners.  Pursue holiness.  Build churches centred on the faithful preaching of God's word and the administration of the sacraments, where, knowing God's faithfulness, God's people sing and pray together, where they raise covenant, gospel children, where we live as people who know the hope of God's life in the age to come. Let's pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Ember Saturday of Advent *Gaudete, In Expectation of Mary *Advent, Rejoice, & Eucharistic Adoration *Christ Redeems the Darkness Subscribe and Rate on Apple Podcasts  

I read from embayment to emblazonry.     The reason there's so many dates for Ember Days is because it's celebrated quarterly. It's from the Latin "quatuor tempora". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ember_days     The word of the episode is "emblazonry".     Theme music from Jonah Kraut https://jonahkraut.bandcamp.com/     Merchandising! https://www.teepublic.com/user/spejampar     "The Dictionary - Letter A" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter B" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter C" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter D" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter E" on YouTube     Featured in a Top 10 Dictionary Podcasts list! https://blog.feedspot.com/dictionary_podcasts/     Backwards Talking on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmIujMwEDbgZUexyR90jaTEEVmAYcCzuq     dictionarypod@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/thedictionarypod/ https://www.threads.net/@dictionarypod https://twitter.com/dictionarypod https://www.instagram.com/dictionarypod/ https://www.patreon.com/spejampar https://www.tiktok.com/@spejampar 917-727-5757

Today's Topics: 1, 2) Pope Francis, the War and the Holy Place https://www.tfp.org/pope-francis-the-war-and-the-holy-places/?PKG=TFPE3181 3, 4) Ember Days, explanation and proposals https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/09/ember-days-explanation-and-two.html

9/28/23 - Join us as Fr. Jeff Fasching delves into the history behind and the spiritual benefits of Ember Days, the quarterly fast of the Church. Why you should continue it and how come most Catholics today have never heard of it before. To support Fr. Fasching in his day to day needs as a "cancelled" priest, please consider donating at givesendgo.com/veritas

Catholic Drive Time - 877-757-9424 Date – Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 – St. Januarius INTRO – Happy Wednesday When someone uses the OH MY GOD statement. I say Praise be His Holy Name. I dare you to say it. And – at 15 past the hour, Ms.Led Documentary – Trish Short Also – at 30 past the hour, Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the Validity of Pope Francis Oh Yeah – at 45 past the hour, Lauren Boebert's Ex-Husband Blames Himself For Congresswoman's Public Sexual Conduct Plus – in the next hour, Forgotten Customs of Ember Days As always – we have the fear and trembling game show with a prize from My grandfather's cancer Adrian Social Media IG: @ffonze Twitter: @AdrianFonze Facebook: Adrian Fonseca YouTube: Adrian Fonseca YouTube: Catholic Conversations Visit our website to learn more about us, find a local GRN radio station, a schedule of our programming and so much more. http://grnonline.com/

We start with a short discussion of our last show with Hugh Owen.  Boldly challenging long-held scientific beliefs, we dare to question the age of the Earth, the accuracy of radiocarbon dating, and the ideas behind mass extinction events. We take on an expedition through the ages, from the time of dinosaurs—yes, we delve into the theory of a young earth—to the era of traditional Catholic traditions with a lens focused on Ember days and St Martin's Lent.We also discuss a personal letter of support that Bishop Athanasius Schneider sent to Bishop Strickland in light of the possible upcoming persecution of Strickland from Rome.We conclude our enriching dialogue with a heartfelt discussion with Matthew Plese of the blog "A Catholic Life" on the essence of traditional Catholicism. We touch upon the importance of catechesis, fasting, and Ember Days. We share our personal experiences, talk about the impact of lost traditions on our understanding of faith, and offer tips on incorporating customs like St. Martin's Lent into our lives. Listen in as we navigate through the complexities of faith, science, and tradition in an episode that guarantees to leave you questioning, contemplating, and eager to discover more.https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2022/09/2023-traditional-catholic-fasting-and.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Guide-Catholic-Fasting-Abstinence/dp/B0BTRGJ1MR********************************************************https://www.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community:  https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comStore:  https://avoiding-babylon.sellfy.store/RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV:  https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonRumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1626455Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@AvoidingBabylonBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREE Support the showCheck out our new store!

