†Saint Quote
Quote of the Day
"If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility and charity."
–St. Philip Neri †Today's Meditation
"Advent is like the final hour before the breaking of the dawn. Our prayer…is simple: "Grant, we pray, that we may look forward in joy to the glorious Nativity of Christ." Constantly, the season reminds us to think about where we are directing our attention and invites us to lift our gaze toward those first streaks of light on the horizon. The coming birth of Christ is both the answer to our longing and the fulfillment of the promises of God woven throughout scripture."
—Fr. John Burns An Excerpt From
Adore: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation †Daily Verse
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
–Isaiah 55:9-11 |  click to read more | | St. Dominic of Silos St. Dominic of Silos (1000–1073 A.D.) was born in Navarre, Spain, to a peasant family. He grew up herding his father's sheep in the Pyrenees mountains. This work endeared in him a love of solitude, leading him to enter the local Benedictine monastery in Navarre. He eventually became its prior, but was driven out when the King of Navarre seized its lands. Dominic then fled to another monastery under the protection of King Ferdinand I of Leon. Though the monastery was dilapidated, he became abbot and restored it both materially and spiritually, turning it into a significant center of scholarship and charity to the poor. The funds of the monastery were used to ransom Christian captives who were enslaved by Muslims. St. Dominic of Silos was known during his life and after death as a miracle worker, making him a popular Spanish saint. The Spanish mother of St. Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order, prayed for a son at St. Dominic of Silos' shrine; when she conceived, she named her son after him. St. Dominic of Silos' special patronage became connected with pregnancy, and until 1931 his crozier was used to bless the queens of Spain, and was placed beside their beds when they were in labor. St. Dominic of Silos is also the patron of prisoners and shepherds. His feast day is December 20. | Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent Lectionary: 196
Reading I Is 7:10-14 The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. Responsorial Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 R. (see 7c and 10b) Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory. Alleluia R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God's eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 1:26-38 In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her. | Daily Meditation: Luke 1:26-38 You will conceive in your womb and bear a son. (Luke 1:31) It was a day probably like any other day, more than two thousand years ago, when an angel appeared to Mary and announced the coming of the Messiah. The people of God had been waiting a very long time, but now that wait was over. Mary was going to bear a son—"God with us"—and the Lord would redeem his people. God's faithfulness had prevailed! Stories of people waiting for God to fulfill his promises are peppered throughout the Scriptures. Abraham was promised a son, but it was years before Isaac was conceived. Similarly, the Israelites had to wait four hundred years before God freed them from slavery in Egypt and brought them back to the Promised Land. And the coming of the Messiah that we read about today took millennia! But God always came through. Waiting is not too bad when you know how everything will turn out, but it's not so easy when you are living in the in-between. In fact, sometimes it's downright hard. We can all relate to this. We may ache for the conversion of a spouse or child. We may yearn for a relationship to be healed or for God to intervene in a difficult circumstance. We know that God is good. We know that he desires our redemption and healing more than we do. But the waiting can seem so long and painful. While we are in our own seasons of waiting, we can look to the numerous examples of God's faithfulness throughout Scripture. Just as he was faithful to bring forth a Messiah to redeem his people, he will not forget us. He knows the deepest desires of our hearts and the needs we face every day. When we read these stories, he wants us to remember that he will be faithful and that we can trust him in our times of waiting. Today, take some time to reflect on God's faithfulness in your own life. Ask him to help you trust him with whatever you are facing. You can be sure that he hears your prayers and that he is walking with you through every situation, giving you strength to wait for his faithfulness to be revealed. "Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to all generations." Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 24:1-6 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
_"the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel."_ It was prophesied that our Lord would be conceived in a virgin, centuries before it actually happened. Nowadays, there are prophecies that are ongoing but only take decades usually. But let's get back to the Virgin. A pure vessel. A pure vessel. What does this mean for us? She is our Mother, the example for humanity. That we ought to be like Mary, a pure vessel for Christ.
Our perverted world and many protestants dislike the notion of a Virgin Mother. They don't want to accept that God can do anything He pleases with whoever He pleases. They don't like things out of control...and that is the problem....who is in control? There are countries that are against the Church because, ultimately, they want total control. And it is to their own detriment. The rest of the countries that allow God to control them are blessed more. You cannot hide the sun because you put your hand over your head. The light is more. | We pray today;
"He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, a reward from God his savior. Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory" So it is said that Mother Mary always sought our Lord and was said to have been a consecrated virgin from her early childhood days, and some saints have said she was a temple virgin totally dedicated to the temple of God, and she actually became the living Temple, a magnificent temple built by God Himself.
You see, God desires to enter our Temple, our Body, Holy as He designed it to be. | In the Gospel today we heard our Master and Teacher:
""Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
And it was said that our Blessed Mother was very perplexed at the annunciation.
I would be baffled too, if an angel said "my child, hail full of Grace! The Lord is with you!
Say what? What does that even mean!? Right? Wouldn't you be baffled too?
It even says that our Blessed Mother "was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be."
And to this day, we call her Blessed and Full of Grace. Because the ArchAngel of God said so, and because she became the mother of all because of Jesus our Lord the one whom we turn to if we are to go to the Father. .........................
Bishop Barron says today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she has been chosen to be the mother of God. In the face of this overwhelming word, Mary is confused: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And she cannot begin to imagine the full consequences of accepting this invitation: shame, exile, violent pursuit, the final agony on Calvary. And yet, despite her fear and despite the darkness, she says, "I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." At the crucial moment, Mary of Nazareth allows herself to fall in love with God, and in that moment of ecstasy, the Son of God enters the world for its salvation. The human tragedy began with Adam and Eve's grasp; the divine comedy commences with Mary's letting-go. This is why the medieval commentators, with their delicious sense of the co-penetration of all parts of the Bible, observed that the "Ave" of the angel of the Annunciation reverses "Eva," the mother of all the living."
.............................. Are you ready for the coming of Christ?
Let yourself be purified, and let your light of Christ be on for His coming. | ........................................
Blessed Mother in Heaven, immaculate conception, the announcement that changed the world lives on because of you and your fiat...your response to God's will. Mother, words and actions cannot express enough love is due to a Blessed and pure Mother that you are to us. Help us love you more and in doing so, glorify God all the better. Pray for us Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
............................................... adrian |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Matthew 5:14–16 14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that1 they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
