†Quote of the Day
"When we contemplate the sufferings of Jesus He grants us, according to the measure of our faith, the grace to practice the virtues He revealed during those sacred hours."
–Blessed Columba Marmion †Today's Meditation
"When we have too many vocal prayers to say, our goal easily changes to getting them done instead of praying them well. They become less, rather than more, contemplative. The Holy Spirt might be moving us to linger silently on the meditation of a mystery, but we feel that we can't stop or we will never fit all our prayers in. So we find ourselves working against the Holy Spirit…We forget that the very purpose of prayer is communing with the Lord."
—Dan Burke and Connie Rossini, p.28 An Excerpt From
The Contemplative Rosary †Daily Verse
"And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life."
–1 John 5:11-12 | St. Elizabeth of the Trinity St. Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906) was born on July 18, 1880 in Cher, France. Her father died when she was only 7 years old her family moved to Dijon France. Very close to her house was a Carmelite monastery and she greatly desired to enter the religious life. At 17 years old she visited the monastery, and while there, the mother superior gave her a newly published letter about Therese of Lisieux, who had just recently passed away. As a result, Elizabeth was greatly inspired in her contemplative life. She continued working with the sick and teaching catechism to the youth until she was allowed to enter the monastery at the age of 21. She lived a life of prayer and sacrifice, suffering greatly from sickness. She died on November 9, 1906 and was canonized by Pope Francis on October 16, 2016.
Find a Devotional for This Saint | Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Rom 13:8-10 Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill;
you shall not steal;
you shall not covet,
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. Responsorial Psalm Ps 112:1b-2, 4-5, 9 R. ( 5a) Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Lavishly he gives to the poor;
his generosity shall endure forever;
his horn shall be exalted in glory.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia. Alleluia 1 Pt 4:14 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 14:25-33 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.'
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple."
| Daily Meditation: Luke 14:15-24 Come, everything is now ready. (Luke 14:17) Imagine you were invited to a special dinner party. You would probably be excited and honored to be able to attend. You would mark the day on the calendar and plan your schedule around the event so that nothing else interfered. As the date drew closer, you might choose what clothes to wear or plan what time you need to leave your home. You wouldn't want to be late! Yet in this parable from today's Gospel, just the opposite happened. Guests were invited but failed to show up. They pursued their own plans with no further thought or care about the banquet. They must have indicated they would come, since the host continued with his preparations. But the guests did not make the dinner a priority. They weren't excited about the invitation, nor did they honor the host who invited them. It was a shame, because such an invitation said a lot about the host. It showed how generous he was toward every person he had invited. He was willing to put a lot of time and effort into providing a feast with no expectation of repayment. He just wanted to bless each guest. Like the host in today's parable, Jesus is our generous host, and here's what he says to us: Come (Luke 14:17). You've received an invitation! Jesus has called you by name to be part of his banquet. He spreads his table before you, ready to bless you with his grace, strength, and love. Let the Holy Spirit stir your heart with excitement and gratitude for the invitation. Everything is now ready (Luke 14:17). Jesus is always ready to meet you. He is never scrambling to find a place for you at his table. You are never an unexpected guest. Rather, he is waiting at the banquet, eager to greet you. Don't be like those half-hearted invitees in today's parable! Jesus offers you something magnificent. He invites you into his presence to enjoy all that he has to offer. Today, as you pray, accept his invitation and come to his table. "Lord Jesus, I give my heart to you. Make me ready to always say yes to you." Romans 12:5-16
Psalm 131:1-3 |  click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian:Audio Link | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.........." end of verse.
. . . The law of God is what He wants and what He is made of...Love. And the order is this: Love God First, then Family, then friends and work. Love of God in neighbor then is extremely important. Love is not envious, or brood, nor hold grudges or insult others. These are laws of God, and there is payment to pay for not following. | We pray today:
"Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.........." | In the Gospel today we heard our Lord:
""If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple....." end of Gospel verse. | From a Spanish reflection today from Virginia Fernández Aguinaco:
"Today Saint Paul, in his letter to the Romans, affirms that the one he loves has fulfilled the fullness of the law. It is a message of joy and encouragement: "owe no one anything but mutual love." When we listen to it, we do not ignore that the proposal presents many difficulties because our human condition inclines us to love but also to close ourselves in selfishness, pride, resentment, comfort... Sometimes we take seriously that advertising nonsense of "you're worth it" with those who sell us any whim or we consider that our particular right has primacy over everything else.
In the Gospel of Luke, it is Jesus who points out what that love has to be like with a harshness that is difficult for us to face. It is a passage from the Gospel that, when I read it for the first time, made me recoil. It seemed impossible to me that this was in accordance with other evangelical texts such as the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example. In the end, the Levite and the priest who passed by did so to respect the rite of worship of God. And the good one was the Samaritan. And now I find that God comes first and the rest must be postponed. Lord, clarify this for me, I asked...
The Bible translation I was using at the time used the verb hate: "If anyone comes after me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and his children [...] he cannot be my disciple." ". Too strong. In the latest version approved by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the verb is postpone, which seems, without a doubt, more acceptable. Easier? Absolutely.
Because to truly love your neighbor, the closest person who is the family, and the one who is part of the entire human family, a foundation is necessary, essential: Jesus Christ himself. We can build nothing on sand, be it a feeling, a desire, an emotion, an attachment. He also tells us "without Me you can do nothing." Postponing our most legitimate affections, our attachments, our need to give and receive affection means having Christ as the only foundation. The only one who can give solidity and strength to our love. A love that must be manifested in works and that is often fragile and inconsistent." end quote. | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus says that a disciple must carry his own cross and follow him. All of us sinners tend to see the universe turning around our ego, our needs, our projects, our plans, and our likes and dislikes. True conversion—the metanoia that Jesus talks about—is so much more than moral reform, though it includes that. It has to do with a complete shift in consciousness, a whole new way of looking at one's life.
Jesus' teaching must have been gut-wrenching to his first-century audience: "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." His listeners knew what the cross meant: a death in utter agony, nakedness, and humiliation. They knew it in all of its awful power.
If God is self-forgetting love even to the point of death, then we must be such love. The cross, in short, must become the very structure of the Christian life. This is just what Jesus shows on his terrible cross. And this is just what we, his followers, must imitate. Taking up the cross means not just being willing to suffer but being willing to suffer as he did, absorbing violence and hatred through our forgiveness and nonviolence." end quote Bishop Barron.
Hatred means what? Putting something in second place. We must not hate His command. We must not put Him in second place! Is it so hard to understand the word hatred now?
We either hate our creator or we love Him.
And how easy is it to love Him?
Or how hard is it to love Him?
It is only as easy or hard to love Him as we make it. It is easy if we seek Him. It is hard if we make no time for him. Pray with me:
Lord, You show us amazing love from the cross. Let us show You amazing love too! With all we got. |  Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Philippians 1:6 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