Today's Topics: 1) Did you know a Catholic Priest is credited with inventing the bulletproof vest? https://aleteia.org/2021/09/03/did-you-know-that-a-catholic-priest-is-credited-with-inventing-the-bulletproof-vest/ 2) How monks perfected beer https://medium.com/a-brief-history-of-things/how-monks-perfected-beer-5cf78fc66022 3) Chrislam confirmed: Led by Pope Francis, leaders of the world's religions formally adopt human fraternity documents https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/7th-congress-of-leaders-of-world-religions-adopt-human-fraternity-chrislam-document-pope-francis-mohamed-bin-zayed/ https://aleteia.org/2022/09/14/pope-proposes-4-global-challenges-to-worlds-religious-leaders/ 4) What are Ember Days?

In this episode, we discuss the Second Law of the Church which is: "To fast and abstain on the days appointed." We cover the season of Lent and Ember Days along with guidance on the proper mindset when it comes to obeying this law. 

In today's episode, and on this Ember Wednesday of the Advent season, Mother Miriam explains the history of Ember Days and how they afford an opportunity for Catholics to fast and abstain.To help keep this and other programs on the air, please donate: https://give.lifesitenews.com/sustainlife?utm_source=mml_121422You can tune in daily at 10 am EST/7 am PST on our Facebook Page: http://FB.com/mothermiriamliveSubscribe to Mother Miriam Live at: http://bit.ly/submml Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mother Miriam Live - December 14, 2022 Everything you need to know about Ember Days Divorce and re-marriage inside and outside the church Mother's thoughts on Anne Catherine Emmerich's writings Proposal 3 in Michigan and related family division  

