†Saint Quote
"You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love."
— St. Catherine of Siena † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"We are the holy Church. But I do not say 'we' as though to indicate only we who are here, you who have just been listening to me. I mean all of us who are here and by the grace of God faithful Christians in this church, that is, in this city; all those in this region, in this province, across the sea, all those in the whole world. Such is the Catholic Church, our true mother, the true spouse of so great a husband."
— St. Augustine, p. 87
AN EXCERPT FROM
Augustine Day by Day † VERSE OF THE DAY
"When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."
Luke 12:11-12 |  click to read more | | ST. ANNE & ST. JOACHIM St. Anne and St. Joachim (1st c. B.C.) are the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the maternal grandparents of Jesus. Their names have been preserved in Church tradition since the second century, although little is known of their lives. It is believed that St. Joachim and St. Anne, although wealthy, lived a devout and simple life of voluntary poverty, chastity, and generosity to the poor. According to legend, after long years of suffering from infertility and praying for a child, Joachim and Anne were each separately visited by an angel in their old age, who announced that they would give birth to a very special child. Their moment of joy at this happy news is depicted with their embrace and kiss at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. It was from their holy and chaste marriage that the Immaculate Conception was brought into the world. According to tradition, when the Child Mary was three years old, they dedicated her to God and presented her to live in the Jerusalem temple until the time of her betrothal to St. Joseph. St. Anne is the patroness of unmarried women, wives, expectant mothers, pregnancy, women in labor, grandmothers, childless couples, and against poverty and sterility. Women praying to meet their future spouse often turn to St. Anne. St. Joachim is the patron of fathers and grandfathers. Their feast day is July 26th. | Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary Lectionary: 401
Reading I Ex 32:15-24, 30-34 Moses turned and came down the mountain
with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,
tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;
tablets that were made by God,
having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.
Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,
he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."
But Moses answered, "It does not sound like cries of victory,
nor does it sound like cries of defeat;
the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry."
As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.
With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down
and broke them on the base of the mountain.
Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire
and then ground it down to powder,
which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink. Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you
that you should lead them into so grave a sin?"
Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry.
You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.
They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader;
as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has happened to him.'
So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.'
They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out." On the next day Moses said to the people,
"You have committed a grave sin.
I will go up to the LORD, then;
perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."
So Moses went back to the LORD and said,
"Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin
in making a god of gold for themselves!
If you would only forgive their sin!
If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."
The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me
will I strike out of my book.
Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.
My angel will go before you.
When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." Responsorial Psalm 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 R. (1a) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Then he spoke of exterminating them, but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Alleluia Jas 1:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. | Daily Meditation: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 Perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin. (Exodus 32:30) Someone appealing to God on behalf of sinners. Someone interceding for a guilty people. It sounds like Jesus, doesn't it? In fact, this is how today's first reading describes Moses, even as it foreshadows Jesus and what he would accomplish when he died and rose from the dead for us. So let's take a closer look at Moses' role as intercessor to see what we can learn about Jesus. When the people of Israel made the golden calf and bowed down in worship before it, they essentially cut themselves off from God. They chose a pagan idol over the unseen God who had just released them from slavery. Their break with God was so clear that they couldn't do anything on their own to bridge the gap they had created. So Moses chose to act as the people's representative before God and appealed to him on their behalf. Similarly, when we were cut off from God because of our sin, Jesus chose to become man so that he could appeal to God and restore us to friendship with him. Moses didn't mince words when he spoke to God about Israel's "grave sin" (Exodus 32:31). Instead of trying to justify it, he acknowledged it and asked God to show mercy. So too Jesus accepted the full brunt of our sin. He did not sugarcoat or excuse our actions but appealed to his Father's mercy. Finally, Moses himself hadn't worshipped the golden calf, but he humbly approached God on behalf of those who did. He joined himself to his people in their cry for mercy and offered to let God "strike [him] out of the book that you have written" (Exodus 32:32). Jesus, though blameless, freely carried the weight of our sin and offered himself on our behalf. Let this sink in. Moses "saved" Israel when they had broken their relationship with God. Jesus is the Savior of all humanity. He has won an even greater salvation, an eternal salvation for everyone. And he did it for you. "Thank you, Jesus, for all that you did to save me!" Psalm 106:19-23
Matthew 13:31-35 |  Listen to 2cents | my2cents:
The people got tired of waiting for Moses...(and God) and so they demanded their own god, out of their own material beings. Moses finds them in a state of upheaval. He reproaches them. He returns to God asking for Mercy and we hear:
"The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me
will I strike out of my book.
Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.
My angel will go before you.
When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." | We pray today: "Then he spoke of exterminating them, but Moses, his chosen one, Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destructive wrath. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good."
Why extermination? Because they chose another god, an extreme evil in His eyes, because of the absurdity of choosing death, and the cow they came up with represented Ba'al, or Molech, the gods that demanded human sacrifice at one point, especially children, innocence, slaughtered...the very children of God!! | Our Lord speaks:
""The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." | There are many things that can come to one's mind when reading this Scripture. In a group, I'd ask you right now "my child, what did this say to you? What did you get out of it?"
And your answer coupled with my answer would reveal something greater, as the illumination is compounded. And if there were 3 of us, it would triple the light of illumination. And so, the mustard seed grows and grows, as the light shows and flows, more and more.
The point is not all about the flourishing of life that ensues, but in the beginning.
In the beginning there was God, the Word, and the Word became planted in the earth, and the world began to see a tree, and that tree grows and grows until this day, before your very eyes, giving fruit, through you. Let us pray:
Lord, You allowed Yourself to be planted, in the earth, and thus, in my heart, and thus, still lives this very day.
Thank You for such a gift of flourishing life. I pray that I too continue to bear fruit, so long as I remain in the Vine of Your heart, the flesh of Your flesh, the blood of Your blood, eternally alive...for the good of the world! | from your brother in Christ,
Adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse from online generator: Galatians 3:24–26 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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