†Saint Quote
"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do."
–St. Thomas Aquinas †Today's Meditation
"I heard myself wondering, "How would it be possible for me to change or be forgiven?" As I continued to read [a book about the Blessed Virgin Mary], the answer became clear. The Virgin Mary was saying that people have to believe in God and have faith. They have to surrender and give their lives to her also, so she can present them to her divine Son…Yet I found myself very attracted and captivated by this someone who I couldn't see – this Virgin Mary…The book said she was living in heaven, sent by God for sinners, for people like me who had gone off and were living sinful lives. Yet how was I going to give my life to Jesus? I hated Jesus! The Virgin Mary was saying things that were so clear and captivating that I found myself moved and literally experiencing emotion in a deep way. This was a kind of emotion I hadn't experienced since I was a little boy who really loved his mother and wanted to make her happy. And yet the Virgin Mary was saying that she was my mother, that she was the mother of those who had gone astray and was calling us back to God, to Jesus."
—Donald H. Calloway, MIC, p. 163 An Excerpt From
No Turning Back †Daily Verse
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
–Psalm 91:1-2 |  click to read more | | Pope St. John XXIII Pope St. John XXIII (1881–1963) was the third of thirteen children born to a poor sharecropping family living in Lombardy, Italy. Desiring to serve God with his life, he entered seminary at the age of 12, and, after serving a short stint in the Italian Army, was ordained a priest in 1904. He taught apologetics and church history before being called to service as a military chaplain during the first World War. He later served in Rome on various diplomatic assignments, rising in ecclesiastical rank as bishop and then cardinal-patriarch of Venice. An obscure pick for the Supreme Pontiff, he was unexpectedly elected the 261st Pope at the age of 76. He took the name John which had not been used in over 500 years. The papacy of this presumed "caretaker pope" was expected to be an uneventful one, however, to the surprise of all, shortly into his reign he called the Second Vatican Council. He presided over its first session but did not live to see its completion. He reigned as pope for less than five years before dying of stomach cancer. As Holy Father he had a special concern for the equal dignity of humanity, the unity of all Christians, and world peace. He broke with many of the formalities of the papacy and was affectionately called the "Good Pope", in Italian, "il Papa buono." He was canonized by Pope Francis together with Pope John Paul II in 2014. His feast day is October 11th. | Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 468
Reading 1 GAL 5:1-6 Brothers and sisters:
For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. It is I, Paul, who am telling you
that if you have yourselves circumcised,
Christ will be of no benefit to you.
Once again I declare to every man who has himself circumcised
that he is bound to observe the entire law.
You are separated from Christ,
you who are trying to be justified by law;
you have fallen from grace.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness.
For in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,
but only faith working through love. Responsorial Psalm PS 119:41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48 R. (41a) Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
Let your mercy come to me, O LORD,
your salvation according to your promise.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
Take not the word of truth from my mouth,
for in your ordinances is my hope.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
And I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
And I will walk at liberty,
because I seek your precepts.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
And I will delight in your commands,
which I love.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
And I will lift up my hands to your commands
and meditate on your statutes.
R. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord. Alleluia HEB 4:12 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 11:37-41 After Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
The Pharisee was amazed to see
that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you." | Daily Meditation: Galatians 5:1-6 For freedom Christ set us free. (Galatians 5:1) Do you remember what it was like to have a snow day as a child? You felt free! Free from having to get up early, get dressed, and pack your lunch. Free from having to pay attention in class or deal with a difficult classmate. Before very long, though, your thoughts probably started to shift. Instead of rejoicing at being free from all those burdens, you started to imagine what you were free for. You could build a snow fort or curl up with an exciting book. You could watch a movie or draw or paint or go sledding. St. Paul reminds the Galatians, and us, that there is more to our freedom in Christ than just freedom from sin. There is more than freedom from the limitation of death. Jesus has set us free so that we can know God's love, love him in return, and love our neighbors as he loves us. What really counts, Paul says, is "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). Each of us has aspects of our lives that we are not free to change. We belong to a particular family. Our school or work commitments shape how we spend our time. Many things happen each day that are not under our control. However, our attitude and the way we respond to the circumstances we face or the people we are around are entirely up to us. We can deliberately choose to put love into everything we do and everything that happens to us today. That is genuine freedom. Today, make a conscious decision to offer your day to the Lord. Take some time to pray through what you know about your schedule and the people you'll see. Remember that Christ set you free so that you could love them better and show his love to them. You will have plenty of opportunities to give of yourself or let go of your own preferences or put someone ahead of yourself today. So make the choice ahead of time that you will bring love into each situation. Because that's what your freedom is for. "Lord of all, I freely offer you every moment of my day. Help me to approach every aspect of my day with your love." Psalm 119:41, 43-45, 47-48
Luke 11:37-41 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
They say that faith without works is dead. Show me your faith! I would like to see your faith alive, a light that is lit for the world to see that love lives.
