†Saint Said:
"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible."
— St. Thomas Aquinas †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things . . . Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light."
— C.S. Lewis, p. 149
AN EXCERPT FROM
Mere Christianity † VERSE OF THE DAY
"He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness* was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross [through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven."
Colossians 1:18-20 |  click to read more | | ST. JOSEPH CAFASSO St. Joseph Cafasso (1811–1860) was born in Castelnuovo d'Asti, Italy, to a peasant family. He was born with a physical deformity of the spine, which caused him to grow into a stunted and crippled man. Discerning a call to Holy Orders, he entered the seminary in Turin where he later met another famous saint—John Bosco. Joseph taught John Bosco and encouraged him in his mission to minister to the town's impoverished street youth. Joseph was an excellent professor of moral theology, as well as a famed preacher and confessor. He performed his duties so well that he became known as the "Priest's Priest." He spent entire days preaching in prisons, offering comfort to the prisoners, hearing their confessions, and even advocating to improve the poor conditions of the prison. For this work he also earned the name, "Priest of the Gallows." St. Joseph Cafasso is the patron saint of prisoners, prisons, and prison chaplains. His feast day is June 23rd. | Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 373
Reading I Gn 15:1-12, 17-18 The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great." But Abram said,
"O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be,
if I keep on being childless
and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"
Abram continued,
"See, you have given me no offspring,
and so one of my servants will be my heir."
Then the word of the LORD came to him:
"No, that one shall not be your heir;
your own issue shall be your heir."
He took him outside and said:
"Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him,
"I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession."
"O Lord GOD," he asked,
"how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
He answered him,
"Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: "To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates." Responsorial Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9 R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations—
Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 15:4a, 5b R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord;
whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 7:15-20 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them." | Daily Meditation: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. (Genesis 15:5) Imagine you're outside on a sunny day. If you looked up at the sky, would you see any stars other than the sun? It would be impossible. You probably saw them the night before, so you know they exist. It's the bright daylight that makes it hard to see them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. You might be surprised to know that when God told Abram to go outside and look up to count the stars, it was not night. Later, as Abram makes his offering and God makes a covenant with him, the passage mentions that "the sun was about to set" (Genesis 15:12). So God was asking Abram to look into the bright midday sky and count the stars! And Abram did. He looked up and believed that God would give him descendants as numerous as those "invisible" stars. He understood that even though things might not look too promising for him and his wife, Sarai, to have children, God could do what looked impossible. The Lord had been faithful to him in the past, and if he promised, he would make it happen, no matter what Abram could foresee. That's why when Abram put his faith in the Lord, God "credited it to him as an act of righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). He had to grapple with his faith. He had to gaze into the noontime sky with eyes of faith and believe that the stars were still there. Sometimes, exercising your faith can feel like trying to count stars on a sunny day. You try to trust in the Lord, but you can't see how things will work out. That's the time to remember that the stars are still there even when the sun is shining. Remember that God is constant even when your experience changes. Remember that you are his child and he loves you. Remember that he is with you and wants you to be with him eternally. Today, your circumstances might overpower you like broad daylight hiding the stars. What are those truths that you need to remember, those "stars" you need to believe are still there? Let Abram be your example, and start counting. "Lord, help me to believe even when I struggle to see." Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9
Matthew 7:15-20 |  Listen to 2cents | my2cents:
"As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: "To your descendants I give this land..."
A terrifying darkness came over Abram. Have you ever been in a terrifying darkness? In a physical world, we can imagine a place so dark that you can't see a thing. But in a spiritual place, it means you are no longer in the realms you call home...the known. What lurks in any atom we can physically attempt to sense, but in the Spiritual, we are not designed to sense what is really out there, and now we are beginning to sense...the terrifying truth. Let's keep this open mind to Him, as we proceed today. | Let's pray the Psalms with our Lord:
"Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever."
I was meditating, and I've many irons in many fires and I try to slow down to meditate and as I gaze on a picture of our Lord, I turn with a pain in my neck to a wood plaque someone gave me, and it says "Trust In the Lord". And bit by bit, I surrendered each worry, one by one, to the Lord, And the more I surrendered to Him, the closer, the more drawn I was to Him. Seek the Lord, look to Him in strength, and then...seek to serve Him constantly. Every soul I encounter, I see a child. A child of God yes, Our Father. Yesterday, we drove back as councils to meet the Bishop to ask for permission to build a building after 10 years of saving and working hard. I stopped to fuel up the van we carpooled in. I went inside to get a water, and a piece of gum and when I was paying, I was talking as I normally talk to every soul, with much love and respect, and the attendant, a man maybe around my age, an adult, one eye kind of closed for some reason, said to me "you make me feel special". I said "why?" Because, you say please and thank you, and sir. I said "that's how I am". And so I left with a bit of a heartache; Why doesn't this man feel loved all the time, by others? And it is not the first time a grown man says that to me. Where has the love and respect gone? We hired a new guy, seems nice but this morning a manager told me he was using foul language to express himself about a problem with our equipment. Once again, where is the gratitude? Love, and honor of the other person in which Christ resides? Where then...is the fruit of Love? | "Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them."
Immediately we think of hypocrites, right? We think of those leaders in church, pastors, bishops, deacons, right? Oh those bad shepherds! Right?
Wrong! It is wrong to point the finger all the time. You know why we point the finger? To divert the attention from all the other fingers pointing back at us. It's like that with magic tricks and in politics. They use a tactic to divert attention while other things happen you cannot see. It is a trick, to fool you. But, don't be so quick to look down on them too, because you are a part of it and you are good at this too!
LOL, so who can we look down on?
My friend, your calling is not to look down, but up at the sky like our Lord told Abram our Forefather in faith.
Let's continue with our Lord. | "Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit."
Our Lord goes deep into the forest with talk about trees, right? But it's not that much about trees as much as it is about fruits. And I say that remembering the time our Lord was healing a blind man by spitting on his eyes in Mark 8:24 " He spit on the man's eyes and placed His hands on him. "Can you see anything?" He asked. 24 The man looked up and said, "I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around." Was this a mistake? Or did God intentionally make him see what He sees...people as trees?
Then our Lord healed Him again by putting his hands on his eyes.
We are called to bear fruit. It is clear, over and over our Lord asks for fruit...for His Kingdom.
I have become a servant of the Lord. I pray with my head hung low every day, looking down, looking where I should not. I often pray when I see statistics of my faith sharings are extremely low, before pandemic, during pandemic, and today, the same. I literally cannot see with my analytics and data, any foreseeable fruit.
And so, my prayer this morning while meditating remains, so that I remain in you and you in me.
I trust in the Lord. This too, I trust in the Lord. Once news reaches the right soul, the world will change, and be saved. My job (all of our job) is to be ever giving fruit...no matter where it lands. Let's pray.
Lord, Father, God, holy Spirit, Jesus,
Open our eyes so that we may see the fruit You desire, what pleases You, what makes you happy, that what You know is good for You and the whole world. I pray that we may become trees that always give fruit, for that one day You may be passing by, and reach out to nourish Your Precious Body...for the salvation of the world! Love you God! | from your brother in Christ our Lord,
adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse from online generator: Matthew 6:2–4
2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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