Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B) March 15 (2 Chronicles 36:14-17a, 19-23; Psalm 137; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21)

People have always struggled to make sense out of the clash of armies and swirl of global events. The author of Chronicles wrote some time after the exile in the sixth century B.C. Drawing on the books of Samuel, Kings and even some extra-biblical works that we no longer possess, he interpreted Israel’s royal history through a theological lens. In his view, God was the motivating force behind international affairs.

In the audience with the Neocatechumenal Way founded by Kiki Arguello, on Saturday March 7,the Pope confirmed their call and blessed their charism. "I’m doing that not because I’ve been paid to: No! I’m doing it because I want to,” the Pope joked

At today’s General Audienc,March 4, the Pope continued his series of catecheses on the family, focusing on grandparents: the elderly are not deadweights and they are not aliens, a society without gratuity is a perverse society.

It really is the stuff of hellish nightmares. While 19 of the Assyrian Christians kidnapped by ISIS in north-eastern Syrian have been released, around 200 are still being held hostage.

The kidnapped Christians must surely be enduring hell on earth. The Christian adults must dread the time when they’ll be chosen to die by decapitation. There are conflicting reports that 15 of them have already been killed.

Lambasting what he called "intolerable brutality" against Christians in Syria and Iraq, Pope Francis on Sunday, March 1, called for the faithful to practise love that "transforms all." Said the pontiff: "In reality, love has the capacity to transfigure all. Love transforms all."

Pope Francis on Sunday again lambasted what he called the "intolerable brutality" being perpetrated against Christians in Syria and Iraq, leading pilgrims in St. Peter's Square in a moment of silence for those being persecuted because of the faith.

What do we mean when we say that we make a sacrifice? I have sacrificed my career for my children! I sacrifice a lot for my job! Love demands that we make many sacrifices! Sometimes we must sacrifice life itself for the sake of integrity! Christ sacrificed himself for our sins! The Eucharist is a sacrifice!

From what is common in all these expressions we can extract Webster’s definition of a sacrifice: The surrender of something of value for the sake of something else.

Fears are growing for the safety of more than 100 people taken captive on Tuesday, February 24, as the extremist group Islamic State seized Christian villages in Hassake Governorate, northeast Syria.

Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana, who works in support of persecuted Christians in the region, received a telephone update on the situation from a contact in Hassake city about midnight on Tuesday.

Fr. Youkhana relayed the latest information in a message sent to Catholic agencies, including Aid to the Church in Need, early yesterday, February 25.

Extremism was not absent on the day when Cain killed his brother Abel. But today it is persistent. Humanity finds itself face-to-face with new and rising waves of extremism. It is a two-fold war. The first of which is military battle which depends on political, military and sovereign decisions of the participating countries. The second field is intellectual whereby this war extends far beyond the military one. In our beloved country we experience the two wars and the two battlefields.

The news was announced by from Aid to the Church in Need. A woman has been decapitated and two men were shot dead. There is no other information regarding the other victims

Vatican Radio reported the news. The Nuncio to Damascus, Mario Zenari, says “the civil conflict needs to be resolved but at the same time the advance of this Caliphate needs to be halted”