 clickable | | A Vision for Our Fragmented World Bonaventure's holistic view of God, humanity, and creation is a systematic vision that resonates with our contemporary world. In a fragmented, suffering, and power-dominated world, Bonaventure offers a vision that is not only breathtaking in its comprehensiveness but metaphysically grounded in divine goodness and contingent on personal intimacy and relationship. It is a world view that is critically needed in our time. He offers the world the truth that the Word, the center of the Trinity, is the center of the world because through the Word all things are created. When the Word takes on flesh in the incarnation, everything in the created world, in the past, present and future, is united to God because the incarnate Word is the eternal Word. The world, therefore, is grounded in the Trinity through the Word who is center. As we have seen, this center is the Crucified Word because the cross reaches down to the depths of that which is furthest from God and reconciles all to God. As Crucified, Christ manifests to us the overflowing love of God. Bonaventure reminds us, therefore, that suffering is united to love in the cross of Christ. God's gift of compassionate love is a suffering love that gives of itself freely and unconditionally, even in the face of sin. It is this love that sustains the created goodness of all reality. —from the book Crucified Love: Bonaventure's Mysticism of the Crucified Christ by Ilia Delio, OSF |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself."
— St. Teresa of Avila † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"The works of man, whether they are good or bad, are not always isolated, transitory acts; more often, especially in the case of the leaders of nations and those who are invested with public authority, they continue to subsist after they are concluded, either in the memory of other men or in public acclaim, as a result of the consequences they have had and the scandal they have caused. Thus, at first sight, a particular, secret crime seems to be only a private, personal deed; but it becomes social on account of its effects. Certainly it is of faith that there is a particular judgment, and that every man, at the instant of his soul's departure from the body, appears before the tribunal of God to hear his eternal sentence pronounced. Yet this judgment cannot suffice, and it is essential that it should be followed by another public judgment, in which God will not examine the actions in isolation and taken in themselves, but will examine them in their effects upon other men, in the good or evil deriving from them for families and peoples—in a word, in the consequences they produced and which those who perpetrated them ought to have foreseen."
— Fr. Charles Arminjon, p. 94
AN EXCERPT FROM
The End of the Present World ⛪ TODAY'S FEAST DAY⛪ OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (1251 A.D.) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites lived as hermits on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land beginning in the 12th century. In the middle of their hermitages they built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who became the protectress of the Carmelites under the title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a Carmelite hermit, St. Simon Stock, under this title and gave him a piece of cloth—the brown scapular—as a sacramental to be worn by the faithful to whom she promised her special protection. At the apparitions in Fatima, in addition to appearing as Our Lady of the Rosary, the Virgin Mary appeared as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Her feast day is July 16th.
See More About Today's Feast > † VERSE OF THE DAY
"But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."
Jude 1:17-21 |  click to read more | | Our Lady of Mount Carmel Saint of the Day for July 16 Hermits lived on Mount Carmel near the Fountain of Elijah in northern Israel in the 12th century. They had a chapel dedicated to Our Lady. By the 13th century they became known as "Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel." They soon celebrated a special Mass and Office in honor of Mary. In 1726, it became a celebration of the universal Church under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. For centuries the Carmelites have seen themselves as specially related to Mary. Their great saints and theologians have promoted devotion to her and often championed the mystery of her Immaculate Conception. Saint Teresa of Avila called Carmel "the Order of the Virgin." Saint John of the Cross credited Mary with saving him from drowning as a child, leading him to Carmel, and helping him escape from prison. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus believed that Mary cured her from illness. On her First Communion day, Thérèse dedicated her life to Mary. During the last days of her life she frequently spoke of Mary. There is a tradition—which may not be historical—that Mary appeared to Saint Simon Stock, a leader of the Carmelites, and gave him a scapular, telling him to promote devotion to it. The scapular is a modified version of Mary's own garment. It symbolizes her special protection and calls the wearers to consecrate themselves to her in a special way. The scapular reminds us of the gospel call to prayer and penance—a call that Mary models in a splendid way.
