.: 06/02/21

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

† When they rise from the...

†Saint Quote
"Suffering overwhelms you because you take it like a coward. Meet it bravely, with a Christian spirit: and you will regard it as a treasure."
— St. Josemaria Escriva

†MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Of all the divine attributes, only God's omnipotence is named in the Creed: to confess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it 'is made perfect in weakness.' The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God. He is called the 'Mighty One of Jacob,' the 'Lord of hosts,' the 'strong and mighty' one. If God is almighty 'in heaven and on earth,' it is because he made them. Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will. He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: 'It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm?'"
—The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268-9
AN EXCERPT FROM
Catechism of the Catholic Church

† VERSE OF THE DAY
"We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves; let each of us please our neighbor for the good, for building up. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you fall upon me.""
Romans 15:1-3

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ST. ELMO

St. Elmo (d. 303 AD), also known as St. Erasmus of Formia, was an Italian bishop during the reign of Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. During their brutal persecution against Christians, St. Elmo left his diocese and fled to Mount Lebanon where he lived for seven years. An angel advised him to return to his diocese in order to vanquish his enemies. As he traveled there he was stopped and questioned by Roman soldiers. After declaring himself to be a Christian, he was brought to stand trial before Diocletian himself. St. Elmo confessed his faith in Christ and denounced the emperor for his impiety. For this rebuke he was tortured and thrown into prison, but an angel miraculously freed him so that he could continue on his journey and save many souls along the way. Two more times St. Elmo would endure the cycle of working miracles, baptizing thousands of people, getting arrested and mercilessly tortured, and being miraculously freed before arriving back in his own diocese. During his travels he suffered many horrible tortures at the hands of his enemies, but according to the oldest tradition he died at peace in Formia, though later accounts have him being martyred there by disembowelment. St. Elmo is the patron of mariners and sailors, abdominal pain, intestinal cramps, and women in labor. The electrical discharge on ships at sea, "St. Elmo's Fire," is named for him. His feast day is June 2nd.

Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 355

Reading I

Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a

Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud.
Then with sobs I began to pray:

"You are righteous, O Lord,

and all your deeds are just;

All your ways are mercy and truth;

you are the judge of the world.

And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,

and look with favor upon me.

Punish me not for my sins,

nor for my inadvertent offenses,

nor for those of my ancestors.

"We sinned against you,

and disobeyed your commandments.

So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,

till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations

among whom you had dispersed us.

"Yes, your judgments are many and true

in dealing with me as my sins

and those of my ancestors deserve.

For we have not kept your commandments,

nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you.

"So now, deal with me as you please,

and command my life breath to be taken from me,

that I may go from the face of the earth into dust.

It is better for me to die than to live,

because I have heard insulting calumnies,

and I am overwhelmed with grief.

"Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish;

let me go to the everlasting abode;

Lord, refuse me not.

For it is better for me to die

than to endure so much misery in life,

and to hear these insults!"

On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media,
it so happened that Raguel's daughter Sarah
also had to listen to abuse,
from one of her father's maids.
For she had been married to seven husbands,
but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them off
before they could have intercourse with her,
as it is prescribed for wives.
So the maid said to her:
"You are the one who strangles your husbands!
Look at you!
You have already been married seven times,
but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands.
Why do you beat us? Is it on account of your seven husbands,
Because they are dead?
May we never see a son or daughter of yours!"

The girl was deeply saddened that day,
and she went into an upper chamber of her house,
where she planned to hang herself.

But she reconsidered, saying to herself:
"No! People would level this insult against my father:
'You had only one beloved daughter,
but she hanged herself because of ill fortune!'
And thus would I cause my father in his old age
to go down to the nether world laden with sorrow.
It is far better for me not to hang myself,
but to beg the Lord to have me die,
so that I need no longer live to hear such insults."

At that time, then, she spread out her hands,
and facing the window, poured out her prayer:

"Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God,

and blessed is your holy and honorable name.

Blessed are you in all your works for ever!"

At that very time,
the prayer of these two suppliants
was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.
So Raphael was sent to heal them both:
to remove the cataracts from Tobit's eyes,
so that he might again see God's sunlight;
and to marry Raguel's daughter Sarah to Tobit's son Tobiah,
and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.

