†Quote of the Day
""I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles."
–Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati †Today's Meditation
"The strength of the soul consists in its faculties, passions and desires, all of which are governed by the will. Now when these faculties, passions and desires are directed by the will toward God, and turned away from all that is not God, then the strength of the soul is kept for God, and thus the soul is able to love God with all its strength."
—St. John of the Cross, p. 259 †Daily Verse
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
–John 14:6 |  click to read more | | Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) was born in Turin, Italy, to a wealthy and prominent family. He was a vibrant, joyful, and athletic youth with an adventurous spirit and a strong zest for life. He loved mountain climbing, the theater, opera, and literature. He also had a deep spiritual life and a strong devotion to the Holy Eucharist and the Virgin Mary, even while his piety provoked criticism from his parents. He challenged his friends to a life of virtue, leading them in spiritual exercises such as daily Mass and the rosary. He joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society in 1918 and became a Lay Dominican in 1922. He was also politically active in resisting fascism and communism; he took part in public demonstrations and joined religious-political organizations such as the Catholic Students Federation and Catholic Action. He also spent much time caring for the sick and poor to a heroic degree, yet his parents punished him when they caught him giving away his money and possessions. While ministering to the sick he contracted polio and died just six days later at the age of 24. His family, thinking he suffered from a mild sickness, did not realize the seriousness of his condition until it was too late. At his funeral his parents were shocked to find thousands of the city's poor, whom their son had helped in some way, arrive to pay their respects. Pope St. John Paul II called Pier Giorgio Frassati a "man of the beatitudes" at his beatification in 1990. His feast day is July 4th.
Find a Devotional for This Saint | Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time • Readings for the Independence Day Reading 1 Gn 19:15-29 As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way!
Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here,
or you will be swept away in the punishment of Sodom."
When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD's mercy,
seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters
and led them to safety outside the city.
As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told:
"Flee for your life!
Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain.
Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."
"Oh, no, my lord!" Lot replied,
"You have already thought enough of your servant
to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life.
But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me,
and so I shall die.
Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to.
It's only a small place.
Let me flee there–it's a small place, is it not?–
that my life may be saved."
"Well, then," he replied,
"I will also grant you the favor you now ask.
I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
Hurry, escape there!
I cannot do anything until you arrive there."
That is why the town is called Zoar. The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar;
at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire
upon Sodom and Gomorrah
from the LORD out of heaven.
He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain,
together with the inhabitants of the cities
and the produce of the soil.
But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Early the next morning Abraham went to the place
where he had stood in the LORD's presence.
As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah
and the whole region of the Plain,
he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace. Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain,
he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval
by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living. Responsorial Psalm Ps 26:2-3, 9-10, 11-12 R.(3a) O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.
Search me, O LORD, and try me;
test my soul and my heart.
For your mercy is before my eyes,
and I walk in your truth.
R.(3a) O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.
Gather not my soul with those of sinners,
nor with men of blood my life.
On their hands are crimes,
and their right hands are full of bribes.
R.(3a) O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.
But I walk in integrity;
redeem me, and have mercy on me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the assemblies I will bless the LORD.
R.(3a) O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes. Alleluia Ps 130:5 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 8:23-27 As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
| From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
""Flee for your life!
Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain.
Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away." end of bible verse. Some saints have said that we should flee from sin as if it were the plague. But instead, most actually flock to sin. We flock to gossip and slander. And then we wonder why there is bullying in the younger generations. We flock to feasts. And we wonder why there is greed and gluttony and gluttony does not always mean obesity, but an obsession. We flock to sensual pleasures and lust, and we wonder why the world fills with violence and animosity. We flock to vacation and getaways, and we wonder why we just want everything out of convenience, as sloth becomes a virus. And mind you, most of these things we flock to are opening of doors to dark spirits. And so, basically, we are flocking to our own destruction. Such is the story of Sodom where sodomy ruled, and Gomorhea, where licentiousness was the way of life. Some have referred to this sodomy and licentiousness as crimes against nature itself. But it goes further, it is a direct rebellion against God's Holy will and design for our very lives. Lord, help us love Thee righteously in grace! | We pray today:
"But I walk in integrity;
redeem me, and have mercy on me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the assemblies I will bless the LORD.
O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes." end of Psalm. | In the Gospel today we heard:
"They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm." end of Gospel verse. | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, in this wonderful story of the calming of the storm at sea, we witness some of the spiritual dynamics of fear and trust. The disciples stand symbolically for all of us journeying through life within the narrow confines of the fearful ego.
When they confront the storm and the mighty waves, they are immediately filled with terror. Similarly, when the trials and anxieties of life confront the ego, the first reaction is fear, since there is no power beyond itself upon which it can rely. In the midst of this terrible storm, this inner and outer tension, Jesus symbolizes that divine energy that remains unaffected by the fear-storms generated by the grasping ego.
Continuing to read the story at a spiritual level, we see that it is none other than this divine power that successfully calms the waves: he "rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm." This beautiful narrative seems to suggest that if we but awaken to the presence of God within us, if we learn to live and to see at a deeper level, if we live in basic trust rather than fear, then we can withstand even the most frightening storms."
When I read this story, of our Lord in the rocking boat, sound asleep, in the middle of the storm, while all believe they are in imminent danger, He is there, quiet, as if asleep. And so we hear people always cry out "God where are you!" and then they cry afterwards "where were you! when I most needed you!".
And then, many leave, walk out on Him, never to return, for they say "God is not good, if he were good he would've never let this happen". How do you respond to that?
How difficult it is to repair a love relationship that was doomed from the very onset!
How difficult it is to make someone love someone that has severely hurt them because "they didn't get what they wanted".
Oops! Did you catch that? One sided streets. Lack of humility.
Who is King? Who is more? Who loves more? We love more who we raise up more!
Can I get an Amen! Raise up the cross, God is there.
Raise up in the morning and praise the Lord, He is there.
In the middle of your next fight and dark moments, call out to Him and He will come to be with you and even to die with you, and the high hope would be that He would be there to help you conquer the storm, the darkness, so that light and peace would prevail.
Such is the answer to the call of a true saint. And only saints in the works are listening to this message.
If God chastises it is good. If God reproves it is good. If you are brought through mud, for Him, it is good. If we suffer, for Him, it is a sure sign you are doing good. Because a true father reproves a child He loves.
In the story, I felt Jesus as a Father with His children, teaching them a serious lesson. No need to call on fire from Heaven to punish, no...but peace, call on Peace from Heaven, with faith, and you will find yourself amazed at what we can do with God, if we are with Him and in Him, because only through Him all things happen. We are nothing without Him. Let's pray:
Lord, in the matters of things, only You matter, And YOU ARE EVERYTHING. Help us raise you higher in our lives, and in doing so, praise You all the more! |  Click To Hear | WOW Random Bible Verse 1
1 John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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