 |  clickable | | The Heart of Jesus Is an Open Door Jesus does not wish his heart to be a mystery to us. Rather his heart is an open door; he wears it on his sleeve for us, so to speak. Jesus makes his heart completely available to us. He is meek, he is humble, and he makes himself vulnerable, as he is consumed by love for us and concern for our eternal destiny. In turn, we are invited to offer our devotion, to have our hearts "burn within us," to offer consolation to Jesus and make reparation for all of our offenses and those of the whole world. He wants us to unite ourselves completely with the flow of love and mercy that pours forth from his heart. —from the book Healing Promises: The Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart by Anne Costa |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them."
— St. Therese of Lisieux † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"O my God, you and you alone are all wise and all knowing! You know, you have determined everything that will happen to us from first to last. You have ordered things in the wisest way, and you know what will be my lot year by year until I die. You know how long I have to live. You know how I shall die. You have precisely ordained everything, sin excepted. Every event of my life is the best for me that it could be, for it comes from you. You bring me on year by year, by your wonderful Providence, from youth to age, with the most perfect wisdom, and with the most perfect love."
— St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, p. 103
AN EXCERPT FROM
Everyday Meditations † TODAY'S FEAST DAY† SACRED HEART OF JESUS
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the octave day of the feast of Corpus Christi. In the 17th century Jesus appeared in a vision to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque asking her to request that this feast be celebrated in honor of his Sacred Heart in reparation for the ingratitude of mankind toward the sacrifice of his love on the Cross. Pope Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church in 1856. The imagery of Christ pointing to his heart, on fire with love, signifies his immense and infinite love for humanity which took Him to the Cross to die for our salvation. The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that all mankind draw close to Him in love and trust. Today this devotion, given to the faithful by Our Lord himself, is among the most popular of the Catholic Church. † VERSE OF THE DAY
"Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is."
1 John 3:2 |  click to read more | | STS. GERVASE & PROTASE Sts. Gervase and Protase (2nd century) were twin brothers born in the Roman Empire to Christian parents. Their parents were killed for their Christian faith, and the brothers likewise suffered martyrdom. They were imprisoned, scourged, and beheaded in Milan, Italy under the brutal persecutions of the Roman Emperor. In the year 386 A.D. the location of their relics was revealed in a dream to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, just as he completed the building of the magnificent Milan basilica. He had the sacred relics moved to the new basilica, today called the Basilica of St. Ambrose, for veneration by the faithful. The relics established that the brothers were indeed beheaded as tradition had handed down. Many miracles occurred at their finding, confirmed by St. Ambrose and his disciple St. Augustine. Sts. Gervase and Protase are the patron saints of Milan. Their feast day is June 19. | Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Lectionary: 170
Reading 1 Dt 7:6-11 Moses said to the people:
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today." Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10. R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him. Reading 2 1 Jn 4:7-16 Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him. Alleluia Mt 11:29ab R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 11:25-30 At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." | Daily Meditation: 1 John 4:7-16 If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. (1 John 4:12) The flames depicted in images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are a beautiful illustration of Jesus' burning love for us. Those flames, which illustrate just how intense and all-consuming the Lord's love is for each one of us, are probably one of the strongest reasons for the enduring popularity of this devotion. Today's second reading tries to capture in words the same truth that the flames capture in images: "In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him" (1 John 4:9). The Son of God came to earth as a human being. He loved us with his own human heart, and he wants our hearts to burn with that same love. He wants this love—our love for him and his love for us—to be "brought to perfection in us" (4:12). How does that happen? John makes that clear as well: "He has given us of his Spirit" (1 John 4:13). Through the love that the Holy Spirt pours into us, we can learn to love people just as Jesus loves them—and as he loves us (Romans 5:5). This doesn't happen overnight, of course. As we strengthen our relationship with Jesus, we are brought little by little into the perfect love that God wants all of us to show each other. This means that when you feel tempted to be critical of someone but choose instead to be compassionate, it's a sign that Jesus' love is burning in you. When you reach out to help someone even though you are tired, inconvenienced, or annoyed, it's a sign that Jesus' love is abiding in you. As you contemplate Jesus' Sacred Heart today, remember that his love for you isn't meant to end with you. Through the Holy Spirit, he wants to fan the flames of his love so that you can share it with everyone you encounter. "Come, Holy Spirit, and draw me closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Fill me with a burning desire to love everyone in my path." Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 10
Matthew 11:25-30 |  clickable | I was almost breathless at the swooning simplicity and completeness of God's mercy. The Catholic Church, which I had always seen as wrapped in barbed wire and brambles, was as yielding, accommodating and nonjudgmental as a mother. I use those words in the sense I understand them as a Catholic—I gave myself to God and he accommodated me entirely, my past, my weaknesses, my (doubtless) future sin. In return he wanted the whole of my self.
