†Saint Quote of the Day
"All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully."
–St. Ignatius of Loyola †Today's Meditation
"If God can use everything and everything is good, then an essential starting point of being able to discern God's will is the gift of being "equal-minded." St. Ignatius of Loyola called this gift being "indifferent," but some modern people interpret this term as not caring about the choices. Better is the term "equal minded," which implies that I am happy to take either this option or that option. Neither option matters to me except insofar as one gives greater glory to God than the other."
–Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, p. 73 An Excerpt From
How to Listen When God Is Speaking †Daily Verse
"For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? — the God who girded me with strength, and made my way safe. He made my feet like hinds' feet, and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand supported me, and thy help made me great."
–Psalm 18:31-35 |  click to read more | | St. Ignatius of Loyola St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was born at the castle of Loyola in Basque country, Spain, the youngest of thirteen children. In keeping with the young aristocrats of his day, Ignatius sought after military prowess, vainglory, and fame, and became a knight at the age of seventeen. He was known as a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, a womanizer, sensitive to insult, and involved in criminal behavior. During a period of convalescence after being wounded in battle, he read a collection of saint biographies and a Life of Christ. These books profoundly affected him, and he experienced a conversion of heart. He desired to pattern his life after the great saints, and ceremoniously hung up his military garments before an image of the Virgin Mary. After experiencing a vision of the Blessed Mother with the Infant Jesus, he lived for a time as an ascetic in a cave. It was during this time that he formulated his famous Spiritual Exercises, the spiritual centerpiece of the religious order he would later establish. He then went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and studied theology for many years. During his studies he gathered a group of six like-minded men and founded the Society of Jesus, today known as the Jesuits. They went as missionaries all over the world to spread the Gospel, especially focusing on education. Today the Jesuits have over 30,000 members and 500 universities. St. Ignatius of Loyola's feast day is July 31st. | Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, priest Reading 1 Ex 32:15-24, 30-34 Moses turned and came down the mountain
with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,
tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;
tablets that were made by God,
having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.
Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,
he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."
But Moses answered, "It does not sound like cries of victory,
nor does it sound like cries of defeat;
the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry."
As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.
With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down
and broke them on the base of the mountain.
Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire
and then ground it down to powder,
which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink. Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you
that you should lead them into so grave a sin?"
Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry.
You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.
They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader;
as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has happened to him.'
So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.'
They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out." On the next day Moses said to the people,
"You have committed a grave sin.
I will go up to the LORD, then;
perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."
So Moses went back to the LORD and said,
"Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin
in making a god of gold for themselves!
If you would only forgive their sin!
If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."
The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me
will I strike out of my book.
Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.
My angel will go before you.
When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." Responsorial Psalm Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 R. (1a) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Alleluia Jas 1:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.
| Daily Meditation: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 He ground [the golden calf] down to powder . . . and made the children of Israel drink. (Exodus 32:20) Why would Moses make the Israelites drink the water into which he had thrown the powder from the golden calf? This wasn't just some act of vindictive punishment. It was his way of destroying their sin and setting them on the road to redemption. But how? First, by making the Israelites drink the gold-dust water, Moses made sure they could no longer forge any idols to worship. Second, by treating the gold powder as a simple additive, he destroyed any false sense of power that the people might have attributed to their idol. And finally, by having them drink the water, Moses gave them a stark and memorable way of acknowledging the consequences of their sin so that they could truly repent. As much as we might condemn the Israelites for their lack of faith, we probably do something similar. We, too, might feel our trust in God faltering when we encounter challenges or when we are waiting for him to finally answer our prayers. We, too, might turn to "idols" to fill the void instead of waiting patiently on our God. But we don't have to resort to drinking gold dust to set ourselves free! We can rely on the grace of the Holy Spirit instead. We can ask him to open our eyes to whatever idols we may have set up in place of the Lord—idols like possessions, status, comfort, or pleasure—that could be leading us into sin. We can also ask him to show us that these idols don't have any real power over us. Jesus has overcome all sin and has given us the power to put to death these works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). Finally, we can ask the Spirit to lead us to repentance and sorrow for any ways we have already fallen into sin. Through the gift of repentance, we can experience the Spirit's power to redeem us and heal us in ways we could never accomplish on our own. Brothers and sisters, our God is a God of mercy. Just as he did for the Israelites, he can lead us along the path of forgiveness and redemption whenever we call to him. "Come, Holy Spirit, and set me free from any idol I may be worshipping instead of you." Psalm 106:19-23
Matthew 13:31-55 |  click to hear 2cents | https://drive.google.com/file/d/14YsB8azlU1my_jXH9rxqi8q9wbYfDBwq/view?usp=drive_link
Reflections with Brother Adrian: | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
" So Moses went back to the LORD and said,
"Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin
in making a god of gold for themselves! If you would only forgive their sin!
