 clickable | | Finding Completion Lord Jesus,
you sought the hills and the heights to express your message
and your meaning.
From the Sermon on the Mount to the sermon on Calvary,
you asked us to look up and learn and then to join you.
Help me to squeeze the hope from every hill and valley.
Show me the high way to glory.
May the tree rise up which I can climb to you. —from the book A Retreat with Saint Anthony: Finding Our Way, by Carol Ann Morrow |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."
— St. Therese of Lisieux † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Prayer is greatly aided by fasting and watching and every kind of bodily chastisement. In this regard each of you must do what you can. Thus, the weaker will not hold back the stronger, and the stronger will not press the weaker. You owe your conscience to God. But to no one else do you owe anything more except that you love one another."
— St. Augustine, p. 143
AN EXCERPT FROM
Augustine Day by Day † VERSE OF THE DAY
"Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not cast it out?' He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there", and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'"
Matthew 17:20 |  click to read more | | ST. MATTHEW St. Matthew the Apostle (1st c.) was a Jew who also went by the name of Levi. He was from Galilee and served in Capernaum as a tax collector for Herod Antipas before becoming a disciple of Jesus. It was in the home of St. Matthew that Jesus dined with the "sinners and tax collectors." Under Jesus' influence St. Matthew was led to repentance for the evil he had done as a tax-collector, a position despised by his fellow Jews. He repaid those he cheated four-fold, sold all his possessions, and followed Christ as one of the twelve Apostles. St. Matthew preached among the Jews for fifteen years following the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. He is the author of the Gospel that bears his name, which he wrote to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was the Messiah promised to Israel. According to tradition, St. Matthew the Apostle brought the Gospel to Syria, Media, Persia, Parthia, and finished his preaching in Ethiopia with a martyr's death. He is the patron of guards, bankers, accountants, security forces, and stock brokers. His feast day is September 21st. | _______________________________________ Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist Reading 1 EPH 4:1-7, 11-13 Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace:
one Body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
But grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,
to the extent of the full stature of Christ. Responsorial Psalm PS 19:2-3, 4-5 R. (5) Their message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth. Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
We praise you, O God,
we acclaim you as Lord;
the glorious company of Apostles praise you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel MT 9:9-13 As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
He heard this and said,
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."
| Daily Meditation: Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 . . . the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith. (Ephesians 4:4-5) Can you picture the apostle Paul writing about hope—from a prison cell—to the Christians in Ephesus? According to Paul, their one hope lay in the fact that God had revealed himself to be the "Father of all," opening up the gift of faith, belonging, and salvation to every kind of person (Ephesians 4:6). Jesus demonstrated this kind of openness when he invited the tax collector Matthew to join his most intimate circle of friends. He could see that Matthew and his associates engaged in corruption and suffered from their misplaced priorities and the weight of many sins. But that didn't stop Jesus from eating with them or from inviting them to follow him in a new way of life. He gave them a clear opportunity to move beyond their past and to join his family of faith. Before Jesus came to earth, many people believed that God showed favor only to the righteous. People who were considered sinners or who suffered from physical illnesses were said to be under God's judgment. There were sharp divisions between those who were thought to be "worthy," "clean," and "chosen" and those who were outside the scope of God's mercy. When he chose Matthew, Jesus erased all such lines. It's hard to imagine what a relief that must have been—not just for Matthew, but for everyone else who had previously fallen outside the lines. No wonder Matthew became such an effective evangelist! Having received mercy, he could share that message of mercy with the rest of the world firsthand. Mercy for all! One Lord and one faith! An invitation for the unrighteous as much as the righteous! That is our Catholic faith. That is our hope. Many times, our struggle to live at peace with ourselves and other people stems from a lost sense of God's mercy. Every day, he invites us to forgive and to be forgiven. As we recover our understanding of this high calling, we can be newly empowered to build up the body of Christ. "Father, let the wideness of your mercy unite us to the people around us." Psalm 19:2-5
Matthew 9:9-13 |  clickable | 'Mary kept all these things in her heart.' Discipline does not seem at all heavy when it goes together with a clean and sincere love. Even if it costs you a lot, it unites you to the Loved One.
— St. Josemaría Escrivá
from his book Furrow | my2cents:
"I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit".
When the Lord calls, how will you answer? Yesterday I asked the RCIA class, "what excuses have you had when you heard the calling?". They had some common answers "I'm tired", and "I don't feel like it" and some more excuses. Those excuses are opposite of what St. Paul says, because he says answer with humility.
Answer everything with humility, and gentleness, patience, bearing everything with love, and preserve unity. If it weren't for these words from Heaven, these guides to a heavenly life, the world would be complete chaos. And it all hinges on the response to the call. | We pray today: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge. Their message goes out through all the earth." Light from light, we pray in the creed. And the opposite is true, dark imparts darkness. This is the importance for your soul to remain in the light. | Our Lord said to Matthew: "Follow me."
This meant "do what I do and do what I say".
So Matthew got up, and began to follow.
Did Matthew deserve a call? Did St. Paul deserve the call? Matthew was a disgusting tax mongrel. Paul was Saul, a persecutor of Christians, who'd hunt them down and have them arrested and tortured. Did they deserve a calling? Why would God call these guys?
Answer is, 'why not?'. Why don't you answer the call from the Lord? Why haven't you taken the next step in following our Lord? What is...your excuse? | Our Lord was reproached for eating with such disgusting men, sinners. Our Lord responded "I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." And so, we are challenged with these readings. What is the challenge? Mercy. We want revenge, but our Lord says no. We want to put people in their place, but God has a place set for them already. Jesus the Christ puts us to the test doesn't He? What test? We go back to the call.
Matthew took on the test, and began with a right answer...yes.
And what's the answer to the next step? Another yes. Yes to humility. Yes to gentleness. Yes to patience. Yes to God.
Yes to leaving your post.
Yes to leaving everything behind.
Yes to a change of ideals.
Yes to...Heaven.
Yes to the Kingdom of God.
No to the ways of the world.
The Pharisees were left with a challenge of a lifetime.
The call to follow and be...Mercy, Christ. Lord, help us, to be truly humble, truly patient and gentle...all things Christ to the world in need of such light | Random Bible verse from online generator: Psalm 34:8 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! | 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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