— Sally Read
from Night's Bright Darkness | my2cents:
"It was because the LORD loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers, that he brought you out with his strong hand from the place of slavery..."
Perhaps the most beautiful of God's creations...Love...but not just that connection, bond, reality, but what He did to make room for love...eternity. | We pray today:
"Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him." | "God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him."
In the Holy Gospel we hear: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones."
Why is it that only the little ones get revelations? It happens more often than not when Our Mother appears, to children...and a peasant Indian too. The little. The little heart matters. In the book of Genesis, the serpent offered wisdom, from the "tree of wisdom" of knowledge of good and evil. But this knowledge was not intended for us, for we were made for holiness and to live and walk with God. It took thousands of years to somehow restore the mess of knowledge, through Jesus our Lord, the Son of God. Now we can walk with God, confident, and knowing we should stay away from dark knowledge, things that ultimately point to destruction, led by pride. | "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Learn from Him if you yoke to Him.
Yoke means to be hooked together, linked together, to be made one with Him. Nothing does this more than the Holy Sacraments. You can try alone and without them, but these are binding agents, things we do in a liturgical sense but more so in the Spiritual sense. What we do physically we do spiritually. So how do you hug God? Hug somebody in the name of God. That's why He says giving a cup of cold water for His sake has merits in Heaven. I'll tell you a secret...God loves LOVE. He is emphatic for Love, that's why He designed mercy, to make room, a way for Love. That's why Jesus entered our world. It was God's conception.
Speaking of conception, a brother told me excitedly last week that they were about a month pregnant. Just right now he called me saddened, saying the doctors found no heartbeat and want to immediately schedule some type of expulsion, and he asked me if that was like an abortion. The question arises because it is not natural, is it not? Natural conception to natural death is the call of our Holy Faith. Back to conception. God conceived through the little Mary, who He would Marry in the binding agent of Love. He did not need eros to conceive, He did not need erotics to conceive. He merely desired and His will became flesh...through little Mary, mother of our Lord. And Jesus was born, our King, entered our world like us but with an infusion of Love like no other...and He spoke: learn...to be meek and humble...like Me.
To see trouble and darkness, just turn on the news. To see peace and light, let Jesus in your heart.
Today we remember and celebrate His Sacred Heart. His heart is represented as exposed from His chest, with lames, and a cross, and crowned, wrapped with thorns. Why thorns? Why drops of blood dripping from the pierced heart? Because, His burning love must be provoked, that is poked by our idiocrocies, fools tempted to knowledge, and now, mercy made the way back to His heart. Return my loved one. "Come to Me", He says. To Martha "you worry about so many things...little Mary has chosen the better part" and He is speaking about being close to the fire...His Sacred Heart.
Make a circle...put a fire in it, and all gather around it, sing cumbaya, meaning spiritual unity, and by now you should know I'm talking about gathering in prayer with Jesus at the center as the fire and light, all things heart and Sacred heart, all things love and love of God. Quick Prayer To
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
"O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen. " | Random bible verse from an online generator:
Ps 85 2
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah | 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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