The Third Sunday in Advent: Faithful Stewards 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 & St. Matthew 11:2-10 by William Klock Short of pulling vegetables out of the ground or carving up an animal, bread is one of the simplest of all the foods humans eat.  At its most basic, it's simple and easy to make.  You mix flour and water and put it in an oven.  It can get more complicated.  You can add leavening and other things.  But there's a reason why nearly every human culture has not only developed some kind of bread, but also eats it as a staple.  I'm not a baker, but even I can make bread—at least the simple kind and with the help of a bread machine.  Just follow the simple instructions.  But from time to time I've failed at the task.  There was the time I was in too much of a hurry to follow the bread machine instructions to use room temperature milk and eggs.  The mixture was too cold and the yeast didn't rise.  Or there was the time I decided to get fancy—to bake something beyond my abilities, a Gugelhupf cake for extra credit in my German class.  I don't know where I went wrong, but trying to get fancy ended up with a brick coming out of the oven.  I say all of this because the Bible talks quite a lot about bread.  Jesus said of himself that he is the bread of life.  And the Church's ministry is a lot like bread in the same way.  We minister the good news to the world.  We share the bread of life.  Our message and our calling are simple.  Just do what Jesus told us to do.  Proclaim the simple message.  But we often get it wrong.  We try to get fancy, thinking we can improve on it.  Or we look at some part of it and think, “Oh…they won't like that,” so we leave it out, as if we know better than Jesus. The end result—like my failed cake or loaf of bread—doesn't do anyone any good. This is where our lessons today point us.  If the over-arching theme of advent is to be prepared, we're reminded today, we're exhorted today to be faithful in doing what the Lord has called us to do.  To follow the simple instructions.  God's people have always had a very specific calling, whether we're talking about his people in the Old Testament or his people in the New.  Jesus has established his church to carry on what has always been Israel's mission, ever since Abraham, but now to carry it out in light of Jesus the Messiah.  To be light in the darkness.  To reveal and to proclaim the glory of God and to draw the world to him.  To make the good news of Jesus, crucified, risen, and Lord known.  Now, there's a lot of room for creativity in how we fulfil our mission, but Jesus also gave us very, very clear instructions and if we throw out the core of our mission in the name of creativity or flexibility or pragmatism, we're going to fail. Our men's breakfast group has just begun reading Rod Dreher's book Live Not by Lies.  The last few years, Dreher has been writing about what the Church, particularly in North America, needs to be doing as we enter a new dark age.  His concern is that Christians are woefully unprepared to live as a minority community, let alone to live in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile to us.  For the last couple of generations we've been failing to instil lasting faith in our children and have lost them to the culture.  In the last decade, our people, our leaders, and our churches have been falling like dominos to Postmodern apostasy.  And there's a reason for this.  We're trying to bake bread our way, instead of following the recipe God gave us.  We've sidelined what Jesus told us to do and have put other things at the centre of what we are.  We've changed and watered down the message.  We've muddled the truth to the point that many Christians can no longer distinguish between God's truth and the world's lies.  And, all too often, we've stopped trusting in the Holy Spirit to do the work of converting hearts and minds and have been trying to do it ourselves. Our lessons today focus our attention on the faithfulness of God's ministers.  The Epistle focuses on St. Paul and the Gospel on John the Baptist.  The choice of lessons is linked to the Ember Days that fall later this week.  The Embers Days come around four times a year and, at least historically, were the traditional times for ordinations.  With that in mind, our advent lessons today call the clergy to faithfulness to our mission and remind the Church of the importance of faithful ministers.  But even though today's focus is on what we might call “professional” ministers, there's a broader application for all of us, because every Christian is a steward and minister of the gospel. Let's begin with our Epistle, 1 Corinthians 11:1-5.  And we'll want a little background to understand it.  The Church at Corinth had a lot of problems and a big part of it was that many were having trouble setting aside their old, pagan ways.  They had compromised much.  There were some serious sins in the church that needed to be dealt with, but weren't.  People were justifying them by appealing to Christian liberty.  There were also divisions within the congregation.  Paul had founded this church, but the people didn't want to listen to him anymore.  They'd become enamoured of other preachers.  There's nothing to indicate these other preachers were preaching anything apart from the gospel.  The problem in Corinth wasn't their fault.  