I'm a pretty busy guy, but I always try to make time for something special...take time to care.
I see despondent souls turn into a brown recluse, and this spider becomes poisonous. How can you heal such souls? There are many recluses especially because of the pandemics pandemonium. What can you do to help someone that is locking themselves up from the world and from our Lord? My experience in such cases is this: you have to care. You have to care enough to pray for them before you speak with them, and then, you have to care enough to reach out to them, physically. It is not rocket science. Mother Teresa of Calcuta prayed before serving and seeking lost and hurting souls. This is our energy...Jesus Christ in the Eucharist...the very light/energy of the world. | We pray today;
"Let your mercy come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise. Let your mercy come to me, O Lord"
This morning, a worker said he would need time off soon, for his nephew was just shot dead in Juarez, Chihuahua, in what for many years was the most violent city in the world and still has high violence. Why do I bring this up? Because of the word, salvation.
People who don't think they need saving...don't care. People who don't need God, our Christ, mostly don't care about life itself; to them, it is disposable in the utilitarian mentality and thus philosophy of life. In this mode of thought, you say that if you are useless, you are as good as dead. Think of the poor, or innocent who suffer in this train of thought. And don't think of dictators or thugs, think of your neighbor who seems to have a severe disdain for the world. I dare say, I sit with some insolent souls even in church. How do you know you care? When you can pray for the souls doing irreparable harm. A dead body. A bruised heart through ugly looks and nasty words.
Who cares about salvation in this kind of darkened mentality? Who cares truly about our Lord? | In the Gospel today we heard our Master and Teacher:
"You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?" I've told people, even last night in a welcoming of new cursillo brothers, that one man there was always fixing the broken things on the outside of our church, and I called him out again last night, "it is time, Ernest, to fix the church on the inside" and let this message hit you as you like.
We've done enough exterior acts, but what about within?
I'm thinking of none other than myself. I make the sign of the cross without thinking, I say words but I don't pay attention to what I pray with the words. I go to Mass and I don't believe I hardly ever pay full attention to every moment of over thing done and said. And it matters not who the priest or church is... it is within me. | This is where our Lord struck Mary and Martha. Martha was worried about the works, of love and hospitality, but Mary was more worried about losing any thing our Lord would come to say in her home. This is my daily case. I fight to focus. What is God saying to me right now?
In the festival, I was running everywhere as is the usual case, fixing this issue and that issue, and tending to what needed to be done all day, and I hardly had time to visit with families and to listen. I often tried to pay attention...to the little child...to the elderly person. And it was hard to stay focused with negative things striking me, "adrian, someone stole your dad's saddle" that morning for horse rides. A man was walking out as the event started "I can't believe you sell alcohol in this church event" and as he backed out was honking aggravated at another car. So how do I handle all the negativity? Handle with care.
On the first issue, the theft, it bothered me because I have in my office a picture of my dad that passed away this year, him on his horse in front of our shop, family business. There's the saddle, and now it is stolen? I can only recall two things Christ said: "whover takes your tunic, hand him your cloak as well" and then "forgive as many as 70 times 7 times".
The heart pains then become an offering.
The second one? Well, I know that older man that left seemingly irrate, he is always irrate, that is his personality for whatever reason, always seems unhappy. But I take what he says seriously. I'm not a drinker, it is rare when I'll drink a beer. And I said "i'm working on a better alternative right now" asking for patience in my words. All we can do is be polite. After he left I thought "Our Lord drank real alcohol in His day in a celebration of His first miracle". But we all know how things get out of hand with anything given, even food, or water can be indulged to extremes. Handle people with great care. Souls for God are at stake.
I have to handle everything with care.
I'm teaching you to do the same. May our Lord continue to show us His Way, His Truth, His very Life for the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven. TCCIC!
your bro adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse 1 Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 16:8 [Proverbs 16] 8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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