Pay Attention Today at Mass to the First Reading and the Gospel



First the First Reading from

Bible Gateway : 2KGS 4:42-44;:



"A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. 'Give it to the people to eat,' Elisha said.

'How can I set this before a hundred men?' his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, 'Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says: 'They will eat and have some left over.' ' Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD . "



Then the Gospel from John 6:1-15:



Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little”. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down”. Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost”. So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”



Notice the response of the crowd to Jesus' miracle? "This indeed is the prophet who is come into the world!" They immediately see that Jesus is like Elisha the Prophet (what we heard in the first reading) but at the end of this section of John's Gospel, Jesus will show that he is greater than Elisha for he will give Himself as Bread (of course many will and do find this too much to believe and leave him).



Monitor the sermon you hear today and see if the preacher brings out the obvious connection.

Mystery of How the Pyramids were Built, Solved?



From the Canadians, of course, News - Ottawa - canada.com network:



"'Modern man's concept of how ancient man moved rock is balderdash,' he said, standing outside his Onondaga Crescent house in Nepean, surrounded by logs, rocks and rope. 'I've reduced moving rocks to the pyramid to a mom-and-pop operation.'



In order to move large rocks intelligently, he said, you have to use the weight of the rock. Friction must be eliminated and momentum, once it starts, has to be maintained.



Mr. Raina believes that the rectangular rocks were moved from the quarry to the site of the pyramid by fastening wooden planks to the four sides of the slabs (almost like the bottom of a rocking chair) and then pulling it along with a rope so it rolls.



He uses the wooden casing filled with concrete on his driveway to demonstrate."



"I've had a seven-year-old girl pull 535 pounds herself," he said.

New Dominican Habit?



Strange how they felt the need to be attired in something other than "lay" clothes for their trial. Even stranger is that they chose to dress like Iranian Moslem women, now if those Iranian women would follow the nuns lead and try to destroy their potential nuclear arsenal, we'd all have something to cheer about. Who knows, perhaps thats what the good sisters are hoping to inspire.







From Yahoo! News - Top Stories Photos - AP

Nuns Receive Prison Sentence



I'm all for non-violent protest and I'm all for peace and against war. But I agree with this sentence, mainly because these good sisters were not non-violent in their protest and because the time they serve will give them a chance to live in community for awhile.



From MSNBC-Nuns sentenced for antiwar protest:



"As for vandalizing the silo, Hudson said: “When someone holds a gun to your head or someone else’s head, do you not have a right and a duty to enter that arena and stop that crime?”



Many of those outside court waved antiwar banners, including one that read: “No Blood for Oil.”



The Roman Catholic nuns are longtime antiwar activists. Platte and Gilbert lived in a Baltimore activist community founded by the late peace activist Philip Berrigan. Hudson lived in a similar community in Poulsbo, Wash.



After their arrest, the women chose to stay in jail, refusing the government’s offer to release them on their own recognizance."

Wow! Quoted in a Homily



Thanks to Father Schaefer!



From A Collection of Father Schaefer's homilies:



" I was reading the current issue of Our Sunday Visitor. Michael Dubruiel wrote a column on the first reading in today's Mass. God seems to be speaking to us in this story of Jonah.



God told the prophet Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and tell them that God is greatly offended with their wickedness and immoral life. God told Jonah that in 40 days God will destroy their city if they don't repent.



Jonah didn't really want to warn the people "

Below are Links to Online Bookstores Carrying Our New Rosary Book

Shop the Catholic Company for Catholic gifts, books, bibles, rosaries, artwork and church supplies.