 clickable | | Finding Time Here I am, Lord!
Help me to stay.
Still the ticking of my heart clock, my mind chimes, my footfalls.
Stay, still, stop, my soul.
Be seated, be slowed, be silent, be soft.
Here I am, Lord!
I set my watch to keep watch with you.
I wait upon your word.
I will be filled and my heart will rejoice.
I will know the time and I will keep it. —from the book A Retreat with Saint Anthony: Finding Our Way, by Carol Ann Morrow |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote "Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love."
— St. Juliana of Norwich †MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Let us recognize with lively faith and with the help of the Holy Ghost the great evil of sin, which robs us of grace. Then we shall immediately detest it with all the power of our soul and banish it from our heart. We shall detest it because, in depriving us of grace, it deprives us of the highest good and of the possession of God and make us worthy of the most severe punishment from His hands. We shall detest it still more because by sin we commit the greatest wrong and the greatest offense against the Author of Grace. For after we have been called through grace to be children of God, we offend Him not merely as our Supreme Lord and Master, to whom we owe unlimited service and respect, but as our most loving Father, our best Friend, the most tender Spouse of our soul. We despise the ineffable love with which He embraces us and return the basest ingratitude for His inestimable gifts and blessings. We disgrace Him and insult His name by dishonoring the name of His children and by showing ourselves unworthy of Him. We tear loose from His bosom the soul that He loved as the apple of His eye and considered as the jewel and joy of His heart. We rend the heavenly robe of innocence and sanctity with which He had clothed us and presented us to the whole Heaven. Like Judas, we desert Our Lord and Saviour, who by grace has numbered us among His friends and loved ones. What pain we inflict on the tender heart of our heavenly Father, how deeply we offend and wound it!"
—Fr.Matthias J. Scheeben, p. 345
AN EXCERPT FROM
The Glories of Divine Grace † VERSE OF THE DAY
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you."
John 14:15-17 |  click to read more | | POPE ST. CORNELIUS Pope St. Cornelius (d. 253 A.D.) was a Roman citizen and a holy priest who became the twenty-first successor to the chair of St. Peter, following a fourteen-month vacancy when Pope St. Fabian was martyred by Roman Emperor Decius. When the Emperor temporarily left Rome, the persecution against the Christians subsided long enough for the Church to elect St. Cornelius as the new Roman Pontiff. During Pope St. Cornelius' two year reign a great controversy arose as to what to do with Catholics who apostatized from the Christian faith under threat of death during the persecution. Many were being received back to the sacraments without any penance. In response to the scandal, some maintained that apostates could not be forgiven and could only be admitted back to the sacraments if they were re-baptized. Chief among them was a priest named Novatian, who, as a result of the scandal, caused a schism when he had himself consecrated as an anti-pope. In response, Pope St. Cornelius convened a synod of bishops to confirm his rightful authority as Pope. Novatian was excommunicated and his doctrine was condemned as heresy. Pope St. Cornelius proclaimed that the Church had the power and authority to forgive repentant apostasy, and that converted apostates could be readmitted to the sacraments after true contrition with adequate penance. Soon a new wave of persecution against the Christians broke out, and Pope St. Cornelius was driven into exile and martyred. His feast day is celebrated on September 16th. | Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr Reading 1 1 COR 12:31-13:13 Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love. Responsorial Psalm PS 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 AND 22 R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own. Alleluia JN 6:63C, 68C R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life,
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 7:31-35 Jesus said to the crowds:
"To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children."
| Daily Meditation: 1 Corinthians 12:31–13:13 Love is patient, love is kind. (1 Corinthians 13:4) Today's first reading is one of the most popular passages chosen for weddings. And for good reason. Not only does it provide a very practical description of love, but it's also a reading that we can all relate to, since God created us for love. But look at the list of all the ways we're supposed to love—be kind and patient, rejoice with the truth, bear all things. If we're honest, we know that we come up short pretty often. And on top of our imperfect efforts to love, we have to accept other people's imperfect efforts to love us. Those especially close to us can disappoint us the most, leaving us feeling unappreciated or hurt. The good news is that there is a love that never fails—God's love. It's the one love you can count on when all other loves fall short. It is a love that will never abandon or take advantage of you. It's a love that envelops you, lifts you up, and carries you through good times and bad. It's a love that knows how much we struggle to love and yet doesn't condemn us—a love that applauds our every effort to grow in love. By contrast, our approach to love is often immature, like the childish thinking Paul talks about. We are prone to mistake infatuation, sex, or expensive gifts for love. Age and experience can help us wise up, but the only thing that will truly teach us about love is God—who is himself love! Through him, we learn that the less we focus on the way people are (or are not) loving us and the more we focus on the way we are loving them, the more we will experience his love. Every day, God gives us countless ways to encounter his love: in prayer, in nature, in our loved ones, and even in our enemies. He also gives us countless opportunities each day to share his love. So pay attention and keep your heart soft. Follow Paul's advice and "pursue love" wherever you see it (1 Corinthians 14:1). If you do, you'll find that God in his love has always been pursuing you. "Lord, shower me with your perfect love so that I can learn how to love perfectly." Psalm 33:2-5, 12, 22
Luke 7:31-35 |  clickable | O my Lord Jesus, whose love for me has been so great as to bring Thee down from heaven to save me, teach me, dear Lord, my sin—teach me its heinousness—teach me truly to repent of it—and pardon it in Thy great mercy!
— John Henry Newman
from Prayers, Verses, and Devotions | my2cents:
"Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts....
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal..."
Love is not, pompous, inflated, rude, selfish, quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing".
Nowadays, the worldly news focuses on things opposite of love. The hatred gets front line news, for many years it was against priests, and now law enforcement. But let's go deeper. Let's travel into your heart. Are things better now? Do you love your priest? Do you honor those who give their lives to defend yours? What's next? Assaulting veterans for having defended you against terrorists? Or assaulting doctors for having saved someone's lives? How backwards things are, when there is no love. It is a hatred of life itself. So how can we reverse the trend? Let's keep going deeper into your heart.
"When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things." Child formation. What kind of children have we brought up? Children who hate love? Or children who prove love? Let's not point fingers now, right? Where have I been and where am I going?
This morning as I dressed myself, a thought of scripture went through my head when our Lord said "Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jn 21:18. What does this mean? That your children will dress you? No. It means much more. They will direct you. But it means much more. Let's think outside the box. Our Lord matured fast. Faster than anyone could ever think possible. When He grew old, they dressed him before being crucified. They led Him where He did not want to go. This is maturity...complete humility to God Our Father. | We pray today: "For upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are rustworthy. He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own".
And who are God's people? | Our Lord speaks about children in the Holy Gospel today.
"They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'
Unmoved. Look out the window to the world, what do you see? People unmoved in this generation, right? In the good times they forget God, and in the bad times they have no clue that God is calling us.
Another thing before getting to work this morning, was a morning prayer, spontaneous that said to our Lord "Lord, teach us to be truly forever grateful". How soon we forget a miracle and we turn away from our Lord, forgetting completely what He had done. Why this amnesia? I don't understand it. It's like we have to start over all the time. How could I forget how good God has been?
How or why.
Why do we forget? Sin clouds. Sin buries the memory. Sin is death to good. That is why we must celebrate every single day, exercise every single day, gratefulness...and this means Eucharist. Lest we forget.
Lest we get lost.
Lest the sun stops shining. My Lord and my God, bless our memories that it may always recall you, bless my body and all its actions, bless me in and life and in eternity, bless me and my loved ones...and bless also...my enemies | Random Bible verse from online generator: 2 Timothy 2:2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men,1 who will be able to teach others 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 | |
