†Saint Said:
"In the first place it should be known that if a person is seeking God, his beloved is seeking him much more."
— St. John of the Cross † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"[The] ultimate end of man we call beatitude. For a man's happiness or beatitude consists in the vision whereby he sees God in His essence. Of course, man is far below God in the perfection of his beatitude. For God has this beatitude by His very nature, whereas man attains beatitude by being admitted to a share in the divine light."
— St. Thomas Aquinas, p. 119
AN EXCERPT FROM
Aquinas's Shorter Summa †VERSE OF THE DAY
"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one."
Luke 12:4-5 |  click to read more | | ST. EMILY DE VIALAR St. Emily de Vialar (1797–1856) was born in Gaillac, France to an aristocratic family in the years following the French Revolution. Because the Catholic faith was under severe persecution, she was baptized in secret by her parents and her religious instruction was given at home. She was a devout child who displayed an aptitude for prayer, and she shunned the luxuries of her state in life. After the death of her mother, her father arranged to find her a suitable husband when she reached 15 years of age. Emily, who desired to lead the religious life in service to the poor, resisted her father's attempts and endured his anger at her refusal. She desired also to repair the harm caused by the Revolution by catechizing the local children. Emily remained a virgin and privately consecrated herself to God while living in her father's home. When she was 21 she met a priest who helped her set up an out-patient service for the sick in her own home, which heightened her tense relationship with her father. When her grandfather died, Emily inherited a large fortune which allowed her independence in the service of God. She bought a large home in her town and began a religious order in service to the sick and poor, and to the education of children, which quickly flourished. In 40 years her order, called the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, established 40 houses throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. St. Emily de Vialar's feast day is June 17th. | Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 368
Reading I 2 Cor 11:1-11 Brothers and sisters:
If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me!
Please put up with me.
For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God,
since I betrothed you to one husband
to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning,
your thoughts may be corrupted
from a sincere and pure commitment to Christ.
For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received
or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it well enough.
For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these "superapostles."
Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;
in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted,
because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge?
I plundered other churches by accepting from them
in order to minister to you.
And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone,
for the brothers who came from Macedonia
supplied my needs.
So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
By the truth of Christ in me,
this boast of mine shall not be silenced
in the regions of Achaia.
And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
Responsorial Psalm 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8 R. (7a) Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD, exquisite in all their delights.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Majesty and glory are his work, and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The works of his hands are faithful and just; sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever, wrought in truth and equity.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia Rom 8:15bc R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 6:7-15 Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray: 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' "If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." | Daily Meditation: Matthew 6:7-15 Do not babble like the pagans. (Matthew 6:7) Sharon shared with her confessor that her prayer time wasn't going well—it felt like she wasn't really connecting with God. Her confessor responded with two words: "Talk less." He advised Sharon to shorten her prayer time by a few minutes but focus her attention on praying more purposefully. Making the effort to pray with fewer words can shake up our usual routine and just might breathe new life into our time with the Lord. Take the familiar Lord's Prayer as an example. Instead of reciting the prayer quickly, you can try slowing down and praying it one word or phrase at a time. Linger over a short phrase; don't even worry about getting through the entire prayer. What follows are three phrases from the Lord's Prayer. In each one, you might find something that resonates with you, something that sparks a memory or a feeling. Stop and dwell on that phrase or idea. Let the Holy Spirit unfold its meaning for you. Our Father: you are a child of God. Perhaps God's fatherhood calls to mind a father figure who had a positive impact on your life. Perhaps you think of a time that God gave you insight as you guided a younger person. Let the memory of that mentoring and support you experienced speak to you about God's fatherhood. Thy will be done: Your life isn't random. God has a plan for you and wants you to say yes to him. You already know some elements of that plan for today, but others will take you by surprise. Either way, God will equip you to face every challenge hand in hand with him. Deliver us from evil: There is evil, not only in the world crowding around you, but within your own heart. Don't let it drag you down. Focus rather on Jesus, mighty enough to overcome evil in every form. Gaze at a crucifix, but also picture him bursting forth from the grave fully alive and victorious. Evil never has the last word. This is just a starting point. There are endless riches to be found in every word of the Lord's Prayer. So try talking less in prayer today and listening more. "Thank you, Father, that you long for me to spend time with you!" 2 Corinthians 11:1-11
Psalm 111:1-4, 7-8 |  Listen to 2cents | my2cents:
Saint Paul says:
"Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;
in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted,
because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge?" What if we lived in a world where you exalted others, and not the other way around, expecting people to exalt us?
