“Queen of the universe – Mediatrix of men to God, Refuge of all our hopes – Have mercy on us.”
Next Ta’ Xbiex Cenacle with Eucharistic Adoration
The date when the next Eucharistic Cenacle adoration will be held in the Ta’ Xbiex parish church is announced in the weekly parish notices.
EVERYONE IS INVITED TO ATTEND.
Format: Following 6pm Mass, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament begins, together with singing of songs of praise, the Rosary is said by Group Cenacle Ta’ Xbiex (Marian Movement) members and other meditations (a message of Our Lady from Fr Gobbi’s Book is read).
Fr Gobbi of the MMP was in MALTA in November 24-29 1999, and on Sunday 28th November he gave a talk for the faithful and concelebrated a Mass in honour of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, at 5.30pm in St Anthony’s Church Ghajn Dwieli (Knisja ta’ Sant Antnin Ghajn Dwieli).
Further Information:
The National Annual Cenacle Meeting
Other sites of Interest:
Brothers and Sisters,
My wife and I serve in Jamaica as ministers in the slums and poor areas of Kingston. While there a month ago all my joints got inflamed and have been inflamed since causing me not to be able to continue my ministry of walking the streets to minister the Gospel with people. It has gotten worse, we are presently in Portland, Oregon where I am having some tests and I see the doctor on Friday. I am asking the Lord Jesus for a miracle so all of you who may have the gift of healing, I am asking you to lay your hands on me from wherever you are and ask the Lord to heal me totally and absolutely so I can continue to fulfill the ministry to which I have been called!!! Thank you and may the Lord Jesus be lifted up.
There seems to be a discrepancy between my beliefs in the Holy Mother and what the bible states in contradiction. I am a Catholic and member of the KOC and reside in California. I have brought this dichotomy of faith to my church pastor with no results. Using the Catholic Rainbow Study Guide Bible, this publication clearly states under Matthew 1:25 tells us that about Joseph’s relations with Mary; He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and named him Jesus.” This can only mean that Joseph DID have sexual relations with the Mother of the Immaculate Conception afterward!
This can’t be true. Immersed within the Holy Spirit sexual relations would be the last thing Joseph and Mary would think of.
Then this bible continues under Matthew 13:55-56 to state: “Is He not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother named Mary and His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?”
It is difficult to rationalize this statement to mean that this simply means ‘cousins’ and not actually children.
Matthew 12:46 this bible tells us, “While He was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with Him.” See also Mark 3:31-34; Luke 8:19-21; John 2:12; and Acts 1:14. All mention Jesus’ mother with His brothers. If they were His cousins, or the sons of Joseph from a previous marriage, why were they mentioned with Mary so often? The perpetual virginity of Mary cannot be drawn from Scripture. It must be forced on Scripture, in contradiction to what the Scriptures clearly state.
How can Catholics remain faithful to church dogma when protestant statements are evident in OUR bible?
Another element that totally confuses me is the subtlety of the prayer “Hail Mary”
When reciting the “Hail Mary” prayer ” . . . blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” My question is if Jesus was the only issuance from Mary’s womb His name would not be used as identification and the prayer would read “. . . blessed is the fruit of thy womb” the words spoken by the angel. If there were more children issued from Mary then Jesus would be identified as the subject of the birth as stated in the prayer . . .which I am told, the church added the word “Jesus” many years later.
WHY??
As a member of the Marian Movement (of which I approve) I as you for clairty.
In Christ,
Joseph Caro
hoppyccn@aol.com
Just some points for now. I might answer again at a later time.
COUSINS in semitic languages ARE called traditionally brothers, I can tell you.
Matthew 1:25 does NOT imply that Joseph had sexual relations after Jesus is born.
If you look at the footnote commentary on this passage in the Douai-Rheims Bible you can read:
“St. Jerome shows, by divers examples, that this expression of the Evangelist was a manner of speaking usual among the Hebrews, to denote by the word until, only what is done, without any regard to the future. Thus it is said, Genesis 8, 6 and 7, that Noe sent forth a raven, which went forth, and did not return till the waters were dried up on the earth. That is, did not return anymore. Also Isaias 46, 4, God says: I am till you grow old. Who dare infer that God should then cease to be?…God saith to his divine Son: Sit on my right till I make thy enemies thy footstool. Shall he sit no longer after his enemies are subdued?”
Also you can note that Jewish Law called a child as being “first-born” whether or not there were yet, or ever to be, subsequent children born to the same mother. This can be deduced from Exodus 13: 2, which required that “every first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel” be consecrated to God forty days after their birth.
Who, then, exactly were the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ?
Look at John 19:25. We can see that the Virgin Mary had an older sister whose name was also Mary: “Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”
Turning next to the Gospel of Mark 15:40, speaking on the same point: “There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger (Less) and of Joses (Joseph), and Salome.” Who is this “Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses?” Of the Marys mentioned in St. John 19, 25 it must be Mary the wife of Clopas, not Mary the “mother of Jesus,” as the Virgin Mary is never mentioned by any other title except as “mother of Jesus.” Further, we know that the father of James the younger was Clopas, the husband of Mary of Clopas (St. Mark 3, 18), making Mary of Clopas James’ mother. As for Jude, he was also a son of Clopas and the Virgin Mary’s sister as Scripture speaks of him as a brother of James the younger: “James son of Alphaeus (Clopas), and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James” (Acts 1, 13 [Douai]). Consequently, Our Lord had cousins by the names of James, Joseph and Jude.13
One can safely state then that the “brothers” of Our Lord as mentioned in St. Matt. 13, 54 -57 being James, Joseph, Jude etc. are in fact the same James, Joseph and Jude just determined to be His cousins. This was St. Jerome’s assertion in the early fourth century:
“Suppose that the Brethren of the Lord were Joseph’s sons by another wife. But we understand the Brethren of the Lord to be not the sons of Joseph, but cousins of the Saviour, the sons of Mary, his mother’s sister.”