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Quote of the Day
"If then we have angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also." — St. John Chrysostom Today's Meditation
"I will first, dearest daughter, speak to thee of the dignity of priests, having placed them where they are through My goodness, over and above the general love which I have had to My creatures, creating you in My image and likeness and re-creating you all to the life of grace in the Blood of My Only-begotten Son, whence you have arrived at such excellence, through the union which I made of My Deity with human nature; so that in this you have greater dignity and excellence than the angels, for I took your human nature and not that of the angels. Wherefore, as I have said to you, I, God, have become man, and man has become God by the union of My Divine Nature with your human nature. This greatness is given in general to all rational creatures, but, among these I have especially chosen My ministers for the sake of your salvation, so that, through them, the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb, My Only-begotten Son, may be administered to you." —St. Catherine Of Siena, p. 137-138
An excerpt from Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena Daily Verse "For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."" — Isaiah 30:15a | St. Rosalia St. Rosalia (1130–1166 A.D.) was born to a wealthy and noble Norman family, descendants of Charlemagne who had migrated to Sicily. From a young age Rosalia was strongly drawn to Christ, which caused her to leave her life of wealth and comfort to follow Him in complete solitude as a hermitess. Tradition holds that St. Rosalia was led by two angels to a cave near Palermo where she spent the rest of her life in prayer, complete solitude, and works of penance. On the cave wall she wrote "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ." Centuries later, when a plague was ravaging Palermo, her relics were discovered in the cave by a hunter to whom she had appeared in order to direct him to their location. Rosalia instructed the hunter to have her relics carried in procession three times around the city, after which the plague ceased. St. Rosalia was credited with saving the city, and a sanctuary was erected in her cave which remains a pilgrimage site to this day. St. Rosalia is the patron of Palermo and Sicily, Italy. Her feast day is September 4th. | Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 COR 3:1-9 Brothers and sisters,
I could not talk to you as spiritual people,
but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.
I fed you milk, not solid food,
because you were unable to take it.
Indeed, you are still not able, even now,
for you are still of the flesh.
While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,
are you not of the flesh, and walking
according to the manner of man?
Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another,
"I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men?
What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul?
Ministers through whom you became believers,
just as the Lord assigned each one.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who causes the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one,
and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.
For we are God's co-workers;
you are God's field, God's building. Responsorial Psalm PS 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21 R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
From his fixed throne he beholds
all who dwell on the earth,
He who fashioned the heart of each,
he who knows all their works.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own. Alleluia LK 4:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 4:38-44 After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God."
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
| Daily Meditation: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 God caused the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6) By "human standards," the believers in Corinth weren't especially "wise" or "noble" or "powerful" (1 Corinthians 1:26). But despite their lower standing, they had become "enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge" (1:5). St. Paul went so far as to say they were "not lacking in any spiritual gift"—even though they weren't always very wise in how they were exercising those gifts (1:7, emphasis added). Clearly, not all was well. It seems that the Corinthians had lost sight of one vital truth: "God caused the growth" that they were experiencing (1 Corinthians 3:6). Sure, Paul had "planted" the seed of faith in them, and Apollos had "watered" that seed (3:6). Sure, they themselves were diligent in their faith. But neither Paul nor Apollos—or any of them—could take full credit. Any growth in the Spirit they were experiencing came about because they had cooperated with the Lord, not because any one person had made it happen. This same truth applies to you. You might be a lifelong, committed believer or someone who is just getting to know the Lord—or anywhere in between. But wherever you are, God's role is the same: he is meeting you where you are and causing you to grow in faith. It's his living, creative, powerful presence within you that brings about the growth you experience, both in your relationship with him and in your ability to serve him. Acknowledging God as the source of your growth takes a good deal of pressure off yourself! Instead of relying solely on your own efforts, you can trust that God will do more than you could ever accomplish on your own. All he asks is that you put forth your best effort to stay close to him and to do his will; he will do the rest. So if you ever feel that you are struggling to follow Jesus, take heart! Christ is in you, and he can do so much more than you could ever ask for or imagine! "Jesus, help me to trust that you will never stop deepening my faith as I keep turning to you." Psalm 33:12-15, 20-21
Luke 4:38-44 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God."
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place........"_ end quote. | From Bishop Barron: "Friends, in our Gospel today, we see Jesus in action. He is always hurrying from place to place, on the go. Today, Luke gives us a sort of "day in the life" of Jesus. And it is quite a day! Our Gospel opens just after the dramatic expulsion of a demon in the Capernaum synagogue. And after entering the house of Simon, Jesus cures his mother-in-law, and then the entire town comes to his door. Jesus spends the whole evening curing presumably hundreds who were variously afflicted.
In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, in an attempt to make Jesus more palatable to rationalists and "realists," theologians put great stress on Jesus' preaching, especially his ethical teaching. But this is not the Jesus that Luke presents. Rather, he is a healer—Soter, rendered in Latin as salvator, which just means "the bearer of the salus" or health. Jesus is portrayed as a healer, a savior. In him, divinity and humanity have come together; in him, the divine life and divine power are breaking through. God's deepest intentions for his beloved creatures appears—what God plans for us in the kingdom to come is now historically anticipated. ." end quote Bishop Barron.
Our Lord spent his ministry years preaching and healing. Perhaps He had started since He was a boy, like the time His parents lost Him and found Him basically preaching and teaching in a temple.
As we grow older, we find out that healing is super important. We all need some kind of healing, and the Holy Church provides healing opportunities. We have healing sacraments. They heal the soul and they heal the body. Did you know that most physical maladies could be healed with spiritual healing? We are not just made of flesh!
This is why our Lord comes to reveal Himself in healing, so that we may know that He is the Lord of the core of our being, our souls that animate our bodies and give life to the body.
The world is sick, but it does not know it. We have the remedy, if only the world would repent and take of the medicine of God, so that we might live in grace.
Are you amazed? Have you ever experienced healing? Our hearts need healing too.
Yesterday I helped at a funeral, a woman, a mother, her children hurt.
Yesterday night I helped lead a rosary vigil for another mother, and I had to witness more adult children in tears.
Today is that funeral, for Nora, a woman who had recently gave her life to the service of the Lord in the Cursillo world, very happy, very willing to help preach and spread the gospel. I told her children to follow her to Heaven, to pick up where she left off on her first steps.
And tomorrow, another lady will be buried and I was asked to help there too.
What will happen, is a hurt heart. A mother, a center point of life, that will now need to be filled, this hole in the heart I told them will need to be filled now with God our Father. And this is now our duty, as our Lord said before ascending into Heaven, that we are to preach to all nations and baptize all in the Holy Trinity.
The church is a healing place for sinners that are broken by the world.
The Church needs you, and you need to be the Church.
We are together, the Body of Christ, the very sustenance of the altar, the Holy Eucharist. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 16:19 [Proverbs 16] 19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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