Yet, that is what we pray for, isn't it? That is even in the Lord's prayer, more on that but first let us pray. | We pray in the Psalms:
"Majesty and glory are his work, and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth."
I've had a couple of visions, as you know by now, and they have been life altering, and they have been about the altar, where there is a common denominator of an offering. So you know what's churning in my head, it is a vision of being swept away into the most beautiful Church in Heaven...there God is on His throne, but I didn't see clearly as I was in the maternal veil of Mother Mary, as if in being taken for a sneak peak of what there is, and what I saw was supreme majesty and glory of Heaven and earth, where our offerings where being put into a glory light at the center, kind of like when you take your money to the center offering basket up at the altar, but here, millions where pouring in a constant flow of an offering to God, and this Mass was a place where the light is the center, and God meets Man (mankind) in offering. What was I doing when I got swept? I was in prayer, where I write songs to glorify God in my garage makeshift studio, where often my throat gets tied up in knots and my eyes pour out water when singing in the Holy Spirit, love. | With all this said, let us turn to our Lord.
Our Lord Father Jesus speaks:
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray..."
And before we enter His prayer, let us consider what is being said. Do not babble, and in spanish it says "charlear" like to talk as if like a charlatan, just to persuade someone. Believe it or not, praying His prayer in spanish puts new spins and light on the prayer, more on that in a bit, but for sure, let's not just rattle off prayers. Protestants accuse Catholics of babbling in the rosary because it is repetitive and of course that is a lie, if they only knew it is meant to be meditative, but, there is a grain of truth, because some people do babble it and are charlatans in it, because we do not focus on what we are saying or praying, just like protestants just babbling away singing and preaching, it can happen to anybody, so let us be careful. I say that thinking of my daily family rosary with my wife and kids as we walk and pray in the evenings now, I catch myself like yesterday, driving and praying, just babbling, saying words, not a clue on what the mystery was supposed to be, just focused on other things. This can happen at Mass, or in your daily prayers too.
What can we do? Stop praying? LOL. Stop for a moment and reset maybe. But never stop! I see people that stop going to Church, is that the answer? No. It never is the answer. My job is to encourage you. Not to dissuade you. That is our forever calling. I'm amazed at how easily people give up...on God. Let us turn to Him in His prayer. | " 'Our Father who art in heaven- Heavenly Father hallowed be thy name - Holy Are You, we sanctify Your name, thy Kingdom come- I desire Your Kingdom to reign (over me and all) come over us,
thy will be done - Let Your desires be fulfilled in me (over me and all)
on earth as it is in heaven - Let us live Heavenly realities on earth now. Give us this day our daily bread -We ask for Your Nutritional Presence and sustenance, every day
and forgive us our trespasses, - forgive us our sins, our offenses against Heaven and You, as we forgive those who trespass against us; forgive us just like we forgive others,
and lead us not into temptation, do not let us fall into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' free us from evil.
Amen. So what I've done, is I've used my Spanish language to explain the Lord's prayer and expounded some. The part I was stuck most on was the daily bread, which I had to expound on, because it means so much. We ask for daily bread, but so very few go to partake of it. Last night I drove around town praying the rosary with my family, and I saw a couple of churches had quite a few people. I remembered last week at choir practice prayer time, an elderly lady said "If all the people went to their (different) churches, all of the churches could not seat them" but as it stands, there are a few churches and there aren't many filled if at all. Give us daily bread, yet we ask. For Protestants this means the bible, the Word, and for the original Christians, Catholics, the Word is yes, our bread, but the Word turns into flesh, it is the actual bible manifesting itself into reality. Walk into any Catholic Church and just by walking in, you can feel His presence. It isn't the fancy windows, or marble or designs, but the ACTUAL presence of God in the Holy Eucharist. If we use Gold it is to contain Him and show that this is special and Holy and of VALUE.
I think if we wanted to, we could write many more books on the Lord's prayer.
For now, let us manifest the prayer, and turn the Word into Flesh with our very lives. Let's pray:
Lord, Thank You for teachings what to pray and how to pray. Because it isn't just about what to say, but how to live. And it is a prayer of offering, of Mass, of sacrifice, of mercy, all things that You represent to us Your children and then Your spouse in a relationship and marriage we cannot truly fathom...Love. Help us live Heaven on earth...with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength! | from your brother in Christ our Lord,
adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse from online generator: Isaiah 32:17
17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust1 forever. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
