I Am Coming

Minute Meditations Courageous Christians Pope Francis takes the Gospel to the street. He does not wait for those in need to approach him; he goes to them, visiting the poor and sick in a spirit of true charity. And he tells us, we have to become "courageous Christians" in order to do this. — from Saint Francis, Pope Francis Blessed Angeline of Marsciano (1374-1435)   Blessed Angeline founded the first community of Franciscan women other than Poor Clares to receive papal approval. Angeline was born to the Duke of Marsciano (near Orvieto). She was 12 when her mother died. Three years later the young woman made a vow of perpetual chastity. That same year, however, she yielded to her father's decision that she marry the Duke of Civitella. Her husband agreed to respect her previous vow. When he died two years later, Angeline joined the Secular Franciscans and with several other women dedicated herself to caring for the sick, the poor, widows and orphans. When many other young women were attracted to Angeline's community, some people accused her of condemning the married vocation. Legend has it that when she came before the King of Naples to answer these charges, she had burning coals hidden in the folds of her cloak. When she proclaimed her innocence and showed the king that these coals had not harmed her, he dropped the case. Angeline and her companions later went to Foligno, where her community of Third Order sisters received papal approval in 1397. She soon established 15 similar communities of women in other Italian cities. Angeline died on July 14, 1435, and was beatified in 1825. Comment: Priests, sisters and brothers cannot be signs of God's love for the human family if they belittle the vocation of marriage. Angeline respected marriage but felt called to another way of living out the gospel. Her choice was life-giving in its own way. Quote: Pope Paul VI wrote in 1971: "Without in any way undervaluing human love and marriage— is not the latter, according to faith, the image and sharing of the union of love joining Christ and the Church?— consecrated chastity evokes this union in a more immediate way and brings that surpassing excellence to which all human love should tend" (Apostolic Exhortation on the Renewal of Religious Life, #13).   Saint of the Day Lives, Lessons and Feast By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.     Presence To be present is to arrive as one is and open up to the other. At this instant, as I arrive here, God is present waiting for me. God always arrives before me, desiring to connect with me even more than my most intimate friend. I take a moment and greet my loving God. Freedom Lord, you granted me the great gift of freedom. In these times, O Lord, grant that I may be free From any form of racism or intolerance. Remind me, Lord, that we are all equal in Your Loving eyes. Consciousness Knowing that God loves me unconditionally, I can afford to be honest about how I am.  How has the last day been, and how do I feel now? I share my feelings openly with the Lord. The Word of God John 17:13-19 Reading 1 acts 20:28-38 At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus: "Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. I have never wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all. They were all weeping loudly as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship. Responsorial Psalm ps 68:29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth. or: R. Alleluia. Show forth, O God, your power, the power, O God, with which you took our part; For your temple in Jerusalem let the kings bring you gifts. R. Sing to God, O Kingdoms of the earth. or: R. Alleluia. You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, chant praise to the Lord who rides on the heights of the ancient heavens. Behold, his voice resounds, the voice of power: "Confess the power of God!" R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth. or: R. Alleluia. Over Israel is his majesty; his power is in the skies. Awesome in his sanctuary is God, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people. R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth. or: R. Alleluia. Gospel jn 17:11b-19 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." Conversation How has God's Word moved me? Has it left me cold? Has it consoled me or moved me to act in a new way? I imagine Jesus standing or sitting beside me, I turn and share my feelings with him. Conclusion Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Meditation: John 17:11-19 7th Week of Easter I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. (John 17:19) Did you hear that? Take a moment right now to set aside all your other thoughts and concerns, and focus on this amazing truth. Jesus has consecrated himself for us! He, the holy, pure, righteous Son of God, has chosen to devote his entire life to you. Who could imagine such incredible love? We think about consecration in terms of being set apart—separated from common use and reserved for a sacred purpose. We think of a church as a consecrated building or a chalice as a consecrated cup. Or we think about a person who is dedicated solely to the service and worship of God—a priest or a religious brother or sister. We may occasionally think of ourselves as consecrated, too, as we try to separate ourselves from the world and serve God. In other words, we think of people or things that aren't God being dedicated to God. But in today's Gospel, Jesus turns the tables. He makes it clear that he considers each one of us to be completely worth his devotion and dedication. He willingly sets himself