†Saint Quote
"O my God, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve to be served, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fear of being wounded, to work without seeking rest, and to spend myself without expecting any reward, but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will. Amen."
— St. Ignatius of Loyola †Meditation of the Day
"Whoever confesses his sins ... is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear 'man' - this is what God has made; when you hear 'sinner' - this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made ... When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works. You do the truth and come to the light."
— The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1458
An Excerpt From
Catechism of the Catholic Church †Verse of the Day
"Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live."
Ezekiel 18:31-32 |  click to read more | | St. Paul of the Cross St. Paul of the Cross (1694–1775) was born near Turin, Italy, the second of sixteen children—only six of whom survived infancy. His devout parents ensured his strong religious upbringing. In his childhood Paul went to daily Mass, spent much time before the Blessed Sacrament, and attended to his studies. He taught catechism in the local churches before experiencing a deep religious conversion at the age of 19 through the writings of St. Francis de Sales. After a brief stint as a soldier and declining an offer for a good marriage, at the age of 26 he learned through prayer that God was calling him to found a new religious order which came to be known as the Congregation of the Passion, or the Passionists. He was instructed in a vision as to what the new habit of his order should look like: a black tunic bearing a heart surmounted by a white cross, with the words "Passion of Jesus Christ" written inside the heart. To the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience he added a fourth: to spread devotion to Christ's Passion among the faithful. His mission was to ignite a love for Jesus in the hearts of the faithful at a time when many saw Him only as a great moral teacher. St. Paul of the Cross was one of the most powerful preachers of his day, as well as a mystic, and he was known to bring even the most hardened sinners to tears. He also took special care of the sick, poor, and suffering. His feast day is October 20th. | Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 475
Reading I Rom 6:12-18 Brothers and sisters:
Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies
so that you obey their desires.
And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin
as weapons for wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life
and the parts of your bodies to God
as weapons for righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you,
since you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace?
Of course not!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves
to someone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin,
you have become obedient from the heart
to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. Responsorial Psalm 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8 R. (8a) Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us, let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us; over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird from the fowlers' snare;
Broken was the snare, and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord. Alleluia Mt 24:42a, 44 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stay awake!
For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 12:39-48 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Then Peter said,
"Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
And the Lord replied,
"Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
'My master is delayed in coming,'
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant's master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master's will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." | Daily Meditation: Luke 12:39-48 At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. (Luke 12:40) Today's Gospel begins with Jesus wrapping up a parable and warning us to be ever ready for his return. Notice Peter's response: "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?" (Luke 12:41). Why did Peter ask this? Perhaps he was hoping that being prepared for Jesus' return was something he had already checked off his list. After all, he was already a follower of Jesus. Wasn't that good enough? It's clear from Jesus' response that he expects more from Peter—and from us. Instead of answering Peter directly, he tells another parable, about a servant who took advantage of his master's trust and committed evil in his absence. This story may raise uneasy questions. Are we the servants who should know better? If Jesus returned today, how would he judge us? Although we may tell ourselves we're not as bad as the servant in the parable, Jesus doesn't want us to be complacent. It's easy to fall into the same trap that doomed the servant. The master was out of sight, out of mind. No one knew when he was coming back, so it was easy to forget that he was coming back. Because we cannot see God, it's sometimes easy to forget about him. Other things going on around us gobble up our attention, leaving less for God. We may think we have lots of time stretching before us, so we put off shedding bad habits and making changes that could bring us closer to God. But we don't know what tomorrow will bring. We may find ourselves face-to-face with Jesus sooner than we think! It can be tempting, like Peter, to wonder if this parable is meant for us: the faithful and the prayerful. The short answer is, yes! We have been entrusted with much, just as the servant in the parable had been given much. Jesus has left us to care for his Church as well as the whole of his creation. We know the will of our Master, and we need to make sure we are about his business. "Jesus, help me to be ready to greet you when you come again!" Romans 6:12-18
Psalm 124:1-8 |  Listen to 2cents | From Today's Holy Scripture:
"Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies
so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!" The world has witnessed an epidemic that the gods of sciences and wizardry have not been able to contain. What then has happened, and did we deserve this calamity that has many, to this day, paralyzed in fear? What's more, the worldly remedy I see, the leaven of the world, proves to be worse. They lock you up, and inject you with the dreaded disease, the very disease you did not desire. Sounds a bit like hell, and sin, does it not? I felt something like this was coming on and perhaps even needed, because the faith was dwindling rapidly, almost in a state of chaos. What was happening? A great disorder, deviance from order. | We pray in Psalms:
"We were rescued like a bird from the fowlers' snare; Broken was the snare, and we were freed. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Our help is in the name of the Lord." And such was the disorder, but to the 100th degree, when our Lord stepped down from Heaven, and in 3 days proved His Love. 3 Days for the Holy Spirit, for the Son, and for the Father, to impart Himself and be made known both now and forever. There is hope. And you are turning to Him now. | Our Lord speaks, the TRUTH speaks:
""Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." | Last night I graded my kids daily 2 cents that I make them write. I got onto a couple of them for not writing more about what they learned. One boy wrote 5 sentences that said basically the same thing over and over. Every sentence said "be prepared' or "be ready". And now it's my turn to write to you, LOL.
