†Quote of the Day
"If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes."
–St. Clement †Today's Meditation
"Prayer is greatly aided by fasting and watching and every kind of bodily chastisement. In this regard each of you must do what you can. Thus, the weaker will not hold back the stronger, and the stronger will not press the weaker. You owe your conscience to God. But to no one else do you owe anything more except that you love one another."
—St. Augustine, p. 143 An Excerpt From
Augustine Day by Day †Daily Verse
"To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing."
–Isaiah 40:25-26 |  click to read more | | Blessed Anna Maria Taigi Bl. Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837) was born in Siena, Italy, to a poor working class family. Her family later moved to Rome, and Anna took on various low-skill jobs to help with the family finances. She married a pious man with a bad temper, which helped her to grow in virtue, and together they had seven children. As a young wife and mother she discerned God calling her to renounce the vanities and worldliness that she was accustomed to. She began to give little care to fancy dress, and accepted God's grace more in her life. With her husband's consent she transformed their home into a sanctuary through which she would serve God. Although she was not wealthy, Anna would give her spare money to the poor and needy. She soon entered the Third Order of Trinitarians and grew in holiness. God transformed her into a mystic: she experienced ecstasies during prayer, and was given visions of the future and the state of other's souls which were shown to her in a miraculous golden globe of light over the course of forty-seven years. Many sought her out for spiritual advice as she attended her household duties. She refused special favors from benefactors, and instead lived a life of austerity, relying on God to provide for her daily needs. Anna Maria's life was marked with much suffering, which she joyfully embraced, and God used her as an instrument for many conversions. Her feast day is June 9th. | Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Tb 11:5-17 Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come.
When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father,
"Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!" Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father:
"I am certain that his eyes will be opened.
Smear the fish gall on them.
This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes;
then your father will again be able to see the light of day." Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him,
and said to him,
"Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!"
And she sobbed aloud. Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate.
Tobiah went up to him with the fish gall in his hand,
and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes.
"Courage, father," he said.
Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart.
Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit's eyes,
Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts. When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him and wept.
He exclaimed, "I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!"
Then he said: "Blessed be God,
and praised be his great name,
and blessed be all his holy angels.
May his holy name be praised
throughout all the ages,
Because it was he who scourged me,
and it is he who has had mercy on me.
Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!" Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice
for everything that had happened.
Tobiah told his father that
the Lord God had granted him a successful journey;
that he had brought back the money;
and that he had married Raguel's daughter Sarah,
who would arrive shortly,
for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh. Tobit and Anna rejoiced
and went out to the gate of Nineveh
to meet their daughter-in-law.
When the people of Nineveh saw Tobit walking along briskly,
with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.
Before them all Tobit proclaimed
how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes.
When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah,
he greeted her: "Welcome, my daughter!
Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter!
Blessed is your father, and blessed is my son Tobiah,
and blessed are you, daughter!
Welcome to your home with blessing and joy.
Come in, daughter!"
That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh. Responsorial Psalm Ps 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, through all generations! Alleluia.
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 14:23 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 12:35-37 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
"How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord,
'Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'lord';
so how is he his son?"
The great crowd heard this with delight. | Daily Meditation: Tobit 11:5-17 Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice for everything that had happened. (Tobit 11:15) Imagine two screens in front of you, one above the other. On the lower screen, you see your life as it is now, including your struggles. But when you lift your eyes to the second screen, you see another picture: a God who sees you, knows what you are going through, and is working out a way to help you. We can look at Tobit's story this way. On the lower screen would be his exile, the loss of his property, his blindness, and his son's long absence. On the second screen, we would see God's angel, Raphael, working to bring healing and restoration. Today's first reading reveals the happy ending of this story, with Tobit "rejoicing and praising God with full voice for everything that had happened" (Tobit 11:15). But the truth is that God saw Tobit the whole time. He saw his sorrow, his losses, and his pain as he endured all these trials. So why didn't God help Tobit sooner? Perhaps because despite Tobit's physical blindness, these difficulties gave him the chance to develop his spiritual sight. Through it all, Tobit learned to trust that God had a plan for his life and that he would bring something good out of the difficulties, even when it didn't seem like it at the time. And so Tobit learned to persevere. We can develop the gift of spiritual sight as well. When we are waiting for a resolution to some difficulty, we can lift up our eyes to see the bigger picture of God's never-ending love and care for us. We may be tempted to think that God has forgotten us or doesn't hear our prayers. But our faith tells us that God does see us, and he is using difficult situations to deepen our trust in him and strengthen our faith in his goodness. Whatever long-held hope you have—whether for the restoration of a relationship, a physical healing, or the resolution of some circumstance—lift up your eyes to that second screen today. Try to detect the Spirit's presence as he walks alongside you. Trust that he is working for your good, and praise him for his faithfulness. "Lord God, help me to love and trust you even as I wait for your plan to unfold in my life." Psalm 146:1-2, 6-10
Mark 12:35-37 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"Blessed be God, and praised be his great name,
and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be praised throughout all the ages, Because it was he who scourged me, and it is he who has had mercy on me.
Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!"
end of verse. So what is it like to lose sight? What is it like to lose the light of day? Because this is a package deal. Once you lose the sun, or the Son of God, then, you lose both, and then there is darkness, and where there is no light, there is no life. I remember a near death experience story of a person who experienced what he thought was hell, and at the barren deserts he thought was somewhere like hell, he noticed what was really missing too, the sounds of life, the signs of life as well, for there were no plants, no birds to fill the air with sights and sounds that are meant to give us true joy in our lives.
So what is it like to regain your sight? Life and light enters in at the same time. Light makes things happen. And God our Father is the source of all things. Therefore, as we live, we have so much to be grateful for. Let us rejoice in the day of reuniting with our loved ones in the light. And this begins now, with our very lives. | We pray today:
"Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live. Praise the Lord, my soul! | In the Gospel today we heard:
"David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.'
David himself calls him 'lord'; so how is he his son?"
The great crowd heard this with delight."
end of verse. | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus quotes a Psalm where David calls him Lord. It calls to mind a question: Do you also recognize Jesus as Lord?
Is Christ commanding your life in every detail? Is he the Lord of your family life? Of your recreational life? Of your professional life? Is he the Lord of every room in your house, including the bedroom? Does your sexuality belong to him? Do your friendships serve his purpose? Are you totally given over to him, under his lordship?
When we surrender to the path of love that he has laid out for us, our lives become infinitely lighter, easier, and more joyful, for we are moving with the divine purpose. We will have moved out of what Paul calls the way of "the flesh" and into the way of "the Spirit."
Flesh refers here not to the body as such but to sin. When you are caught up in patterns of self-regard and self-protection, life becomes a burden, and you find yourself taking up the weapons of war all the time. But when you recognize Jesus as Lord, you can let all of that go." End Quote Bishop Barron.
Originally, what Bishop Barron said was what I was going to say, so that is the Holy Spirit working already. But isn't it confounding that the words of our Lord proved He was the lineage of King David, as Lord Himself? And still, these people did not want Him as their King, their Lord. And so, yes, we have to consider, who or what is Lord of your life? I have a co-worker that claims he has left his love relationship with a narcissistic person. The person is addicted. And to me, a person that is addicted is afflicted. All the stories he says of her, they just remind me of another person I know that is locked up in addictions and can't get out. It's really its own pandemic, all the folks with addictions. But how did drugs (and alcohol is a drug too), how did drugs become their lord? And to me, drugs and be related to sin in the Spirit. How does sin become lord of your life? It all boils down to the permissions and loves and fantasies and desires that one can get locked into, because evil spirits do not want to let go, they want to live in you until you die. But do you not remember Scripture in which our Lord says He and the Father want to come be with you and dwell within you?
He does! He does want to be your Lord! I am attempting to fulfill a promise of gratitude with our Lord, by having an adoration hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, that is not exposed. Because He is there, and He is worthy. He is locked up, and alone. And He awaits. How hard it is to visit a lonely locked up person! Have you done it? I've tried many times to visit prisoners, and it takes work! I've taken classes to visit federal inmates, and other classes for state prisons, and the real obstacle to visit them? There is no time! And so I try to visit the lonely people in the nursing homes, once a week, and that is easier, but that too is hard as well. It is hard on many fronts. I visit them, and they smile, so happy to see you, just like many prisoners. But it is hard. Nursing home people are sickly, suffering, mentally and physically. And many are left there to die, as hard as that may sound. And prisoners, because they are so locked up in addictions and their minds are smashed, they are hard to visit too, and that is hard. But you come fighting to visit them a few minutes, and it changes you for the better, you see a light like never before.
And I said all of this to relate what it is like to visit the Lord, in the Blessed Sacrament, locked up, and alone, there in His purest form on earth; blood, body, soul, and divinity.
I promised our Lord I'd attempt to do this one hour a month, of adoration and it's like His heart was touched, and it brings tears to my eyes, because it's like He said "really? You would actually do that?". Like a lonely person that gets a visit.
A blind man I visit is so happy to have visit. I almost hate going because I know he won't stop talking so I won't leave. Even an hour doesn't seem to be enough.
"The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand."
Have you got somewhere better to be? Than with the Love of life? Let's pray:
Lord, if only I could love you as I should. O help us love Thee more and more! This I adore and I implore! |  Hear it click | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 9:7–8 But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