apart for us! Benjamin Franklin, the noted American thinker, once said, "God helps those who help themselves." While the sentiment may be inspiring, this passage paints a different picture. Jesus didn't wait for us to begin "helping ourselves" before he consecrated himself to us. Just as he loved us before we loved him, so too did he consecrate himself to us before we consecrated ourselves to anything. Of course, Jesus wants us to consecrate ourselves to him. But he wants us to do it out of love and gratitude, not because we are afraid of his retribution or rejection. Jesus already belongs to us. Now he wants us to belong to him. Today, take a good long look at yourself in the mirror. Tell yourself, "I am highly valued. Jesus Christ, the Lord of all creation, considered me worth dying for. He treasures me so deeply that he is now consecrated to me for all eternity. He will never abandon me. He will never leave me. He will never forget me." "Jesus, I am humbled by your commitment to me. Come, Lord, and fill my heart. Help me to consecrate my life to you."   Acts 20:28-38; Psalm 68:29-30, 33-36 my2cents: Today's 5minutos says (allow me to translate): "Jesus prays to the Father for us, so the "world"does not "swallow" us and come to think and act as the world proposes.  For example, perhaps we do not explicitly ask ourselves "who am I" but we live it in a concrete manner in decisions we take every day.  And the three responses we give, in general, are these: "We are what we do, we are what others say we are, we are what we have", or with other words: "We are our success, our popularity, our power".  For this danger it is important that we find out the fragility of a life that depends of existence, of the popularity, and of power.  Its fragility derives by the act of the three external factors that we can control by a very limited way.  Losing the work, the fame, or the riches depends, many times, by events that completely escape our control; and so, when we depend on them, we have "undersold" ourselves to the world, because we ARE what the world gives to us. And death takes this all away from us.  The final affirmation turns into this "When we die, we will be dead", because when we die  we will not be able to do anything, the people will no longer talk about us, and we will no longer have nothing.  When we are what the world makes of us, we can no longer be it after we leave this world.  Jesus came to announce to us an identity based on success, in popularity, and power is a false identity: it is an illusion.  Jesus prays to the Father and is with us every day, so the "world" does not convert us into things, but children of God....if you let yourself!" We hear of stabbings by youth, or shootings, and we blame the guns, or the knives, or the schools, or the government, or anything else but ourselves.  Little children are stabbing one another.  Most often because of power, most often because of ego, most often some hang themselves out of a huge disconnect from the world, feeling alone, or those that reject others.  Within the past week, a line from a brother snail in the animated film "Turbo" ran through my mind when they allowed Turbo to enter a car race, and he yelled after that announcement "...has the world lost its mind?!"  If so, then I must not lose mine.  I must not lose the faith.  Within the past week I've had people tell me how things are going to be and turnaround and leave, as if to say I have no say so in the matter.  As if to say, we are no longer friends, I am your master.  As the temperature rises for summer, so do tempers.  Stay cool.  Remain in Jesus.  Most often those that want to put you in your place could be facing inner turmoil which they need liberation from.  I say a small prayer for them, and then work on the heartache from there.offering it up to Jesus.  Take a taste of humility my friend.  That is why Jesus prays for us not to be taken from the world, but to freed from the Evil One.  That is why people cried for St. Paul as they knelt and prayed before the final farewell.  That is why Jesus gave Himself up forever.  For the good of the world and liberation, this salvation that is SOOOOO needed where you are and all around.  Good News, "all good things, all good things".  All good things are in His hands.  Now something or someone has to give in any given situation.  In the instance of our Master Jesus, He chose to give completely, a consecration, and became a perpetual (continuous and eternal) consecration.  As He gave Himself up on the cross, the altar, so do we true Christians.  Give up evil and give into good.  For those that done us wrong, we pray for them and not condemn them as they do us.  "Forgive us, as we forgive" we pray in our Lord's prayer. What our Lord says today is deep and we can spend the rest of the week discussing.  But there is not much to discuss, but to be.  What we fail to see is evil one at work.  We fail to realize that most often people are people, and evil is evil, sometimes evil works through people to test and prove your faith.  POP goes the weasel.  Pop quiz from Heaven, will you blow your top?   Will you lose your faith?  The devil is hard at work, and takes advantage of Christians on vacation with a "do not disturb" sign at their door, and the door is the heart of the soul.  I want you to realize this is a call to duty, to love, to serve, and to be humble in the presence of God.  He is consecrated on Catholic Altars, He gives His body, blood, and soul and divinity to every one of us...what do I give ? adrian Subscribe to the Going4th mailing list.

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