†Quote of the Day
"Dismiss all anger and look into yourself a little. Remember that he of whom you are speaking is your brother, and as he is in the way of salvation, God can make him a saint, in spite of his present weakness."
–St. Thomas of Villanova †Today's Meditation
"St. Bridget once received and bore patiently a succession of trials from various persons. One of them made an insulting remark to her; another praised her in her presence, but complained of her in her absence; another calumniated her; another spoke ill of a servant of God, in her presence, to her great displeasure; one did her a grievous wrong, and she blessed her; one caused her a loss, and she prayed for her; and a seventh gave her false information of the death of her son, which she received with tranquility and resignation. After all this, St. Agnes the Martyr appeared to her, bringing in her hand a most beautiful crown adorned with seven precious stones, telling her that they had been placed there by these seven persons. Then she put it upon her head and disappeared. How could so much have been gained by any other exercise? The Blessed Angela di Foligno, when asked how she was able to receive and endure sufferings with so much cheerfulness, replied: 'Believe me, the grandeur and value of sufferings are not known to us. For, if we knew the worth of our trials, they would become for us objects of plunder, and we should go about trying to snatch from one another opportunities to suffer.'"
—Cultivating Virtue: Self-Mastery With the Saints, p. 137 An Excerpt From
Cultivating Virtue: Self-Mastery With the Saints
†Daily Verse
"What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
–Matthew 10:27-28 |  click to read more | | St. Veronica St. Veronica (1st c.) is one of the holy women of Jerusalem who accompanied Jesus on the Way of the Cross. Out of her sorrow and compassion she offered Jesus her veil to wipe the blood and sweat from his face as He carried the cross on the way to His crucifixion. In gratitude for her simple yet gracious act, Jesus left an image of His face on the cloth. According to tradition, Veronica afterwards went to Rome and brought the cloth with her. This piece of cloth, known as Veronica's Veil, has been venerated as a holy and miraculous image of Jesus Christ ever since. It has been kept since ancient times in St. Peter's Basilica. On the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) in Jerusalem there is a small chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Face that was built on the site of St. Veronica's home and the location where the miracle took place. St. Veronica's feast day is July 12th. | Reading 1 Gn 41:55-57 When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt
and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread,
Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph
and do whatever he told them.
When the famine had spread throughout the land,
Joseph opened all the cities that had grain
and rationed it to the Egyptians,
since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.
In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain,
for famine had gripped the whole world. The sons of Israel were among those
who came to procure rations. It was Joseph, as governor of the country,
who dispensed the rations to all the people.
When Joseph's brothers came and knelt down before him
with their faces to the ground,
he recognized them as soon as he saw them.
But Joseph concealed his own identity from them
and spoke sternly to them. With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days. On the third day Joseph said to his brothers:
"Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.
If you have been honest,
only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison,
while the rest of you may go
and take home provisions for your starving families.
But you must come back to me with your youngest brother.
Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die."
To this they agreed.
To one another, however, they said:
"Alas, we are being punished because of our brother.
We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us,
yet we paid no heed;
that is why this anguish has now come upon us."
Reuben broke in,
"Did I not tell you not to do wrong to the boy?
But you would not listen!
Now comes the reckoning for his blood."
The brothers did not know, of course,
that Joseph understood what they said,
since he spoke with them through an interpreter.
