 clickable | | Are You Still Running? Are you still striving, friend? Are you still running yourself ragged looking to have something to offer the Lord to make you worthy of him? Do you look around you and wonder how so many people seem to have gotten so much closer to him while you have been working so hard and still feel so far away? Here's the good news for today, for you and me both. We can quit the striving and the working and the approval seeking. We can exhale and fill our lungs with the fresh air of acceptance, of appreciation, of being invited into full friendship with Christ. We can be content, satisfied, and grateful. And we don't have to do a thing to earn it, to deserve it. We don't need to jockey for position. All we have to do is look up and see him here, beckoning us nearer, and then choose to be drawn in by his loving gaze and tuned into his voice. —from the book Who Does He Say You Are? Women Transformed by Christ in the Gospels by Colleen Mitchell |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"The deeds you do may be the only sermon some people will hear today."
— St. Francis of Assisi † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Avoid worrying, then, about anything else for your children except whatever may contribute to bringing them up virtuously. For the rest, having entrusted them to God, try to see what His will for them is, to help them along the path in life He has chosen for them. Never be afraid of relying too much on Him, but rather seek always to increase your trust more and more, for this is the most pleasing homage you can pay Him and it will be the measure of the graces you will receive. Little or much will be given you according as you have expected little or much."
— St. Claude De La Columbiere, p.46
AN EXCERPT FROM
Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence † VERSE OF THE DAY
"For I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me."
Philippians 4:11b-13 |  click to read more | | ST. MARTHA St. Martha (1st c.) was a pious Jewish woman from Bethany near Jerusalem. She was a close friend of Jesus during his earthly ministry, as was her brother, St. Lazarus, and her sister, St. Mary of Bethany (St. Mary Magdalene). The Gospels tell us that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary and Lazarus." Martha would serve the Lord faithfully when he was a guest in her home, once busying herself so much with her work that she neglected to spend time enjoying his presence, for which she earned a gentle rebuke from Our Lord. Martha had great faith in Christ, especially evidenced in her belief that he could raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. In the Gospels we read that St. Martha testified that Jesus was the Son of God even before his Passion and Resurrection. According to tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, St. Martha gathered a group of women together to live, pray, and do penance in common, one of the early Christian houses of consecrated women. St. Martha is the patron of servers, maids, butlers, servants, single laywomen, homemakers, housewives, and cooks. Her feast day is July 29th. | Memorial of Saint Martha
Lectionary: 403/607
Reading 1 Jer 15:10, 16-21 Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth!
a man of strife and contention to all the land!
I neither borrow nor lend,
yet all curse me.
When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.
I did not sit celebrating
in the circle of merrymakers;
Under the weight of your hand I sat alone
because you filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain continuous,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook,
whose waters do not abide!
Thus the LORD answered me:
If you repent, so that I restore you,
in my presence you shall stand;
If you bring forth the precious without the vile,
you shall be my mouthpiece.
Then it shall be they who turn to you,
and you shall not turn to them;
And I will make you toward this people
a solid wall of brass.
Though they fight against you,
they shall not prevail,
For I am with you,
to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.
I will free you from the hand of the wicked,
and rescue you from the grasp of the violent. Responsorial Psalm 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18 R. (17d) God is my refuge on the day of distress.
Rescue me from my enemies, O my God;
from my adversaries defend me.
Rescue me from evildoers;
from bloodthirsty men save me.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
For behold, they lie in wait for my life;
mighty men come together against me,
Not for any offense or sin of mine, O LORD.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
O my strength! for you I watch;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
may he show me the fall of my foes.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
But I will sing of your strength
and revel at dawn in your mercy;
You have been my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of distress.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
O my strength! your praise will I sing;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
my merciful God!
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress. Alleluia Jn 8:12 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 11:19-27 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
"Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you."
Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise."
