Today in 10 Seconds
Gospel: Jesus unleashes disciples with unstoppable authority Rosary: Glorious Mysteries Pope: Peace is life itself, Pope declares CBS News: Ebola's deadly surge triggers global alarm CBS News: Drones clash as Ukraine strikes deep Saint: Shepherd boy taught himself letter by letter
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Matthew 28:16-20
"The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”"
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Test Your Faith IQ |
Scripture |
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In today's Gospel, Jesus commissions the Eleven on a mountain in Galilee. According to tradition, what is the name of this mountain?
- A) Mount Tabor
- B) Mount Arbel
- C) Mount of the Beatitudes (Mount Eremos)
- D) Mount Carmel
Answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
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 Photo: Vatican News
VATICAN NEWS
Pope Leo XIV prayed for peace to prevail in all hearts during Sunday's Regina Caeli address, connecting the Church's Laudato Si' Week celebration to an urgent appeal for peace amid global conflict and violence.
 Photo: CBS News
CBS News
A new Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda has killed at least 80 people and been declared a global health emergency.
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FAITH & THE WORLD |
Matthew 25:40 |
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"Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."
CCC 1932; Populorum Progressio (Paul VI)
Paul VI wrote in Populorum Progressio that the development of peoples is the new name for peace, and that wealthy nations bear a moral obligation to suffering ones (PP 44). Eighty deaths in Central Africa should disturb us as deeply as eighty deaths in our own city, because the Body of Christ has no borders.
Reflect → When suffering happens far away, what keeps you from treating it as your own problem?
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 Photo: CBS News
CBS News
Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least four people in Russia while Moscow's defenses intercepted 81 drones overnight.
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FAITH & THE WORLD |
Isaiah 2:4 |
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"They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again."
Just War Doctrine (CCC 2307-2317); Fratelli Tutti 258
Pope Francis declared in Fratelli Tutti that war is always a failure, a defeat for humanity itself (FT 261). The Catechism insists that even in legitimate defense, the damage inflicted on civilians must not be disproportionate, and the spiral of retaliation is precisely what makes modern war so morally corrosive (CCC 2314).
Reflect → Do you pray for the people on both sides of this war, or only the side your politics favors?
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 Photo: Good News Network
Good News Network
Boston nonprofit Team IMPACT has spent 15 years pairing over 4,500 children with serious illnesses and disabilities with college athletic teams, giving them real belonging.
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FAITH & GOOD NEWS |
1 Corinthians 12:22-23 |
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"Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor."
CCC 1936-1937; Theology of the Body (JPII)
Paul's vision of the Body of Christ insists that the members who seem weakest are actually indispensable (1 Cor 12:22). These college athletes aren't doing charity; they're discovering a truth the Church has always known: that belonging to someone vulnerable changes you more than it changes them.
Reflect → Who in your life seems to need you, but is actually the one teaching you something essential?
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DAILY WORD GAME
Test your Catholic vocabulary
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| Rosary Mystery of the Day | |
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Today's Mysteries |
Sunday: Glorious Mysteries |
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Glorious Mysteries
- 1. The Resurrection
- 2. The Ascension
- 3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit
- 4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- 5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Apologetics |
Church History |
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The Objection
"The Catholic Church was corrupted early on. Constantine hijacked Christianity in the 4th century and turned it into a political tool. The 'real' faith was lost."
The Catholic Response
Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313, but he didn't invent its doctrines. The core beliefs affirmed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 (the divinity of Christ, the Trinity) are found in Scripture (John 1:1, Matthew 28:19) and in pre-Constantinian writings like those of Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 107 AD), Irenaeus (died c. 202 AD), and Tertullian (died c. 220 AD). The Church was already organized with bishops, liturgy, and sacraments long before Constantine was born. As CCC 760 teaches, the Church was 'already present in figure at the beginning of the world' and prepared throughout Israel's history; no emperor created what God had been building since Pentecost.
CCC 760 | CCC 194 | John 1:1 | Matthew 28:19
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Saint of the Day |
May 17 |
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St. Paschal Baylon
Paschal was a self-taught shepherd boy who learned to read by asking strangers passing through the fields to teach him one letter at a time. He later became so devoted to the Eucharist that other friars reported seeing him levitate during adoration. In 1897, Pope Leo XIII made him the patron saint of Eucharistic congresses and devotions.
His feast falls on May 17, and his single-minded devotion to the Real Presence mirrors today's Gospel command to go out and teach all nations what Christ gave us, especially in the Eucharist.
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Trivia Answer
C . Early Christian tradition identifies the mountain of the Great Commission with the same hill near the Sea of Galilee where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, sometimes called Mount Eremos. This creates a beautiful symmetry: where Jesus first taught the Beatitudes, he later sent his followers to teach all nations.
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