If Today You Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Hearts

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.
There your ancestors tested me;
they tried me though they had seen my works.
 
Psalm 95:  8-9

Synagogue at Capernaum

Then they came to Capernaum,

and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority…

Mark 1:  21-22

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Synagogue at Capernaum

 … At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such…..

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

From  Address to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Regions 4 and 6
19 January 2012

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120119_bishops-usa_en.html

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On 20 January 2012 Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sharply criticized the decision by the Obama administration in which it "ordered almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans....Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights."  He urged Catholics and the public at large to speak out in protest.

For more information and suggested action, please visit:

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/index.cfm

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Detail of carved pomegranates at Capernaum
The pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds which symbolize the commandments of the Mosaic Law.

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Are we listening to the voice of God and following His will, as motivated by today’s Responsorial Psalm? 

Are we hardened by the evil around us or are we heartened by the call of Jesus?

Are we determined to promote God’s moral law and protect the sanctity of life?

May the Holy Spirit empower all people of faith and good will to insist on our rights of conscience and the restoration of religious liberty.

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