 clickable | | You're an Eternal Creation Only prayer lets you realize that who you are is who you were in God before anybody thought anything: before you thought about whether you are good or bad, before anybody else thought about whether you are good or bad. You came forth from God and you will return to God. You are eternal. That's the only solid ground. That's the rock of the spiritual journey. That's what Jesus means when he says in Luke's Gospel that "your names are written in heaven" (10:20b). You're an eternal creation of God and there's no point in denying it or trying to dress it up; it already is. That's the ultimate good news. —from Jesus' Plan for a New World: The Sermon on the Mount by Richard Rohr, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"What is a vocation? It is a gift from God, so it comes from God. If it is a gift from God, our concern must be to know God's will. We must enter that path: if God wants, when God wants, how God wants. Never force the door."
— St. Gianna Molla † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Although we feel the humiliation keenly when we are insulted, persecuted, or calumniated, this does not mean that we cannot suffer such trials with sentiments of true humility, subjecting nature to reason and faith, and sacrificing the resentment of our self-love to the love of God. We are not made of stone, so that we need be insensible or senseless in order to be humble. Of some martyrs we read that they writhed under their torments; of others, that they more or less rejoiced in them, according to the greater or lesser degree of unction they received from the Holy Ghost; and all were rewarded by the crown of glory, as it is not the pain or the feeling that makes the martyr, but the supernatural motive of virtue. In the same way some humble persons feel pleasure in being humiliated, and some feel sadness, especially when weighted down with calumny; and yet they all belong to the sphere of the humble, because it is not the humiliation nor the suffering alone which makes the soul humble, but the interior act by which this same humiliation is accepted and received through motives of Christian humility, and especially of a desire to resemble Jesus Christ, who though entitled to all the honors the world could offer Him, bore humiliation and scorn for the glory of His eternal Father."
— Fr. Cajetan da Bergamo, p. 19-20
AN EXCERPT FROM
Humility Of Heart † VERSE OF THE DAY
"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
James 1:2-4 |  click to read more | | ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS St. Peter Chrysologus (406-450 A.D.) was born in Imola, Italy. He was an adult convert to Christianity and studied under his bishop, Cornelius, who ordained him a deacon. In his day the city of Ravenna was the center of the Roman Empire, making the Archbishop of Ravenna an important position in the Church. When the Archbishop of Ravenna died, a new archbishop was elected by the clergy and the people of Ravenna. Bishop Cornelius of Imola went to Rome with his deacon, St. Peter Chyrsologus, to have the Ravenna appointment confirmed by Pope Sixtus III. When the pope saw St. Peter, he appointed him the new Archbishop of Ravenna instead. St. Peter was an effective shepherd who stamped out paganism, heresy, and ecclesiastical abuses from his diocese, earning the high regard of Emperor Valentinan III who resided in Ravenna. He also organized services to help the poor of the city. St. Peter was renowed for his profound and eloquent sermons, and his skill with taking complex theological truths and putting them in plain language, earning him the name 'Chrysologus' meaning 'the man of golden speech' or 'golden word' as well as the 'Doctor of Homilies.' In 1729, Pope Benedict XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church. His feast day is July 30. | Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 404
Reading 1 Jer 18:1-6 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Rise up, be off to the potter's house;
there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter's house and there he was,
working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel. Responsorial Psalm 146:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab R. (5a) Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia See Acts 16:14b R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our heart, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 13:47-53 Jesus said to the disciples:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." "Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there. | Daily Meditation: Jeremiah 18:1-6 He tried again, making of the clay another object. (Jeremiah 18:4) Israel had wandered from the Lord—not once, but multiple times, over many years. The people were worshipping false gods, breaking the commandments, and cozying up to foreign enemies. It was into this state of chaos that God sent Jeremiah to prophesy. Often, Jeremiah's words were upbraiding. But in today's first reading, he gives a word of hope. God isn't done with Israel—and he never will be. He will never give up his love for them. As a potter refashions clay, God will always work to mold them into the people he created them to be. Does God's anguish over Israel sound familiar? Every parent, sibling, or spouse—likely each of