Reflection The Carmelites were known from early on as "Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel." The title suggests that they saw Mary not only as "mother," but also as "sister." The word sister is a reminder that Mary is very close to us. She is the daughter of God and therefore can help us be authentic daughters and sons of God. She also can help us grow in appreciation of being sisters and brothers to one another. She leads us to a new realization that all human beings belong to the family of God. When such a conviction grows, there is hope that the human race can find its way to peace.
Mary, under the Title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, is the Patron Saint of: Chile | Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 2:1-15a A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,
who conceived and bore a son.
Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months.
When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket,
daubed it with bitumen and pitch,
and putting the child in it,
placed it among the reeds on the river bank.
His sister stationed herself at a distance
to find out what would happen to him. Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe,
while her maids walked along the river bank.
Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it.
On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying!
She was moved with pity for him and said,
"It is one of the Hebrews' children."
Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter,
"Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women
to nurse the child for you?"
"Yes, do so," she answered.
So the maiden went and called the child's own mother.
Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
"Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you."
The woman therefore took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter,
who adopted him as her son and called him Moses;
for she said, "I drew him out of the water." On one occasion, after Moses had grown up,
when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor,
he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen.
Looking about and seeing no one,
he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting!
So he asked the culprit,
"Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?"
But the culprit replied,
"Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us?
Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?"
Then Moses became afraid and thought,
"The affair must certainly be known." Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put Moses to death.
But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. Responsorial Psalm Ps 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34 R. (see 33) Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
I am sunk in the abysmal swamp
where there is no foothold;
I have reached the watery depths;
the flood overwhelms me.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me;
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. Alleluia Ps 95:8 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 11:20-24 Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." | Meditation: Psalm 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34 Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Optional Memorial) The flood overwhelms me. . . . But I pray to you, O Lord. (Psalm 69:3, 14 It's easy to see the connection today between the responsorial psalm and the first reading. You can imagine the mother of Moses crying out to God in words very similar to today's psalm. She surely must have felt as if she and her kinsmen were, literally and figuratively, "sunk in the abysmal swamp where there is no foothold" (Psalm 69:3). Unable to hide her baby boy any longer from Pharaoh's murderous design, she set Moses adrift on the river in a basket. All she could do was pray and depend on the mercy of God. Of course, we know how the story plays out. God didn't abandon the baby or his mother. In fact, Pharaoh's sister found him and ordered his mother to nurse him. She received her son back, as if from the dead! Not only that, but Moses received the education he would need in order to fulfill God's plan to deliver his people from slavery. At one time or another, most of us have felt overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control. We might think that all we can do is hold on and cry out for mercy, as the psalmist and Moses' mother did. We know that God loves us, but at the moment, we can't imagine how he will bring good out of our dire circumstances. If that's how you're feeling right now, hang in there. It will take a deliberate act of faith to rely on God's goodness, just as it took the psalmist in today's reading. Everything you see around you may tell you that he isn't with you, but don't believe it! Don't give in to fear or bitterness; instead, cry out to God. Tell him your doubts and questions. Praise him for the ways he has been faithful in the past. Remind yourself that "the Lord hears the poor" when they cry out (Psalm 69:34). As you hold on stubbornly to your trust in God, you will discover something that might surprise you: God is indeed holding you in his arms. You may not understand everything going on around you, but you will become convinced that he will never abandon you. "Lord, I am choosing to trust you because I know you are working out your good purposes in my life." Exodus 2:1-15
Matthew 11:20-24 |  clickable | Faith comes in to encourage us, when we are hesitating to make an affirmation; and this is why we can say that faith is a gift—there is a bestowal of grace which confirms our wills, and makes it possible for us to assert, and to go on asserting, truths of religion over which, if we were left to our indolent and cowardly selves, we might be tempted to suspend judgement. That is why faith can be exercised in equal measure and is needed in equal measure, by a trained theologian and by a simple peasant.
—Ronald Knox
from In Soft Garments | my2cents:
"The affair must certainly be known."
