† Quote of the Day "Many people [in authority] oppose us, persecute us, and would like even to destroy us, but we must be patient. As long as their commands are not against our conscience, let us obey them, but when the case is otherwise, let us uphold the rights of God and of the Church, for those are superior to all earthly authority." — St. John Bosco Today's Meditation "With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence: 'For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How would anything have endured, if you had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living' (Wisdom 11:24-26)." —The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 301 An excerpt from Catechism of the Catholic Church Daily Verse "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you." — Deuteronomy 31:6 | St. Alphonsus Liguori St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787) was born near Naples, the eldest of eight children of a noble family. He became a lawyer after receiving doctorates in canon and civil law at the age of 16. For many years he was successful in practicing law, but grew disenchanted with the profession. After losing a case for the first time at the age of 27 after eight years of practicing the law, he discerned a call to enter the seminary and became a priest. Alphonsus spent the early years of his priesthood ministering to homeless and marginalized youth, and through this work eventually founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, which aimed to preach in city slums. He was known best for his sermons, especially his ability to convert those who were estranged from the faith, and for his great works in moral and spiritual theology. He was a practical and prudent theologian, avoiding the extremes of being too rigid and legalistic on the one hand, and too lax on the other, despite the fact that he struggled with scrupulosity in his personal life. He suffered much from arthritis in his old age, his neck becoming so bent that his chin left an open sore on his chest. His most famous written works were on the Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament. For his work in moral theology he was declared a Doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of moral theologians, vocations, arthritis sufferers, and those who struggle with scrupulosity. St. Alphonsus Ligouri's feast day is August 1st. | Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jer 26:1-9 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim,
son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this message came from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
Stand in the court of the house of the LORD
and speak to the people of all the cities of Judah
who come to worship in the house of the LORD;
whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.
Perhaps they will listen and turn back,
each from his evil way,
so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them
for their evil deeds.
Say to them: Thus says the LORD:
If you disobey me,
not living according to the law I placed before you
and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,
I will treat this house like Shiloh,
and make this the city to which all the nations of the earth
shall refer when cursing another. Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people
heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.
When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
"You must be put to death!
Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD:
'This house shall be like Shiloh,' and
'This city shall be desolate and deserted'?"
And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. Responsorial Psalm PS 69:5, 8-10, 14
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Those outnumber the hairs of my head
who hate me without cause.
Too many for my strength
are they who wrongfully are my enemies.
Must I restore what I did not steal?
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Since for your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother's sons,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me. Alleluia 1 Pt 1:25 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of the Lord remains forever;
this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 13:54-58 Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
"Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?"
And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and in his own house."
And he did not work many mighty deeds there
because of their lack of faith. | Daily Meditation: Matthew 13:54-58 Where did this man get such wisdom? (Matthew 13:54) The people of Nazareth knew Jesus. How could they not? He had grown up right in front of them. But when he returned there to preach and heal, his neighbors' memories clashed with what they saw and heard. Who did Jesus think he was? He was just a carpenter, not a religious leader! Jesus was so familiar to them that they stopped seeing him. Who are the people most familiar to you? Your immediate family? Spouses, parents, children, brothers, sisters—these are the people God has given us to love. And yet we can sometimes find it easier to treat strangers better than our own family. Familiar people like family aren't new and exciting, so we may not give them the close attention they deserve. As a result, we stop seeing them. We lose sight of all the unique and special characteristics that make them so lovable—and we lose sight of all the ways they reveal the love and presence of God. Remember that your family members, even the ones you have a hard time loving, are made in God's image. He has planted his goodness and truth in them. So when you focus on their positive, God-given talents and characteristics and not just their faults, you'll be better able to see Christ in them. Jesus has told us, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). Sometimes "the least" are also the most familiar, the ones we spend "the least" time considering. But when we take the time to see them, the Holy Spirit will open our hearts as well as our eyes. He may even show us a few things about them that may surprise us. When the people of Nazareth heard Jesus preach, they asked, "Where did this man get such wisdom?" (Matthew 13:54). Maybe, if they had been paying attention while he was growing up around them, they wouldn't have had to ask that question. The same is true for us. The more we see Christ in the people closest to us, the more open we will be to hearing him speaking to us through them. Just imagine how good that will be! "Jesus, open my eyes so that I can see you in my closest family members!" Jeremiah 26:1-9
Psalm 69:5, 8-10, 14 |  Hear AI Read it to you. Updated 7/10/24 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
"Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?"
