 clickable | | What Grief Can Teach The "small piece"—the blow and suffering of unwanted loss and change—was a darkness to which I brought many emotional habits and patterns: anger, a feeling of being jinxed or doomed, and a longing to escape this path on which I found myself. I know today that grief did not create these patterns; it only illuminated them. They were already there. Still, it felt as if grief were the only cause of my confusion and unhappiness. It was difficult to accept that if the soul is to mature, it must go through the darkness and beyond it. But it must. The "large picture" is only revealed by the dark's hidden and sustaining light. Recognizing which habits and patterns kept me lost in a loop of reactivity was crucial. The old patterns were lifeless and offered only suffering. But the darkness was alive, and offered a reappraisal of everything I had formerly concluded about life and its meaning. —from the book Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds As Light by Paula D'Arcy |  MorningOffering.com | "Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself, 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' I felt a great desire to see him, to know him and to pay him homage."
— St. Josephine Bakhita Meditation of the Day "It is inevitable that the barque of Peter will encounter rough sailing. This is why we must stand together in faith and doctrine. Sometimes our morning prayer could easily include the Apostle's Creed as a reminder of our beliefs." — Rev. Thomas J. Donaghy, p. 22 An Excerpt From Inspirational Thoughts for Everyday Recommended Reads Today's Mass Reading - Ordinary Time Mass Readings Homily Recommended Reads Verse of the Day "'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3: 24-26 |  click to read more | | Sts. Mark & Marcellian Sts. Mark and Marcellian (d. 286 A.D.) were twin brothers who were martyred for their faith in Rome under Emperor Diocletian. According to legend they were both deacons from a distinguished family who were thrown into prison for being Christians. Their mother and father, who were pagans, visited their sons in prison and pleaded with them to return to the worship of false gods so that they could be saved. At the same time, St. Sebastian also visited the brothers and encouraged them to stand strong in their faith. St. Sebastian's exhortation was so persuasive that the parents of Marcellian and Mark were converted, along with several friends who were present, as well as the other prisoners. All of these new Christian converts were eventually martyred alongside Mark and Marcellian. The brothers had their feet nailed to a wood post, and later their bodies were pierced with lances. Their feast day is June 18th. | Venerable Matt Talbot
Saint of the Day for June 18
(May 2, 1856 – June 7, 1925) Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism. He was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic. One day he decided to take "the pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt's first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking. Most of his life Matt worked as a builder's laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions. After 1923, his health failed, and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later, Pope Paul VI gave him the title venerable. His Liturgical Feast Day is June 19.
Reflection In looking at the life of Matt Talbot, we may easily focus on the later years when he had stopped drinking for some time and was leading a penitential life. Only alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate how difficult the earliest years of sobriety were for Matt. He had to take one day at a time. So do the rest of us.
Venerable Matt Talbot is the Patron Saint of: Alcoholics
Sobriety | Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 8:1-9 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, of the grace of God
that has been given to the churches of Macedonia,
for in a severe test of affliction,
the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty
overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
For according to their means, I can testify,
and beyond their means, spontaneously,
they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part
in the service to the holy ones,
and this, not as we expected,
but they gave themselves first to the Lord
and to us through the will of God,
so that we urged Titus that, as he had already begun,
he should also complete for you this gracious act also.
Now as you excel in every respect,
in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness,
and in the love we have for you,
may you excel in this gracious act also. I say this not by way of command,
but to test the genuineness of your love
by your concern for others.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that for your sake he became poor although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich. Responsorial Psalm Ps 146:2, 5-6ab, 6c- 7, 8-9a R.(1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, my soul!
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 13:34 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 5:43-48 Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." | Catholic Meditations
Meditation: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 11th Week in Ordinary Time Jesus Christ . . . became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9) In a surprising headline in 2010, Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder announced that he was selling all of his properties and businesses. At age forty-seven, he had become convinced that he needed to stop what he was doing and begin his real life. His goal was to "have nothing left, absolutely nothing." So he set up an organization to help people in developing countries and transferred all his money to its accounts. Rabeder, a rich man, made himself poor in order to enrich the lives of the needy. That's not a bad image to consider today. Like Karl Rabeder, Jesus emptied himself for us so that we could be filled with his spiritual riches. Jesus was seated with the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven. He felt no need or shortage at all—only perfect harmony, love, majesty, and holiness. Not only that, but at his word, glorious things came to be. It's hard to imagine any greater richness than that. And yet as rich as he was, he gave it all up when he came to earth. He was born in a stable to a poor carpenter and his wife. He spent his childhood in simplicity, learning his father's trade. He became a wandering rabbi, traveling the countryside and healing the broken and the sick. He spent sleepless nights in prayer and endless days ministering to the needy. And in the end, when he most needed their support, all his friends abandoned him, leaving him to die a shameful death alone. Why did he go through all of that? Simply to make you rich. He set aside his glory so that he could give you unlimited forgiveness, access to heaven, and the ability to know God in a personal way. Because of the riches of his grace, you can walk with him and love other people as fully as he did. Why live like a pauper when Jesus has made you rich? Don't be afraid to ask him for more—more mercy, more forgiveness, more wisdom, more joy. Jesus doesn't want to see you living like you're bankrupt. He gave everything up to make you spiritually rich! "Lord Jesus, thank you for your immense generosity. Help me accept all the riches you have offered me." Psalm 146:2, 5-9
Matthew 5:43-48 |  clickable | | my2cents:
"I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others."
So we are being tested? Q: What's the test about? A. Faith
B. Hope
C. Love
D. Charity
E ALL OF THE ABOVE | Let us pray:
"The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
Praise the Lord, my soul!" | 2 things our Lord said today. First, "...I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father..."
Do the impossible, what is not natural or easy. | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, once again our Gospel today is taken from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It is one of the most puzzling texts in the New Testament. It speaks of loving our enemies. Not tolerating them, or vaguely accepting them, but loving them. When you hate your enemy, you confirm him as your enemy. But when you love him in response to his hatred, you confuse and confound him, taking away the very energy that feeds his hatred. There is a form of oriental martial arts called aikido. The idea of aikido is to absorb the aggressive energy of your opponent, moving with it, continually frustrating him until he comes to the point of realizing that fighting is useless. Some have pointed out that there is a great deal of this in Jesus' strategy of nonviolence and love of the enemy. You creatively absorb the aggression of your opponent, channeling it back against him, to show him the futility of violence. So when someone insults you, send back a compliment instead of an insult." | 2nd our Lord said today
"So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Again we are called to do the impossible.
But take to the call.
Be perfect.
It is a life state.
Be one with perfection.
Be one in Him.
Be one Him. The Holy Sacraments avail perfection.
Pure. And Holy. Lord help us be perfect as you are so beautiful! |  hear it read | adrian Random Bible Verse1
2 Corinthians 4:16 (Listen) 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self [1] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Thank You Jesus | |
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