†Saint Quote
""Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book."
–St. John Bosco †Today's Meditation
"It almost always happens that interior sentiments of pride precede the commission of grievous sins. Peter was not aware of his own weakness. He preferred himself before others; he trusted in himself as though he were incapable of sinning, boasting that no temptation would separate him from Jesus. He would not even believe the assurance of his Divine Master, that he would deny him thrice. Deceived by this vain confidence in his own strength, he neglects to pray, and to have recourse to God; and God, in His justice, permits him to fall, in punishment of his pride. There is nothing more dangerous than to confide in our own strength, and trust to feelings of fervor. We are full of malice, and capable of committing the most enormous crimes, unless God supports us."
—Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, p. 85-86 An Excerpt From
The School of Jesus Crucified †Daily Verse
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
–Jeremiah 17:7-8 |  click to read more | | Blessed Thomas Maria Fusco Blessed Thomas Maria Fusco, also known as Tommaso, (1831-1891) was born to a noble and pious family in Italy, the seventh of eight children. He was orphaned at an early age and raised by his uncle, a priest, who oversaw his education. He had a deep love for the faith, especially to the Passion of Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows. He became a priest at the age of 24 and opened a school in his own home. He later became an itinerant missionary throughout southern Italy. After traveling for a number of years he opened another school, this time to train priests on how to be good confessors. He also founded the Priestly Society of the Catholic Apostolate to support the missions, which gained papal approval. During his work with the poor he discerned a call to start a new religious order of sisters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, to minister to orphaned children. In addition to all of this, Fusco was also a parish priest, a confessor to a group of cloistered nuns, and a spiritual father to a lay group at the nearby Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He died of liver disease at the age of 59. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 2001. His feast day is February 24. | Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 344
Reading I Jas 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance. Responsorial Psalm 49:14-15ab, 15cd-16, 17-18, 19-20 R. (Matthew 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
This is the way of those whose trust is folly, the end of those contented with their lot:
Like sheep they are herded into the nether world; death is their shepherd and the upright rule over them.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Quickly their form is consumed; the nether world is their palace.
But God will redeem me from the power of the nether world by receiving me.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Fear not when a man grows rich, when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it; his wealth shall not follow him down.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed, "They will praise you for doing well for yourself,"
He shall join the circle of his forebears who shall never more see light.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs! Alleluia See 1 Thes 2:13 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Receive the word of God, not as the word of men,
but as it truly is, the word of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 9:41-50 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. "Everyone will be salted with fire.
Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid,
with what will you restore its flavor?
Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another." | Daily Meditation: Mark 9:41-50 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. (Mark 9:43) The thought of getting rid of your hand, foot, or eye to avoid sinning sounds rather extreme—and yes—even grotesque. Yet we can relate to the frustration of desperately wanting to just cut sin out of our lives. At the same time, we know that missing some body parts—or other elements we attribute to sin—would not keep sin from entering back into our lives. But here's one way to cut sin out of your life: look at it as a missed opportunity to love. Rather than trying to remove every potential cause of sin, try putting more effort into using your hands and eyes and feet to honor the Lord and to serve the people around you. Remember the famous quote attributed to St. Teresa of Ávila: Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Holiness, like sinfulness, can become a habit, but you have to work diligently at it and aggressively seek God's help and grace. Investing time in prayer, adding positive structure to your day, and looking for ways to be Christ's body on earth might take a little extra planning and effort. But with practice, you will find that your hands are too busy to sin. Your feet will have so many places to go that you won't have time to wander from the Lord. Your eyes will be too occupied looking for opportunities to serve. Don't stop there! Take a look at how you use your money, your time, even your hobbies. Instead of using them for yourself, look for ways that you can use them to be Christ to others. By focusing on turning opportunities to sin into opportunities to love others, you will begin to feel your whole body—especially your heart—reorienting itself toward Christ. Gradually, your hands and eyes and feet will become instruments of service rather than instruments of sin. "Lord, help me find ways to use everything you have given me to love you and serve your people." James 5:1-6
Psalm 49:14-20 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance." Sin is easy. Hurting God is easy. Just do whatever you want, think what you want, and disregard what He thinks and wants.
But if you love God the Father, sin is hard. You will have a hard time committing a sin. You will choose the way of sacrificial love, dying to self, rather than hurting Him. | We pray in Psalms:
"Quickly their form is consumed; the nether world is their palace. But God will redeem me from the power of the nether world by receiving me. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!" | Our Lord speaks in the Holy Gospel:
""Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." How many people have you caused to sin? How many have gone the wrong path because of the way...you showed to love God, wrongly? The most common one nowadays is by permissiveness. The most common today is the one of yesterday, by being "tolerant" and "neutral". And so, today, nobody gets married by the Church, by God's laws. Today, people think of abortion as normal. Today, pets get more attention than kids. As a matter of fact, dogs are preferred than kids in new age couples that are not getting married.
Is this the new normal? To live against God's will? And we wonder why we are under pandemics and looming wars. We wonder why nobody is really happy, as people try to normalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, which also kills the innocent. Who is teaching all of this? And what is the leading cause of death?
It is sin. If there is porn, there is violence to the family. If there is pride, there is violence to the innocent. What has happened to the love of God in the world?
I'll tell you, but first, God speaks: | ""Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?" We are all salted with the fire, the spark of God Himself. It is good, we were made to be good, in His image. But what happens when that fire for God is diminished, in sin? What happens when your light goes out? Can that happen? Yes. In mortal sin, your light goes out and you belong to darkness.
And so the love of God goes out. And the question is, how can we be restored?
Only Through Christ.
"Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."
Keep Christ in yourself. Keep the Sacred Heart burning. Keep His law of love first and foremost in your life, always looking to Him as your guardian angel does. How can we do this? Sacrifice your desires, crucify them, and let Christ arise from the darkness. This will be the purpose of our life, to be with Him in glory forever, where time ceases to exist, and where love is the burning furnace that lights up the world. | from your brother in Christ,
Adrian |  click to hear | Random bible verse generator: Christ Has Set Us Free
5
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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