The problem was that Paul was about the least flashy person you could imagine and when other preachers came along who were more attractive and who were better speakers than Paul—that was something the Greeks valued very highly—they kicked Paul to the curb.  Not only would they not listen to him, he wasn't even welcome anymore.  They judged him a loser.  That's what's behind our Epistle today.  Let's read: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.  For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.  Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.  Then each one will receive his commendation from God.   I've always wondered how hard it was for Paul to write this, especially the bit about “This is how you need to regard me: I'm a servant of Christ and a steward of God's mysteries.”  Good clergymen tend to err on the side of humility, even to a fault.  The only guys I've ever known to say things like this have been egotists who never should have been in ministry in the first place.  But Paul had one advantage that only the apostles had and that was that they had known Jesus in the flesh and had been commissioned by him personally.  I can't say that and neither can anyone else alive today.  That said, there is a place for God's stewards to assert their calling in the face of unjust judgement.  Most of us, when faced with unjust criticism nod humbly, say nothing, and take it to God, but Paul reminds us that there is a time to speak up against these kinds of judgements.  I think that goes for every Christian, too.  We're all ministers of the gospel, but we live in an age that is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel and to gospel people.  Sometimes there's some legitimacy to the criticism and hostility.  Sometimes Christians and sometimes churches have failed and done awful things.  But those are the outliers.  Most of the criticism we face is simply the result of people who hate Jesus and the message of the cross and anyone who proclaims it.  As Dreher points out, most of us are not prepared for this.  Here we are, ministers of the gospel and stewards of the mysteries of God and increasingly we're just letting the false judgements and accusations of pagans back us out of the room.  We go silently and sit facing the corner like disciplined children—and I think a lot of the time we actually feel guilty when we hear these accusations, even though we know better. Brothers and Sisters, Paul stresses that ministers are to be found faithful.  That goes for apostles and for pastors and for all of us.  Yes, we need to weigh criticism.  We need to ask if there's anything to it.  Sometimes there may be.  Maybe we're not being faithful to Jesus' instructions and we need to hear it.  But Jesus' instructions aren't hard to understand or discern.  As a minister, I'm called to preach the word, especially the gospel about Jesus, and to administer the sacraments.  It's not quite that simple, but that is the core.  And for all of us, we're called to proclaim the gospel about Jesus to the world around us and to live in a way that accords with being the people of God.  We proclaim Jesus and we live the life of the Spirit. We need to reflect on our lives in light of that and ask if we're being faithful.  This is one of the reasons we need to steep ourselves in God's word.  If we don't know what God expects, how will we be faithful?  Think again of the bread recipe.  Are we following it?  Sometimes we're not.  It's not that we're not well-intentioned.  We want to see things happen, but sometime we get impatient.  We take shortcuts.  Or we think we can make better bread by changing the recipe.  People out there don't like to hear about sin, so we'll tone that part of our preaching down.  People out there don't like commitment, so we'll make church commitment-free.  People out there don't like liturgy and sermons, so we'll have a rock concert and preach pop-psychology instead.  People don't feel like getting up on Sunday mornings and driving to church, so we'll broadcast it to their TVs and computers instead.  We're not confident in the power of the gospel and the Spirit to change hearts and to bring them to Jesus, so we instead build churches around programmes and activities that people do want or we use manipulative techniques to get them to believe.  We make the gospel about them and not so much about Jesus and the glory of God.  These things can bring short-term gains, but in the long-term they've been a disaster.  We wonder why people won't commit, why they're still worldly, why we're losing our children, and why we're seen as increasingly irrelevant.  It's like we've tried to bake bread by replacing the flour with glitter.  The end product might look exciting, but in the end it's not only unable to nourish, it's slowly poisoning us.  In contrast, the real work of the gospel is rarely flashy.  Sometimes it brings persecution and even martyrdom.  It means relying on God, not ourselves.  And it means being in it for the long-haul.  Consider Israel.  God called Abraham and it was two thousand years before Israel's story culminated with Jesus.  And the in-between was as full of hardship, slavery, judgement, and exile as it was prosperity and growth.  And that was God working with a single, small people.  Brothers and Sisters, our mission is the world. So be faithful to the gospel, build churches around word and sacrament, pray and fellowship together, raise covenant children who know Jesus.  