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Friday, March 27, 2015

Be Set Aside

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Minute Meditations

Abandon Ourselves
We need do no more than we are doing at present; that is, to love divine Providence and abandon ourselves in His arms and heart.
— from The Joyful Spirit of Padre Pio


Lazarus

Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.

Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.

A church was built in his honor in Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in 890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of converts and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the new cathedral in Autun in 1146.

It is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.



Comment:

Many people who have had a near-death experience report losing all fear of death. When Lazarus died a second time, perhaps he was without fear. He must have been sure that Jesus, the friend with whom he had shared many meals and conversations, would be waiting to raise him again. We don't share Lazarus' firsthand knowledge of returning from the grave. Nevertheless, we too have shared meals and conversations with Jesus, who waits to raise us, too.


 

Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
 
 

Presence

I pause for a moment and think of the love and the grace that God showers on me, creating me in his image and likeness, making me his temple....

Freedom

It is so easy to get caught up

with the trappings of wealth in this life.

Grant, O Lord, that I may be free

from greed and selfishness.

Remind me that the best things in life are free.

Love, laughter, caring and sharing.

 
Consciousness

I remind myself that I am in the presence of the Lord.
I will take refuge in His loving heart. He is my strength in times of weakness. He is my comforter in times of sorrow.

The Word of God
 

Reading 1 Jer 20:10-13

I hear the whisperings of many:
"Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!"
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
"Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!

Responsorial Psalm PS 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

R. (see 7) In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.

Verse Before the Gospel See Jn 6:63c, 68c

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.

Gospel Jn 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?"
The Jews answered him,
"We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods"'?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
"John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true."
And many there began to believe in him.



    Listen to audio of this reading

    Watch a video reflection

Conversation

I begin to talk to Jesus about the piece of scripture I have just read. What part of it strikes a chord in me? Perhaps the words of a friend - or some story I have heard recently - will slowly rise to the surface in my consciousness. If so, does the story throw light on what the scripture passage may be trying to say to me?

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.

Amen

Catholic Meditations

Meditation: Jeremiah 20:10-13

 

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5th Week of Lent

The Lord is with me. (Jeremiah 20:11)

Have you ever felt that people were out to get you? Or maybe you have felt as though someone has worked to undermine or mock you. Well, you're not alone. In fact, you're in good company. All three of today's readings show heroes of the faith—Jeremiah, David, and Jesus—responding to public smearing, threats, and betrayal.

How do you respond when you find yourself in a situation like this? Do you echo Jeremiah's plea: "O Lord of hosts ... Let me witness the vengeance you take on them" (Jeremiah 20:12)? Or do you follow Jesus' words: "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father" (Matthew 5:44-45)?

Place yourself in Jeremiah's shoes. He had been given the heavy task of proclaiming prophecies concerning God's judgment to his wayward family, friends, and countrymen (Jeremiah 4:1-4). He prayed to the Lord to have mercy, but the people repaid him with plots to kill him. Jeremiah's prayer in today's first reading follows the discovery of a second plot to kill him!

Although Jeremiah adds a sharp, vengeful little request in his prayer, he nonetheless exemplifies an admirable response to injustice and malice. He takes his broken heart to God. Such a sign of trust pleased the Lord deeply. He comforted Jeremiah, gave him strength for his task, and rescued him from "the power of the wicked" who were out to get him (Jeremiah 20:13).

Do you believe that you can go to your Father in just the same way? It's true. It won't upset him to hear your frustration. In fact, it's much better to let it out than to keep it inside. God knows your heart, and he is always ready to give you his heart as you pour out yours to him.

As you try this open, two-way approach, you will begin to see your prayers of anger and frustration turn into prayers of compassion and mercy. Give God the time, and he will transform you!

"Father, I trust that you will be patient with me when I share my heart with you. Please hear my prayer, and teach me the way of love and forgiveness."

 

Psalm 18:2-7
John 10:31-42

 


Be Set Aside
my2cents:
The life of Christ is that of all the prophets.  The giving of life of Christ is the giving of the laws given by God.  Those who break the laws do not set well.  Sin does not set well.  This is why they were chasing Christ out of their lives.  Our Lord got away at that time, interesting, they didn't chase after Him.  It's the story of our lives.  We chase Him away, and never really look for Him, and we are speaking about the truth.  Jesus cries from the cross a week from today on Good Friday, not to say that every Friday in the world and time is not a good friday, because God made it good.  That is why the custom is to sacrifice something on Fridays as a faithful Catholic, abstain from meat, do something to sacrifice and why?  To be in unison with Him forever.  It is a small gesture for the greatest act of Love in human history, that of a man from God, the Son of the only God of all, in total surrender and obedience to the Father in Heaven, the creator of all. 
Today's 5minutos ended with:
...Jesus says, "Be merciful as your Father is merciful" (Lk6:36).  Jesus describes the mercy of God not solely to show me what God feels for me, or to forgive me my sins and offer a new life and much happiness, but to invite me to be like God and for us to be merciful with the others like He is with me.  Convert oneself to the celestial Father is not only an important aspect of the teachings of Jesus; it is the very nucleus of His message."
What a strange message to those that don't want to be like God, those that don't seek the truth.  How many in your world do you know, don't want to really know this truth?  I know in my world I am riddled with people that are not seeking the truth, they are happy with the way the live with God.  He sits on His end of town, and they sit on the other end of town.  Much like they kicked Jesus out to go to the other side of the Jordan while they sat on their end.  And this is of the devil.  Diablo means in the earliest of languages basically to divide.  And this is the cause that I fight in my family, my parish, my community and the world beyond.  Fighting means uniting in the terms of the celestial realms of the Father.
For this Jesus came, no more gentile or Jew, no more pagans, no more anything, just all united through Him, with Him, and in Him.  So, what's wrong with being a little god?  Only thing wrong is who the little god represents, the god of self, or the God of all Gods, our Heavenly Father with Jesus!?   This is why Muslims hate and stone Christians, because we call God our Father, making us equal with Him in a way they suppose.  But we are OF HIM.  How can I not be of the family that I was born into?  And this is through baptism.  Crossing the waters saves.  Now, the life of appreciation ensues and we are leading to the Eucharist, the total surrender that ought to take place in our hearts at the moment He trespasses and infuses into our souls.
There is no greater love in the world than that of the Father in Heaven.  It's more than we make it out to be.  How can God say "I'm going to be become one of my creations, my children, and I am going to show them personally what love is.
And the starving children eat Him up
 
adrian
 
 

 

Going4th,

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