†Quote of the Day
"Advent's intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope." Pope Benedict XVI †Today's Meditation
"When our Lord bade us "to pray always" He did not mean to ask us to be constantly in the act of prayer but only to live in the state of prayer. Let us note the difference: to be constantly in the act of prayer would be to fill our life's course with religious exercises alone!…Even in the most contemplative lives, this is never done. There is always a place for certain activities that are more or less secular: meals, recreations, sleep, and the like. Living in a state of prayer does not aim at an impossible existence. The part of our lives devoted to religious exercises will mean that in all things, although it might be a question of a secular action, we will have no other purpose than to give glory to God…always to have an intention directed as much as possible toward God."
—Raoul Lus, S.J., p. 32-33
Cover image from the book, Uncommon Virtue
An Excerpt From Uncommon Virtue †Daily Verse "Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! Thou hast said, "Seek ye my face." My heart says to thee, "Thy face, Lord, do I seek." Hide not thy face from me. Turn not thy servant away in anger, thou who hast been my help. Cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation!" Psalm 27:7-9
J.Lily | St. Edmund Campion St. Edmund Campion (1540–1581) was born in London, England, the son of a bookseller. He was a promising student and went on to become an esteemed and celebrated Oxford scholar, winning the high regard of Queen Elizabeth who admired his wit and pleasant disposition. Although raised Catholic, he was ordained an Anglican deacon. Unsettled by his move away from the Church, he repented and returned to the Catholic faith. While in disguise to protect his safety following his reversion, he witnessed the martyrdom of a fellow scholar and recognized his vocation. He went to Rome and became a Jesuit priest, and while assigned to minister in Moravia he received a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who foretold his martyrdom. He later returned to England as an undercover priest during the severe persecution of Catholics upon the Pope's excommunication of Queen Elizabeth. His mission was to strengthen Catholics wavering under government pressure and win converts among the Protestants. St. Edmund was eventually hunted down, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and tortured. After being found guilty of treason, he said, "In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England — the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter." After spending his last days in prayer, he was dragged with two fellow priests to be hanged, drawn, and quartered on December 1st, 1581 at 41 years of age. His feast day is December 1st. | Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dn 7:2-14 In a vision I, Daniel, saw during the night,
the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea,
from which emerged four immense beasts,
each different from the others.
The first was like a lion, but with eagle's wings.
While I watched, the wings were plucked;
it was raised from the ground to stand on two feet
like a man, and given a human mind.
The second was like a bear; it was raised up on one side,
and among the teeth in its mouth were three tusks.
It was given the order, "Up, devour much flesh."
After this I looked and saw another beast, like a leopard;
on its back were four wings like those of a bird,
and it had four heads.
To this beast dominion was given.
After this, in the visions of the night I saw the fourth beast,
different from all the others,
terrifying, horrible, and of extraordinary strength;
it had great iron teeth with which it devoured and crushed,
and what was left it trampled with its feet.
I was considering the ten horns it had,
when suddenly another, a little horn, sprang out of their midst,
and three of the previous horns were torn away to make room for it.
This horn had eyes like a man,
and a mouth that spoke arrogantly.
As I watched, Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was snow bright,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
His throne was flames of fire,
with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
I watched, then, from the first of the arrogant words
which the horn spoke, until the beast was slain
and its body thrown into the fire to be burnt up.
The other beasts, which also lost their dominion,
were granted a prolongation of life for a time and a season.
As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
He received dominion, glory, and kingship;
nations and peoples of every language serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed. Responsorial Psalm Dn 3:75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"Mountains and hills, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"You springs, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"Seas and rivers, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"All you birds of the air, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him! Alleluia Lk 21:28 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 21:29-33 Jesus told his disciples a parable.
"Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away."
