†Saint Quote of the Day "If then we have angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also." –St. John Chrysostom †Today's Meditation ""I will first, dearest daughter, speak to thee of the dignity of priests, having placed them where they are through My goodness, over and above the general love which I have had to My creatures, creating you in My image and likeness and re-creating you all to the life of grace in the Blood of My Only-begotten Son, whence you have arrived at such excellence, through the union which I made of My Deity with human nature; so that in this you have greater dignity and excellence than the angels, for I took your human nature and not that of the angels. Wherefore, as I have said to you, I, God, have become man, and man has become God by the union of My Divine Nature with your human nature. This greatness is given in general to all rational creatures, but, among these I have especially chosen My ministers for the sake of your salvation, so that, through them, the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb, My Only-begotten Son, may be administered to you." —St. Catherine Of Siena, p. 137-138 †Daily Verse For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."" –Isaiah 30:15a | click to read more | | St. Rosalia Saint of the Day St. Rosalia (1130–1166 A.D.) was born to a wealthy and noble Norman family, descendants of Charlemagne who had migrated to Sicily. From a young age Rosalia was strongly drawn to Christ, which caused her to leave her life of wealth and comfort to follow Him in complete solitude as a hermitess. Tradition holds that St. Rosalia was led by two angels to a cave near Palermo where she spent the rest of her life in prayer, complete solitude, and works of penance. On the cave wall she wrote "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ." Centuries later, when a plague was ravaging Palermo, her relics were discovered in the cave by a hunter to whom she had appeared in order to direct him to their location. Rosalia instructed the hunter to have her relics carried in procession three times around the city, after which the plague ceased. St. Rosalia was credited with saving the city, and a sanctuary was erected in her cave which remains a pilgrimage site to this day. St. Rosalia is the patron of Palermo and Sicily, Italy. Her feast day is September 4th. | Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Thes 4:13-18 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words. Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:1 and 3, 4-5, 11-12, 13 R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth. Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands. Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds. R. The Lord comes to judge the earth. For great is the LORD and highly to be praised; awesome is he, beyond all gods. For all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the LORD made the heavens. R. The Lord comes to judge the earth. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them! Then shall all the trees of the forest exult. R. The Lord comes to judge the earth. Before the LORD, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. R. The Lord comes to judge the earth. Alleluia See Lk 4:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 4:16-30 --------‐- Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb, 'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'" And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away | DAILY MEDITATION: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 Thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) The Thessalonians were struggling. They were worried about their deceased loved ones—what would become of them? It was especially troubling because they expected Jesus to return during their lifetimes. Paul hastens to reassure them: they haven't seen the last of those who have died in faith. These brothers and sisters in the Lord haven't been plunged into oblivion. It's more like they've "fallen asleep" to await the day of Christ's return, when they will all be united in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul gives the Thessalonians, and us, not only hope for our loved ones, but also meaning and purpose for our lives here and now. Because the truth is that life after death is no more and no less than always being with the Lord. Always. Both now and forever. We don't have to wait for eternal life to start. This aspect of heaven has already begun! Our Lord has come to be with us and in us, beginning at the moment of our baptism and stretching into eternity. Instead of imagining some vague, distant, heavenly future, we can anchor our hope in our present relationship with Jesus. He has gone before us into his eternal kingdom, but he also reaches back to make sure that we are firmly connected to him for our entire journey heavenward. What a comfort! Every day we can enjoy the presence of Jesus—and not just as a rehearsal for heaven; it's our present reality. Of course, we can experience "always being with the Lord" in church and during our times of personal prayer. But that's not all. We can be with him wherever we are, at every moment of every day. We can glance his way at any point to recall how much he cares about us, to seek his direction for the next task or encounter, or to share with him what we are thinking and wondering. Because Jesus is our constant companion, we can have great confidence about our own future—and about those who have gone before us in faith. "Jesus, the desire of my heart is to be with you, now and forever." Psalm 96:1, 3-5, 11-13 Luke 4:16-30 | click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | From today's 1st Holy Scripture: "For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first...." end of verse. . . . | We pray today: "The Lord comes to judge the earth. Before the LORD, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. The Lord comes to judge the earth....."_ end of Psalm." | In the Gospel today we heard: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord........" end of Gospel verse. | From Bishop Barren: " The moment has arrived, the privileged time, the kairos; something that human beings have been longing for and striving after and hoping to see has appeared. In Jesus of Nazareth, the divine and human have come together in a salvific way, and this reconciliation is the long-awaited kingdom of God. One motif in Scripture is persistent: the passionate desire for deliverance, the cry of the heart toward the God from whom the people feel alienated. What Jesus announces in his first sermon, and what he demonstrates throughout his life and ministry, is that this wild desire of his ancestors, this hope against hope, this intimate union of God and humanity, is an accomplished fact, something that can be seen and heard and touched" ........ Let us pray: Lord Today you ask us to not be unbelieving but to believe and to wait and to trust. I pray we become one in Your light...to shine the way to Heaven...where God gives and we give glory to all the almoghty. | Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1 Galatians 5:22–23 [Galatians 5] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Random Bible Verse | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com God Bless You! Peace | | |
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