 clickable | | Love and Community God is love, light, truth, and beauty. God is like a mother, gently trying to coax another step out of a young child learning to walk, God exists as an infinite patience that endures all things. The cross of Christ reveals that God works far differently than do our imaginations. God never overpowers anyone. God's power to create love and community. —from the book The Passion and the Cross by Ronald Rolheiser |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | †Saint Quote
"If you ate only one meal a week would you survive? It is the same for your soul. Nourish it with the Blessed Sacrament."
— St. André Bessette †Meditation of the Day "We must beg God constantly in our prayers to uphold us by His hand; we should keep ever in our minds the truth that if He leaves us, most certainly we shall fall at once into the abyss, for we must never be so foolish as to trust in ourselves. After this I think the greatest safeguard is to be very careful and to watch how we advance in virtue; we must notice whether we are making progress or falling back in it, especially as regards the love of our neighbor, the desire to be thought the least of all and how we perform our ordinary, everyday duties. If we attend to this and beg Our Lord to enlighten us, we shall at once perceive our gain or loss." — St. Teresa of Avila, p.98-9 An Excerpt From Interior Castle †Verse of the Day "Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning. Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others." Ecclesiastes 7:20-21 |  click to read more | | St. Gemma Galgani St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born in Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma's mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. She was rejected due to her poor heath, and later became a Tertiary member of the order. Gemma developed spinal meningitis but was miraculously healed, which she attributed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. She is the patron saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th. | Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 254 Reading 1 GN 17:3-9 When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
"My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God." God also said to Abraham:
"On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages." Responsorial Psalm PS 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever. Verse Before The Gospel PS 95:8 If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. Gospel JN 8:51-59 Jesus said to the Jews:
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death."
So the Jews said to him,
"Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.'
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?"
Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, 'He is our God.'
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad."
So the Jews said to him,
"You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?"
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM."
So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area. | Mass Reading & Meditation for April 11, 2019
Catholic Meditations
Meditation:
John 8:51-59 Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr (Memorial) Whoever keeps my word will never see death. (John 8:51) If you were to take an immersion language course in French, from the moment you enter the classroom until the moment you leave, every word you hear and every word you speak would be in French. No English. Not a single word. Similarly, we could say that in today's Gospel, Jesus is conducting an immersion class in the language of heaven. A long debate between Jesus and his opponents has brought them to the question of his claim to be the Son of God. "It is my Father who glorifies me," he tells them (John 8:54). "I know him. . . and I keep his word" (8:55). His opponents can't seem to settle on who they think he is: "Where is your Father?" "Who are you?" "You are a Samaritan" "You are possessed." "Who do you make yourself out to be?" (John 8:19, 25, 48, 52, 53). Nearly two millennia of Old Testament history had brought Jesus and the Jewish authorities to this point of impasse. These were faithful Jews intent on honoring God's covenant with Abraham. But Jesus insists that he himself is the fulfillment of God's covenant promises. Their focus on their long-held expectations blocks their understanding. But Jesus doesn't give up. He continues to show them an unimaginable future in which Abraham is waiting for them. Jesus is still leading us today. Every day he is at the top of a hill looking over into a beautiful land and inviting us to join him: "Whoever keeps my word will never see death" (John 8:51). He is asking us to trust him and to follow him into that new promised land. Let's believe Jesus today. Let's keep his word today and every day until we have made it over the hill and into our new home. We do that by fixing our eyes on Jesus. His cross is like a trail marker; it points us to the path of self-giving love. His resurrection tells us that our biggest obstacles, sin and death, have been defeated. And his ascension tells us that the gates of heaven have been opened—for all of us! "Jesus, I believe that you are the way to heaven. Help me to turn from any paths that do not lead to you." Genesis 17:3-9
Psalm 105:4-9 |  clickable | The more man freely chooses to sin and place his own truth above God's truth, and the more sin becomes a habit and vice, the more man becomes enslaved to the fleeting goods of this world; he becomes bound to disordered love and constrained by disordered attachments. In this way sin establishes an addictive pattern that keeps men from conforming to the truth of their being.
—Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers
from Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality | 2cents:
Our Lord said: "I will maintain my covenant with you".
God said the land of Canaan would belong to AbraHAM, the father of all nations. But there is fine print, a stipulation about a covenant. Why? Because it is a relationship with God. | Let us pray God's words: "He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations – Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac." | Our Lord said today ""Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death."
Do you believe our Lord about death and life? Can we trust Him with our eternity? Don't trust yourself with it! A saint once looked into the mirror and said "Lord, don't trust this guy right there, he will betray you!". Think of it with your name now "Lord, don't trust my child, for they will fail you today". They say the holiest person fails God up to 7 times per day. | But God has words of everlasting life. He said "where I am going you cannot go". He makes an eternal dwelling place for His precious child. A beautiful child is a holy child. Yesterday morning, I awoke, already thinking about my 9th grade students, praying for them as I trimmed my beard and thought about our Lord. A heart prayer prayed for one student to come who has not come in a couple weeks. Fast forward 13.5 hrs later and class starts. I'm setting up alone in the classroom and suddenly I get startled, it was that student flying in with a bag full of easter eggs and money for the poor. I was spiritually surprised. My whole day lit up after that for earlier I was having trouble getting brothers to get on board with a parish thing, lots of friction. Immediately I thought inside "WOW Lord, you know how to surprise one".
If I pray so much for my children and adopted children in class, and I love them, then, I wonder how much more LOVE its very self loves each one of us? It is a story of faith.
And I have another to share, this one is from an app developer that makes Novenas. I personally use the app because it helps me remember novenas. 9 days of prayer, which are beautiful but hard to accomplish. The whole friction I'm getting too is because of an app, so pray for us to unify and be onboard. Anyhow, I'll let you read the story about Devin Rose and by the way here is website link to his, click: Devin wrote one day:
"I have one final story to share, one where a novena got an unexpected answer that we were privileged to be part of. One day my wife and I met a young woman, alone in the Church with three small children, crying. Clearly she was in distress and needed help. I nudged my wife to go over and inquire if we could be of service. This young woman, whom I'll call Teresa, began to share her woes with my wife. She found herself suddenly a single mother. Her husband had abandoned her and their children for another woman. She was a faithful Catholic, and had thought her husband was too. But their marriage was shredded; he had filed for divorce; he had left them. What was worse, he was taking their things out of their house that very day and moving them into his lover's apartment. She was not only losing her husband, but also necessary items like furniture, appliances, and so on. We began to offer what help we could, mainly friendship from my wife. We invited her and her children over often, and they became friends with our children. Mostly, my wife listened and consoled Teresa. They became friends. Teresa was such a lovely, sweet, faithful young woman, it made us wonder who in his right mind would do such a thing to her. But as you know, many people are not in their right mind. They are darkened through sin, through demonic attacks, through selfishness. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Teresa recovered; years went by, and she developed a support network of friends, family, and community for herself and her children. Eventually, she filed for an annulment, and after two long years it was granted. And after more time of healing and prayer, Teresa met a solid Catholic young man, one who had been through great trials in his own life, and overcome them. A virtuous man, and one who did not shy away from marrying a woman who already had three children. One day, as the happy ending was beginning, Teresa told my wife and I a secret. She said, "did you know that, on the day where you met me and were so kind to me, I was just finishing a novena? It was the last day of the St. Therese novena, and on the ninth day, it is tradition that St. Therese will send down a rose from the Heavenly garden as a sign that the prayer is answered." My wife and I just listened. Did Teresa receive a rose? Teresa said, "I didn't realize it at the moment; I was too distraught. I didn't get a rose that day, as I had hoped. No. Instead, you were my Rose. St. Therese sent your entire family, the Rose family, to help me." Blown. Away. You know, how special is that, to be the answer to someone's prayer? It doesn't happen often to me. At least that I ever find out about. But it does happen, and could to you as well. Maybe you have a friend who needs prayer. Maybe you have someone you are praying for, or someone who themselves needs to pray. Maybe they need a sign to pray, a gentle prod and step in the right direction?" |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Isaiah 55:10-11 (Listen) 10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Thank You Jesus | |
