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Philippine Star  "A foothold for ISIS?" Relatives and friends mourned the soldiers who died from gunfire and improvised explosive devices set off by the Abu Sayyaf in clashes that started Saturday morning  in Basilan. The Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday reported killing 13 more bandits, but the AFP’s own death toll of 18 is among the highest ever in its  decades-old battle with the terrorist group.  Among the enemy casualties was Ubalda Hapilon, identified as a son of top terrorist Isnilon Hapilon, who has a $5-million prize on his head. An intriguing casualty  was Mohammad Khattab, described by military intelligence as a Moroccan instructor in producing IEDs and a preacher of Islamic jihad.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Suspension as political weapon" THAT the Office of the President would order the suspension of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama isn't totally unexpected. The Aquino administration has been accused of  using the suspensi...

In this exclamation, “It is the Lord,” there is all of the enthusiasm of paschal faith. “It is the Lord,” full of joy and wonder, in stark contrast with the confusion, the desperation, the sense of impotence that had afflicted the spirit of the disciples. From the Regina Caeli The Gospel of today tells of the third apparition of the Risen Jesus to the disciples...  The story is placed in the framework of the daily life of the disciples, when they have returned to their lands and their work as fishermen, after the distressing days of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. It was difficult for them to understand what had happened. But while everything seemed to have ended, it is once again Jesus who “seeks” his disciples. It is he who goes in search of them. [...]  The presence of the Risen Jesus transforms everything: darkness is overcome by light; useless work becomes again fruitful and promising; the feeling of tiredness and abandonment gives way to a new st...

The Protestant who wrote the greatest book about American Catholicism   [full text]

Signposts in a Strange Land Walker Percy  Walker Percy: A Life Patrick Samway The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy Jay Tolson           The Habit of the Heart: Letters of Flannery O'Connor   Flannery by Brad Gooch Three by Flannery O'Connor  The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy  Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy   The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy   Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy  The Second Coming by Walker Percy   Lancelot by Walker Percy  

Jesus, in fact, is God’s mercy made flesh – a mercy that He expressed, realized and communicated always, in every moment of His earthly life. From the audience All four Gospels attest that, before undertaking His ministry, Jesus wished to receive Baptism from John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22;  John 1:29-34). This event imprints a decisive orientation to the whole of Christ’s mission. In fact, He did not present Himself to the world in the splendor of the  Temple: He could have done so, He did not have Himself proclaimed by fanfare: He could have done so, He did not even come in the robes of a judge: He could have done  so. Instead, after thirty years of a hidden life at Nazareth, Jesus went to the river Jordan, together with many of His people, and He put Himself in the queue with  sinners. He was not ashamed; He was there with everyone, with sinners, to be baptized. Therefore, from the beginning of His ministry, He manifested Hims...

On Heaven and Earth by Jorge Mario Bergoglio Francis: Pope of a New World Andrea Tornielli

From the homily "We can negotiate some sort of peace ... but harmony is an inner grace that only the Holy Spirit can grant. And these communities lived in harmony. And there are two signs of harmony: there is no one wanting, that is, everything was shared. In what sense? They had one heart, one soul, and no one considered as his own any property that belonged to him, but everything was shared in common amongst them. None of them was ever in need.  The true 'harmony' of the Holy Spirit has a very strong relationship with money: money is the enemy of harmony; money is selfish.”   Proof of the first Christian community’s harmony, the Pope says, was shown in the fact that they freely gave of their own goods “so that others would not be in need." "The harmony of the Holy Spirit grants us the generosity to possess nothing as our own, while there is someone in need.” The harmony of the Holy Spirit, he adds, also fortifies us with courage. “‘With great power t...