 clickable | | Mustard-Seed Faith The mustard seed is very small and insignificant. Pliny the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus, wrote a great big book called Natural History, in which he describes all the plants that were known in the Mediterranean world. He says only two things about the mustard plant: It's medicinal, so it did have some value. But he said not to plant it because it tends to take over the entire garden. It is a weed that cannot be stopped. Those would have been the two images that Jesus was clearly building on: What I'm describing for you is therapeutic—it's life, it's healing, it's medicinal—but it's like a weed. What a shocking image, like a virus: I'm planting a weed in the world. I'm going to talk about stupid things like nonviolence and simple life, but they're planted and they're going to take over; the old world is over. I don't know if it's going to take two thousand years or four thousand years before you get the point, but I've planted what I know is eternal truth in the world and it's going to take over. —from Jesus' Plan for a New World: The Sermon on the Mount by Richard Rohr, OFM |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him."
— St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
† MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways. Sometimes He calls souls by means of sickness or troubles, or by some truth He teaches them during prayer, for tepid as they may be in seeking Him, yet God holds them very dear."
— St. Teresa of Avila, p.26
AN EXCERPT FROM
Interior Castle † VERSE OF THE DAY
"And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."
John 14:13-14 |  click to read more | | POPE ST. CELESTINE I Pope St. Celestine I (d. 432 A.D.) was a Roman deacon who was elected Supreme Pontiff in 422 A.D. He was a contemporary of St. Augustine, and it is said that the two were good friends. He also lived with St. Ambrose in Milan prior to serving in Rome. Pope St. Celestine lead the Church for nine years during a troubled time of social upheaval. Within the Church there were multiple dangerous heresies spreading and corrupting the faith of the people, especially Nestorianism and Pelagianism, which he staunchly fought against, and for this he is known as a defender of orthodox doctrine. Outside the Church, barbarian hordes were invading the West, leading to the collapse of the Roman Empire. Pope St. Celestine I worked to restore the churches that were attacked when Alaric the Goth sacked Rome. He also established the papal diplomatic service to send ambassadors, known as nuncios, from the Vatican to other governments around the world. He is also the Holy Father who sent St. Patrick to evangelize Ireland, and who introduced the responsorial psalm into the papal Mass at Rome. His feast day is July 27th. | Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jer 13:1-11 The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth;
wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.
I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.
A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:
Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing,
and go now to the Parath;
there hide it in a cleft of the rock.
Obedient to the LORD's command, I went to the Parath
and buried the loincloth.
After a long interval, the LORD said to me:
Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth
which I told you to hide there.
Again I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth
from the place where I had hid it.
But it was rotted, good for nothing!
Then the message came to me from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot,
the great pride of Jerusalem.
This wicked people who refuse to obey my words,
who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts,
and follow strange gods to serve and adore them,
shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man's loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But they did not listen. Responsorial Psalm Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21
R. (see 18a) You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
You forgot the God who gave you birth.
When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing
and anger toward his sons and daughters.
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
"I will hide my face from them," he said,
"and see what will then become of them.
What a fickle race they are,
sons with no loyalty in them!"
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
"Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god'
and angered me with their vain idols,
I will provoke them with a 'no-people';
with a foolish nation I will anger them."
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth. Alleluia Jas 1:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"
He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.
| Daily Meditation: Matthew 13:31-35 The birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches. (Matthew 13:32) A flock of birds, perched all together in a tree, can make such a tremendous noise that it's possible to lose sight of the magnificence of the tree. The squawking, the fluttering, and the rustling of leaves distract from the height and width and shape of even the largest oak. But Jesus used this imagery to focus our sight on the startling size and scope of God's kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is the greatest of all kingdoms and stands above all other rule and authority and power. Maybe you don't see that heavenly kingdom right now. Maybe all you can imagine is a glorious future congregation of angels, saints, and holy people. Or maybe all you hear now is the crowing and cackling of innumerable crows and hummingbirds, eagles and wrens—a kingdom fraught with noisy squabbling. But the kingdom of heaven is so much more than that. Created and beloved by God, this kingdom includes every person who has ever been baptized in Jesus' name. If you are baptized, you are a citizen of this kingdom too! You have received new life and the power that belongs only to those living in it. The power to ask for God's favor and receive it. The power to reconcile, to forgive, to heal, and to endure. And not only power but also blessings have come to you—blessings of "righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). These blessings will last forever, into eternity. So whenever the world seems too dark and too powerful, remember that God has already delivered you out of that darkness and has transferred you to his heavenly kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Be grateful to dwell in a kingdom that cannot be shaken or destroyed, a kingdom that confers power and blessings on its citizens. Although the birds make an awful ruckus at times, the kingdom is now and always will be a place where you can experience the power and presence and love of God. "Father, help me to tune out the clamor of birds today so that I might see the vastness of your kingdom and rejoice in it." Jeremiah 13:1-11
(Psalm) Deuteronomy 32:18-21 |  clickable | Mary's fiat led her to the cross, the empty tomb and ultimately the upper room where she was once again overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. If we have the courage, as Mary did, to say yes to God's Spirit, to surrender our will to His, we too will experience the power of the Most High overshadowing us.
— Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR
from The Wild Goose | my2cents:
"For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man's loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But they did not listen."
There is a fair warning. CLING TO ME. Or else...we may drown. Or else, we may fall. Or else...we won't be saved. If someone is holding you from above...you must hold on to them with all your life. | We pray today: You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
"Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god'
and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a 'no-people'; with a foolish nation I will anger them."
A foolish nation will anger those with vain idols?
What is a "no-people" anyhow? It is those who hold people as things, the very idols come back to attack in a sense. | Our Lord said:
""The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
At first it was a seed, and now yeast. How can yeast make a batch big? They say yeast is a life form. This life form breathes. The air molecules expand and form the bread that is leavened. The yeast gave, in a sense, life.
And so is the Kingdom of Heaven. A special life form, not very much, breathes huge life, as it gives its life. Think of your part in the Kingdom. You are breathing life and expanding the Kingdom. You remain.
Are you concerned about being fruitful? Good.
Should you worry? Yes.
It is, afterall, The Kingdom of Heaven.
What world expects us is a reflection of the world we live in today. Living large costs much. Living small, costs much too. Living large, in the lap of luxury, costs many lives. Living small costs one life...yours.
Do the parables have to be explained?
Those who understand need no interpretation. The Spirit speaks volumes through little.
Those who do not understand, no vast amount of explanation can suffice. You see, it is heart matters...all things faith.
Because that seed had to give its life for all the forms of life to come and live and take shelter and to be fruitful. That seed gave its life to God. We only get one shot at this right? What beautiful tree you will make for His Kingdom...whence we die for Love. | Random Bible verse from an online generator:
Jn 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. | 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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