Updated January 12, 2001 3:33 pm PST
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Today Time strikes Twelve!
The Twelfth Night and a Day that's as simple as one two in reaching a milestone that speaks volumes!
In our commentary today, though we do not wax poetic in the manner of Shakespeare, we doubt the bard ever came across the unique occasion we have today as we look back with fondness over the past twelve years in celebrating the hand reaching a milestone in time. A moment that speaks volumes as in volume 12, no. 12 on January 12th. We call it 12/12/12. So pardon us if we party just for today! We've reached a special duodecimo point in time that won't be seen again! We haven't done it by ourselves, in fact in spite of ourselves. It's been reached because this apostolate is God's Holy Will and our daily prayer is not to get in His way but to continue to be His humble instrument in whatever way He wills. The means and ways of His work is registered today in our reaching this time that is a once-in-a-lifetime mark. It will only be 12 for a day, then it's gone forever. Though we are connecting on a finite level, we'll reserve the rest of the time to party after our work is finished on this earth. Then we'll have an eternity to party! Until then, there's work to do. For our editorial To us today Twelve is a special number! see CATHOLIC PewPOINT
  
Pope could announce Consistory this Sunday
There is conjecture that His Holiness Pope John Paul II will make public his list of cardinals-elect this Sunday. Many thought he would make the announcement at the end of the Jubilee on the Feast of the Epiphany, but again the Holy Father threw off the prognosticators. Will he do it again? If not Sunday, the next most appropriate date would be January 25th, the Feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Saint Paul. But oddsmakers are making Sunday the choice and the choice of who will be named is mere speculation, albeit well-thought out and researched. In anticipation of this announcement, which could be the most important in John Paul's long and illustrious pontificate, the noted editor of INSIDE THE VATICAN, Robert Moynihan offers his take on who might be selected in a special to The DAILY CATHOLIC. He even offers the idea that the Pope could name more than the expected 25, which, according to Moynihan's predictions, include three from the US and only one Italian outside of the Curia.
For more, see News from the Holy See
ALSO:
 
How Pro Aborts are trying to influence the FDA in doing all they can to hide the damaging effects of RU-486 abortion pill
The Director for Media Relations for the National Right to Life Committee is warning all that the pro abort forces in the media and the government are trying to coerce and hide the fact that the abortion pill RU-486, which contains misoprostol is dangerous to pregnant women and can greatly harm both the child and the mother. She claims that pro-aborts will do anything they can to preserve this chemical-abortion method despite the warnings from gynecologists and the American College of Obstetricians. For more, see USA News
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Last Bishop appointed by Pius XII dies in China
The Fides agency reports that the last Chinese Bishop appointed by Pope Pius XII has died. In fact Bishop Matthias Duan Yinming of Wanxian, who
died on January 10 at the age of 92, was the last Chinese Bishop officially appointed by the Holy See because of the suffocating communist regime. Bishop Duan was one of the two Chinese Bishops
who were unable to attend the Special Synod for Asia
held in Rome in 1998, because the Chinese government
refused to grant them visas. On that occasion, risking
punishment for keeping relations with a foreign state, Bishop
Duan sent a fax message to Cardinal Schotte, President of
the Synod, expressing his dismay, but also his profound faith.
For more, see Universal News
ALSO:
For More Daily News, we recommend the following available news sources:
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All the above News Agencies are not affiliated with the DAILY CATHOLIC, but the DAILY CATHOLIC provides this service to keep our readers up-to-date with what's truly happening in our world, especially considering all the misinformation the secular media circulates.
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God makes the Fifth Commandment so simple, but man complicates it with his rationalization and he must realize what sins violate this command to make a good Confession
Sister Mary Lucy Astuto continues her sharing a special Examination of Conscience with all as today she features the second part of the Fifth Commandments, which is violated in so many ways that many do not realize. That is why it so important for us to truly tweak the conscience through a thorough Examination of Conscience which Sister helps us in providing a guideline to uphold the Sanctity of Life in all stages. For the third part of her column Acute Awareness in Examining Our Consciences, see GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Weekday in Ordinary Time
We continue with Ordinary Time today and tomorrow. Tomorrow we also celebrate the Feast of Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church plus the first Observance of the year of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday. For the Liturgy, see Daily LITURGY
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First Reading: Hebrews 4: 1-5, 11
Psalms: Psalm 105: 1-4, 6-9
Gospel Reading: Mark 2: 1-12
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Mark 2: 8-11
"Why are you arguing these things in your heart? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Thy sins are forgive thee,' or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy pallet, and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" He said to the paralytic - "I say to thee, arise, take up thy pallet, and go to thy house."
 
Day of the Martyrs
Today is remembered as a day of the martyrs - not liturgically, but historically for 90 saints were martyred for the Faith on this date beginning in 230 A.D. when Saint Tatiana was executed by the Roman Emperor Severus. In the middle of the eighth century 38 Irish monks were slaughtered by pagans and two years later 42 Benedictine were slain by the Iconoclasts. Then, in 1737 four Jesuit missionaries were murdered by a Vietnamese tribal count near the Gulf of Tonkin. In addition to the martyrs, this day signals the deaths of eight other saints over the past two millenniums. For other Time Capsule events that happened Today in Church history, see Daily TIME CAPSULES in Church History
Nothing can be of its own
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".
"Minds never inquire where they came from, or where they are going; they are just on the way. They never begin, they never develop, they never end - they just stop. Nothing in life has shape, a pattern, a rule or destiny. Nothing links things together except more succession in time; the needle of writing is drawn through the cloth but it weaves no pattern."
Monthly Medjugorje Message for December 2000
NOTE: We respectfully recognize and accept the final authority regarding apparitions, locutions and prophecies presently being reported around the world rests with the Holy See of Rome and the Magisterium of Holy Mother Church to whose judjment we humbly and obediently submit.
For more Our Lady's Christmas message for December and more on Medjugorje, see MEDJUGORJE AND MORE
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January 12, 2001 volume 12, no. 12
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