Responsorial Psalm

25:2-3, 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

R. (1) To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
In you I trust; let me not be put to shame,

let not my enemies exult over me.
No one who waits for you shall be put to shame;

those shall be put to shame who heedlessly break faith.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;

teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my savior.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,

and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,

because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;

thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,

he teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

Alleluia

Jn 11:25a, 26

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; 
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mk 12:18-27

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
'If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.'
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,

I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled."

DAILY MEDITATION: MARK 12:18-27
Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? (Mark 12:24)

Jesus had just foiled an attempt by some Pharisees and Herodians to trap him, and now he has to deal with an absurd situation posed by some Sadducees. Where, except in the story of Tobit, would you ever find a woman so unlucky as to go through seven husbands and remain childless? And why even speculate on whose husband she would be in heaven? Just step back from the immediate scene, and you can see how silly the whole thing must have appeared.

Jesus wasted no time in calling out the real problem. These men didn't want Jesus to render judgment about a many-times married widow. They were trying to trap and humiliate him. So he turned the tables on them.

Jesus' response—"You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God"—was as direct as it was convicting (Mark 12:24). Anyone, Jesus said, who was familiar with the ways of the Lord ought to know better. God isn't flummoxed by legal questions like the one posed by these Sadducees. His plans are so much greater than our limited minds can conceive, and the reality of heaven is greater than anything we could imagine.

At the resurrection, every form of human love, including married love, will be transformed into divine love. We don't know how, but we will become like the angels in their ability to love perfectly. Boundaries like space and time won't matter any more. We will love every single person in our lives the way they ought to be loved, and we will receive their love just as fully. God's perfect, eternal love will bind us all together; it will perfect all of our relationships.

Jesus' answer was more than a rebuke of his opponents. It was a promise to us as well—especially to all those who have lost a loved one. He promises that we will be reunited with our loved ones. He promises that his love is creative enough to find a way through all of our worries and anxieties.

Your heavenly Father is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and of you (Mark 12:26). He will never abandon you. He will never leave you unfulfilled.

"Thank you, Lord, for binding us all together in your love."

Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17
Psalm 25:2-9

We lived only for them. They were all our happiness; and we never found any except in them. In short, nothing was too difficult, and the world was no longer a burden to us. For me, our children were a great compensation, so I wanted to have a lot of them in order to raise them for Heaven.
— St. Zélie Martin on her children,
quoted in "A Family of Saints: The Martins of Lisieux"

Bro. Adrian Reads reflection Outloud. Click here

my2cents:
Tobit starts to pray while in misery:
" "You are righteous, O Lord, and all your deeds are just;

All your ways are mercy and truth; you are the judge of the world."
And Raguel prays too: "Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name. Blessed are you in all your works for ever!"
What seems to be a common denominator? They open prayer with praise and thanksgiving....praising the Lord in the storm, acknowledging Him for WHO He is before all, then our prayers are said.

We pray in the Psalms:
"Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul."
Let's keep this in mind as we hear in the Holy Gospel, how they try to trap Him once again.

In the Holy Gospel we hear:

"Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
'If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife" and it happened to seven brothers in a row, all died, no children were had, and the ultimate question came "At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?"

The question was aimed at defeating resurrection. The question was geared at proving the absurdity of a life after death (using worldly laws).
And to this day, this mentality still exists. It exists for Jehova's witnesses, and for atheists, and the list goes on for those that claim what the youth like to exclaim "YOLO!" meaning "You Only Live Once!". The answer is yes and no. Yes you only get one shot on earth, and no, that's not all...what we do now affects what our Lord has promised...eternal life. Communist countries are working hard to eradicate the thought of eternity. They are even editing bibles to erase words and thoughts about eternity, much like many Protestants have erased thoughts of purgatory from bibles, ripping out passages and books that were originally in the Bible.

So it boils down to you. Do you believe in eternity? And what of marriage? Till death do you apart. Then, I'll say like I told my nephews on a camping trip a few nights ago "we have our family on earth, but in God, we have a whole other, Real Family".

The oldest nephew, a college student said "I wish I could find family in Christ, friends in Christ". I say they are hard to find, but not if you pray, not if you look, not if you...become one yourself!
This family...is forever.

Let's pray:
Lord, today we pray with Tobit, and we pray with Raguel, and we pray with one another with our family in Heaven.

"You are righteous, O Lord, and all your deeds are just; All your ways are mercy and truth...Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name. Blessed are you in all your works for ever!
Hear our prayers for our Divine Family, that we may seek each other and help each other to Heaven...and bless You forever!

from your brother in Christ our Lord,
adrian