 clickable | | Understanding Stability When Yeshua moved about Galilee he was a consistently steady, still point manifesting in many places. People who stay at home but fantasize about trips and being elsewhere do not have anything like this stability. St. Benedict says the monk "must prefer nothing to Christ." Quite soon in my monastic life I heard the ironical version of this, "prefer nothing to a trip," from monks who had come to understand stability primarily in geographical terms. Of course we can also be on the move as a way of keeping one step ahead of reality, being on the run from something and protecting ourselves from it. But stability, whether you are busy or not, is a fruit of meditation. It produces the clarity, discernment and good judgment that improves the quality and other-centeredness of our lives. Stability brings the point of departure and the place of arrival together in a dynamic stillness and a radical openness to change. Not a bad goal to identify, even in the last part of Lent. —from the book Sensing God: Learning to Meditate during Lent by Laurence Freeman, OSB |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"The school of Christ is the school of love. In the last day, when the general examination takes place ... Love will be the whole syllabus."
— St. Robert Bellarmine †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Set free from human judgment, we should count as true only what God sees in us, what he knows, and what he judges. God does not judge as man does. Man sees only the countenance, only the exterior. God penetrates to the depths of our hearts. God does not change as man does. His judgment is in no way inconstant. He is the only one upon whom we should rely. How happy we are then, and how peaceful! We are no longer dazzled by appearances, or stirred up by opinions; we are united to the truth and depend upon it alone. I am praised, blamed, treated with indifference, disdained, ignored, or forgotten; none of this can touch me. I will be no less than I am. Men and women want to play at being a creator. They want to give me existence in their opinion, but this existence that they want to give me is nothingness. It is an illusion, a shadow, an appearance, that is, at bottom, nothingness. What is this shadow, always following me, behind me, at my side? Is it me, or something that belongs to me? No. Yet does not this shadow seem to move with me? No matter: it is not me. So it is with the judgements of men: they would follow me everywhere, paint me, sketch me, make me move according to their whim, and, in the end, give me some sort of existence ... but I am disabused of this error. I am content with a hidden life. How peaceful it is! Whether I truly live this Christian life of which St. Paul speaks, I do not know, nor can I know with certainty. But I hope that I do, and I trust in God's goodness to help me."
— Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, p. 99-101
AN EXCERPT FROM
Meditations for Lent † VERSE OF THE DAY
"For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil."
2 Corinthians 5:10 |  click to read more | | St. John of Egypt (4th c.), also known as John the Hermit or John the Anchorite, worked alongside his father, a carpenter, until he was twenty-five years old. He then discerned a call from God to go out into the desert and become a hermit. He spent sixteen years in spiritual training under the care of a religious superior who commanded him to perform difficult and unreasonable tasks, which John obeyed with childlike simplicity. After this time of spiritual training he withdrew into greater solitude in a small cell at the top of a cliff, praying incessantly and avoiding contact with people for the last fifty years of his life. He had the gift of prophecy and could perform miracles, and foretold to Emperor Theodosius his future victories as well as the time of his death. People traveled from afar for his counsel or blessings, and to hear him preach. He would receive visitors two days a week from a tiny window in his cell. He became so famous for his holiness that St. Augustine wrote of him, making reference to the devils who came to tempt John continually. St. John of Egypt's feast day is March 27th. | Lazarus (? – ?)
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight, Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters, and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years. A church was built in his honor in Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in 890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of converts, and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the new cathedral in Autun in 1146. It is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.
Reflection Many people who have had a near-death experience report losing all fear of death. When Lazarus died a second time, perhaps he was without fear. He must have been sure that Jesus, the friend with whom he had shared many meals and conversations, would be waiting to raise him again. We don't share Lazarus' firsthand knowledge of returning from the grave. Nevertheless, we too have shared meals and conversations with Jesus, who waits to raise us, too. | Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent Reading 1 Wis 2:1a, 12-22 The wicked said among themselves,
thinking not aright:
"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him."
These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,
and they knew not the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense of holiness
nor discern the innocent souls' reward. Responsorial Psalm 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23 R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Verse Before the Gospel Mt 4:4b One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Gospel Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
"Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.
| Today's Meditation: John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me. (John 7:29) Where are you from? How many times have you been asked that question? We usually respond with the names of the city, state, or country where we grew up or have lived for a long time. That place has become part of our identity. The way we talk, the foods we eat, the sports teams we root for—all these and more are often influenced by where we come from. The people in Jerusalem knew that Jesus was from Nazareth in Galilee. He probably even had a Galilean accent. And that was the problem. "When the Christ comes," they said, "no one will know where he is from" (John 7:27). Granted, one Old Testament prophecy said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, the city of David (Micah 5:1). But Galilee? No way! Jesus didn't deny his roots: "You . . . know where I am from" (John 7:28). But his roots went much deeper than Nazareth. They went deeper even than his family ties. Jesus was rooted in his identity as the Son of God. He had come from the Father who had sent him. That was the focal point around which everything else in his life—what he thought, said, and did—revolved. You were born to a specific family in a specific time and place, and this influences who you are today. But your deepest identity comes from God your Father. He created you, and by virtue of your baptism, you have become his son or daughter. Like Jesus, that should be the focal point around which everything else in your life revolves. Being deeply grounded in our identity as God's son or daughter will change us. It will affect what we choose to do with our time and energy. It will move us to pray and celebrate the sacraments. It will influence the way we relate to people and the way in which we speak to them. It will make us more aware of the needs of the poor. And it will give our lives purpose and meaning—because like Jesus, we too have been sent to proclaim the good news of God's merciful love. What an honor it is to be called a son or daughter of God! "Father, help me to live out my identity in you." Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
Psalm 34:17-21, 23 |  clickable | Without a heavenly perspective, rooted in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we really cannot offer authentic, lasting hope to a world desperate for meaning beyond this material realm.
— Carl E. Olson
from Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? | my2cents:
""Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings..."
They tested God. They tested Jesus. Evil tested Him not only in the 40 days of the desert, but at moments all the way to the cross. This is proof, as gold is purified in the crucible.
1 Peter 1:7
"These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." | We pray: " The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. The LORD confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the earth. When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them."
We shall together repent, for we have done what is evil in His sight. Lord, help us acknowledge our sins, let our sins be brought up, and may we bring them to you for healing, for mercy. | They were trying to Kill our Lord, the truth. We heard: "So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
If scripture said no one would know where He was coming from, then it was made true through Jesus. Just because they knew literally where He was raised, they had him all figured out. But, truly they failed to see He came from a place they knew nothing about...Heaven...And God. | What about you? Do you have God figured out? I always like to say, if you got God figured out, then you must be an atheist or worse. Unfortunately, most have a limit on Him, we put Him away, and only when needed is He allowed into our lives. And that is the gist of the message, it's about the door to the heart. It ultimately becomes heart matters. Corona epidemic is a revelation, for the word Corona means "crown". What are we crowning with authority? The virus, the death and stench it brings in its message, or Jesus? Which one are we paying more attention to? And this should be a real eye opener for the rest of our lives...the tests of our lives. Will God be your anchor no matter what? Will God lead you and will you do His will above all? What is His will? How can you discern it? Easy. Discern the will of God with love. The measure which you therefore put out, is the measure which you will be given...direction. We shall no longer be lost souls, but souls found in great love with God. Whatever happens, this is the Way. |  click to hear a message | Random Bible verse from an online generator: 2 Cor. 4:11
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit my website Going4th.com, surely you'll find me there. God Bless You! Share the Word. Share this, share what is good | |
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