 |  clickable | | God Never Gives up on His Mercy God never gives up on his mercy, especially in our time where there exists the false perception of self-sufficiency and lack of awareness of one's very sinfulness. These joint heresies endanger souls by creating the erroneous perception so prevalent in this day and age: that we have no need for mercy. Nothing could be further from the truth—and yet, for those who are willing to concede their need, nothing is simpler to remedy. Mercy is his loving face directed to the healing of the wounds of sin, the wounds that trigger a separation and distance in our relationship with God. —from Meeting God in the Upper Room: Three Moments to Change Your Life by Monsignor Peter Vaghi |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | †Saint Quote
"Since happiness is nothing other than the enjoyment of the highest good, and since the highest good is above, no one can be happy unless he rises above himself, not by an ascent of the body, but of the heart."
— St. Bonaventure
† MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"No one can fail to understand that the Divine Eucharist bestows upon the Christian people an incomparable dignity. Not only while the Sacrifice is offered and the Sacrament is received, but as long as the Eucharist is kept in our churches and oratories, Christ is truly Emmanuel, that is, 'God with us'. Day and night He is in our midst, He dwells with us, full of grace and truth. He restores morality, nourishes virtues, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak. He proposes His own example to those who come to Him that all may learn to be, like Himself, meek and humble of heart and to seek not their own interests but those of God. Anyone who approaches this august Sacrament with special devotion and endeavors to return generous love for Christ's own infinite love, will experience and fully understand—not without spiritual joy and fruit—how precious is the life hidden with Christ in God and how great is the value of converse with Christ, for there is nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road of holiness."
— Bl. Pope Paul VI, p.52
AN EXCERPT FROM
Manual for Eucharistic Adoration † VERSE OF THE DAY
"The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul's desire. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness."
Isaiah 26:7-9 |  click to read more | | ST. MARK St. Mark the Evangelist (1st c.) was born to Jewish parents living in Libya in North Africa, later settling in Cana of Galilee not far from Jerusalem. Mark became one of the 70 disciples of Jesus and the author of the Gospel that bears his name. According to tradition, St. Peter the Apostle was married to a relative of St. Mark's father, and after Mark's father died, Peter looked after him like his own son. Being a close disciple of St. Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, Mark's Gospel is addressed to Gentile converts to the Christian faith living in Rome. Most of what we know about his life and missionary activity is recorded in the New Testament. He traveled to Egypt and founded the Church there, and was martyred c. 68 A.D. by being dragged through the streets of Alexandria until his body was torn to pieces. St. Mark is the patron of lawyers and prisoners. His feast day is April 25. | Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. When Saint Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother. Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Because Paul later asks Mark to visit him in prison, we may assume the trouble did not last long. The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus's rejection by humanity while being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written for gentile converts in Rome—after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah. Evidently a friend of Mark—calling him "my son"—Peter is only one of this Gospel's sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots), and the Church at Antioch (largely gentile). Like another Gospel writer Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52). Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains. A winged lion is Mark's symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures to the evangelists.
Reflection Mark fulfilled in his life what every Christian is called to do: proclaim to all people the Good News that is the source of salvation. In particular, Mark's way was by writing. Others may proclaim the Good News by music, drama, poetry, or by teaching children around a family table.
Saint Mark is the Patron Saint of: Notaries | Thursday in the Octave of Easter Reading 1 Acts 3:11-26 As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called "Solomon's Portico."
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
"You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate's presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said: A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people. "Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways." Responsorial Psalm ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9 R.(2ab) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia Ps 118:24 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 24:35-48 The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have."
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them,
"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things."
| Meditation: Luke 24:35-48 Thursday within the Octave of Easter He showed them his hands and his feet. (Luke 24:40) In many of the resurrection stories in the Bible, Jesus makes it a point to prove to the apostles that he is not just a ghost. He walks long distances with them, eats breakfast with them, and invites them to probe his wounds. Clearly he wanted them to be sure that he had truly risen from the dead. But there's another reason why Jesus wanted his apostles—and us—to know he rose bodily. He wanted to show us how important our own bodies are. He wanted us to see what we would be like when we rise from the dead at his Second Coming. This truth of our bodily resurrection is central to our faith. It's so essential, in fact, that St. Paul says Christianity would not exist without it. "If the dead are not raised," he wrote, "neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain" (1 Corinthians 15:16-17). You see, the "resurrection of the body" that we profess in the Apostles' Creed tells us that our bodies, imperfect or ailing though they may be, are precious to God. When Jesus became man, he healed the sick and fed the hungry as a sign of his care for every part of who we are. He will raise up everything about us, including our ability to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell all the beauty he has created in this world. This is also why Jesus gives himself to us physically in the Eucharist and why he sends his people out to take care of each other in hands-on ways. He wants everyone to know how much he treasures them—all of them. This is the good news of the gospel: God cares about every part of your life, including your body. He loves you so deeply that he promises to restore you to the fullest, most perfect version of yourself when he comes again. And that includes both your body and your soul. Let this hope lift up your heart today. Maybe you could even take a look at yourself in the mirror and say, "This is who I am, and Jesus wants to raise me up. Every part of me!" "Jesus, thank you for giving me a body that reveals your glory. I trust you with my physical needs, today and always." Acts 3:11-26
Psalm 8:2, 5-9 |  clickable | God's mercy exceeds our sin ... because Jesus offers to the Father on the Cross immeasurably more love than all of the sins that we committed, whereby we have detracted from his love, his glory, and his truth.
