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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Be Clearly Seen

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Minute Meditations

The Word of God

We worship God, not the written words. But we reverence the words of God because they lead us to God himself.

— from The Gospels According to Saint Francis


St. Pius V
(1504-1572)

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This is the pope whose job was to implement the historic Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after Trent than four centuries earlier.

During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on its feet. The family of God had been shaken by corruption, by the Reformation, by the constant threat of Turkish invasion and by the bloody bickering of the young nation-states. In 1545 a previous pope convened the Council of Trent in an attempt to deal with all these pressing problems. Off and on over 18 years, the Church Fathers discussed, condemned, affirmed and decided upon a course of action. The Council closed in 1563.

Pius V was elected in 1566 and was charged with the task of implementing the sweeping reforms called for by the Council. He ordered the founding of seminaries for the proper training of priests. He published a new missal, a new breviary, a new catechism and established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes for the young. Pius zealously enforced legislation against abuses in the Church. He patiently served the sick and the poor by building hospitals, providing food for the hungry and giving money customarily used for the papal banquets to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom of the pope wearing a white cassock.

In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered vehement opposition from England's Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands also hindered Pius's hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto, off Greece, on October 7, 1571.

Pius's ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was grounded in his personal life as a Dominican friar. He spent long hours with his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal luxuries and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had professed.



Comment:

In their personal lives and in their actions as popes, Pius V and Venerable Paul VI (d. 1978) both led the family of God in the process of interiorizing and implementing the new birth called for by the Spirit in major Councils. With zeal and patience, Pius and Paul pursued the changes urged by the Council Fathers. Like Pius and Paul, we too are called to constant change of heart and life.

Quote:

"In this universal assembly, in this privileged point of time and space, there converge together the past, the present, and the future. The past: for here, gathered in this spot, we have the Church of Christ with her tradition, her history, her councils, her doctors, her saints; the present: we are taking leave of one another to go out toward the world of today with its miseries, its sufferings, its sins, but also with its prodigious accomplishments, values, and virtues; and the future is here in the urgent appeal of the peoples of the world for more justice, in their will for peace, in their conscious or unconscious thirst for a higher life, that life precisely which the Church of Christ can give and wishes to give to them" (from Pope Paul's closing message at Vatican II).
 
Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
 

 

Presence

Dear Jesus, I come to you today
longing for your presence.
I desire to love you as You love me.
May nothing ever separate me from You.

 

Freedom

Lord, you created me to live in freedom.
May your Holy Spirit guide me to follow you freely.
Instil in my heart a desire
To know and love you more each day.

 

Consciousness

Knowing that God loves me unconditionally, I can afford to be honest about how I am. How has the last day been, and how do I feel now?
I share my feelings openly with the Lord.

 

The Word of God

Reading 1 acts 5:17-26

The high priest rose up and all his companions,
that is, the party of the Sadducees,
and, filled with jealousy,
laid hands upon the Apostles and put them in the public jail.
But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison,
led them out, and said,
"Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life."
When they heard this,
they went to the temple early in the morning and taught.
When the high priest and his companions arrived,
they convened the Sanhedrin,
the full senate of the children of Israel,
and sent to the jail to have them brought in.
But the court officers who went did not find them in the prison,
so they came back and reported,
"We found the jail securely locked
and the guards stationed outside the doors,
but when we opened them, we found no one inside."
When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report,
they were at a loss about them,
as to what this would come to.
Then someone came in and reported to them,
"The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area
and are teaching the people."
Then the captain and the court officers went and brought them,
but without force,
because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

Responsorial Psalm ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel jn 3:16-21

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
 

Conversation

Conversation requires talking and listening.  As I talk to Jesus may I also learn to be still and listen.  I picture the gentleness in His eyes and the smile full of love as he gazes on me.  I can be totally honest with Jesus as I tell Him of my worries and my cares.  I will open up my heart to Him as I tell Him of my fears and my doubts.  I will ask Him to help me to place myself fully in His care, to abandon myself to Him, knowing that He always wants what is best for me.

 

Conclusion

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.

 

 
Catholic Meditations

Meditation: Acts 5:17-26

View NAB Reading at USCCB.org

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Saint Pius V, Pope

The Sadducees, filled with jealousy, laid hands upon the apostles and put them in the public jail. (Acts 5:17-18)

How would you describe the feeling of jealousy? To some, it is an all-too-familiar stinging, burning, aching of the soul. According to Scripture, "Jealousy rots the bones" (Proverbs 14:30). How unpleasant!

Why do we allow ourselves to get this way? Well, for one thing, there's self-centeredness involved—at least with the unholy, garden variety jealousy. We can't handle seeing someone else have something that we want, so we become angry, resentful, and jealous. But there's more to the story than this.

