†Quote of the Day
"Whenever I go to the chapel, I put myself in the presence of our good Lord, and I say to Him, 'Lord, here I am. Tell me what You would have me do.' If He gives me some task, I am content and I thank Him. If He gives me nothing, I still thank Him since I do not deserve to receive anything more than that. And then, I tell God everything that is in my heart. I tell Him about my pains and my joys, and then I listen. If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen. God always speaks to you when you approach Him plainly and simply."
–St. Catherine Laboure †Today's Meditation
"When you are at Mass, don't just go through the motions. Ask God to help you find Him in the Eucharist. When you hear or read Scripture, prayerfully ask God what He is saying to you through the words. When you pray, don't just say words at God. Bring your whole self to it, rededicate your life and your relationships to Him, and ask for the grace to be His disciple in all you do. And, of course, take a little time each day to learn more about what it means to love and be loved by Him…The more your faith becomes intrinsic, the more you will be able to put aside your anxiety, sit at the feet of the Lord, and let your heart be still, knowing that He is God.
—Dr. Gregory Popcak, p. 67-68 An Excerpt From
Unworried †Daily Verse
"For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
–Galatians 5:13-14 | St. Catherine Laboure St. Catherine Labouré (1806 – 1876) was born in Burgundy, France, the ninth of seventeen children of a pious and prosperous farming family. Her mother died when she was nine years old. After her mother's funeral, Catherine kissed a statue of the Virgin Mary in her home, saying, "Now you will be my mother." Catherine was devout and simple, and did not learn to read or write. She cared for her family for many years and, drawn to the religious life, entered the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris at the age of twenty-two. In the year 1830, on the eve of the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Catherine experienced her first apparition of the Blessed Mother. Mary entrusted to Catherine the mission of spreading devotion to her Miraculous Medal, the design of which she revealed to the saint in a vision. The Blessed Virgin appeared to Catherine two more times, and eventually the Miraculous Medal was mass-produced, widely promoted, and approved by the Church as a sacramental for public devotion. Catherine preferred anonymity and remained unknown as the visionary to whom Our Lady appeared, even to the sisters of her own convent. She continued to live a quiet life in service to the sick. After her death many miracles were ascribed to her relics. St. Catherine Labouré is one of the Church's incorruptible saints: her body is reposed in a glass casket in the chapel where she received the vision of Our Lady. Her feast day is November 28th. | Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dn 2:31-45 Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:
"In your vision, O king, you saw a statue,
very large and exceedingly bright,
terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.
The head of the statue was pure gold,
its chest and arms were silver,
its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron,
its feet partly iron and partly tile.
While you looked at the statue,
a stone which was hewn from a mountain
without a hand being put to it,
struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.
The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once,
fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer,
and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace.
But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth. "This was the dream;
the interpretation we shall also give in the king's presence.
You, O king, are the king of kings;
to you the God of heaven
has given dominion and strength, power and glory;
men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell,
he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all;
you are the head of gold.
Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours,
then a third kingdom, of bronze,
which shall rule over the whole earth.
There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron;
it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others,
just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.
The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter's tile and partly of iron,
mean that it shall be a divided kingdom,
but yet have some of the hardness of iron.
As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,
and the toes partly iron and partly tile,
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
The iron mixed with clay tile
means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage,
but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
In the lifetime of those kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people;
rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.
That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain
without a hand being put to it,
which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future;
this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure." Responsorial Psalm Dn 3:57, 58, 59, 60, 61 R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"You heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him. Alleluia Rev 2:10c R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain faithful until death,
And I will give you the crown of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 21:5-11 While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said, "All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him,
"Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
He answered,
"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end."