us—has felt something similar. We want a loved one to change. We see all they could become if only they would turn to God more deeply. Yet even in their messiness, we see the beautiful person they already are and how much God loves them. If you have felt this way, it means that you know something of God's heart for his children. The good news is that God is still the Divine Potter, and the way he felt about Israel is the way he feels about each of his children. No one is off his radar. What a comfort! This means that if you've been praying for someone to come to the Lord for what seems like a long time, you can trust that the Divine Potter is at work. Don't give up. When you feel weary or tempted to discouragement, turn to the Lord. Try praying an honest, simple prayer: "Jesus, you know what will move this person forward. Open their heart." Finally, keep asking him for strength for yourself—mental, physical, and emotional. He wants to help you to endure and persevere. Remember, he waited a long time for Israel, so he knows what it's like! Our Father never stops trying to form and mold his children's hearts—and that includes every one of our loved ones. He will always try again, "making of the clay another object" (Jeremiah 18:4). He refashioned Israel time and again, and he will do the same for each of us. "Divine Potter, I surrender my loved ones to you. Mold them how-ever you desire." Psalm 146:1-6
Matthew 13:47-53 |  clickable | In order to be able to commune with divine things, it is necessary to agree to acknowledge that one is radically unworthy of them. Unless we enter into fear and adoration, we never arrive at love and union.
— Robert Cardinal Sarah
from his book The Day Is Now Far Spent | my2cents:
"Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel."
Remolding, redoing, is this possible for our heart? It is. God can do anything....with a willing soul. | "Praise the LORD, O my soul; I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob."
You can make your body do what your spirit wishes it could do. Do you wish you could kneel before God? You may do so. Do you wish to come to God? Yes, in Holy Sacraments and in the Blessed Sacrament. Do you wish you could sing and praise His glorious name all day? You may. Even if not aloud, in your mind and heart...you may. | "The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
The angels will not judge, they just pick-out, in labor. A bad apple is a bad apple. A sickly worm is sickly because of where it chose to go. A good fish is a healthy fish. What do you wish? To be a good fish? The kind of fish the fisher wants? Because nets catch everything. In Heaven things of earth are rejected, namely, evil, sickly dark things are thrown out of the net and are not kept. Can you lose salvation in Heaven? Lucifer was thrown out. We should then, begin our fear of our Lord now. Fear of sinning shall begin now. In the world there are many seductions that smell, sound nice and look nice, but their interior are not nice. All that glistens is not gold. | ""Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."
The householder brings forth new and the old. Is the old made new? Or is the old fulfilled and becomes new? And we begin to ask of wineskins. New wine calls for new skin. If the potter starts over, the new is made with the old clay still. The earth is always renewing itself, out of the old. Nothing new is coming in, no new materials. The same can be said for you. They say we are made up of mostly water. If we are made up of recycled water, think of how many persons possibly used the water we are made up of. Then, what water will you make up for the new you, the new body that your water will go into? We are then, vessels. The same can be said of grace. We can be transformative. This old me can be made new. This new me can remake the old you.
I am encouraging you to turn from the old you, and be turned into the new Him. They say in Heaven, things are always new. You see? Conversion? You see, broken old, fixed anew?
Let us then, let ourselves be broken, and be made new.
Practice humility, where all others are first. That will help break up the old clay. Humility calls on suffering. But suffering is transformed. Insulted? Despised? Join the club my friend. Lied to? Backstabbed? Do not be amazed. But be amazed at what happens if you allow humility to win. I go home with headaches yesterday. I watch videos on humility, and my heartaches subsided. I got to pray for things I would've never prayed about before. Only because I put myself second...God first.
Watch out for twisted truths, which is what evil does. Truths mixed with lies, twisted from the onset...don't make sense. Illogical. These are clear signs of darkness at work, and how you need to work on your holiness...true humility, and to live life in virtue. Lord, you are the Potter, I am the clay.
Let my heart do as you say.
I want to be transformed, not tomorrow, but today.
The present is where everything counts.
I want to be a present, an acceptable fish,
may I be Yours always, and do as You wish | Random Bible verse from an online generator: James 1 2-4 Testing of Your Faith 2 Count it all joy, my brothers,1 when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. | 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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