† Saint Quote:“Never will we understand the value of time better than when our last hour is at hand.” -St. Arnold Janssen Today’s Meditation"This God of all goodness has made those things easy which are common and necessary in the order of nature, such as breathing, eating, and sleeping. No less necessary in the supernatural order are love and fidelity, therefore it must needs be that the difficulty of acquiring them is by no means so great as is generally represented. Review your life. Is it not composed of innumerable actions of very little importance? Well, God is quite satisfied with these. They are the share that the soul must take in the work of its perfection." —Jean-Pierre de Caussade, p. 7
An excerpt from Abandonment to Divine Providence Daily VerseHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.' -Isaiah 52:7
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EWTN Daily Saint
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St Junipero SerraSt. Junipero Serra (1713 - 1784) was born to a farming family on the Spanish island of Majorca. He was baptized the same day he was born, and was later sent to be educated by the Franciscans. In 1730 he joined the Franciscans and was ordained to the priesthood. St. Junipero was considered brilliant by his peers; he was well-trained in philosophy and theology, and taught at the university. In 1750 he traveled to the New World and began ministering to the people of Mexico City. In 1768 he moved north and began working in the Californian missions. As a result of his tireless missionary efforts, he is largely responsible for the spread of Catholicism along the western coast of the United States—as testified by the many Californian cities with Spanish Christian names. He founded the first nine of twenty-one Catholic missions that spread along the California coast. He converted thousands of Native Americans to the Christian faith and taught them new methods of agriculture, animal husbandry, and craftsmanship. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 71. The Native Americans he ministered wept at his death out of their love for him. Junipero Serra was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988 and canonized by Pope Francis during his trip to the United States in 2015, the first canonization Mass to ever take place on American soil. His feast day is July 1st.
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Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 379 Reading 1Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,
be with you as you claim!
Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the gate;
Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,
will have pity on the remnant of Joseph.I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the LORD,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
Your cereal offerings I will not accept,
nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.
Away with your noisy songs!
I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings,
then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream. Responsorial PsalmPsalm 50:7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17 R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Hear, my people, and I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you;
God, your God, am I.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“For mine are all the animals of the forests,
beasts by the thousand on my mountains.
I know all the birds of the air,
and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“If I were hungry, I should not tell you,
for mine are the world and its fullness.
Do I eat the flesh of strong bulls,
or is the blood of goats my drink?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God. AlleluiaJames 1:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. GospelMatthew 8:28-34 When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes,
two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him.
They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.
The demons pleaded with him,
“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
And he said to them, “Go then!”
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
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Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ!
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From Word Among Us WAU.org
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Daily Meditation: Amos 5:14-15, 21-24Seek good and not evil, that you may live. (Amos 5:14) The Israelites thought they were doing well, especially since they were performing the prescribed worship of the Lord. But their worship wasn’t having much effect on their hearts: the rich continued to oppress the poor as injustice grew in the land. So God sent his prophet Amos to tell them that their ceremonies were not acceptable if, at the same time, they were treating their neighbors unfairly. Loving God necessarily meant loving their neighbor. “Seek good and not evil,” Amos urged, “that you may live” (5:14). These words might remind us of a conversation between Jesus and a scribe in which Jesus says that if the scribe loves God and his neighbor, he “will live” (Luke 10:28). It’s as if Jesus is deliberately quoting Amos’ call to seek good, “that you may live” (Amos 5:14)! That you may live. We may be trying to do the right things, but are we doing the things that will help us live? The things that will bring us joy and purpose in this life and with God in the next? God is calling us to “seek good.” He is calling us to actively look for ways we can build up our loved ones and relieve other people’s suffering. If we love them, we are loving the Lord. And if we are loving the Lord, we are opening ourselves to his gift of life—a life lived to the full, a life filled with his Spirit, a life that changes other people’s lives for the good. So take the time to listen to a friend who is struggling, and offer to pray with them. Invite a coworker out for coffee, and let them sense how valuable they are to the Lord. Show up with some groceries at the door of a neighbor with financial troubles—or invite them over for dinner. Seek good! Love the Lord and love your neighbor! It’s the most joy-filled, fulfilling life you’ll ever know! “Lord, help me to seek and do good to others.” Psalm 50:7-13, 16-17
Matthew 8:28-34
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Reflections with Brother Adrian:
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From today's Holy Gospel: "..The demons pleaded with him,
“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
And he said to them, “Go then!”
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district. .. ”
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From Roberto Juarez:
"Today's Gospel presents us with two opposing attitudes. On the one hand, two enslaved men who find true freedom in Christ. On the other, a people who, for fear of losing their securities, prefer that Jesus leave. We too must choose every day. Do we want Christ to really enter our lives? Are we willing to let His presence transform our hearts, even if it means giving up? Let us ask the Lord for the grace not to be afraid of his nearness. May we never put our interests before their presence. May He deliver us from all the bondage of sin. And that, unlike those inhabitants of Gadara, we may always know how to say to him with joy: "Lord, stay with us. Do not turn away from our lives, for you alone have the words of eternal life." end quote.
The story of the demoniacs approaching our Lord is an eye opener.
If only all demoniacs approached our Lord like them! The world would be different, amen?
But, today, silence is a killer. People don't want to speak up. People don't want to speak openly about faith topics.
Evil loves weak...silence.
But our Lord does not remains silent, and this is how it will be until the end of the world...why? Because Jesus is KING, God incarnate forever. In with us. Literally in us.
And so we have much to learn from today's holy Gospel.
We see people that cast out Jesus because He cast out demons from their village. So who was really possessed in the story?
It is an eye opener, isn't it?
Why did they send Him away and made Him feel unwelcome?
All we can deduce from context clues is that they saw their crop, their herds, their income, their lives based on their income, which is money, affected them so much that they wanted this miracle worker out of their lives, because their lives were set on something else....Mammon, the god of money.
They preferred swine than our Lord. And so Our Lord reminds us that we are not to throw pearls to swine, and why? They cannot value the pearl, and the pearl will get ruined among them.
Are we throwing our lives away? Are we spending our oil of our lamps on ourselves? Where do you spend your time mostly? With our Lord?
Where do you spend your money mostly? Is it on our Lord's good will?
How are you spending your talents? Are they investments for your kingdom...or God's Holy Will Kingdom?
And what about our evil spirits that do not desire Him in our lives truly? Sin keeps us from Loving Him truly.
We've much to learn from this Gospel. It wasn't just those two demoniacs we are dealing with here...there is much more than meets the eye. The harvest is immense...the willing are few. Let us sacrifice our time, doing God's will...praying as a family, as a community, giving as a family, as a community, we are a whole...the very Body of Christ!
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2 Timothy 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,1 a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."
Word of the Lord!
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