†Saint Quote
"Totally love Him, Who gave Himself totally for your love."
–St. Clare of Assisi †Today's Meditation
"When we make a good resolution, we merely consider the beauty and excellence of virtue, which attracts even the most vapid minds, but we never consider the difficulties of attaining it. Consequently, cowardly souls are dismayed at the first sign of trouble and they hurriedly abandon their project. For this reason, it would be better for you to consider the difficulties which occur in acquiring virtue, rather than the virtues themselves, and to prepare yourself accordingly. You may rest assured that the greater courage you show in conquering yourself or defeating your enemies, the sooner will your difficulties diminish, and they will gradually vanish."
—Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, p. 94 An Excerpt From
The Spiritual Combat and A Treatise on Peace of Soul †Daily Verse
"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
–1 Corinthians 1:18 |  click to read more | | St. Scholastica St. Scholastica (480–542 A.D.) was born in Nursia, Italy, to a noble Roman family, along with her twin brother, the famous St. Benedict of Nursia. Their mother died in childbirth. Scholastica was dedicated to God as a child, and from a young age both siblings sensed a special divine calling. They both entered religious life and established communities within five miles of each other; St. Scholastica led a convent near Monte Cassino where Benedict established his world-renowned monastery. Because of the isolated nature of their vocations, the siblings only met once a year at a local farmhouse to discuss spiritual matters. During what was to be their final meeting, St. Scholastica had a premonition that her death was imminent. She asked Benedict to spend the night at the farmhouse so they could continue their visit, but he refused as it was forbidden in his monastic rule. Scholastica turned her request to God and prayed that her brother would stay with her. Suddenly a great thunderstorm erupted that made travel impossible, and Benedict was forced to stay. Scholastica died a few days later, and in a vision St. Benedict saw her soul leave her body in the form of a dove. St. Scholastica is the patron of nuns and against lightening, rain, and storms. Her feast day is February 10. | Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin Reading 1 Gn 3:1-8 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
"Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?"
The woman answered the serpent:
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil."
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden. Responsorial Psalm Ps 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7 R. (1a) Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven. Alleluia Acts 16:14b R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mk 7:31-37 Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
| Daily Meditation: Genesis 3:1-8 When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden . . . , the man and his wife hid themselves. (Genesis 3:8) How tragic! In the past, when the man and woman "heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden," they went eagerly to meet him. They were more than happy to converse with him and simply enjoy his company (Genesis 3:8). But now, they hid. Realizing they had been duped into disobeying God, they were ashamed of their nakedness and fearful of what God might say or do to them. What about you? Have you ever tried to hide from God? Sometimes we are so embarrassed by our sins that, like our first parents, we don't want to face the Lord. Perhaps, as they were, we are afraid of how he might react. Or maybe we feel too guilty. So we stop praying regularly or avoid other opportunities to spend time with him. We might even use a variety of distractions—including some unhealthy ones—to distance ourselves from the Lord. Of course, this is the last thing God wants. He sent his Son to die for us so that every one of our sins, no matter how grievous or embarrassing, can be forgiven. He sent us the Holy Spirit as our comforter and advocate, not our accuser. This is the God we have—a God of mercy and compassion. Today's psalm is a good reminder of this truth. When we come to the Lord asking for forgiveness, we experience a beautiful sense of freedom: "I said, 'I confess my faults to the Lord,' and you took away the guilt of my sin. . . . With glad cries of freedom you will ring me round" (Psalm 32:5, 7). And we realize that "mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord" (32:10). We all struggle with guilt and the temptation to avoid God. Perhaps we've battled a certain sin over many years, or maybe we have just recently stumbled into one. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we not draw away and hide from the very One who longs to set us free—and who has the power to do so. God's mercy surrounds you, so trust in him. Don't run from him. Rather, with a contrite heart, run toward him, right into his loving arms. "Lord, your mercy surrounds me. Help me trust you even when I would rather hide from you." Psalm 32: 1-2, 5-7
Mark 7:31-37 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil." Watch the lies that spew forth from the serpent:
1.) You won't die. And they certainly died.
2.) You're eyes will be opened. And they closed them to each other, looked away from each other, unlike before.
3.) You'll know between good and evil. The worst of all the lies, for today, we don't know the difference between good and evil very well anymore.
And there's one really spooky part that the serpent of Satan spoke: "you will BE LIKE GODS". Yesterday during lunch I sat at a restaurant next to a TV they normally don't have sound or news, but they had a show on and the hosts were talking about the satanic show put on at the grammys, and so the hosts called the Satanic Temple to get their input on the whole thing, to which their reply was something to effect that the dance routine and all that was "meh" normal stuff everyone is used to. Nothing really impressed them. They said that there was once a video that impressed them, and it was one where a singer decapitated the devil and took his crown. Now THAT is what was impressive, to dethrone the king, because then it gives their message that everyone should be their own gods.
Suddenly, the Serpent's message makes all the sense, the lies played backwards are truths. Eve wasn't made a goddess but much less. Every lure of darkness is like the glowing lure of the fish that has its mouth wide open in the darkness, ready to devour innocent souls. | We pray today:
"For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven." | In the Gospel today we heard:
"He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")" The mute and deaf man was set apart with the Lord.
Our Lord prayed and commanded the poor man: BE OPENED.
Our people today are deaf and mute.
When one is deaf, you almost automatically become a mute person, because you cannot hear your own voice to communicate with others, and it is worse from birth.
People become deaf and mute spiritually, when we sin and fall away from the Church.
We no longer can Hear God's word, it gets harder and harder to hear. And because we can no longer hear Him, we automatically stop speaking (of Him) and sharing His message.
Were any demons expelled from the deaf and mute man?
We don't hear of any, but today, the temptations of darkness cause us to fall into the deaf and mute trap.
It is not that hard to see the cause and effects, how sin causes darkness and harm.
Do you think there is a connection of these two dates:
February 5, 2023 the public display of Satanic dances on American TV,
and,
February 6, 2023, the terrible earthquakes in Siria killing upwards of 7k people?
Is it fair to correlate the two incidents?
I'm not saying one caused the other, but it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
When I'm listening to the book of Heaven, our Lord seemed to be grieving the atrocities of mankind, namely, the blatant disregard, and the cold heartedness of the so called "faithful". He said there would be wars for this and the warning was back in 1906.
These cold and unfaithful people were not exactly in those countries at war, but the wars brought about major devastation to the rest of the world and encroached upon and knocked at the gates of even the Vatican. | Do you not believe we are connected? Do you not believe that other people suffer because of your sins?
It would be better to never sin again!
Your own generations could suffer! People across the world could suffer! We ARE connected.
You see, the Church has the greater responsibility of greater care and efforts and to be more light than all the rest. This is the purpose of "God's people".
We are in the world but not OF the world. ....†....
Lord, I pray that you may give us the grace, to be Thy perfect lamp, to carry Your oil, and burn with Your Holy Spirit, forever.
.......... |  click to hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 100:4–5 [Psalm 100] 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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