 clickable | | Change Is Hard The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation, the mystery we're examining, more often happens not when something new begins, but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart—chaos—invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites, and sometimes forces, the soul to go to a new place because the old place is falling apart. Most of us would never go to new places in any other way. The mystics use many words to describe this chaos: fire, dark night, death, emptiness, abandonment, trial, the Evil One. Whatever it is, it does not feel good and it does not feel like God. We will do anything to keep the old thing from falling apart. This is when we need patience and guidance, and the freedom to let go instead of tightening our controls and certitudes. Perhaps Jesus is describing just this phenomenon when he says, "It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13–14). Not accidentally, he mentions this narrow road right after teaching the Golden Rule. He knows how much letting go it takes to "treat others as you would like them to treat you" (7:12). So, a change can force a transformation. Spiritual transformation always includes a usually disconcerting reorientation. It can either help people to find a new meaning or it can force people to close down and slowly turn bitter. The difference is determined precisely by the quality of our inner life, our spirituality. —from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder by Richard Rohr, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"For true hearts there is no separating ocean; or, rather, God is their ocean, in Whom they meet and are united; they love, and lose themselves in Him and in each other."
— St. Théodore Guérin PRAYER DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
O clement, O loving, O sweet Mother Mary,
We, your children of every nation,
Turn to you in this pandemic.
Our troubles are numerous; our fears are great.
Grant that we might deposit them at your feet,
Take refuge in your Immaculate Heart,
And obtain peace, healing, rescue,
And timely help in all our needs.
You are our Mother.
Pray for us to your Son.
Amen. PRAYER OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen. †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Jesus Christ did not think the sovereign beatitude and glory of Heaven too dearly purchased at the price of unspeakable tortures, and by suffering His sacred flesh to be mangled by nails, thorns, and scourges. Great indeed must be the value of that which cost the Son of God so dear! And yet we esteem it so little, as to be even ready to renounce our claim to it, as, in fact, so many of us do, for the sake of some wretched pleasure or despicable interest! Ye blind and deluded children of men, contemplate the Wounds of your Crucified God, and see in what manner the gates of the kingdom of glory have been opened to you! See what it has cost Him to place you in possession of it, and understand, if possible, how infinite a benefit was bestowed upon you by the Son of God when He purchased for you Heaven, which you had lost by sin! ... Enter in spirit into these sacred Wounds, and you will comprehend the value and sublimity of that eternal felicity which they have acquired for you, and you will learn to detach your heart from the earth and from creatures, so as to place all your affections and desires upon Heaven."
— Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Christ, p. 226-7
AN EXCERPT FROM
The School of Christ Crucified †VERSE OF THE DAY
"Give ear to my words, O Lord; understand my sighing. Attend to the sound of my cry, my king and my God! For to you I will pray, Lord; in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I will plead before you and wait."
Psalm 5:1-4 |  click to read more | | ST. THOMAS MORE St. Thomas More (1478–1535) was born in London, the son of a lawyer and judge. He was educated in the finest schools and became a brilliant English statesman. He served in parliament, on the King's council, as a diplomat, and in many other prominent positions in public administration. He was highly esteemed for his unfailing moral integrity, sharpness of mind, humor, and extraordinary learning. He was also a faithful Catholic, a loving husband, and a devoted father. For his great abilities he was promoted by his friend King Henry VIII to the high office of Lord Chancellor, second in position to the king. He resigned from this post when the king, in open defiance of Church teaching, sought to divorce his wife in order to marry another woman, and to declare himself sovereign of the Church in England. Thomas More, a defender against heresy, refused to condone the king's actions. After trying unsuccessfully to persuade his friend to approve of what he was doing, King Henry VIII imprisoned More in the Tower of London. At his trial, More testified boldly for Church autonomy over the state, for the authority of the pope as head of the Church, and for the indissolubility of marriage in the eyes of God. He was eventually condemned and beheaded, dying as a martyr for the Catholic faith. Thomas More is the patron saint of statesman, politicians, lawyers, civil servants, and large families. His feast day is June 22nd. | Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 371
Reading 1 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land
and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel
the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,
setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,
and the cities of the Medes. This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD,
their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,
from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
and because they venerated other gods.
They followed the rites of the nations
whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel
and the kings of Israel whom they set up. And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah
by every prophet and seer,
"Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,
in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers
and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,"
they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,
who had not believed in the LORD, their God.
They rejected his statutes,
the covenant which he had made with their fathers,
and the warnings which he had given them, till,
in his great anger against Israel,
the LORD put them away out of his sight.
Only the tribe of Judah was left. Responsorial Psalm 60:3, 4-5, 12-13 R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses;
you have been angry; rally us!
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
You have rocked the country and split it open;
repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
You have made your people feel hardships;
you have given us stupefying wine.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Have not you, O God, rejected us,
so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies?