Proclaim the good news and call your friends and family and neighbours to take up their crosses daily and to follow Jesus.  And let them see you do it—when it's a joy to follow Jesus and when you struggle to bear that cross.  And as we do that, remember that the judgement that matters is not the judgement of other people or the world, but of God.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't have an ear to the ground.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to the world's judgements.  Sometimes we need to know how the world sees us—even if it's false—so that we can better know what we're up against.  So that we can better respond with the gospel.  And, sometimes, the world's rebukes may have some truth to them.  Jesus promised that his people would be persecuted for his sake, but we need to make sure that we're actually being persecuted for his sake and for our faithfulness to his word.  I know some Christians who claim they're being persecuted, but when you get down to it, it's just that people don't like them because they're jerks, not because they're preaching Jesus.  People will still hate us for preaching Jesus, but Friends, we do need to be sure that as we preach Jesus and as we stand firmly on the Scriptures that the world rejects, we are squeaky clean.  There's a balance.  We need to live the gospel as much as we preach the gospel.  We're to announce God's judgement on sin, yes, but we're also to announce God's mercy to repentant sinners. This was John the Baptist's struggle.  Let's turn over to today's Gospel in Matthew 11.  John has gone from announcing the coming kingdom and baptising people in the Jordan to being locked up in prison.  He got there by way of criticizing Herod.  It wasn't just some off-the-wall criticism.  Tied up with his announcement of the kingdom was John's denouncement of Herod for marrying his former sister-in-law.  Herod couldn't help but draw a connection between John's fiery preaching and himself.  If John was saying that the King was soon to come, it meant John was saying that Herod wasn't really the king.  So poor John is now in Herod's dungeon and he's frustrated and confused.  He'd been faithful in his divine calling to herald the coming Messiah—his cousin, Jesus—and he's landed in prison.  No big surprise there.  He wasn't the first prophet to offend a king and end up in prison.  But Jesus—the Messiah—was on the outside, preaching, teaching, healing, forgiving, having dinner with tax collectors and sinners, and leaving John to rot.  Something was wrong with Jesus' priorities, or so John was beginning to think.  We'll pick up from there: Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  (St. Matthew 11:2-10) I don't think John was really doubting whether Jesus was the Messiah.  I think this was his way of saying, “Um…Jesus.  Shouldn't the Messiah be getting his faithful herald out prison?”  Of course, that also meant all the other things to go along with it.  A simple jailbreak wouldn't do.  The jailbreak would have to be part of a wholesale overthrow of Herod and the Romans—which, of course, is what most people expected the Messiah to do.  Here's what Jesus says to John's men in return:  “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  (Matthew 11:5-6) You see, John expected the Messiah to be like Elijah, confronting the prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven.  John wanted to see fire and brimstone.  There's a place for that.  In a sense John wasn't wrong.  Jesus is the Judge and, you can be sure, he will judge the world and everyone in it.  We studied Revelation this year and saw that there will be a time for fire and brimstone and judgement.  I suspect that being a fire-and-brimstone sort of prophet—and that is what John was called to be so there's nothing wrong with that—I suspect that being that kind of guy means that you get fixated on judgement.  When your tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Anyway, Jesus' sort of responds by saying something like, “You expected Elijah…and you've got Elijah…but before I come in judgement, there are a lot of people…people like the widow of Zeraphath…people who need to know God's mercy.”  As Jesus says in John's Gospel: I came not to condemn, but to redeem.  Brothers and Sisters, remember: Sinners already stand condemned.  Judgement is coming.  Announcing that judgement was John's mission.  But before the judgement comes, what Israel needed most was to know God's mercy, to know his salvation.  This is why Jesus' road to the throne had to be by way of the cross. So Jesus corrects John.  He sets him straight about the Messiah.  But he then turns to the crowd and praises John: As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?  Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.  What then did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,          who will prepare your way before you.' (Matthew 11:7-10) Even though Jesus' mission was one of humility and of mercy, Jesus praises the faithfulness of John to his ministry as the fiery herald of judgement.  Again, John was expecting the Messiah to come like Elijah, bringing confrontation and fire from heaven, but what Jesus says—albeit a little obliquely for reasons that get beyond our lesson today—what Jesus says here is that John is the prophet like Elijah.  John is the fire-and-brimstone preacher.  John is the herald announcing judgement and calling the people to repentance.  