† Quote of the Day "Let us stand fast in what is right, and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: 'O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.'" — St. Boniface Today's Meditation "Teresa [of Avila] is as insistent as [St. John of the Cross] that there is no prayer development unless it be accompanied by purification from faults. Given what a love communion with utter Purity demands, one could not conceive the matter to be otherwise: only the pure can commune deeply with the all-pure One. Obvious as this is to the saint, the lesser of us have difficulty in understanding that we have many defects that need to be rooted out. ... In working actively at rooting out what is amiss, we are to be guided by the principles of revelation, not by a naturalistic common sense. There are people, says Teresa, who desire penance that they may serve God the better, but they are overly careful about not injuring their health. 'You need never fear that they will kill themselves . . . their love is not yet ardent enough to overwhelm their reason.' Going on 'at a snail's pace . . . we shall never get to the end of the road . . . So for the love of the Lord, let us make a real effort.'" —Fr. Thomas Dubay, p. 113 An excerpt from Fire Within Daily Verse "Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus." — Philippians 2:3-5 | St. Boniface St. Boniface (d. 754 A.D.) was born to a noble Christian family in Devonshire, England. He became a Benedictine monk and devoted his life to the evangelization of the pagan Germanic tribes in what is now Germany. He went there at the request of Pope Gregory II in 719 A.D. and systematically opened up the vast tracks of wilderness to the Gospel, building on the work of the earlier Irish missionaries. St. Boniface organized the Catholic Church in Germany, instructed the faithful, and converted the pagans. He became the bishop of Mainz and founded or restored many dioceses. Working alongside him as evangelists were his nephews and niece, St. Willibald, St. Winebald, and St. Walburga, who all came from England to Germany to assist him. Legend has it that at Christmastime he chopped down a large tree which was worshiped as a god and used in child sacrifice, and the local pagans converted to Christianity as a result. Instead of worshiping the tree, St. Boniface gave them a smaller evergreen tree as a symbol of eternal life in Christ, the origin of the Christmas tree tradition. He was martyred for his faith along with 52 others as he read the Scriptures on Pentecost Sunday. St. Boniface profoundly influenced the course of German history in the Middle Ages and helped to make it a Christian nation. For his missionary work he is known as the "Apostle of Germany." St. Boniface is the patron of tailors, brewers, and Germany. His feast day is June 5th.
Find a devotional for this saint | Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr Reading 1 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day. Responsorial Psalm Ps 123:1b-2ab, 2cdef R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes. Alleluia Jn 11:25a, 26 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 12:18-27 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled."
| Daily Meditation: 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 Stir into flame the gift of God that you have. (2 Timothy 1:6) Have you ever built a campfire on a chilly evening? Its flames almost naturally draw people together so they can enjoy the light and warmth. Sometimes, though, the flames die down, the embers begin to smolder, and a chill sets in. That's when it's time to take St. Paul's words to heart: to shake the dust from the coals and "stir [the fire] into flame" (2 Timothy 1:6). Today we hear Paul apply these words to the spiritual fire in the heart of his "dear child," Timothy (2 Timothy 1:2). Years earlier, Paul had laid hands upon Timothy and set him apart as a leader of the church in Ephesus. Now Paul writes to him from a prison cell and reminds Timothy of the fire of the Spirit dwelling within him. And he urges him not only to remember it but to set it ablaze once again. Paul may have been concerned that the burdens of leadership and the challenges of discipleship had caused Timothy to grow weary. So he exhorts Timothy to rouse the gift he already has. Why? So that the fire of God could blaze brightly through him and enable him to bring the light of Christ to the people of Ephesus. Like Timothy, you also have the "gift of God" dwelling within you (2 Timothy 1:6). At your Baptism, a priest or deacon laid hands on you, poured water over you, and handed your parents a lighted candle. "Receive the light of Christ," he said. "This light is entrusted to you to keep burning brightly." What an amazing gift! The fire of the Spirit came to live in your heart. And what an awesome responsibility! As St. John Chrysostom has said, it lies within our power to kindle or extinguish this fire. The Spirit is always with you. But like that smoldering campfire, sometimes it needs stirring. You can rekindle your flame by shaking off the ash—by repenting and turning away from sin. You can stoke the embers by reading the word of God and letting it move you to walk in God's ways. Like bellows, you can bring oxygen to the fire by opening your heart to God's grace as you pray. The Spirit will bless your efforts so that your flame burns brightly before everyone around you. "Help me, Lord, to stir up the gift of your Spirit!" Psalm 123:1-2
Mark 12:18-27 |  HEAR it read by AI | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled." ......" end quote. | A couple of days ago, I heard a story of a man that flipped his car over with his family inside. He died and his wife and one of his two kids died too. He said he had out of body experience and saw his wife in the afterlife and seeing she would never come back told him that he needed to come back to not leave the other child a complete orphan. He had a long recovery and someone joked telling him "so you mean your wife kicked you out of Heaven?".
There's a couple of things wrong with the picture in his story.
First, we cannot know he was actually in Heaven with his wife, and second, you cannot have a wife in heaven! There is a state of the body that protestants do not agree or many care to see, that when we die, there is a time before we meet our maker, safe to say, our Lord Jesus for our judgement. There is no Heaven and then getting kicked out, and even at that, the only one that kicks out is our Lord God.
I digress. Today, our Lord assures us that we are not married folks continuing our lives after we die. Life on earth ends. We are not bound by the Sacrament, but our hearts bind us together forever. And this is what our Lord is aiming at....straight at the heart.
The life as we know it on earth is not the life we do not know of in Heaven. Some people have had a near death experience, some even state they have seen Heaven. I have not had that but a vision once, but I cannot tell you where I was at the moment, I can only assume it was the celestial magnificence of God's realms.
Once my wife asked me the same question, if we would be married after we passed and I reminded her of today's Scripture. God said we will be like angels. Angels are other creations, but we will be like them. Angels are actually phenomenal creations with a whole other purpose of created beings. But we will be like them, phenomenal. We will have super capabilities, to see and hear like no other. We will be able to connect and communicate in ways we can only try to imagine. Is that exciting? To us it is strange. But compared to living on earth, it will feel totally better and more free. And wouldn't you like to be free from what is weighing us down? What is drowning us? What is drowning our faith?
I like a quote we read today, about being able to have a better life of holy virtue, in that it is connected with purity and sacrifice.
I want to say, I can attest to that. The more free from sin, the more I am able to connect not only with God, but with you and everyone else. It is a more clear channel of peace and grace.
Is it a super power? No. It is a state of life that God calls us to more and more. Sacred Heart of JESUS be all of my love...forever. |  Click for Audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 115:3 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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