†Saint Quote
"This bread is bread before the words of the Sacrament. But when the words of Christ come to it, it is the body of Christ ... Before the words of Christ it is a cup full of wine and water. When the words of Christ become operative, the blood which has redeemed the people is caused to be there."
–St. Ambrose †Today's Meditation
"To become holy, to become saints, we must of course try as hard as we can to do God's will as it comes to us in a general way that is valid for everyone: through Scripture, the Commandments, and so on. It is also indispensable, as has just been said, to go further: to aspire to know not only what God demands of everyone in general, but also what he wants more specifically of us individually."
—Fr. Jacques Philippe, p. 19 An Excerpt From
In the School of the Holy Spirit †Daily Verse
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us."
–Romans 5:1-5 |  click to read more | | St. Tarcisius St. Tarcisius (3rd c.) was a boy who lived during the persecution of Roman Emperor Valerian. When the Christians would secretly celebrate daily Mass in the catacombs, a deacon would be sent to carry the Holy Eucharist to the Christians waiting in prison to be executed. At one point there was no deacon to send, and so St. Tarcisius, a twelve-year-old acolyte, was sent to carry the "Holy Mysteries" to the prisoners. One day, on his way, he was stopped by pagan boys his own age with whom he would sometimes play games. They asked him to play, but Tarcisius declined because of the holy mission on which he had been sent. The crowd of boys became curious about what he was carrying, and soon discovered that he was a Christian. In their profane desire to see the holy secret he so carefully guarded, they descended on him as a mob and beat him. Tarcisius was courageous and refused to surrender the Blessed Sacrament. A fellow Christian came to his rescue and carried his bloodied body back to the catacombs. Tarcisius died from his injuries along the way. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and his relics are kept in the church of San Silvestro. Legend has it that the consecrated Host disappeared during the attack. St. Tarcisius is the patron of altar boys and first communicants. His feast day is August 15th.
Find a Devotional for This Saint | Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mass during the Day Lectionary: 622
Reading 1 RV 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB God's temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One." Responsorial Psalm PS 45:10, 11, 12, 16 R. (10bc) The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear,
forget your people and your father's house.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
So shall the king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold. Reading 2 1 COR 15:20-27 Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for "he subjected everything under his feet." Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Mary is taken up to heaven;
a chorus of angels exults.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 1:39-56 Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled." And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever." Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home. | Daily Meditation: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26) There is so much to celebrate on this special day. We celebrate the fact that Mary's life, which had been filled with so many challenges and so much suffering, ended so gloriously. We rejoice in her coronation as Queen of Heaven. And we cherish her role as a mother who promises to "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." But St. Paul's words in today's second reading point to another very important truth that flows from Mary's assumption: death has been defeated. Of course, Jesus' resurrection tells us the same thing, but with Mary's assumption, the truth is driven home even more powerfully. Naturally, the news about the eternal Son of God rising from the dead is marvelous. But a human being like Mary? That only proves that Jesus' resurrection has altered the shape of our lives as well as his. For all who believe in the Lord, "life" is no longer limited to the few decades we have on this earth. It now stretches out infinitely toward an unlimited, glorious horizon where all pain, suffering, and sin will be no more. Yes, death has been defeated. It's over. Done. Destroyed. We still experience the end of our earthly existence, but it's not like the snuffing out of a candle. It's more like "falling asleep" and waking up in the loving embrace of the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 15:6). Mary's assumption shows us that Jesus will keep the promise he made at the Last Supper: "I will . . . take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be" (John 14:3). Today, as you join the Church in honoring Mary, try to imagine what heaven will be like. Let any fear of death fall away as you picture yourself joining her, the angels and saints, and your own loved ones. Try to capture a sense of the beauty, the awe, and the love that will envelop you when you finally see the Lord face-to-face. Forever. "All praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, for your victory over the power of death itself!" Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Psalm 45:10-12, 16
Luke 1:39-56 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God." God's chosen...to flee into the desert...with Him. This is what it means to be set apart...to be Holy. They didn't flee into the city. They didn't flee into plush gardens of security. No. They fled into the desert...with God. Such is our ancestory of Christianity. Our Fathers and mothers of the desert. Think even of the Jewish purists...of which Mother Mary is said to be from...The Essene group, that lived apart and in the desert, living solely for the purpose of God and His holy will. | We pray in Psalms:
"Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father's house. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold." | In today's Gospel we heard our of our Lord:
" Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb." | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary describes the full salvation of this prime disciple of Jesus.
In the Apostles' Creed, we speak of our hope for "the resurrection of the body." Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, has experienced precisely this resurrection and hence becomes a sign of hope for the rest of the human race.
When we speak of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother's body, we are not envisioning a journey through space, as though Mary moved up into the sky. The "heavens" are a rich and consistent biblical symbol for the transcendent, for a manner of existence that lies beyond our familiar dimensions of space and time.
The Assumption of Mary means that the Blessed Mother was "translated," in the totality of her being, from this dimensional system to the higher one for which we use the term "heaven." Mary, who exists now in this other world, is not so much somewhere else as somehow else, and this helps to explain why we can speak of her, especially in her heavenly state, interceding, helping us, and praying for us."
...................................................... We heard our Mother say:
"He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever." Lately, I've been hearing more and more of youth joining the occult, including companies that thrive as "children's networks" showing witchcraft and magic spells to make things happen. What is the basis for all of this? Control. To distrust in God and to trust rather in self...in a way like communism, that trumps all gods. And some sins have ramifications for generations. What starts this? What kicks it off? Sin. A parent's sin. When they show the child that God is not as important as others stuff. So what's more important in the home? What altars do you got? Are there any altars at all? No altars? No worship spaces? No crosses? No blessed Sacramentals? No images of what remind us of the glory of God?
And so, our Lord can curse to the 4th generation, but can bless to the 1000th generation.
This means that evil is not a match, EVER for God's goodness.
Look, I face opposition, constantly. With family, at work, and at church. It is a daily struggle, to be on the side of the positive cross that only needed a cross to make a fire that would ignite the whole world.
That was my electrical metaphor, but it is also true.
This is what has made for the light.
While everyone headed to feasts of sacrificing animals in the Passover, our Lord was cast out into the desert hills of solitude and death.
And there He was hung on the cross.
What has this to do with the assumption? We speak about blessings.
Mother Mary blessed God and God blesses her to the 1,000th generation and beyond. If a generation is 40 years, then we are in the 50th generation. We are due for a Jubilee year! LOL. It is the year of mercy, that we are to be merciful to one another, to be a generation of mercy beyond measure. And then God will reign and bless for another 1,000 generations. Is forever enough? Can we renew God's blood in ours? Lord, let us shine like Mother Mary, a beautiful lamp of Christ, she was the lamp and our faith is our oil, and Christ is the fruit...the light.
Help us with Grace forever and ever to do Thy Holy Will. |  click to hear | Random bible verse generator:
Isaiah 50:10
10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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