 clickable | | God's Creative Will God's creative will is an eternally sustaining will, namely, that my existence will not end, summons me to humble acquiescence and dialogue—or to proud, illusory self-sufficiency, which is a kind of hell because it severs the bond of love and results in a turning in upon oneself. God's love, in contrast to self-absorption, overflows, and though the eternal creator chooses to become one with love's creation entering the created world as creative word becoming obedient to the Word's own speaking of what it means to be a creature, obedient, as Saint Paul says, even "to the point of death— / even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). Christ was broken and died on the cross: Life did not spare the eternal Son, just as life will not spare us, but God's Incarnate Word confirmed for us that love endures, no matter what humans or fate or life does or refuses to do. And in the end obedient love rises from the grave. —from the book Mystics: Twelve Who Reveal God's Love by Murry Bodo, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | † Saint quote
"You can't go to heaven hating somebody. Forgive now. Be compassionate now. Be patient now. Be grateful now. Love Jesus and Mary now. Accept God's will now."
— Mother Angelica † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"True devotion to Our Lady is interior; that is, it comes from the mind and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her. It is tender; that is, full of confidence in her, like a child's confidence in his loving mother ... It implores the aid of its good Mother at all times, in all places and above all things: in its doubts, that it may be enlightened; in its wanderings, that it may be brought into the right path; in its temptations, that it may be supported; in its weaknesses, that it may be strengthened; in its falls, that it may be lifted up; in its discouragements, that it may be cheered; in its scruples, that they may be taken away; in the crosses, toils and disappointments of life, that it may be consoled under them. In a word, in all the evils of body and mind, the soul ordinarily has recourse to Mary, without fear of annoying her or displeasing Jesus Christ."
— St. Louis De Montfort, p. 54
AN EXCERPT FROM
True Devotion to Mary † VERSE OF THE DAY
"You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness."
James 1:19-20 |  click to read more | | ST. FRANCIS BORGIA St. Francis Borgia (1510-1572) was born in Spain to a noble family, the son of a Duke. On his father's side of the family he was the great-grandson of Pope Alexander VI, one of the notorious "Borgia Popes," and on his mother's side he was the great-grandson of King Ferdinand of Aragon. Francis joined the Spanish court of King Charles V at the age of 18, married, and had 8 children. In 1539 he experienced a profound religious conversion which caused him to renounce the pomp of the royal court, yet he continued his life of public service as the Viceroy of Catalonia. He made great progress in the spiritual life, and after his father's death he became the Duke of Gandia. He built a university and invited the newly-founded Society of Jesus to work in his duchy. After the death of his wife, and after providing for his children, he joined the Jesuits in Rome and was given a prominent position in the order by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Under Francis' leadership and reforms, the Jesuits advanced to such a great extent that he is considered to be their second founder. In the years following Ignatius' death, Francis became head of the order and established Jesuit missions in multiple countries. He also counseled his missionaries in both practical strategies as well as spiritual discipline. St. Francis of Borgia was a celebrated preacher and a key figure in the Counter-Reformation movement. His feast day is October 10th. | Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Mal 3:13-20b You have defied me in word, says the LORD,
yet you ask, "What have we spoken against you?"
You have said, "It is vain to serve God,
and what do we profit by keeping his command,
And going about in penitential dress
in awe of the LORD of hosts?
Rather must we call the proud blessed;
for indeed evildoers prosper,
and even tempt God with impunity."
Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,
and the LORD listened attentively;
And a record book was written before him
of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.
And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
Then you will again see the distinction
between the just and the wicked;
Between the one who serves God,
and the one who does not serve him.
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays. Responsorial Psalm Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 R.(Ps 40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. Alleluia See Acts 16:14b R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open your hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 11:5-13 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within,
'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence. "And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?"
| Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Malachi 3:13-20 27th Week in Ordinary Time What do we profit by keeping his command? (Malachi 3:14) The Israelites had been questioning God's justice. They saw people who had strayed yet still prospered. Where was the fairness in that? If God seemed to be blessing the wicked, they wondered, why should they bother following God's laws (Malachi 3:14-15)? The people could ask that question only because they were looking at their relationship with God as if it were a business contract. They thought they could trade their obedience for his blessing. But God doesn't see his grace as something to be earned by his people's compliance. No, he wants a relationship of love and mutual self-giving. So he reminds them just how much they mean to him and how much he wants to do for them. Let's spend a few minutes today pondering these beautiful images, which apply to us as well. "My own special possession" (Malachi 3:17). You aren't some random person God has chosen on a whim to love. He created you out of love, and he formed you in his own image. Just as a pearl cannot cease to be a pearl—that is, change what it is—neither can you cease to be precious in God's eyes. "I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son" (Malachi 3:17). God loves you as his own and has made you his son or daughter. Like any good earthly father, your heavenly Father's love for you isn't based on your performance. He loves you even when you fail. He loves you even when you sin! And he is always ready to welcome you back when you return to him. "The sun of justice with its healing rays . . ." (Malachi 3:20). God promised the Israelites that they would eventually see justice done. That promise is for you too. Someday, if not in this life, then in the life to come, you will be healed of every injustice. There will be no more pain or sorrow, no more tragedy. All will be made right. So what can we count on in this life? We can't count on immediate solutions to our problems and questions. But we can count on God's love and his constant desire to draw us closer to him. As we hold fast to him, we will receive his love—the greatest "profit" of all (Malachi 3:14). "Father, thank you for your faithful love! Help me to respond with trust and obedience." Psalm 1:1-4, 6
Luke 11:5-13 |  clickable | Our response to God, loving Him and loving our neighbor for His sake, always is the result of having generously received His love for us.
— Fr. Scott Traynor
from Parish as a School of Prayer | my2cents:
"But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays."
A couple weeks ago, I took my family with me on a Diocesan meeting I had with the Bishop, a 2.5 hr. drive. I try to take them as often as possible to meetings of all kinds. On the way back the next day, I ran into a youtube video of a lady giving witness to her experience of death. Dead for 28 minutes. Doctors had misdiagnosed her 3 times, said it was one thing but was another, with different doctors. It took one week for her to lapse into a coma. In the coma, she could hear everyone talking in the room, and some conversations where talking about her behind her back, in a way "...well her husband is good looking, he'll find a good woman, and help raise her kids". Funny how many in comas can hear things. One thing she always heard was prayers, especially from her father, and she said she felt a special presence in the prayers of a Priest and a nun, albeit, I don't think she was Catholic.
To make a long story short, she dies. She finds herself in what may have been a heavenly realm, and she said everything "was so natural". She had died with gangrene in her body, she was rotting inside, her bowels too. She was supposed to get her bowels removed if she survived. She said she saw our Lord sitting with the Father upon a great city. She saw a crippled man she knew in life, running across a field. She saw through the whole thing her guardian angel leading her. She was being led out the gates and powerful rays of light from our Lord went through her body and she knew she was being healed, and indeed she was, and began flying back to earth and into her body. 28 minutes after being dead, she was being wheeled out of her room and her dad had just uttered one last prayer from deep within "Jesus", she said our prayers were always being heard as if laser beams, and this one was heard direct. | Let us Pray: "Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. He is like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers."
The lady's dad was a pastor. The lady did not like to be around people too much, especially those who seemed sickly. For she had never been sick in her life. Now, she found out pain, to the extreme. When she came back to life, she found value in pain and in every single soul, loving every single one no matter their color or belief. She wrote a book on investing in people...for souls, for their sake. | Our Lord begins today with: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find".
The whole of the deal though, hinges on what one asks for. Because God only knows how to give what is good!! Believe it, or not.
"'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,'. Someone asking for bread, tugs at the heart, right? Not to all. And just in the same way, not all prayers are instantly answered. " ...if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence." There is a gift in perseverance. What is the gift? You get perseverance! | "For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Can I get an Amen? Yet, it boils down to, once again, what we ask for! We always believe we are asking for good things, right? I'm always praying for people's salvation. It doesn't seem to happen. Fast forward 10 years, still nothing, another 5 years, I don't see it. How many times will we persist in the night? For one day in Heaven is like a thousand years for us.
PERSIST ALWAYS. BE RELENTLESS IN YOUR LOVE. Your Love of God. And God Loves you in return with much more at hand.... |  hear it read | adrian Random Bible Verse 1
James 1:22–25 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Thank You Jesus | |
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