Faith

In the Gospels, Jesus was called a rabbi, a teacher of Jewish law. But there was something different about this rabbi as the words he spoke and the things he did were unlike any other rabbi before (and after) him. Jesus taught with an authority and power that people had not seen before (cf. Mt 7:29, Mk 1:22 and Lk 4:31), and because of this, he drew large crowds continuously to himself, who gathered around him hungry to see and hear more.

God is the supreme matchmaker. God provides, particularly when it comes to finding one’s spouse. Take a good look at your wife or husband. Your spouse is a miracle, an incredible blessing, and a gift from God to you. Before the two of you met, could you ever have imagined how you would connect and fall in love?

Q) I recently attended a wedding in a non-Catholic church. The minister invited everyone there forward to be united at this wedding to receive Communion. I didn’t know what to do, so I went up to receive. Did I do something wrong?

It's easy for Catholics to take the rosary for granted. We tend to purchase them as souvenirs, or carry them around with us, or even wear them -- but we forget the immense power that they have when we actually pray them. And that's really too bad, because a devotion to the rosary can be the answer to so many struggles in our 21st-century world.

The responsorial psalm for July 2 captures the common thread throughout the readings from this 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”

As a young priest and bishop, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan had great ministerial success, from the formation of seminarians, men and women religious, laity and youth to the constructing of Catholic schools, promotion of lay movements and missions for evangelization. But all this came to an abrupt end with the fall of Saigon in 1975.

The liturgical prayers offered during the celebration of the sacrament of marriage reveal the Church’s theology and understanding of the sacrament. The Solemn Blessing offered over the couple before the dismissal is in three parts and imparts a powerful final message.

“The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words ... Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.