†Quote of the Day
"The Eucharist is the bread that gives strength... It is at once the most eloquent proof of His love and the most powerful means of fostering His love in us. He gives Himself every day so that our hearts as burning coals may set afire the hearts of the faithful."
–St. Damien of Molokai †Today's Meditation
"In our self-centered culture and classic American emphasis on work, we often feel we have to accomplish something during our times of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. We rate our experience by how 'good' our prayer was, how heartfelt our devotion was, or how focused we could remain. Yet prayer and contemplation are fundamentally God's work, in which we are invited to participate. We need only to give Him the opening, and He will do the rest. By coming to adoration, we are handing Him the keys to our hearts, allowing the rays of His love and grace to bathe our souls in the light of His Presence, as the rays of the sun bathe our bodies in light. If we can take the time to pull away from the busyness and distractions of life and just sit at His feet, He will lead us."
—Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, p. 33 An Excerpt From
Manual for Eucharistic Adoration †Daily Verse
"The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit."
–Psalm 34: 15-18 |  click to read more | | St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai St. Damien de Veuster (1840–1889), also known as St. Damien of Molokai, was a priest from Belgium belonging to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He had a special devotion to St. Francis Xavier and desired, like him, to be a missionary. His desire was fulfilled when he was sent to minister in Hawaii in place of his brother, a religious of the same congregation, who was assigned to go but was unable due to illness. The island was suffering from an influx of unknown diseases brought by foreigners, among them Hansen's disease (leprosy). The island of Molokai became quarantined as a leper colony, and all lepers were forcibly exiled there. The local bishop believed that the people living on the island, numbering over 800 at the time, needed a priest. Yet, the bishop knew that ministering to a people of this contagious and deadly disease would be a death sentence for the priest who went. The bishop asked for priests to volunteer to serve in Molokai. After serving in Hawaii for nine years, Fr. Damien was the first to volunteer. He began his ministry to the lepers in 1873. He built a church on the island and did much to improve the morale and joy among the people. St. Damien lived and ministered at the Kalaupapa leper colony for 15 years, fully knowing that this decision would eventually cause him to contract and die of the horribly mutilating disease. St. Damian died of leprosy in 1889 at the age of 49. He became known as a "martyr of charity" and the "Apostle to the Lepers." He was canonized during the Year of Priests in 2009. His feast day is May 10. | Acts 15:1-6 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved." Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters about this question. They were sent on their journey by the Church, and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria telling of the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters, and they reported what God had done with them. But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law." The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter. Psalm 122:1-5 R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or R. Alleluia.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the Lord."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R. Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord. R. According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David. R. Gospel Acclamation Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord;
whoever remains in me will bear much fruit. Jn 15:4a,5b
Alleluia, alleluia. John 15:1-8 Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." | Daily Meditation: John 15:1-8 Remain in me, as I remain in you. (John 15:4) This is such a popular saying from Jesus, but what does it mean to "remain"? Various dictionaries and thesauruses offer more than fifty different synonyms, ranging from "linger" to "persist" to "rest." That's a lot! But in today's Gospel, "remain" primarily means two things. It means to continue to be in the state you are already in. And it describes an action—to choose moment by moment not to move away, but to stay. Remain in me. We have already been grafted into Jesus' life through Baptism (Romans 11:17), so all we have to do is stay there. We just need to continue in his love since he has already placed us in him. We know how easy it can be to lose sight of this wonderful truth. And that's where the second meaning of "remain" comes in. Because we can forget, we need to choose to unite ourselves to Jesus each day. As a branch is nourished by the vine that supports it (John 15:4-5), we can find nourishment from Jesus' grace to help us stay close to him. It's the grace to trust him even in the midst of trials, to receive the strength to fight sin, or to cling to him for guidance when we face hard decisions. Remaining in Jesus like this may seem demanding, but he promises to help us. How? As I remain in you. We can remain in Jesus because he chooses to remain in us. He is committed to us in love. He is connected to us even when we might not feel so connected to him. So every time we choose to stay close to him, he's already there to cheer us on. And when we need to return to him, it's easier to make that move because he's still right beside us. This is the constant exchange of life and love that sets our hearts at rest—Jesus remaining in us and we in him. We see it when he fills us with peace during our prayer time. We see it in the grace to be faithful in our marriage or friendships. We see it when we are moved to repent or reconcile with someone we have hurt. And we see it in the love he pours into us that moves us and strengthens us to serve the people in our lives. That's the fruit of remaining in him. "Lord Jesus, thank you for remaining in me. You are my place of rest. I am so grateful to remain in you." Acts 15:1-6
Psalm 122:1-5 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter." end of Bible verse. We can see that the church and the bishops gathered about the matter, the priests too. The Church was formed and united, and their meetings were of serious issues...who can be saved?
Saint Peter with the keys of the Kingdom and the Church would also preside. And this is the case today, our bishops gather, and today, in our country, they are calling for a Eucharistic Revival...and yes, it is extremely important. | We pray today:
_"Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the Lord."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord."_ | In the Gospel today we heard: " Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. " says our Lord to us all today. So many times I've heard these bible verses because the priest has told me to read them as my penance after confession.
I am well versed, or at least I should be!
Why does our Lord say "Remain in Me"?
Because, without Him, we will die.
We will die in our sins. We will die in our own ways, and as they say the song that is popular all the way to hell goes like this: "I did it my way!". But our Lord wants us to do things His way.
He asks that we remain in Him and that He remains in us. His love is faithful. That's what this means. He is basically saying "I am with you, now you be with Me!".
Such is the call of return...to our Eucharistic Lord.
The fascination with our Lord has to be born. And so, because of this, I will tell you of yet another Eucharistic miracle. We have in our parish a man, my daughter's friend's dad. She told me that her friend said her dad was diagnosed with a serious illness and would be going in for more tests.
Something deep inside told me to invite him to Eucharistic Adoration last Friday. So I had the invite get to him. He asked for some time off that Friday afternoon, and went. Mind you, I don't see him often at church, yet I hope to soon. Anyhow, the calling was so deep, and so our normal Adoration called "Holy Hour" was carried through, with some added healing prayers. And these prayers, especially with a priest are so powerful, and I can't say I'm personally healed, but I am left away...feeling healed, if that makes sense, like His love and life flow through me.
Anyhow, Tuesday, the man texts after his Monday exams at doctors, and he was thanking me for all the prayers and all we did, apparently all went very well.
I told Him that our appreciation must now be directed to our Lord, and that I'd need his help spreading the word of God's goodness and to do these prayers more often together. He said "Just tell me when and where and we will do it".
When will it be a year acceptable to the Lord?
When will your time of dedication and adoration begin?
When will your life not focus on you anymore, and solely focus on Him?
My dear loved one, the time is now.
Our Lord speaks. " If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." | ...†....
Let's pray:
Lord Father and Jesus and Holy Spirit, You amaze me, please let me amaze You too! Thank you for remaining in Me always! | Random Bible Verse
Psalm 118:24 " This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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