It is sobering how easily we can corrupt any good thing, including faith in Jesus Christ. Some people fall into the delusion of thinking that they love God and neighbor, when in reality they serve only themselves. One symptom of doing so is to narrow down the kind of people who count as our neighbors such that we excuse ourselves from seeing and serving Christ in all who bear His image and likeness. When we do so, we disregard not only them, but our Lord Himself. Our actions then reveal that we do not truly have faith in Him because we are only seeking to justify ourselves.

Fr. Philip LeMasters reminds us that our words reveal the state of our souls.

The Lord used the story of the Good Samaritan to show us who we must become if we are truly uniting ourselves to Him in faith.

The path to eternal life runs through our neighbors, especially those we are inclined to overlook, disregard, and even despise. How we treat the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and the prisoner reveals the true state of our souls. How we serve our suffering and inconvenient neighbors, whoever they are, is how we serve our Lord.

The season of Pascha has only just begun. Because of His bodily resurrection, we must become holy in our bodies and treat our suffering neighbors accordingly. Let us continue to celebrate by participating as fully as possible in the joy of the empty tomb. Now nothing other than our own refusal can hold us back from becoming truly human, for “Christ is Risen!”

There is simply no way around the truth that how we relate to other people reveals whether we participate in the life our Lord. What we do and refuse to do for neighbors who need our time, attention, and generosity in any form, we do or refuse to do for Him.

The Lord used the story of the Good Samaritan to show us who we must become if we are truly uniting ourselves to Him in faith. The more we share in His life, the more we will overcome the spiritual blindness that so easily tempts us to justify ourselves in thinking that any person or group is somehow not worthy of our care and compassion.

Even as Jesus showed mercy by tangible actions such as healing a Samaritan from a dreaded and isolating disease, we must take the actions available to us, no matter how seemingly small or imperfect, to manifest His love to our neighbors, regardless of who they are. Find the book Syria Crucified at store.ancientfaith.com/syria-crucified.

There is simply no way around the truth that how we relate to other people reveals whether we are participating in the life of our Lord as we conform our character to His. What we do and refuse to do for neighbors who need our time, attention, and generosity in any form, we do or refuse to do for Him.

There is perhaps no more powerful example of our need for Christ’s healing of our souls than that contained in today’s gospel reading. A rich man with the benefit of the great spiritual heritage of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets had become such a slave to gratifying his desires for indulgence in pleasure that he had become completely blind to his responsibility to show mercy to Lazarus, a miserable beggar who wanted only crumbs and whose only comfort was when dogs licked his open sores. The rich man’s life revolved around wearing the most expensive clothes and enjoying the finest food and drink, even as he surely stepped over or around Lazarus at the entrance to his home on a regular basis and never did anything at all to relieve his suffering.

People come to Catawba County’s web site for many reasons. One is for the information and data that they find there.  The site has always been rich in information about the county and services that are provided. In recent years, as more and more people wanted data in digital format, many datasets were moved to [...]

Several people pointed me to this news report on a successful bettor in an election prediction market: Not only did he see Donald Trump winning the presidency, he wagered that Trump would win the popular vote—an outcome that many political … Continue reading →

How does an urban environment influence its rainfall? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to

How does an urban environment influence its rainfall? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to

Panhandle Door Inc. started 25 years ago as a small mom-and-pop cabinet business in Naples, Idaho, about 6 miles south of Bonners Ferry in Boundary County…

The former 'ER' actress reveals she spent Covid-19 lockdown having a bake-off with her son and the judges that involve their neighbors always love the kid's cookies more.

The incident was caught on a police body cam.

Expert

How has the recent dramatic growth of PRC's exports affected its neighbors? Have they lost export markets and seen foreign investment diverted to PRC? This paper surveys the empirical evidence on these important questions.

New results from a massive study at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute show that interactions among community members play an important role in determining which organisms thrive.

The post Tropical tree study shows interactions with neighbors plays an important role in tree survival appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

How more than 1,000 tree species may occur in a small area of forest in Amazonia or Borneo is an unsolved mystery. Their ability to […]

The post Trees employ similar strategies to outcompete their neighbors appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The international University of California, Riverside-led SpARCS collaboration has discovered four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old. Clusters are rare regions of the universe consisting of hundreds of galaxies containing trillions of stars, as well as hot gas and mysterious dark matter. Spectroscopic observations from the ground using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile confirmed the four candidates to be massive clusters. This sample is now providing the best measurement yet of when and how fast galaxy clusters stop forming stars in the early Universe.