And they took offense at him......" end quote. | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, today, in Matthew's account of the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth, Christ refers to himself as a prophet.
In the Old Testament tradition, the prophet is a religious visionary and truth-teller. The great Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel said that the prophet is someone who feels the feelings of God and then speaks out of that experience. He stubbornly reads the world through the lens of the word of God and speaks the divine truth. And this mission implies opposition, confrontation, and critique, since the keepers of worldly order are frequently looking through other lenses and listening to other words.
But Jesus is much more than one more prophet in a long line of prophets, one more speaker of the divine truth, one more reader of the divine word. Jesus is the Word made flesh; he is the Divine Truth in person......." end quote Bishop Barron.
A quick look up at the meaning of "familiarity breeds contempt" says it is a phrase of familiarity, proverb, that means "extensive knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it."
How can we avoid such an atrocity? The world has lost the respect of the Father at all levels. Women, if you don't know, if you enter prisons in ministry and such, you will see how men operate at the fundamental and jungle law level...it is all about respect, to survive.
Yet, we have lost the respect of the men, watch how the media portrays a dad in sitcoms, watch how the women's liberation treats men. We men have been belittled. Fathers, dads, are taking back seats in raising families if they are even given a chance at helping raise the family outside of bringing home a paycheck, in which chase, the utilitarianism effect is in full bloom. What does that mean? Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. It is base and debased, and it is the fundamentals of communists, which are ruled by dictators, which are ruled by themselves, and godless. How did we get there from here?
Why are fathers not admired and respected? Many of them have been lost, drugs, infected with the demon of lust, and all respect goes out the door when a man is lost, he is trashed, thrown out.
And then, a dark wall is formed between the father and his family.
I have a godson that says his family won't let him see his father. They lock him out, he cannot physically be with them, and division is now the case between them. This is what happens when we become better dividers than uniters. It is sad, and hard, because my godson has turned from dark to light after his conversion into our Catholic Faith. This is what happens when God our Father, Love is not the center of our lives. We block Him out and dismiss all of his testimony. The same with any of us who want to speak to others about God yet they claim they know us and our past, as if that is who we are today and forever?
I was reading up on a man that I remembered hearing his story on youtube, his name is Zachary King, a former witch, wizard that was heavily into the occult. He said a lady gave him a miraculous medal of our Lady which he planned to destroy, but he had a vision that led him to conversion to Christ and to the Blessed Sacrament when He saw our Lord during the consecration at Mass. Now he lives for Christ with his dark past that he says needs to be combated. As I looked him up, there are tons of naysayers, many that ridicule his testimony, or look at him with funny eyes and doubts. He has opened an apostolate called all saints ministry, and his site says: "After 26 years actively devoted to satan's agendas he experienced an instant and miraculous conversion through The Blessed Mother. She took him by the hand and led him to her Son... Zachary finally felt for the first time joy, love and peace. From that point on he has committed himself to exposing the traps and pitfalls that the devil lays in our paths and declaring Jesus' Divine Mercy in his life. It is never too late, you cannot sell your soul.."
So who do you believe when it comes to God stuff?
I'll tell you who to believe, believe God! Speak with Him. Ask the Holy Spirit of God to guide you and ask Jesus into your life always, not just once, but always. I do it at Holy Mass, and I invite Him in all situations in life beyond.
Jesus walked among family and friends and they all dismissed him and lost respect for him and some even had him hung on a cross, beaten to death almost with torture tools.
How are you losing faith and love for God?
Watch how you pray. Watch if your prayers are insipid, with a loss for flavor. Watch how you don't desire to do God stuff anymore. Watch how that loss of love and respect for God has happened in your life. Watch and be aware. You have been hypnotized to waste your life away with shiny and lustful and pleasurable things in life like a debased animal that runs by senses and not by the Spirit of God.
How can we get back on track to a real love of God?
Just do it. Obedience will allow us to stay in the rails that guide our lives through the ups and downs of life. It is not nice sometimes but sometimes it is. But with God, everything is good. Even what we claim is not good, like a tortured Son of God on the cross. And who are we other than the very body of Christ today.
If someone approaches you with God things, good things, then be opened. Pray right then and there, "I am open,come into my life Jesus". Let us adore Him today, it is the 1st Friday of the Month. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 32:8 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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