 clickable | | Where Love Can Lead Slavish imitation is not what holiness is about, but rather it's about learning to love God in our own time and place with its own sensibilities and ways of following in the footsteps of Jesus with all our heart and mind and soul. It's about doing and making choices commensurate with our own capacities, our own strength and/or weakness of mind and body. We don't have to be nutty to be a saint, but being in love with God will sometimes move us to do things that others will consider nutty or unbalanced. —from Surrounded by Love: Seven Teachings from Saint Francis |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | | †Quote
"O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary."
— St. Gertrude the Great † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know this? When you and I approach the Eucharist, does it look like we believe we are about to take into our bodies the living person, Jesus Christ, true God and true man? How many times, Lord, have I forgotten that the Eucharist is alive! As I wait in line to receive you each day, am I thinking about how much you want to unite yourself with me? Am I seeing your hands filled with the graces you want to give me? Am I filled with awe and gratitude that you love me so much as to actually want to come to me in this incredibly intimate way? Or am I distracted, busy with other thoughts, preoccupied with myself and my agendas for the day? How many times, Jesus, have I made you sad, mindlessly receiving you into my body, into my heart, with no love and no recognition of your love? How many times have I treated you as a dead object? The Host that we receive is not a thing! It's not a wafer! It's not bread! It's a person – He's alive!"
— Vinny Flynn, p. 8
AN EXCERPT FROM
7 Secrets of the Eucharist † VERSE OF THE DAY
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 |  click to read more | | Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin (October 6, 1888 – October 20, 1922) Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin's Story If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today's saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him. Born in Italy in 1888, the young girl lived in fear of her father, a violent man prone to jealousy and drunkenness. Her schooling was limited so that she could spend more time helping at home and working in the fields. She showed few talents and was often the butt of jokes. In 1904, she joined the Sisters of Saint Dorothy and was assigned to work in the kitchen, bakery and laundry. After some time Maria received nurses' training and began working in a hospital with children suffering from diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: nursing very ill and disturbed children. Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military in World War I, Sister Maria Bertilla fearlessly cared for patients amidst the threat of constant air raids and bombings. She died in 1922 after suffering for many years from a painful tumor. Some of the patients she had nursed many years before were present at her canonization in 1961.
Reflection This fairly recent saint knew the hardships of living in an abusive situation. Let us pray to her to help all those who are suffering from any form of spiritual, mental, or physical abuse | Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Sir 2:1-11 My son, when you come to serve the LORD,
stand in justice and fear,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,
undisturbed in time of adversity.
Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will you be wise in all your ways.
Accept whatever befalls you,
when sorrowful, be steadfast,
and in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold and silver are tested,
and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and God will help you;
trust in him, and he will direct your way;
keep his fear and grow old therein. You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy,
turn not away lest you fall.
You who fear the LORD, trust him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the LORD, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.
You who fear the LORD, love him,
and your hearts will be enlightened.
Study the generations long past and understand;
has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed?
Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken?
has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?
Compassionate and merciful is the LORD;
he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble
and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth. Responsorial Psalm Ps 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40
R. (see 5) Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
R. Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you.
The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;
their inheritance lasts forever.
They are not put to shame in an evil time;
in days of famine they have plenty.
R. Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
R. Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you. Alleluia Gal 6:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 9:30-37 Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise."
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
"What were you arguing about on the way?"
But they remained silent.
For they had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
"If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
"Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me."
| Meditation: Sirach 2:1-11
7th Week in Ordinary Time In fire gold and silver are tested, and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation. (Sirach 2:5) Did you know that the ancient method of refining precious metals is still practiced today? Craftsmen still subject gold or silver to intense heat in a metal container called a crucible until it melts. Then the hot, molten metal is carefully stirred, and the impurities that rise to the top are skimmed off. The process was, and still is, dangerous, time consuming, and painstaking. But what emerges is beautiful, lustrous, and of great worth. In times of adversity, we may feel as if we're trapped in a fiery hot crucible. And far more often than when life is going smoothly, the heat of our trials can cause sinful thoughts, attitudes, and actions to bubble up to the surface. Fortunately for us, Jesus is a skilled craftsman who knows how to refine us. He is sitting patiently by the cauldron with a watchful eye and skilled hand, carefully and meticulously removing every little impurity that floats to the surface. Sometimes it's painful to see these impurities bubble up in us. We may even want to ignore or hide some of them because we're embarrassed or afraid of God's reaction to them. He sees all of them, of course, so our best response to his work of refining us is to cooperate with him. Let those impurities see the light of day so that the Master Refiner can skim them away. Let's say you're feeling exhausted or stressed, and you end up reacting harshly to a family member who needs your help. Don't hide in shame! Don't make excuses for yourself! Just bring that over-the-top reaction to the Lord. Ask him, and the person you have hurt, to forgive you. It may be uncomfortable, but that's what refining is all about. Keep the end result in mind, and that will make it easier. God doesn't cause our difficult circumstances, but he can bring good out of them—and he often does. So when you find yourself in a fiery furnace, try to cooperate with him. Let those impurities come out so that he can skim them away. Over time, your life will shine—not with fake gold, but with the real gold of Christ. "Lord, give me patience whenever I find myself in a 'crucible of faith.' Help me to stay close to you so that you can continue to purify me." Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40
Mark 9:30-37 |  clickable | A passion for God will inflame a passionate need to find his presence also in the poor.