Martha said to him,
"I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus told her,
"I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world." or Lk 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her." | Daily Meditation: John 11:19-27 I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. (John 11:22) We often think of St. Martha as an example of what we shouldn't do. When she hosted a dinner for Jesus, she was the one serving at table, "anxious and worried about many things" (Luke 10:41). It was her sister, Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, who had chosen the "better part" (10:42). Does that really mean that Martha came in second? Well, sort of. But in today's Gospel, we meet a more mature Martha. She's not so overcome by worry. She recognizes that God is working through Jesus, and she believes that God will give Jesus whatever he asks (John 11:22). She hasn't yet grasped that he can raise Lazarus from the dead, but she believes that Jesus is the Messiah. She recognizes that he comes from God, and this strengthens her faith. In this story, Martha's faith starts out as the ability to trust God. You might find trust like that difficult, especially if, like Martha, you've just experienced loss. But you can learn from her. She found hope in the promise of resurrection for her brother. She saw that her fears and worries were nothing compared to the power of Jesus, so she put all her trust in him. You can do that too. Even if you still feel fear, you can be confident in Jesus, who conquered death and lives forever. Faith is more than passively trusting in God though. It's actively believing that he can do miracles. Martha can help you understand this type of faith. She came to believe that Jesus could do anything, and she told him so. You can do that too, by asking God for help in a challenging situation. Ask him for a miracle: healing for a loved one, the conversion of a friend, a new job. Ask in confidence, but also trust that Jesus in his wisdom will answer your prayer in the best possible way. Exercising your trust and faith like this will help you grow closer to Jesus. Then you can say with Martha, "Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God" (John 11:27). "Jesus, I want to grow in my faith like Martha!" Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21
Psalm 59:2-4, 10-11, 17-18 |  clickable | How well I understand all the Christians who are suffering at the sight of the Church disfigured by so many betrayals and abuses. Because we are her sons, our hearts are sometimes full of shame. Let us take refuge in the heart of Mary.
— Robert Cardinal Sarah
from his book The Day Is Now Far Spent | my2cents:
"I did not sit celebrating in the circle of merrymakers".
This means one thing of the prophet...he was set apart. Once you belong to God, you are set apart. You are in the world, but not of the world. And being set apart makes a light in the dark. Set yourself apart for Him. More prayer. More holiness. Did you know that "set apart" in Hebrew means "holiness"? | We pray today: "God is my refuge on the day of distress. Rescue me from my enemies, O my God; from my adversaries defend me. Rescue me from evildoers; from bloodthirsty men save me."
Who are your enemies? Don't think of people right now. Your enemy is the darkness. That is why God, Jesus, did not strike down all the people at once when they were abusing Him, torturing Him, mocking Him. Did Our Father hear the cries of our Lord Jesus? Of course. He heard "My Father, I offer this for all humanity forever". It is the holocaust offering. Was He rescued? Jesus didn't ask to be freed from the cross. He asked that you be freed from sin. That you'd be given the chance of salvation. | Worrying Martha said ""Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you."
Martha had the type of faith of the Centurion. She believed in God's word. She believed in the resurrection. She believed Jesus our Lord could do anything that He asks of God.
And so it came to be. | If only we could have the faith of Martha. Yet our Lord told Martha about forgetting what is important at dinner with Lazarus: ""Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." These words echo what we hear in Holy Scripture: "35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."… Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Protestants wrongly attribute this to say "once saved always saved". If this is the case, there is no need for repentance, an ongoing conversion. But we need continuous repentance. We need to face the truth. We get too busy. We get too worried. It seemed as though, that prior to the pandemics, I was extremely busy, extremely worried. And now that things are seemingly worse, and now that I have really no ministries to slave away at...I find myself more at our Lord's feet. I find myself pushed to the better part, the part of Mary. At her feet was Mary our Mother....at the cross. The better part. Always at His feet, pouring out her heart. At His feet...no better place to be.
May we all find ourselves now corralled, yes, sheep in a smaller holding pen, embers united to the source....Christ our Lord.
May we find a new found love, may we find now that we are less busy with false idols of work and entertainment and worldly passions, may we now find peace, and begin to make our way back, repentant, changed by the fire of God's love. Those He loves, He chastises. Those who hate chastisement do not love God.
1Peter1:7
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials 7so that the authenticity of your faith— more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,…" | Random Bible verse from an online generator: Col 3:9-10
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self1 with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. | 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 | |