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Supreme Court decides not to hear the case about a plan to build 'the world's largest garbage dump' near the iconic national park.

Punta Gorda, a sleepy Gulf Coast getaway north of Fort Myers, shines bright as Babcock Ranch, a solar-powered eco-town, attracts its first residents.

Getting along with neighbors can yield big health benefits for birds, a new study finds. It's probably good for us, too.

If there was an 'unlike' button for renovation projects, the 30-year-old social media tycoon would have earned himself more than a few thumbs down.

Sweden, a recycling-happy land where 810,000 homes are heated by the incineration of waste, is facing a unique dilemma: It needs more fuel.

Program in Alberta helps humans peacefully coexist with often dangerous wildlife.

From spraying coyote urine to mourning the passing of a horse, I'm learning to be part of this community.

Homeowners in El Paso and Las Crcues considering an air conditioner upgrade will have profitable options if they call SoBellas Home Services.

Baladna Dairy began operations within a month after Qatar's neighbors cut off ties and imposed a trade blockade. More than 18,000 cows were transported from the U.S. to the small, landlocked gulf state by airplane and ship.

City-Owned Parcel Cited as Motivation to Go Against the Neighbors

Two high school students, Matthew Casertano and Dhruv Pai used their time off from classes to deliver groceries to their neighbors in self-isolation.

The post Maryland Teens Go On Grocery Store Runs for Seniors and Vulnerable Neighbors Amid COVID-19 Fears appeared first on Good News Network.

Mule deer populations in central Oregon are in decline, largely because of habitat loss. Several factors are likely contributors. Encroaching juniper and invasive cheatgrass are replacing deer forage with high nutritional value, such as bitterbrush and sagebrush. Fire suppression and reduced timber harvests mean fewer acres of early successional forest, which also offer forage opportunities. Human development, including homes and roads, is another factor. It is this one that scientists with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and their collaborators investigated in a recent study.

How the coronavirus outbreak has upended people's lives across the Inland Northwest The numbers don't lie.…

A few weeks ago, Meryl Alcabes, an event photographer, put the call out to friends and Seward Park neighbors asking who would be willing to have their pictures taken while depicting how they’re coping with the stay-home measures.

KEVIN AND KAREN had lots to look at when they were moving to Seattle from Bellevue. They looked in Madrona. They looked on Queen Anne. But Madison Park looked different. “We were drawn first and foremost to the neighborhood,” Kevin says. “Specifically, the Canterbury neighborhood. It’s really close to the lake, and has longtime residents. […]

KEVIN AND KAREN had lots to look at when they were moving to Seattle from Bellevue. They looked in Madrona. They looked on Queen Anne. But Madison Park looked different. “We were drawn first and foremost to the neighborhood,” Kevin says. “Specifically, the Canterbury neighborhood. It’s really close to the lake, and has longtime residents. […]

The Sharma brothers, who became interested in music in the fourth grade, have played in bands at Eckstein Middle School and Roosevelt High. So it felt quite natural for them to step out of their house April 9 for their first front-porch performance.

KEVIN AND KAREN had lots to look at when they were moving to Seattle from Bellevue. They looked in Madrona. They looked on Queen Anne. But Madison Park looked different. “We were drawn first and foremost to the neighborhood,” Kevin says. “Specifically, the Canterbury neighborhood. It’s really close to the lake, and has longtime residents. […]

Gov. Jared Polis has recently made working with Colorado's neighboring states part of his strategy to emerge from the grip of the coronavirus contagion, mentioning cross-border collaboration more than once during his daily COVID-19 press briefings last week. But the governor has acknowledged that states surrounding Colorado "have different policies" with "different trajectories of the infection."

Coronavirus can’t stop, won’t stop a Motor City tradition.

Coronavirus can’t stop, won’t stop a Motor City tradition.

It used to be that people who owned a lot of things could protect themselves and their things by...

“It’s about the power of music and bringing music to people to get through very difficult times. I think we all really need to do that and really step up for each other," said Dr. Kari Groff.

While the COVID-19 pandemic keeps New Yorkers separated by face masks and social distancing and self-quarantine, a growing number of city residents are connecting through local mutual aid groups now sprouting across the shuttered boroughs.