Jesus quotes from Malachi 3 and confirms two things: John is truly the one sent to herald the Messiah and, two, that means that Jesus truly is the Messiah—the one whom Malachi said would come both to refine Israel and to make her offerings pleasing to the Lord and to judge the unrepentant. Now, in the short-term this was bad news for John.  It was bad news for Jesus, too.  Both the Messiah and his herald would be put to death.  But death was not the end.  As it turns out, it was by the death of Jesus that deliverance was bought and in his resurrection, he was vindicated and the unjust verdict on him overturned.  In his resurrection and his ascension, Jesus was confirmed as the Messiah, as Lord.  In that we see the faithfulness of God to his promises and knowing God's faithfulness, we have hope.  As St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall surely be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).  This is one of those parts of the gospel that we often prefer to ignore or to leave out of our preaching, because it offends.  We've sort of got the opposite problem John had.  John was fixated on judgement and on fire from heaven.  Like so many Jews, he wanted to see God vanquish Israel's enemies and he nearly forgot about God's mercy.  Our problem is the opposite.  We've become so afraid of preaching about sin and about judgement, that we can't even preach mercy and grace anymore—because mercy isn't mercy and grace isn't grace if we're not guilty of anything.  And if we gut our preaching of mercy and grace, we can talk all day about the love of God, but there will be no depth to it.  We will make the cross of Jesus pointless.  Why?  Because we can only begin to plumb the great depths of God's love when we see that he gave his Son to die for our sake—for the sake of sinners who would otherwise stand condemned to destruction. That brings us back to the recipe for bread.  Brothers and Sisters, bread is often kind of boring.  But made properly, it nourishes.  It keeps us alive.  There's a reason why Jesus used it as a metaphor for himself: I am the bread of life.  There's a reason why it's a symbol over and over in the story of God's people for his faithful care and sustenance.  And it points to the way God works and the way his gospel and his word work in the world.  It's rarely flashy.  And you have to be patient, because it takes time to rise and it takes time to bake.  But like the Messiah, who humble himself to take on lowly human flesh, who humbled himself to be born of a lowly virgin, and who humbly went to death on a cross, the simple bread of the gospel, the good news that Jesus died, that he rose, and that he is Lord, brings life to the world.  To preach it faithfully means to preach it whole and to preach it pure.  Friends, be faithful stewards.  Stick to the recipe.  Preach the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen to give forgiveness and life to sinners.  Build churches centred on the faithful preaching of God's word and the administration of the sacraments, where, knowing God's faithfulness, God's people sing and pray together, where they raise covenant, gospel children, where we live as people who know the hope of God's life in the age to come. Let's pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Today's Topics: 1) Did you know a Catholic Priest is credited with inventing the bulletproof vest? https://aleteia.org/2021/09/03/did-you-know-that-a-catholic-priest-is-credited-with-inventing-the-bulletproof-vest/ 2) How monks perfected beer https://medium.com/a-brief-history-of-things/how-monks-perfected-beer-5cf78fc66022 3) Chrislam confirmed: Led by Pope Francis, leaders of the world's religions formally adopt human fraternity documents https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/7th-congress-of-leaders-of-world-religions-adopt-human-fraternity-chrislam-document-pope-francis-mohamed-bin-zayed/ (non-Catholic site) https://aleteia.org/2022/09/14/pope-proposes-4-global-challenges-to-worlds-religious-leaders/ 4) What are Ember Days?

 It is something we should not have let fall to wayside, in my opinion. Let's join in on this 2 day event this year!

It is something we should not have let fall to wayside, in my opinion. Let's join in on this 2 day event this year! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/reality-reflections/support

In today's episode, Mother Miriam reads about the Ember Days of Pentecost and comments on how much of a tragedy it is that the Church doesn't publicize them as much as they did before Vatican II.To help keep this and other programs on the air, please donate: https://give.lifesitenews.com/sustainlife?utm_source=mml_060822You can tune in daily at 10 am EST/7 am PST on our Facebook Page: http://FB.com/mothermiriamliveSubscribe to Mother Miriam Live at: http://bit.ly/submml See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mother Miriam Live - June 8, 2022 Ember Days Where in the Bible does it mention that the apostles were baptized? Salvation by Faith Christian Denominations and the Bible AmericaNeedsFatima.com - Charles Bordeaux

Sermon (English) Wednesday in the First Week of Lent: History and Meaning of the Lenten Ember Days 

Mother Miriam Live - December 15, 2021 Mother tackles the issues of the Catholic perspective on: What are Ember Days Mother's favorite Christmas films Marriage outside the church The seal of the confessional