Think about how the Sadducees saw the apostles performing wonders and gaining the favor and awe of the people. When they should have been focusing their "seeing" on God—specifically, what he was doing in that moment and how he was being expressed in the apostles' miraculous signs—they didn't. Instead of seeing what God was doing and joyfully joining him in it, they stayed outside. They watched the disciples perform miracles until they were so filled with envy that they couldn't see clearly.

Maybe we could think about jealousy as a matter of misplaced vision and skewed perception. Vision, because instead of keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and his love and mercy toward us, we fix our gaze on someone else. And perception, because while we're so distracted with the specific gifts, talents, and blessings that God has given another person, we can't possibly perceive all that he has given us. How can we discover that we are fearfully and wonderfully made with awesome gifts and talents of our own? How can we live like the person who God made us to be when we are so focused on the way other people are?

The best way to avoid being "filled with jealousy" is to fill ourselves with better things. Fill your mind with the truths of God's promises and his grace. Fill your heart with his love and mercy. Let these be the things you reflect on every day. And when someone else is doing well or is getting something that you want, it will be that much easier to rejoice with them and then get on with being who God called you to be.

"I praise you, Lord, because I am wonderfully made. "Wonderful are your works!" (Psalm 139:14)

 

Psalm 34:2-9; John 3:16-21


my2cents:
I don't ever want to lose a lamb for God, it is one of the hardest parts of ministering, and for this I live off your prayers.  I say this because it is rare to have one unsubscribe, but I don't know the man who did, but I pray for the cause of God, for us to be united.  If there is confusion in what I say, tell me, I am your servant, the servant of the Lord, an apprentice in Christianity, as Eduardo Bonnin the founder of Cursillos said.  There is nothing easy about many ministries, they take hard work and dedication if you do them right.  It is especially hard for the first few years, many tears, many struggles, but I've noticed they get smoother if you give it time, love, and care, TLC, LOL.  And it is so with the writings I do on weekdays for you and for me.  It's not about me, it's about Him, and our faith.  If yesterday I said possessions and what we consider as blessings a curse, then you have to understand that they are curse for the purpose of realizing what should come first in our lives...GOD, not family but a family for God, not money but money for God, not work but work for God;  the first people of God in Jesus were fully His after the resurrection, and His we wish to be this very day.  It normally takes about a full hour to prepare this email, among many interruptions, people who barge in on the meditation I pray for them or look for Jesus in them for inspiration.  That is a crucial message for those who feel imprisoned, and God still wants to use in His Kingdom.  If a baptized soul is now available for the Kingdom of God, why shouldn't we encourage one another to bring more souls to God?  What about all those that never know or are baptized?  Are they doomed to Hell?  I am not God, I will not answer for that, but I will answer for every soul I contact in my life.  I need not worry about those across the world, but those across the hall, or town, all the acquaintances and instances of seeing and communicating.  I started our company safety meeting this morning with a prayer, and I read a prayer on the projector screen, some prayer I found on youtube which at one point said something like "help others to see you Lord in me today".  You can't keep the good surpressed forever, Jesus did not die on a cross and remain there.  He did not die on the cross for our damnation, but for our SALVATION.  He did not come to show us how bad we were, but to show us how good we can be, how HOLY we can be, how much surrender for others we can do, and He shows us what true love really is, and you let the Holy Spirit tell you right now in your heart what that is...the Shepherd, the Highest Priest in the Universe.  But people preferred darknes to light.  Hmm, sounds like people nowadays?  The sad part of someone leaving the church is that the lights get a little dimmer, not so much for the church, but for the person leaving.  That's why Jesus is the Good Shepherd, came for the lost, not the ones found.  It is absolutely critical that we talk to each other, and to God.  A shepherd finds a lamb easier if it makes a sound,  but unfortunately they rarely make sounds in the dark or when being devoured, as far as lambs are concerned.  For everyone who does wicked things HATES the light.  I rather you tell me how much you hate me than not to tell me anything, and why? So I can know what I am facing head on and not being left alone.  LOL, i'm kind of getting used to the namecalling, it's not that big a deal, the slanderous remarks, but what I can not stand is people turning their backs on God and turning to darkness.  I will not let you fall for that, and I will put up a fight, and I will tell on you, and when I tell on you, you will not be in trouble, you WILL BE SAVED.  For God gave us His ONLY SON, so that we might believe and not perish but live forever and be forever HIS.   WHen you come to the light, the light of salvation, people will see, and because you are in the light, they will even see your flaws, but that's OK, because the more you come into the light, the harder it will be to see the flaws being wiped away into Holiness, and wholeness in Him.  I can see a transformation in people, and often in the least expected, and as a matter of fact, if you let your soul be touched, you can even see a different light around them.  The light of the Lord glows to show what we should already know, we are children of the light, in constant search for the lost.  Guess who the lost are?  Those you shake your head at, those in the wrong, those in dire need of the Good Shepherd and in your sights
 
adrian
 
 
 
 
 
 

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