Give us aid against the foe,
for worthless is the help of men.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us. Alleluia Heb 4:12 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 7:1-5 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,'
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." | Daily Meditation: Matthew 7:1-5 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3) This image seems rather exaggerated. Obviously, we couldn't imagine walking around for even one second with a wooden beam in our eye, let alone a splinter! But Jesus often used such dramatic images to get the attention of his listeners. So why does he make such a glaring contrast between the small and the large here? Because Jesus cares deeply about the way we perceive one another. When we focus our attention on criticizing the people around us, it can make us blind to our own faults. And it's clear that Jesus considers this kind of spiritual blindness to be a very serious problem. In fact, he says that the very reason he came to earth was so that those "who do not see might see" (John 9:39). Think about the Pharisees Jesus rebukes later in Matthew's Gospel. He calls them "blind guides" because they try to guide their followers' behavior but don't seem to be guiding them closer to the call to love God and neighbor (23:24). What Jesus really wants us to focus on is the heart of the law; he wants us to see his heart for our neighbors. And if the "wooden beam" of sin is getting in the way of that, we need to see that too—and get rid of it. Jesus isn't interested in condemning us for our sin or burdening us with shame about it. He just wants us to be free of it so that we can love him more fully and see our neighbors the way he sees them. Let's face it—sin obscures our vision, especially the way we look at other people. It can make us suspicious of their motives, and it can lead us to put people in negative categories. So take some time today and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see the "plank" in your own eye, the sin that clouds your perception of other people. Ask the Lord to forgive you. Then let Jesus help you to see as he sees. "Lord, help me to see myself and each person I will meet today in the light of your truth—and the fullness of your mercy!" 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18
Psalm 60:3-5, 12-13 |  clickable | The right partner will bring out the best in you, soothing your heart when it aches and tapping hidden strengths—in short, helping you to make of the lumber of your life not a tavern, but a temple.
— Dr. Frederick Marks
from A Catholic Handbook for Engaged and Newly Married Couples | my2cents:
""Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes..."
How hard is it to give up your evil ways? First of all, you'd have to look at your evil ways square in the eyes, admit the problem, and then face it, and work it out of your life with considerable effort...all things sacrifice, amen? | We prayed today: "Have not you, O God, rejected us, so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies? Give us aid against the foe,
for worthless is the help of men."
In the famous 12 step program, developed I believe by a fellow Catholic, they say you can't do it alone...you need others, community, and at the center of community, they call for God, not just some THING outside yourself, but some ONE. | In the Holy Gospel, we heard our Lord: "For as you judge, so will you be judged...".
How do people judge? All day long I hear crticisms, judgements. There are even criticisms about the judgements of judgements. It was a judgement that decided to lop off the head of today's saint, Thomas More. Why was his head lopped off? Like saint John the Baptist, Thomas said something that the rulers didn't like. Rulers of the world don't like the truth very often. Herodias had influence on the decision...and so did the wife of King Henry? You see, they judged on their own behalf, they too lived moral relativism, "believe whatever you want and that is the truth". And that is the freedom religion of the world we face. Anarchy. Freedom from everything. And to gain it, they use force, and murder, all things power and...pride.
What does that have to do with you? With me?
EVERYTHING.
Our Lord asked us today to keep HIS commandments.
Love God above all. And He will set things straight.
Teach not only obedience, but love of God above all.
This will take sacrifice. Easier said than done.
It is doable, All things are possible through Christ who strengthens us. Why doesn't that other person love God like they should? From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, Jesus' parable in today's Gospel is one of the most psychologically and spiritually insightful remarks in the New Testament. Let's face it: a favorite pastime of most human beings is criticism of others. We delight in pointing out the shortcomings, moral failings, and annoying tendencies of our neighbors. This is, of course, a function of pride and egotism: the more I put someone else down, the more elevated I feel. But it is also, oddly, a magnificent means of turning a mirror on ourselves, to see what usually remains unseen. Why, we ought to ask, do we find precisely this sin of others particularly annoying? Why does that trait or sin of a confrere especially gall us? Undoubtedly, Jesus implies, because it reminds us of a similar failing in ourselves. I remember a retreat director asking each of us to call to mind a person that we found hard to take and then to recount in detail the characteristics that made the person so obnoxious to us. Then he recommended that we go back to our room and ask God to forgive those same faults in ourselves. His words were as unnerving and as illuminating as these words of Jesus." | from a spanish reflection today: "I end with a beautiful prayer by Karl Rahner: «Look, Lord, there is the other one, whom I do not understand. He belongs to you; you have created him. If you have not wanted him like that, at least you have let him be as he is. Look, my God, if you support him, I want to support and put up with him, as you support me and put up with me ». And I invite you to pray at the hands of Seve Lázaro, Jesuit: Only with mercy can I always love the other.
Only with mercy can I always love myself.
Only with mercy can I always trust each other.
Only with mercy can I always trust myself.
Only with mercy can I always tell him the truth.
Only with mercy can I always say it to myself.
Only with mercy, the other will come to see his entanglement.
Only with mercy will I get to see mine, me.
Only with mercy will the other stop justifying himself.
Only with mercy will I stop justifying myself.
Only with mercy will the other learn to apologize.
Only with mercy will I learn to forgive. | Random bible verse from an online generator:
John 14 2
2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?1 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. | 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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