 clickable | | Good Work Is Like a Prayer It is in work that we find the test of our relationship to the creation because work is the question of how we will use the creation. For Wendell Berry, work done well brings us into a wholeness and cooperation with the creation in which we can find health. Bad work destroys the connections that make life possible. For Berry good work is like a prayer—it is an act of both gratitude and return. Good work accepts the gifts of creation and uses those gifts to further their givenness. There are seeds that lie for decades in the soil, waiting for the right conditions before springing to life. Good work is that which creates the conditions for such life to burst forth from the whole of the creation. —from the book Wendell Berry and the Given Life by Ragan Sutterfield |  MorningOffering.com | † Saint Quote
"I am sent not only to love God but to make Him loved. It is not enough for me to love God, if my neighbor does not love Him."
— St. Vincent de Paul †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Even though we know that God's will and commandments apply to everyone, we do not always have the strength to fulfill them. Now, every time we respond faithfully to a motion of the Spirit, out of desire to be docile to what God expects of us, even if it's something almost insignificant of itself, that faithfulness draws grace and strength down on us. That strength can then be applied to other areas and may make us capable of one day practicing the commandments that up until then we had not been capable of fulfilling entirely."
— Fr. Jacques Philippe, p. 20
AN EXCERPT FROM
In the School of the Holy Spirit † VERSE OF THE DAY
"So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 |  click to read more | | Blessed John Francis Burté and Companions Saint of the Day for September 2
(d. September 2, 1792 and January 21, 1794) These priests were victims of the French Revolution. Though their martyrdom spans a period of several years, they stand together in the Church's memory because they all gave their lives for the same principle. In 1791, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy required all priests to take an oath which amounted to a denial of the faith. Each of these men refused and was executed. John Francis Burté became a Franciscan at 16 and after ordination taught theology to the young friars. Later he was guardian of the large Conventual friary in Paris until he was arrested and held in the convent of the Carmelites. Appolinaris of Posat was born in 1739 in Switzerland. He joined the Capuchins and acquired a reputation as an excellent preacher, confessor, and instructor of clerics. Preparing for his assignment to the East as a missionary, he was in Paris studying Oriental languages when the French Revolution began. Refusing the oath, he was swiftly arrested and detained in the Carmelite convent. Severin Girault, a member of the Third Order Regular, was a chaplain for a group of sisters in Paris. Imprisoned with the others, he was the first to die in the slaughter at the convent. These three plus 182 others—including several bishops and many religious and diocesan priests—were massacred at the Carmelite house in Paris on September 2, 1792. They were beatified in 1926. Born in 1737, John Baptist Triquerie became a Conventual Franciscan. He was the chaplain and confessor of Poor Clare monasteries in three cities before he was arrested for refusing to take the oath. He and 13 diocesan priests were martyred in Laval on January 21, 1794. He was beatified in 1955.
Reflection "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was the motto of the French Revolution. If individuals have "inalienable rights," as the Declaration of Independence states, these must come not from the agreement of society—which can be very fragile—but directly from God. Do we believe that? Do we act on it? | Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Thes 4:13-18 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
about those who have fallen asleep,
so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself, with a word of command,
with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left,
will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words. Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:1 and 3, 4-5, 11-12, 13 R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth. Alleluia See Lk 4:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 4:16-30 Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
| Meditation: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 22nd Week in Ordinary Time (Labor Day, USA) We shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) Bridget left the hospital in tears. Her elderly father's cancer had recurred—and this time it was terminal. All he could do now was accept palliative care to aid him in a peaceful death. "God has given me many good years," he told his daughter. "I am ready to go home to our Lord." Bridget's father could have taught believers in Thessalonica a thing or two. Paul's preaching of the resurrection there had prompted the people to embrace the thought of their own resurrection at the end. But they took it a little too far and thought it was right around the corner. When some of them actually died, members of the community became upset Didn't Jesus defeat death when he rose? they wondered. Then why do people still die? Rather than accept death as a natural process of life, they jumped to the conclusion that Jesus had triumphed over physical death as well as spiritual death. Millennia of history have shown us that death still remains with us. But at the same time, Jesus has shown that it doesn't have the final word. People die every day, but their souls are still in the hands of God. He is the one with the final say. And he is loving enough—and powerful enough—to promise us a full resurrection, body and soul, at the end. Even with this teaching spelled out, though, it can still be hard to think about heaven. This is especially true if we are grieving the recent loss of a loved one. Maybe the best approach is to focus on Paul's consoling words to the Thessalonians: "We shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). God is with you now. He was with you in all your past, and he will be with you throughout your future. Every day that you spend with him prepares you a little more for his gift of eternal life. It convinces you of his love a little more, and it gives him many opportunities to show you his mercy. So cherish each moment that you have to spend with Jesus. And remember, the best is yet to come. "Jesus, thank you for every moment I'm able to spend with you." Psalm 96:1, 3-5, 11-13
Luke 4:16-30 |  clickable | Not infrequently freedom is understood in an anarchic and simply anti-institutional manner and thus becomes an idol. Authentic human freedom can only be the freedom of just reciprocal relations, the freedom of justice; otherwise it becomes a lie and leads to slavery.
—Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI)
from Western Culture, Today and Tomorrow | my2cents: They were amazed...and then they tried to throw Him off a cliff? Was it the same people...of Israel?
This is why God did what He did on the cross. A loud and clear message that would never be forgotten.
We shall always remember and follow His Call. | from Bishop Barron today:
Friends, in our Gospel for today Jesus reads from Isaiah a prophecy dealing with the messianic transformation of the world. And then he declares it fulfilled, precisely in him. The audience initially is positive. And then we see why they are so favorable: "They also asked, 'Isn't this the son of Joseph?'" Undoubtedly, they are thinking: well, if this man is the Messiah, and he's a local boy, we will benefit enormously! As Tip O'Neill said, "All politics is local." But Jesus commences to throw them for a loop. He invokes two uneasy stories from the Old Testament tradition, the first dealing with Elijah. During a drought Elijah is sent not to an Israelite but to a widow from Sidon, a foreigner. And the second deals with Elisha, who cleanses from leprosy not an Israelite but Naaman the Syrian. At these key moments in its history, God attends to the needs of the other nations and not the needs of Israel. He is reminding them that Israel existed for the sake of the other nations. |  hear it read | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Proverbs 12:1 (Listen) 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates reproof is stupid. Thank You Jesus | |
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