†Saint Quote of the Day
"A friend is more to be longed for than the light; I speak of a genuine one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends; better to live in darkness, than to be without friends."
–St. John Chrysostom †Today's Meditation
"Even if you do not confess, God is not ignorant of the deed, since he knew it before it was committed. Why then do you not speak of it? Does the transgression become heavier by the confession? No, it becomes lighter and less troublesome. And this is why he wants you to confess: not that you should be punished, but that you should be forgiven; not that he may learn your sin—how could that be, since he has seen it?—but that you may learn what favor he bestows. He wishes you to learn the greatness of his grace, so that you may praise him perfectly, that you may be slower to sin, that you may be quicker to virtue. And if you do not confess the greatness of the need, you will not understand the enormous magnitude of his grace."
—St. John Chrysostom, p. 255 An Excerpt From
A Year with Church Fathers †Daily Verse
"Many are invited, but few are chosen."
–Matthew 22:14 |  click to read more | | St. John Chrysostom St. John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.) was born to noble parents in Antioch, an important center of Christianity in his day. After the death of his father, his mother sent him to the best schools for his education. As a result of his philosophical studies he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, entered the Church, and became a renowned scholar and orator. He then adopted a life of extreme asceticism as a hermit and committed the whole of Sacred Scripture to memory. The brilliance of his mind combined with the holiness of his soul made him famous; he was ordained a bishop in Antioch and was later appointed to the Archbishopric of Constantinople. He was an incredible preacher, among the greatest in the history of the Church, which earned him the name 'Chrysostom' meaning, 'Golden-mouthed' or 'Golden tongued'. His sermons, which extended for up to two hours, were public marvels. His straightforward style of preaching the Scriptures and his practical homilies made him very popular. He also denounced the abuses of the ruling authority and preached against the immorality of the day, which resulted in him being exiled numerous times. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 451. St. John Chrysostom's feast day is September 13th.
Find a Devotional for This Saint | Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church • Readings for the Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church Reading 1 Col 3:1-11 Brothers and sisters:
If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry.
Because of these the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way.
But now you must put them all away:
anger, fury, malice, slander,
and obscene language out of your mouths.
Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;
but Christ is all and in all. Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 10-11, 12-13ab R. (9) The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works. Alleluia Lk 6:23ab R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Rejoice and leap for joy!
Your reward will be great in heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 6:20-26 Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: "Blessed are you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets
in the same way. But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way."
| Daily Meditation: Colossians 3:1-11 Seek what is above. (Colossians 3:1) "Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good." So remarked the physician-poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. He was taking to task those Christians who spend so much time musing on lofty "spiritual" matters that they neglect the call to love their neighbor. Yet the parables of the Good Samaritan and the sheep and the goats reveal how seriously Jesus takes the call to do earthly good (Luke 10:29-37; Matthew 25:31-46). So how do we follow Paul's admonition to "seek what is above" (Colossians 3:1) and still pay attention to the very real needs of people who live "down here" on earth? Actually, to ask that question is to miss the larger point in today's first reading. As he does in every other letter, Paul captures here the "both/and" of the Christian life. It is our experience of being raised up with Christ that moves us to care about what goes on in the world. It's because we are in touch with "what is above" that we want to "put to death" the selfishness that keeps us from reaching out to feed the hungry and comfort the troubled (Colossians 3:1, 5). The truth is, the closer we get to Jesus, the more we'll find our priorities falling in line with his priorities. This, in fact, is the witness of so many saints. St. Vincent de Paul and St. Teresa of Calcutta are just two examples of people who knew that following Jesus meant allowing his Spirit to send them out to care for those in need. You probably know other "saints" who have done similar things. That same Spirit wants to send you out as well. He wants to help you discover the face of the Lord in the weak and vulnerable, even as you seek his heavenly glory. Doing earthly good? That's an important part of being heavenly minded! It's so important that without it, you risk losing sight of heaven. But with it, you not only find the joy of heaven—you also play a part in Jesus' plan to bring heaven down to earth! "Jesus, thank you for raising me up to be with you. Thank you also for helping me find you in the people all around me." Psalm 145:2-3, 10-13
Luke 6:20-26 | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"Because of these the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way.
But now you must put them all away:
anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. ....." end of verse.
. . . It would be safe to say that this message applies the same today as the day it came out of St. Paul's mouth while on earth. Because we are disobedient, and we get angry, sometimes with fury, and from that comes malice, and slander. We put other people down. We slander them as if it were nothing, and what about obscene language? The world is full of it. All I have to do is listen in on conversations with men or young people and out comes foul language and insulting others with nasty jokes and gestures. And let's not get started on obscenities posted on social media. There's this page I heard about on Facebook called rants or something, and I hear about people being slandered all the time. And some people call this "venting". If this is true, then venting is evil. I notice people far from our Lord do this more naturally, but for us trying to be closer to the Lord, it gets harder to do this sin.
This is why the world needs our Lord. Because I have spoken with people that are slandered on the "rants" page and let me tell you, there are truly other sides to the stories, and most miscommunication stems from a slight misjudgement, and to miss the mark is the very definition and where the word "sin" comes from. | We pray today:
"The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might....."_ end of Psalm." | In the Gospel today we heard:
_"Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets
in the same way......."_ end of Gospel verse. ...
Say what? Rejoice and jump for joy the day we are hated and left out and insulted and put down our name, our very dignity saying it is the same as evil ...because of Jesus our Lord?
Yes.
If you get sad and mad because you got made fun of, for yourself, well...then sorry charlie. But if it you got insulted because of Christ Jesus, then, THEN rejoice, like when the Apostles would get beat up, including Saint Paul, flogged and let go because they were preaching our Lord Jesus Christ's message.
They left rejoicing.
How can you rejoice after getting beat up for proclaiming the truth? | You can rejoice because you know for sure the message struck the chord that would change the world.
You can rejoice because grace lets you rejoice with joy, knowing full well you were recognized by evil and called out in front of all...and this means the light hit the world in a dark place.
The Light is salvation, and the Lord is our Light.
They used to light up Christians like torches at night, burning their bodies for all to see the cruel torture that can be inflicted on a true believer.
But the torture was counterproductive to evil. It only served to be a light to see how evil the world is. Personally, if I look into the world, the leaders of nations, and the leaders of movements, we can clearly see there is some degree of evil working in them, for greed, for pride, as they work to fill themselves with worldly goods.
But our Lord wants us to see things differently. He says:
"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way." ........ Let us pray:
Lord, am I rich? Most people are living as if they don't really need you much.
Teach me to be lowly. Teach me Your ways. I know the lessons will hurt. I will be ridiculed because I follow you.
But I know you intimately, in the deepest recesses of my heart where You reside. And yet, you hide even in my enemies, for we are created in God's image.
Help me see you in every single human being in the world.
Help me be more human, and thus more holy, humble, and pure.
Let me not slander you the slightest bit with my way of talking about You in my fellow humans, brothers, and sisters both of blood and water and of the Spirit. |  Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1
John 6 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