—Fr. Donald Haggerty
from Conversion: Spiritual Insights Into an Essential Encounter with God | 2cents:
"You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost." There is a holy fear of the Lord that is to be had. And it is yours for the taking! It is a gift. Do want fear of the Lord? Do you want Holy fear of the Lord? You see, even though it is there for the taking, you have to desire. Desire what? God. And His Holy Will. I asked an RCIA student a couple weeks ago, "what is the will of God?" and he said "to do as He says". Made it sound simple...but why do we make it so hard? We make it hard....on ourselves. I previous student is now living out the faith. He recently had to undergo many night classes that took months. He said "I can't believe how much time I have in the evenings!". I said "it's amazing how we can choose to make time". Otherwise, we fill it with things. Things like "family" and self. But what about the family of God? What about all those children in need? | Let us pray: " Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you. Turn from evil and do good, that you may abide forever; For the LORD loves what is right, and forsakes not his faithful ones." Does "Commit your life to the Lord" sound like an invitation...or a command? It sounds like the Word is telling us to do something here. Commit. Oh how we are afraid of commitments. To church, to holiness, to anything that would take our lives! Right? I see it in my many ministries; "if I serve, how long will I have to do this for?". And so now we are talking about term servings. That's ok, but what's not ok is that we limit our love of God. Some takeover a ministry, and won't let others serve. Rotation is ok. Some priests get attached and parishioners follow a priest...not Jesus. You see? Love doesn't know limits. True love breaks walls, many walls set up by your very self! | In the Holy Gospel, there is a dispute among His disciples about who was the greatest. Jesus shows them the greatest. And it goes on: "He sat down, called the Twelve" (story time, gather round!)
" and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."
Ahh. PAUSE.
This interesting revelation has been hitting me, and it may be silly, but it goes like this "there is a couple ways to get keys to the church. Either you are the priest (serving the parish) or you are the janitor (serving the parish). I digress, back to the story!
"Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me." | WOW. That is deep. Jesus just told us how we can receive HIM! Now this is getting deeper. Eucharist? Yes. But, there are other ways to receive Him. Eucharist is an intimate union (communion). So how else can we receive Him? It has to do in the giving my friend, my child. Watch how our Lord embraced a child. The child didn't ask for it. The child was good or bad. The child was set as an example of the children He loves....you and I. Back to receiving Jesus; to receive Him, we must embrace the child with what? Protection. Love. Even laying your life for them if necessary. That is to receive a child in HIS HOLY AND MOST PRECIOUS NAME. Because His name is Savior. His name is Emmanuel. His Name is Name above ALL Names. To receive a child in His name is to pronounce life on the child. And if you receive Jesus? You receive the Father, God.
Receive the Father's love. Do you understand this? It is a revolutionary idealism being introduced. The kind that forfeits your life and your very well being. I spoke with a doctor this week, He said he's been delivering babies for 30 years and never has he had a case where you have to choose between the mother's life or the baby's life. But, nowadays, doctors don't have to take a Hippocratic oath to solely be interested in life. Now they are being forced to introduce death into people's lives. And so they ask many pregnant women "you should consider an abortion". Or now, suicide is being introduced by doctors as an option. So once the unborn are of no value, what age should be valued at all? What's next? Death panels. If insurance keeps following the death trend, there will be judges to rule whether you are good enough to receive treatment or be ordered to die. All people ages will be ruled. All because we failed to save the unborn. And it is funny that we are divided on life, as if to say we don't know what life is. The evil one has done one hell of a job confusing people with lies. Embrace the child. Be not afraid of the child. Receive the child....Jesus.
Me and you have a daunting task...an honor, to serve the Lord with all our heart, all our minds, and all our soul. We have an opportunity like never before to shine. How? Be faithful. Just be faithful where you are. That is your mission! I watched a viral video of soldiers fighting Boko Haram terrorists, and in the battlefield, and they were on their knees adoring Jesus in the Eucharist, praying and praising God. They wore machine guns on there backs. That is their mission against evil. Our mission? Same. Adoring Jesus on our knees, praising, and glorifying God. Your machine guns? Rosaries. Prayer and pray until your knees bleed. Do this in lent at least. The world needs fidelity, loyalty...to God our Father first, great love and great fear.
Receive the Word |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian Random Bible (sanders)
Colossians 3:16 (Listen) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Thank You Jesus | |
