Today in 10 Seconds
Gospel: Truth arrives when we're finally ready Rosary: Glorious Mysteries Pope: Faith as humanity's antidote to indifference ABC News: Two superpowers clash over the world's future NPR: Gunfire shatters Philippine Senate's sacred walls Saint: A child saw Mary and transformed
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John 16:12-15
"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine."
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Test Your Faith IQ |
Scripture |
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When Paul addressed the Areopagus in Athens (today's first reading), he quoted a pagan poet to make his case for God. Which poet did he cite?
- A) Homer
- B) Aratus of Soli
- C) Plato
- D) Euripides
Answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
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| Rosary Mystery of the Day | |
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Today's Mysteries |
Wednesday: 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 |
Scripture & Tradition |
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The Objection
"Catholics add things to the Bible that aren't there. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, is the only reliable rule of faith."
The Catholic Response
The phrase 'Scripture alone' appears nowhere in Scripture. In fact, Paul himself tells the Thessalonians to 'stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours' (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The early Church existed for decades before the New Testament was completed, and it was the Catholic Church's councils (Hippo in 393, Carthage in 397) that determined which books belonged in the Bible at all. Scripture and Tradition are not rivals; they flow from the same divine wellspring, and neither makes sense without the other (CCC 80-82).
CCC 80-82 | 2 Thessalonians 2:15 | Dei Verbum 9-10
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 Photo: Vatican News
VATICAN NEWS
Pope Leo XIV called on Christians and Muslims to unite in reviving humanity and transforming indifference into solidarity. Speaking at an interfaith colloquium, the Pope emphasized that faith communities must work together on the world's greatest challenges.
 Photo: ABC News
ABC News
President Trump has arrived in Beijing for a multi-day summit with President Xi Jinping, with trade, Taiwan, and global power dynamics on the table.
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FAITH & THE WORLD |
Proverbs 21:1 |
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"A king's heart is channeled water in the hand of the LORD; God directs it where he pleases."
Pacem in Terris (Pope John XXIII, 1963)
John XXIII wrote Pacem in Terris at the height of the Cold War, insisting that peace between nations can never rest on a balance of terror but only on mutual trust and the recognition of a shared moral order. When two superpowers sit across from each other, the Church asks the question neither delegation will: are you pursuing the common good of all peoples, or just your own? (Pacem in Terris, 80-81).
Reflect → When you enter a tense conversation, are you trying to win or trying to find what's true?
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 Photo: NPR
NPR
Gunfire erupted inside the Philippine Senate during an attempt to arrest a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court, shattering the institution meant to protect the rule of law.
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FAITH & THE WORLD |
Genesis 4:10 |
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"Then he said: What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!"
CCC 2306, The duty to safeguard peace and reject violence
When guns go off inside a legislative chamber, it is not just a political crisis. It is the old sin of Cain wearing a suit: the belief that force can resolve what justice demands. The Catechism is blunt: those who renounce violence and bloodshed bear witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence (CCC 2306).
Reflect → Where in your own life have you reached for force, whether words or actions, because patience felt too costly?
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 Photo: Good News Network
Good News Network
Greece has signed into law a new marine protected area around the uninhabited island of Gyaros, safeguarding one of the last refuges for endangered Mediterranean monk seals.
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FAITH & GOOD NEWS |
Genesis 1:31 |
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"God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good."
Laudato Si' (Pope Francis, 2015), Care for our common home
Pope Francis wrote that each creature has its own purpose and none is superfluous; the entire material universe speaks of God's love (Laudato Si', 84). Greece protecting these monk seals is a small act of fidelity to the first job God ever gave humanity: tend the garden. Not exploit it. Tend it.
Reflect → What corner of creation near your home could use your attention and care this week?
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DAILY WORD GAME
Test your Catholic vocabulary
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Saint of the Day |
May 13 |
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Our Lady of Fatima
When the Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal on May 13, 1917, the youngest seer, Jacinta Marto, was only seven years old. She later told her cousin Lucia that Mary looked sad, and that what struck her most was not the miracles but 'the light from Our Lady's hands.' Jacinta and her brother Francisco became the youngest non-martyrs ever canonized by the Catholic Church.
Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, commemorating Mary's first appearance to the three children in 1917, and her message connects directly to today's Gospel: the Spirit of truth leading us into complete truth, just as Mary urged prayer and conversion.
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Trivia Answer
B . Paul quoted 'For we are indeed his offspring' from the Greek poet Aratus (Acts 17:28). It was a brilliant rhetorical move: meeting the Athenians on their own cultural turf to open a door to the Gospel. Paul didn't trash their culture; he baptized what was already true in it.
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