Then he said to them,
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky."
| Daily Meditation: Daniel 2:31-45 The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future. (Daniel 2:45) Daniel was in a tough spot. If he didn't tell King Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of the king's dream, he would be put to death with all the other wise men residing in Babylon. But after he prayed fervently for an answer, "the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision" (Daniel 2:19). Daniel understood that the dream was a revelation of the future. Four kingdoms would rise and fall, just as all earthly kingdoms have done throughout history. Only the last kingdom, the kingdom of God, would "stand forever" (Daniel 2:44). Surely this prophetic dream must have reassured Daniel. Though his people were in exile, Daniel knew that God was in control and that in the end, his kingdom would prevail. We can't predict the future, especially when it comes to the rise and fall of worldly powers. But here and in other biblical prophecies—including Jesus' own predictions of what is to come—we hear the same story. There will be times of tribulation, but in the end, God's kingdom will reign. We don't know when this will happen; even Jesus didn't know (Matthew 24:36). But we can confidently place our hope in God's promises and look forward to that day when God will be "all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28). This is the future that "the great God" has revealed to us (Daniel 2:45). All of us are tempted from time to time to get anxious or fearful about what the future may hold for us and our loved ones. When that happens, remember this truth: your future is secure because it's in God's hands. Your loving, faithful God cares deeply about his creation, and in the end, he won't let it be overpowered by evil. In fact, he cares for us so much that he sent his Son to earth to save us—to save you. Today in prayer, surrender to the Lord all your worries about the future. Trust him to help you through whatever difficulties that lie ahead, and keep your eyes fixed on the glory to come. Because just as he did for Daniel, God has already revealed to you the end of the story—an ending that's better than any of us could ever imagine. "Father, I trust in you, today and all the days of my life." (Psalm) Daniel 3:57-61
Luke 2:5-11 |  click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian:
Audio English | From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain
without a hand being put to it,
which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future;
this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure."...."_ end of verse.
. . . The Bronze Age (2300–700 bce) and the Iron Age (700–1 bce) came and changed the world which included the rise and fall of many kingdoms. This book perhaps was written about the end of the bronze age, and a new age was coming. And so, we have the apocalyptic prophecy that was to usher in the age after that...the age of a Kingdom out of something not hewn by man on that mountain. An immaterial substance would enter our earth...and we still partake of the Holy Communion that is everlasting, a pact, a covenant, an offering, a thanksgiving, a love relationship, sealed with blood divine. | We pray today:
""All you hosts of the Lord, 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:
"Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end." ........" end of Gospel verse. | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus responds to questions about the end of the world. When will it come? What will happen?
Why were the first Christians interested in these questions? The simplest and deepest answer is that they had experienced the end of the world—precisely in the dying and rising of Jesus. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God, and the nations conspired against him. The old world seemed to conquer this new world that Jesus embodied. But then, in the Resurrection, they saw that the old world—the world predicated upon death and the world that had done Jesus in—was now defeated.
So awed were they by the Resurrection—and you can sense it in every book and letter of the New Testament—that they awaited the imminent arrival of the new state of affairs, the return of Jesus and the establishment of God's kingdom. Though Jesus did not immediately return, the old world was over, broken, compromised, its destruction now just a matter of time. . . . ." end quote Bishop Barron.
They say that not even the angels in Heaven know when the end of the world will be. It is not for anyone to know! This is a loud and clear message for all of us. Be ready now. Have faith now. This is the driving force of our Lord's message, as if He is saying to us with His life "Look at Me, Follow Me, have Faith Like Me!" And this is why we must have our lights on. This is beautiful as we are about to enter the cold dark nights of winter and we have warm lights showing the hope of the light of Christ in the darkness. Lately, I've been living as if were the end times on certain occasions. I try to slow down. I try to prioritize what is truly important. If I'm singing at Mass, I try harder to sing with an authentic prayer on my lips coming from the heart. What if it were your last Communion? What if this is the last year you live? We never know! Right? We cannot suppose we are that good. Live as if others are better than you. Are they yelling at you? Good! Let them. Are they accusing you? God knows! And so, I've been trying to avoid sin more, because I've noticed something...it's like drugs. Either they pump you up, stressed in so many ways, or they can depress you, and keep you down and out, even further from God than before!
And so ultimately, our Lord is saying "do not worry about all the bad things you are hearing, but turn to the good things that I am offering...peace, joy, hope, truth, and eternal life in the same way!".
What a gift availed to us from Heaven on that Mountain! Pray with me:
Thank You! Thank You Lord for offering the greatest of all gifts to be taken, glorified, and adored, and shared! The gift of Christ, the gift of Light from above...that what is true love. |  Click To Hear | Random Bible Verse 1
Colossians 1:15–16 [Colossians 1]
The Preeminence of Christ 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by1 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