| Daily Meditation: Daniel 7:2-14 His kingship shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:14) The Book of Genesis tells us that in the very first act of creation, God brought order out of chaos. He spoke into a dark and formless void and established a world of light, order, and beauty for his creatures. The rest of Scripture describes how the forces of evil keep trying to tear apart that order, while God sustains his people. At times, when life is especially chaotic, it can seem as if evil has won. The Book of Daniel was written during such a time. Israel lived under the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC), who tried to force the Jews to abandon their faith and adopt Greek practices and beliefs. Those who refused were put to death. But the stories in Daniel reminded Israel that people of faith can overcome evil. No matter how hard the devil tries to disrupt God's beautiful plan, God remains in charge. He is always able to bring good out of evil and order out of chaos. Today's first reading speaks of this authority of God. Although Daniel describes how destruction and evil seem to be in control, he also describes a heavenly court being convened. A "son of man" appears who is given authority over all creation (Daniel 7:13). Looking back with hindsight, we can see that Jesus fulfills this vision. Whatever troubles or chaos arise, all dominion will ultimately be given to Jesus, the "Son of Man" (Matthew 26:64). He will triumph and reign forever. Daniel's vision can bring us great comfort. We see disorder, chaos, and dysfunction all around us. People who do good suffer, while those who seek power, wealth, or fame seem to prosper. We may ask, Where is God? Are we all lost, adrift in a sea of selfishness and injustice? Not at all! You are not lost to God. He sees through all the confusion; he sees you, his beloved child. And he promises that eventually all the books will be opened and his reign will never end (Daniel 7:10, 14). Jesus, King of kings, cares for you. The One who alone has everlasting dominion loves you with a love stronger than death. Nothing can separate you from that love! "Jesus, you are Lord! You will reign forever and ever!" (Psalm) Daniel 3:75-81
Luke 21:29-33 |  click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian:
Audio English | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him......"_ end of verse.
. . . When did this happen? Has it happened yet? Biblical scholars dive into scripture all day every day, like theologians, we want to know, we want to understand. Not everything is in the knowing. In the end, it is a book about faith. And this one is no exception. The vision was seeing the Son of Man coming. Jesus calls Himself the "Son of Man". And so, about 700 years before Christ, these visions were coming about the Son of Man coming. A Son of God born into mankind through our Blessed Mother. But the Son of Man came into Heaven before God the Father to receive dominion, glory and kingship. He came to Heaven wearing a crown of thorns, and battle scars all over His body.
How will we be received into Heaven? No scars? No sufferings? Martyrs are washed in blood, purified in His blood. What's keeping you from suffering for the Lord? And what a stark question to ask among a world that absolutely hates suffering, and therefore, hates the message of our God and Father through Jesus. The bible says "Rejoice and be glad" and "Blessed are you" if you do as He says! | We pray today:
" Give glory and eternal praise to him!
"Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Give glory and eternal praise to him......." end of psalm. | In the Gospel today we heard our Lord:
"Jesus told his disciples a parable.
"Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near........." end of Gospel verse. | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus alerts us to consider the signs of the passing of all things. All of the joys, goods, pleasures, and accomplishments of this world will one day be taken from us. And this futility extends to all of culture, all of nature, and even to the cosmos itself.
Physicists tell us that, one day, our earth will be enveloped by the sun. Then the sun will collapse in on itself and become a black hole, drawing matter and light into itself. After many more billions of years, the entire universe will run out of energy and either fade out in a great freeze or burn out in a great fry.
One might be rather easily tempted to despair, to say, "Why bother?" and "What's the point?" Or one might be tempted to say with Jean-Paul Sartre and his existentialist friends, "La vie est absurde" (life is absurd).
So, we look elsewhere; we look beyond to the steadfast love of God, which brought the entire universe into existence from nothing, which sustains it even now, and which will one day draw us to a life and a joy beyond it. . . . . ." end quote Bishop Barron.
There have been many eye opening experiences in my life. These are the moments that open our minds to the reality of the brevity, and the fragility of our very existence on earth.
But that is a near sighted way of seeing things. This should open our eyes to more, to the eternal things that God speaks about and theses things we have a hard time believing in.
When I open myself to the understandings of the eternal realms, everything is different, even backwards. We think of tremendous worlds and universes and realities made possible, even in quantum physics. But even that is small understandings of the great I AM. What if everything is so backwards, the great is big and the big is small? What if what we perceive as darkness is light and light things we see with our eyes is darkness. I will confuse you and it'd indeed take hours to explain. But just to explain the big to small, it is God, into Man and then Jesus into all in the Holy Spirit, yet so big yet so small that it can trespass a body, enter a soul. He has indeed become the least. That is why perhaps, it is so easy to dismiss Him. And what about light and dark? The prince of lights is Lucifer, and we can be fooled by the very things we see in broad day light. A simple example, you can be tricked by the eye and see things that are bad and you see them as good. Such was the fall of Eve. Those shiny new things, or that love interest that makes you obsess and all things related that are actually sinful and dark. And so, the darkness we see, a good person killed for no good reason. All those innocent souls slaughtered to the tune of millions per year, in the womb of their mother. The suffering of painful diseases. The suffering for following Jesus. Well, that last one is harder to see! This darkness is actually good in its way created by our Lord. These things bring us closer and reveal a truth that we should all take to...and that truth has a name, a holy name....Jesus. Pray with me:
Lord, I give up trying to know everything like Eve. I just want to trust You now. With my life. My heart. With everything. I pray the whole world does this from now on too. Jesus, I Trust in You. |  Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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