† Quote of the Day Quote of the Day
"It is not lengthy prayers, but generous deeds that touch God's heart." — St. Arnold Janssen Today's Meditation "Unless someone instructs us as adults, our mental prayer is likely to be a rambling monologue about our day or a list of petitions. It's no wonder that so few of us find joy in this type of prayer or persevere in it. The Contemplative Rosary can help us here. Simply put, we should not pray the Rosary instead of spending time in metal prayer alone. Instead, The Contemplative Rosary teaches us how to meditate on the powerful images and truths revealed by the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture, so we can then employ a similar meditation in our time of mental prayer. Such meditation is a favorite mental prayer of the saints." —Dan Burke and Connie Rossini, p.26 An excerpt from The Contemplative Rosary Daily Verse "Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground." — Ephesians 6:13 | St. Ursula Her 11000 Companions St. Ursula (4th c.) was a pious Christian princess from Britain, perhaps Wales. According to the 13th century Golden Legend she set sail and embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome with a large court of handmaids prior to settling in what is today western France, where she was to be joined in marriage to a local governor. Along her pilgrimage route she attracted many followers who were influenced by her holy example. On the return journey St. Ursula and her traveling maidens fell into the hands of the Huns, violent nomads from the East, who had invaded large swaths of Europe. St. Ursula and her company of virgins and other followers, which numbered 11,000, were tortured in an effort to have them renounce their faith. Steadfastly refusing, they were massacred in Cologne, Germany and buried together in a mass grave over which was built the Basilica of St. Ursula. Due to the varying accounts of her martyrdom and the difficulty of separating fact from legend, her feast day was suppressed in modern times. St. Ursula is the patroness of the Ursulines, a female religious order founded in 1535 by St. Angela Merici for the education of young girls. St. Ursula is also the patron of students, teachers, Catholic education, and of a holy death. Her feast day is October 21st. | Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 EPH 2:1-10 Brothers and sisters:
You were dead in your transgressions and sins
in which you once lived following the age of this world,
following the ruler of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.
All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh,
following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses,
and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.
But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them. Responsorial Psalm PS 100:1B-2, 3, 4AB, 4C-5 R. (3b) The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Give thanks to him; bless his name, for he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him. Alleluia MT 5:3 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
"Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
He replied to him,
"Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?"
Then he said to the crowd,
"Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one's life does not consist of possessions."
Then he told them a parable.
"There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, 'What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?'
And he said, 'This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!"'
But God said to him,
'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God."
| Daily Meditation: Luke 12:13-21 One's life does not consist of possessions. (Luke 12:15) Of all the tools we use to evaluate people, measuring them according to their wealth is one of the more dehumanizing ones. We even use terms like "net worth," as if money equals dignity! That's how it was in Jesus' day as well, and that's why he told this sobering parable. He wanted to shine a light on our misguided "possession obsession." The spiritual writer Fr. Henri Nouwen had this to say about the way we value people based on their wealth: "As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their 'right' place" (Life of the Beloved). Measuring people according to their wealth is tempting because it's simple. Numbers don't lie, so it's easy to use them as benchmarks of success. It's also tempting because we tend to equate wealth with happiness. But these measures actually degrade a person's dignity. It's unfair to reduce anyone, rich or poor, to numbers and an inventory of possessions. That tells us nothing about their inner life: their unique personality and gifts, their joys and hopes, their relationship with the Lord. Jesus didn't tell this parable to scold us. Rather, he wants to show us the breadth and depth of the life he created us for! He wants to tell us that we have a dignity and worth that can never be reduced to a balance sheet. Created in his Father's image, we have priceless gifts like a fathomless intellect, a vivid imagination, and an inherent ability to recognize—and thirst for—his unfailing love. When we grasp how great these gifts are, we begin to value "the immeasurable riches of his . . . kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7). And that kindness can bring us to our knees in awe and gratitude and worship. Today, ask the Lord to help you see your true worth and the worth of the people around you. Ask him to help you become more "rich in what matters to God" (Luke 12:21). "Jesus, please show me that you are my greatest treasure!" Ephesians 2:1-10
Psalm 100:1-5 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Click to hear Audio | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!"'
But God said to him,
'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God."......" end quote. | From Bishop Barron:
"An image that always comes to mind when I think of these things is the gorgeous firework that bursts open like a giant flower and then, in the twinkling of an eye, is gone forever. Everything is haunted by nonbeing. Everything, finally, is a bubble.
But this is not meant to depress us; it is meant to redirect our attention, precisely to the things that are "above," to the eternity of God" end quote.
From a Spanish reflection today:
"The greatest temptation of our day is to think that we can do nothing to solve the problems that people around us suffer. We need to ask ourselves: Jesus enriches us all with his poverty. What can I do for others? What do I want to do for them? Fr. Antonio Bueno Espinar O.P."
This morning I was traveling with some coworkers and I brought up the talk about social security, and those that quit to live off social security. The workers have no retirement plans and truthfully, I don't either.
And in conversation we said we heard that our nation's social security is dwindling and we may not have it when we are ready to retire.
So what is your plan for when you get old?
Are you prepared? Who will take care of you? Will you have money to take care of yourself? What's going to happen?
And what about the man that was prepared with huge silos and was ready to party it up for a while?
What about those that build a huge mansion by the time they retire?
What about those that are about to retire fully vested, and they pass away?
It happens more often than we'd like to admit.
Where is your treasure? What have you invested in all your life?
And what if money won't get you heaven?
What if the god of money is against our God the Father himself?
I am a business person. I have to always consider two things: risk, and investments. What is the best return on my investment?
What is the risk for investing in a certain decision?
There is risk in everything. But the best risk to take, if we are dealing with eternal things, is to risk everything for our Lord and our God.
Our Lord in this parable is asking us to retire unto Him.
Work all our lives and retire in Him, and perhaps we will want to work forever in His vineyard, once we see the reward that gratifies our creator, the very love of God, the eternal reward of such an endeavor, the risk well taken, the path less taken...to holiness, obedience, all things sacrificial love! |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Matthew 28:18–20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in1 the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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