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Thursday, June 22, 2017

As it is in Heaven

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amin

God Is in Love with You

Even if you have never felt loved or struggled to love, being loved is an ever-present reality and a never-to-be broken promise that flows directly from the heart of God.

You are loved, and as Saint Augustine said, "God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love." Think about that! You are loved exclusively and completely by God. You don't have to compete for or earn God's love or be anybody different from who you are, because God is in love with you.

–from the book Healing Promises: The Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart

***

✞ "For true hearts there is no separating ocean; or, rather, God is their ocean, in Whom they meet and are united; they love, and lose themselves in Him and in each other."
— St. Théodore Guerin

✞ MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Jesus Christ did not think the sovereign beatitude and glory of Heaven too dearly purchased at the price of unspeakable tortures, and by suffering His sacred flesh to be mangled by nails, thorns, and scourges. Great indeed must be the value of that which cost the Son of God so dear! And yet we esteem it so little, as to be even ready to renounce our claim to it, as, in fact, so many of us do, for the sake of some wretched pleasure or despicable interest! Ye blind and deluded children of men, contemplate the Wounds of your Crucified God, and see in what manner the gates of the kingdom of glory have been opened to you! See what it has cost Him to place you in possession of it, and understand, if possible, how infinite a benefit was bestowed upon you by the Son of God when He purchased for you Heaven, which you had lost by sin! ... Enter in spirit into these sacred Wounds, and you will comprehend the value and sublimity of that eternal felicity which they have acquired for you, and you will learn to detach your heart from the earth and from creatures, so as to place all your affections and desires upon Heaven."
— Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Christ, p. 226-7
AN EXCERPT FROM
The School of Christ Crucified

✞ VERSE OF THE DAY
"Give ear to my words, O Lord; understand my sighing. Attend to the sound of my cry, my king and my God! For to you I will pray, Lord; in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I will plead before you and wait."
Psalm 5:1-4

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SaintofDay1

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Saint Thomas More

(February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535 )

Saint Thomas More's Story

His belief that no lay ruler has jurisdiction over the Church of Christ cost Thomas More his life.

Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on July 6, 1535, More steadfastly refused to approve King Henry VIII's divorce and remarriage and establishment of the Church of England.

Described as "a man for all seasons," More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children, and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome, and denying the pope as head.

More was committed to the Tower of London to await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the decision of his conscience.

Reflection

Four hundred years later in 1935, Thomas More was canonized a saint of God. Few saints are more relevant to our time. In the year 2000, in fact, Pope John Paul II named him patron of political leaders. The supreme diplomat and counselor, he did not compromise his own moral values in order to please the king, knowing that true allegiance to authority is not blind acceptance of everything that authority wants. King Henry himself realized this and tried desperately to win his chancellor to his side because he knew More was a man whose approval counted, a man whose personal integrity no one questioned. But when Thomas More resigned as chancellor, unable to approve the two matters that meant most to Henry, the king had to get rid of him.

Saint Thomas More is the Patron Saint of:

Attorneys

Civil Servants

Court Clerks

Lawyers

Politicians

Public Servants

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***

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 368

Reading 1 2 Cor 11:1-11

Brothers and sisters:
If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me!
Please put up with me.
For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God,
since I betrothed you to one husband
to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning,
your thoughts may be corrupted
from a sincere and pure commitment to Christ.
For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received
or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it well enough.
For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these "superapostles."
Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;
in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted,
because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge?
I plundered other churches by accepting from them
in order to minister to you.
And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone,
for the brothers who came from Macedonia
supplied my needs.
So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
By the truth of Christ in me,
this boast of mine shall not be silenced
in the regions of Achaia.
And why? Because I do not love you?
God knows I do!

Responsorial Psalm Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8
R. (7a) Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia Rom 8:15bc
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This is how you are to pray:

'Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.'
"If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

***

Meditation: Matthew 6:7-15

Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs (Optional Memorial)

If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)

Does this verse mean that God's forgiveness is like a vending machine? You put in your forgiveness, and his mercy comes out? Well, no. It doesn't work quite like that.

Jesus is explaining a fundamental principle about the way God forgives. It's not that he withholds his mercy from us until we have forgiven everyone who has ever hurt us. He's always offering it to us—we just can't receive it! It's as if we are holding an umbrella over our heads, and the rain of God's forgiveness can't touch us.

So yes, we must forgive those who sin against us if we want to know God's forgiveness. But how do we do it?

It's simple: by choosing. Forgiveness is not a feeling; it's an act of the will. But sometimes—often, in fact—it doesn't come easily. God knows that we can be tempted to stew in anger or seek revenge, and that's why he is always ready to help us. Just as he received a man's humble and imperfect statement of faith—"I do believe, help my unbelief!"—so too Jesus receives our halting efforts to forgive (Mark 9:24). He embraces them and makes them fruitful. It all begins when we pray, "Lord, I want to forgive; help my unforgiveness!" We may still feel the sting of the offense against us, but with God's help, we can choose to let go of the grudge.

No one embodied this kind of mercy more than Jesus did. Wounded and bleeding on the cross, he chose to pray, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Our sin had caused his suffering; our disobedience had led to his own agony and crucifixion, yet he forgave us. His example tells us that the grace to forgive is available to everyone—even us!

Today ask the Spirit to reveal someone you need to forgive. Then put down your umbrella of bitterness, and make the choice to extend mercy. Don't worry if you still can't let go of the hurt. Just ask the Lord to help your unforgiveness, and leave it at that for today. Then ask the same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next. As you do, God's forgiveness will begin to flood your heart.

"Jesus, give me a merciful heart."

2 Corinthians 11:1-11
Psalm 111:1-4, 7-8

***

my2cents:
The first Holy Scripture ended with" And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!" For our own good He reaches and Teaches.

We prayed today "I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just"

Our Lord says to us today "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Long before you hit your knees, He knows. He is the great I AM. The All Knowing. Marvelous is He.

And how does He write all the laws and commands in a human heart?

Jesus came, and He even condensed all the teachings of Heaven in one prayer direct from Heaven...His prayer. The Lord's prayer teaches us who we are, but more than that, teaches how to live in accordance to the Great I AM the creator. We are as if, prostrated and angelic if we were to truly pray this prayer He teaches us.
Meditate on His Word and prayer.

See what it means to say OUR FATHER. See what it means "Who is in Heaven!" See more and more what it means to be His child, because we are created in His image, we are little less than angels and we have angels surrounding us ready to shine in prayer and especially a sincere prayer. Not one rattled off and making it sound pretty, but one of sincerity. One of true love.

I ask now for your prayers, we are embarking on a Cursillo, as of tonight, to Sunday evening we will be praying and for 3 days awaiting the encounter of Heaven on earth for these men that said yes to the Lord. Pray for it to be a sincere encounter.

Too many times we are too distracted, distraught, and found in disbelief.

The Lord asks for a time to be with Him.

And He allots an eternity for those that truly desire

***

adrian

 
 
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