Jesus Is the Remedy At this time in history, you and I now are present. We, like the apostles, are unreliable and weak and afraid. We are inconstant in our devotion to our Lord. We deny him, we betray him. But Jesus is I Am. He is constant. Jesus sits in the center of our hearts with arms outstretched. He died on the cross out of love for us. He is continually with us, welcoming us, and looking at us with his loving, tender gaze, just as he looked at Peter. What he did at table, he continues to do with all our varied and challenged humanity, a variety of personalities that is forever and continually represented in every church, in every upper room, throughout our entire world. —from Meeting God in the Upper Room: Three Moments to Change Your Life | ✞Quote
"When we appeal to the throne of grace we do so through Mary, honoring God by honoring His Mother, imitating Him by exalting her, touching the most responsive chord in the Sacred Heart of Christ with the sweet name of Mary."
— St. Robert Bellarmine ✞ MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only mediator of justice, and that he by his merits has obtained our reconciliation with God. But, on the other hand, it is impious to assert that God is not pleased to grant graces at the intercession of his saints, and more especially of Mary his mother, whom Jesus desires so much to see loved and honored by all. Who can pretend that the honor bestowed on a mother doesn't redound to the honor of the son? For this reason St. Bernard says, 'We must not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son.'"
— St. Alphonsus Liguori, p. 3
AN EXCERPT FROM
A Year with Mary ✞ VERSE OF THE DAY
"Just as you do not know how the life breath enters the human frame in the mother's womb, So you do not know the work of God, who is working in everything."
Ecclesiastes 11:5 |  click to read more | | Blessed Angeline of Marsciano (1377 – July 14, 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. Her Liturgical Feast Day is July 13. Reflection
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. | Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Pt 1:2-7 Beloved:
May grace and peace be yours in abundance
through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has bestowed on us
everything that makes for life and devotion,
through the knowledge of him
who called us by his own glory and power.
Through these, he has bestowed on us
the precious and very great promises,
so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature,
after escaping from the corruption that is in the world
because of evil desire.
For this very reason,
make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control,
self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,
devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. Responsorial Psalm Ps 91:1-2, 14-15b, 15c-16
R. (see 2b) In you, my God, I place my trust.
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
R. In you, my God, I place my trust.
Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress.
R. In you, my God, I place my trust.
I will deliver him and glorify him;
with length of days I will gratify him
and will show him my salvation.
R. In you, my God, I place my trust. Alleluia See Rv 1:5ab
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead;
you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 12:1-12 Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders in parables.
"A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?" They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.
| Meditation: 2 Peter 1:2-7 You may come to share in the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) Share in the divine nature? Such a promise might seem way beyond us. We don't find it hard to believe that Baptism unites us with Christ and gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit. But to actually share in God's life? That seems more a matter for theologians to wrestle with than for us to comprehend, much less experience. But let's see how this promise plays out in everyday life. How do you already share in the divine nature? When you forgive. Jesus forgave his persecutors from the cross. He asked us to forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). As difficult as it is to let go of hurt, anger, and resentment and forgive those who hurt us, we become more like Jesus every time we do this. When you make a sacrifice out of love. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was the supreme act of love, but he also sacrificed in other ways. He preached to large crowds and healed people after spending the night in prayer (Luke 6:12-13). He had no place to lay his head as he traveled from place to place (9:58). Your every act of sacrificial love—from staying up with a sick child to giving up a free Saturday to serve at your parish—reflects the life of Jesus and God's divine nature. When you reach out to the poor and forgotten. Jesus ministered to people on the margins—the sick, the poor, the troubled, the outcast. When you visit a lonely neighbor or make a meal for a homeless shelter, you are taking on God's heart for his people. When you intercede for others. Jesus constantly prays for us before our Father in heaven (Hebrews 7:25). When you pray for your loved ones, for the Church, and for the world, you are doing exactly what Jesus does! Of course, these aren't always easy things to do. We may have a share in Jesus' nature, but we are also subject to sin and temptation. That's why God has given us his Holy Spirit. The more you ask the Spirit for help, the more you'll find yourself thinking—and acting—like Jesus. "Jesus, thank you for filling me with your life. Now help me to follow you so that your life can flow out of me to everyone I meet." Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16
Mark 12:1-12 | my2cents: "May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" said God through Saint Peter. And these words are very deep. So deep in fact that we may just want to glance over it. So deep, that we may just want to pass. So deep in fact, we may be scared to dive in. But the Holy Catholic Church is deep for a reason....Grace. Grace is what we need for a life of great fruit, of giving. Let's pray: " In you, my God, I place my trust. I will deliver him and glorify him;
with length of days I will gratify him and will show him my salvation." Many times in the bible, it speaks of having a holy fear of the Lord. Yesterday in the afternoon, we had benediction and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, our Lord. Father gave a talk during the exposition. There were 3 of us present. That was it. Father spoke of the realities of the Body of Christ, mostly scriptural references. I sat there. Wondered many things. One thing that I wandered was, "why am I here? Why am I wondering off into so many thoughts as Father speaks, and what's worse? I come to see and be with God, as if in Heaven, yet my mind is not with Him". This is scary, why are you here? What if God asks "then...why are you here?" Eventually 3 more walked in before it ended. In comes our Lord "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes". God built the world. The hedges, the outer limits, the boundaries, the hedges for protection, the tower to be watching. And he lets people in, to take care of what He designed so He could benefit from it. But the people become ornery and stingy. Eventually not allowing Him in. Sure they did at first, I bet. But eventually, they don't want Him coming around, His grace no longer accepted. I dare ask you, to ask yourself, who are you in this story, if we are in lectio divina, a contemplation of Sacred Scripture? Who are you? Why are you here? If you are not in the Church, have you rejected Jesus? If you are in the Church, are you rejecting Jesus? I was in the Church yesterday, but my mind/heart were in other places. At one point I felt so sleepy, at another point, was thinking about other church things and at another point, something else, always something. Why are you here? Why are you reading this? I'll tell you why. Because you are like me. You persevere. Saint Peter speaks of this today "...self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion...". We are devoted. We are not perfect yet, but we are working on it! Amen? I would glance at the Monstrance, the Body of Christ was inside, and that was all it would take for me to get back on track with my thoughts and my heart. My heart was in the right place, and my love begins to give rightly. You see, in our daily lives, Church, family, work, and so forth, we have a tendency to get distracted. Self control. This is a sign of the Holy Spirit in action. You have something to control. Control your heart and all its affections. Your eyes what you see. Your ears, what you hear. Your mind, what you think. Why? For what Saint Peter continues leaving us with "...devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love...". Perfect love casts out fear. And wrongful fear casts out our Lord from our lives. This message is for the whole world. Peter calls for devotion.
† Start now.
Start your devotion now.
Start your novenas.
Start your adorations.
Why? Because the world is at stake. God will call on us to render fruit. The fig tree He calls to give fruit always. He desires to consume what we may offer. If God is love, he needs love. He needs love for love. They say God can do fine without us. This may be true, but we can not do fine without Him. And if this is true, it means God needs us to be love in one another. Your ministry needs to shine brighter than the sun on a hot summer day. Your love needs to be hotter. You need to set the world ablaze. Every single day God comes into our lives asking for fruit.
We need to be found loving Him and letting Him in always. This is charity. This is important. This is a fuel that can actually last forever. One great act of love changed the world. God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. All at once, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
And thank God we are asked to participate in this great work of God!
WOW! So much to be thankful for.
AMEN? | |