Moses was now a man on the run. A man of conflicting contradictions. The Pharaoh's daughter raised him, saving him, he killed an Egyptian, he was a Hebrew. What have you done? Now where do you go? Who are you going to be loyal to? Even his own "kin" were accusing him. "Are you going to kill us like you did that Egyptian?" says the accuser. Sin has consequences. It makes you a man on the run. But where shall you run? Where can you hide from your sin? You can hide where you like, but you carry it with you always. Until, we run into the Lord. Until we learn to love mercy, and to fall in love you must meet, catch sight of Mercy. I was asked to speak at our Ultreya, and I said in my spontaneous talk that "in the world, I want people to know my good and awesome friend, and His name is Mercy". Oh you would absolutely love Him! | Let us pray: ". Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me;
I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving."
I have a loved one that says they find church boring. So boring that he will not go. When I see him go, he is the first out the door. He just can't seem to stand it! And all I tell him is "go to church". But why? Why should he? It's almost ridiculous for me to command him to go. He has no good reason to go! I would love for him to meet my friend, Mercy. But he has no desire for Mercy. He sees no need for Mercy. That is my complication. I can not force people to meet mercy. I pretty much go daily to Mass. Why do I see beauty and he sees nothing? Why do I experience the wonder and awe, and he experiences extreme boredom? Why do I feel contrition and he has not? Why am I cut to the heart, and he is not? Now, all truth be told, I pray much for him, I even told him not long ago that I pray much for him. For a conversion? Why do I go to Mass? To have goody tushy feelings? No. So I can eat bread? Maybe, food for soul. But that's not all. I go to give thanks. I go to say sorry. I go to the offering. Where He offers Himself and I offer myself. And the meal is called Thanksgiving. Heaven meets earth, the dust. And life begins. | Our Lord said "But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
Why? Why such an extreme judgement call? Because in Sodom, they had prophets, but here, Jesus is the Prophet of Prophets, the King of kings. He is calling for a direct conversion, for the figs to give fruit now. Now is always the appropriate time to convert. The present....to God. | My loved one is not a typical guy from Sodom, of the world. No, he has been baptized, and confirmed when married into the Church. The call is much more extreme than a typical pagan. What about all the unbaptized souls? God knows. Once baptized, we become Moses, drawn of water, given life, and life for a purpose...to Heaven. Then, confirmed, we say "we believe and we will live the Way of Christ". In Holy Communion, we partake of the promise of the resurrection. In confession we are absolved of sins, preparing for Heaven. What a most precious gift!
But what if the baptized soul is not living the way to Heaven?
What if the confirmed soul is not believing all the tenets of the faith?
What if the communicant no longer desires Jesus? Or to give thanks?
Can you begin to see the real danger, the state of the soul that has excommunicated itself through mortal sin?
What is mortal sin? To choose sin over Him. To choose self over Him. To say "I know better". How foolish! No wonder you are not amazed and living life full of joy. Because we know nothing about God and you claim you know everything!
Now, you've heard my story and of my loved one. This battle for souls.
What are you doing in your battle? Are you on vacation? LOL.
There's this deacon that speaks with fervor always, and he says "In the fifty years as a deacon I've NEVER taken a vacation or even gone off on anniversary trip" because He rather choose the Kingdom.
Is this extreme?
Not really.
Those "religious" in cloisters and monasteries do not go on vacations etc.
How quickly we forget that "NOW" is the appropriate time. No days off from the Lord.
Burned out?
Get back on FIRE.
How? ASK.
Seek.
Knock.
The fire is always burning at the Presence of God.
Think Burning Bush.
Think Moses on holy ground.
Think of atonement.
Think of mortification and penance.
Think holiness.
Think of the battle that never stops. That is why we on earth are called the Church militant. Fighting for suffering souls. Hungry souls that are too weak to pray. Praying with them. Nourishing them. Giving our lives for them.
You are the original red cross, saving victims from this world.
You are and you are beautiful for the Heavens are sending reinforcements to your aid. To aid and assist you in perseverance, in your giving, in your charity and holiness and purity. All things necessary to attain salvation...an eternal bliss, that of living closer and closer to our Father Creator.... |  hear it read | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Psalm 27:1 (Listen)
Of David. 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold [1] of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid? Thank You Jesus | |
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