But turning away from them, he wept. Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19 R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
he foils the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. Alleluia Mk 1:15 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand:
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mt 10:1-7 Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus. Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
"Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
| Daily Meditation: Matthew 9:32-38 At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them. (Matthew 9:36) Pity. Some of us cringe when we hear that word! Once meant to convey a deep compassion for the sufferings of others, it can now sound smug, even condescending. Even when that's not the intention, it can convey a feeling of superiority. That surely is not the kind of pity that moves Jesus' heart! He looks on us and our sin with neither contempt nor disdain. No, he looks with love. The pity that Jesus feels for us is best described as a concern tinged with sadness. He feels sad because of the pain that sin causes us. And his concern for us moves him to reach down and help us: to forgive, to heal, to ease our sadness and guilt. If you want the best illustration of Jesus' pity, think of how he was moved to take on himself the sin of the whole world! There is no syrupy sentiment here. This kind of pity is passionate, almost fierce, in its readiness to go so far as to die so that we could be set free. Sin can cause us to feel weighed down with shame. As Adam and Eve did in the garden, we want to hide from God. But he isn't angry with us. He doesn't hate us or reject us. No, he seeks after us. He calls out to us, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). He suffers with us, and he offers us his gentle kindness. Moved with divine pity, he seeks to tend to our wounds, remove our guilt, and build us up in his love. Close your eyes for a minute and try to picture what Jesus' pity looks like. Imagine the concerned look in his eyes and the warm smile on his face. Feel him putting his arms around you and drawing you close to his heart. He is not judging or condemning you; he is speaking words of comfort, guidance, and hope to you. He's filling you with strength to take another step closer to him. Jesus' pity may look different for you than it does for your neighbor. It may not look exactly as you have imagined it. But it is real, and it has the power to reshape your heart. "Jesus, thank you for loving me. I accept your pity—your compassion—and I open my heart today to your healing and forgiveness." Genesis 32:23-33
Psalm 17:1-3, 6-8, 15 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
""Alas, we are being punished because of our brother.
We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed;
that is why this anguish has now come upon us."
Reuben broke in, "Did I not tell you not to do wrong to the boy? But you would not listen!
Now comes the reckoning for his blood." end of verse. Didn't I tell you not to do that! I told you so! But does that set you free?
I always imagine that the saddest song in hell would be that song that sings "I told you so!". That we should've listened. And that now it is too late. But the bible is one message of hope, and it is embodied in Christ our Lord. | We pray today:
"But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you." end of Psalm. | In the Gospel today we heard:
"Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
"Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"" end of Gospel verse. | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus summons Apostles whom he shapes and sends on mission. Priests, through the centuries—from Augustine and Aquinas, to Francis Xavier and John Henry Newman, to John Paul II—are the descendants of those first friends and apprentices of the Lord. They have been needed in every age, and they are needed today, for the kingdom of heaven must be proclaimed, the poor must be served, God must be worshiped, and the sacraments must be administered.
Spiritual fathers are required especially in our time, when a rising tide of secularism threatens to overwhelm the religious impulse. We are wired for God; we will never satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts apart from God.
The secularist ideology teaches that sufficient amounts of wealth, pleasure, power, or honor will make us happy. Who will counter this? Who will speak to this culture of the beauty of God? Who will remind us that our lives are not about us? Who will break open the words of the Gospel and spread out the banquet table of Christ's Body and Blood? This is why we need priests." end quote.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand". Do we actually do this? How often have you heard someone come up to you and say "hey, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!". Wouldn't that be weird? What does that even mean?
Right? The bible has been translated through a couple thousand years and various languages, and sometimes the core meaning can get lost in translation. You'd have to study Greek and Latin to get a good idea to know what is being said. But this can't be that hard, right?
I remember when the finger of God wrote on the wall and wrote some things that only a chosen prophet could decipher. The party was going on and they decided to use the chalice used on the altar to keep on getting drunk. And then their faces turned white. "I told you so" said someone in the crowd. "I told you we shouldn't have done that!". Right? The Kingdom was already at hand, but now, even more, because the King Himself has stepped down from Heaven. It is our Lord. And how do we treat Him? The gut feeling I get, is that He is boxed up. In a tabernacle, like a prison, and left, and forgotten. That is how we treat our Lord, only to be visited when we feel like it or really need something. You see, because the King is here, the Kingdom is here. We are not King. But we are subjects. We are servants. We are not to usurp Him. We are not to mount the throne, because to mount the throne we must mount the cross, of self giving, of self sacrifice, and this can only happen with the perfect and the perfect are made perfect by perfection.
So this is an encouragement, that you allow yourself to be made perfect. And He will. He does will that we are made perfect in Him. He gives an inheritance that is more than words can summize in earthly terms. Forever is a big word. Life is a big word. And here we are, asked to be a part of it..with Him.
This in of itself is amazing. Let's pray:
Lord, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done! Through me! |  Click To Hear | Amazing! Random Bible Verse 1
2 Corinthians 12:9 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