—Scott Hahn
from Now Is the Time of Great Mercy |  clickable go see food for poor | | 2cents:
"For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways." The words of Saint Peter always amaze me. One could write books about various things he said. Truly inspirational. It is the first hand witness of God speaking. And the witness he gave was with his life, as was with St. Mark. Paying the price for believing. I tried making today's colors have more tints of red, to reflect the blood of the martyrs. For they deserve honor. They deserve to be remembered in a special way. And in doing so, we may be remembered...for giving a witness for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. For people to think about your name and what you were connected to...or who you were connected with, or possibly, the reason you died. Amen? It's all about the Christ, the Lord from Heaven, the name above all to ever live or will ever live. | Let us pray: "O LORD, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!" Last night towards the end of praying my rosary outside, looking up as darkness set in, I prayed once again for the martyrs, those killed by evil hands. I prayed that this evil that targets Christians, this Anti-Christ to subside, for us to have peace. Yet, the anti-christ won't die. We bear the cross together. Just as the re-living of His sacrifice in Holy Mass, daily, we must realize daily, there is joy in resurrection, but there are wounds to contend with to be joyful. To explain, let us go forth in faith. | While they spoke about how HE had appeared in the breaking of the bread (eucharist), we heard "he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost." When has the words "Peace be with you" ever startled you or rattled your bones? It made their blood drop! Shocking, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It makes you live life on the edge, that is, push yourself beyond limits you'd ever believe possible. That's what God does. It is intentional. When has something in your life hit you like a cold bucket of water? | "...he said to them, "Why are you troubled?" And why do questions arise in your hearts?" Let's look back for a moment, rewind back to the time He appeared as a ghost, walking on water in the middle of a dark storm. They were startled then, so why are they startled again? It is a dark storm now, they are again...afraid for their lives.
Our Lord comes closer and says "Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have."
Soon we can recall the doubting Thomas, how he puts his hands into the wounds of Christ. Imagine your finger entering his wounds, you can feel the flesh and you are trespassing Him all the way through the hands and feet and the side of Christ. We have a wounded Christ in Heaven. That is what He took Home, our lashings, our depraved and deprived body needed His so bad. Healing a deviled soul is what we needed and still need today. Ever seen a rabid dog? You can't come close to it! You will get bit and infected. But God came to Cana. God came to Galilee. God came to Jerusalem. God came to Bethlehem and Bethany, to the house of bread because He is bread for the life, for the healing. I don't know about you, but I'm all in for the healing. It's like the last prison retreat I went to. Spent 3 days, sacrificed work, left family, spent hundreds of dollars, poured myself out in prayer and song and praise and I sat with them talking with them and praying for them, and how did I come home? Spiritually beat down. Tired. Sometimes I come home sick. Some would ask themselves, "is it worth it"? Doubt, the doubts of evil. As we left the prison, the big old cowboy in a black hat that heads most of these retreats asked if I was ready to direct the next one. I am not worthy.
Where does the martyr come in? Where does Christ come in?
Question is, how does Jesus come in?
He comes in unexpectedly most often. Breathtaking. Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof...
yet You dare to enter.
Lord, since You are entering in my temple, please, my place is Your place, I will tend to Your pierced hands and feet. I will clean the place up, I will break down walls, I will tend the poor and lame, and I will give my life in love of You.
You want to eat fish? You are hungry then...for souls, fisher of men that You are. Me too, I am hungry now that You enter and are hungry. I will go catch fish. I will learn how to fish. I will bring You a fish, a poor soul that needs to enter Your heavenly dwelling. Salvation has come unto this house.
God I love You. I'm sorry I don't say it often or fervently enough. My Your blood mingled with mine make us a heavenly body for the light you desire in our world. We want to be Yours....always |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Colossians 3:17 (Listen) 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Random Bible Verse2
Colossians 3:1-2 (Listen) 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Thank You Jesus | | |
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