Here it goes. Be ready! LOL.
But how? Right? We already are sure we don't know when. But let's change the "how" lettering to "who".
Who is coming? How to prepare for Who, prepare for Him.
St. Peter had a good question, and our Lord's reply is confounding. "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
And the Lord replied,
"Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so." The message is for who? You. For when? Now. So how can we be ready? He told us how: Be Faithful.
I've been bombarded with the issue of infidelity lately. I've seen how spouses are unfaithful, and the crime against charity is terrible. And now take it to the realm of our relationship with our Spiritual Spouse...Jesus Christ the Groom in all Gospels.
Now let me take it even further, deeper, with our Blessed Mother Mary. Now that we are in the deep, in the waters, let's go under water and explore.
Mother Mary is the epitome of God's plan for man. She is the vision and restoration of Wo-Man. She is immaculate, and she is full of grace. She has the most compassionate heart known in existence aside from the Love itself...from Heaven.
Now let's go to Jesus. At the first miracle, wo-man asks Man, that is, Blessed mother Mary asks Jesus, to produce a miracle for mankind, compassion evident, the desire of our hearts through the Sacred hearts are perceived and conceived. And the Word speaks, and it comes to be. How did we venture so deep and how is this related to our fidelity to God?
Faithfulness is more than tradition and rituals. The Pharisees were good at that. And believe me, I'm faithful, I love the tradition and rituals, but I get lost in them, and lose focus of the purpose, and we miss the mark, miss the point, and this becomes sin. What are you faithful to? Who are you faithful to? If you are not faithful to your spouse, then you are not faithful to God. If you are not faithful to God, you are not faithful to anyone one truly.
And so I find myself flirting with disaster when I have an inkling of sin entering my soul. A slight sin of uncharity weighs down my soul, like a bad joke, or a bad thought, because I know the power of thoughts...because most of my thoughts are prayers. Our Lord said:
"But if that servant says to himself,
'My master is delayed in coming,'
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant's master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful." Our Lord speaks about the unfaithful. So what happened lately that the world should be facing a calamity and the pandemic?
It is a stern warning, and we have punished ourselves.
I see it in the democratic society, where people elect their leaders...and their gods, their morals, their beliefs. You get what you want. Now what do we want? To continue our own way, or God's way?
Our way leads to sin and sin leads to death.
God's way leads to purity, and purity leads to life. Are you ready now? Ready to be faithful? The vows have been made at the altar.
The Groom awaits with open arms, and His heart is pouring out all over...the world. Let's pray: Lord, I cannot believe how much You love us.
We have turned away in the world, and now we are in need of a savior. We need Your loving arms around us, and we need to embrace you with all our heart, mind, and soul.
Help us love Thee right. Help us love Thee more and more! | from your brother in Christ,
Adrian |  click to hear | Random bible verse generator: WOW!
Romans 8:37
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