If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."
The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me will I strike out of my book.
Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.
My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." ......." end of verse. After seeing the great things God had done for them, they still went and made a false god, an idol to worship. Why? How? What goes in in a person's head to turn from God after experiencing His power and goodness?
This is what happens with sin...the nature of sin, the gravity of sin, and what we call concupiscence, the tendency to sin. Keep in mind, these people of Israel, should've known better, but they had washed down faith for centuries living among the Egyptian ways and their gods. Even King Solomon would succumb to this "way" of living, and this the most wisest man on earth. And so their is something to be spoken. Rely not on your own understanding, because love is a choice. Rely not on wisdom, but on faith that God will provide. This is the purpose of what is about to transpire for the people. No one there would enter the promised land, and each would get punished at the proper time if that wasn't enough.
Can we say we have golden calf idols today? Maybe not a calf, but a bull, the market in economics. Many people choose today with economics in mind. As I was about to write to you my mom was saying how she went to a retreat on Saturday for women. The original plan was for others to go with her but one by one they dismissed themselves, they couldn't go because one had to wait for a rental payment someone owed them. Another to get a house rental fixed up. And another babysitting. And I said look mom, what Father insinuated in today's daily Mass was being lived out, as he said many things choke us and his hand gestures were of the thumb and index finger rubbing, meaning money. Economics is how people choose mostly in our country. Not with morals, but with finances in mind. The golden bull market is still chosen above our Lord. | We pray today:
"They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath. ..." end of Psalm. | In the Gospel today we heard:
""The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches."" end of Gospel verse. They say this is the smallest of all the parables our Lord spoke and so that only a small number would understand, for it was said:
"He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world." | I sang the old spanish song at the end of Mass today that says "if you had faith the size of a mustard seed you'd tell that mountain to move! You would tell the sick to heal!".
We have people for thousands of years wondering what faith is and talking about it all the time, and that is exactly why I am here with you today, to speak about faith.
What is it about faith that is so special?
It is our belief, right? But it is more. Because if it is truly your belief, then it will be your way of life, your way of living, your way of breathing and thinking. This is what it should be! So...is it in Christ?
We speak about seeds. A sower. And a plant that takes off growing leaps and bounds and giving rest and protection for the creatures around, birds, souls, and the Holy Spirit.
What is the ground? It is us. We are made of dirt.
Who is the sower? It is God, Christ Himself. What is the seed? What is the tree? It is what God can do and His Kingdom in a willing soul. Do you want it to flourish in you? It can! Can God be truly God the Father whom you love and obey and choose above all things? Only you can answer that...with your very life.
In the mean time, I will work very hard to make this reality happen. I'm a shoe in, I've been smitten by evil my whole life until God Our Father struck me down. What else could make you turn to our Lord? Would He have to force you to eat the junk of your idols before realizing you have wronged Him?
What changed me? It has not been a one time change, but multiple changes. Even until today, this is an ongoing metanoia, a complete changing of heart, mind, and soul. Once you've been through hundreds of funerals, a miracle encounter vision with Him, and tons and tons of miracles, I can rightly say we can judge the time, and judge for ourselves who is King. I pray every day that the whole world turns to our Lord Jesus Christ as King and center of our hearts.
The seed is the smallest. The lesson is about the smallest. Humility. This is how faith can germinate. And then it will propagate. This is how it will begin to grow and flourish, and grow in other areas, other lands, other dirt...meaning...more souls...and their salvation.
If God cares...shouldn't we care as well, shouldn't we love as much? Let's pray:
Lord, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done! |  Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Philippians 3:13–14 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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