†Quote of the Day "We find ourselves in this earth as in a tempestuous sea, in a desert, in a vale of tears. Now then, Mary is the Star of the Sea, the solace of our desert, the light that guides us towards heaven."
–St. John Bosco Today's Meditation "Christ not only was obedient to His heavenly Father by giving up His life on the cross, He continues this obedience by remaining with us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. That is His greatest triumph of love, which according to His promise, He will fulfill until the end of the world. Our Lord, glorified in heaven, yet wishing to abide with us in unceasing unity, is obedient to the first invocation of the priest, who in His name, repeats the words of consecration: "This is my body…this is my blood" (Matthew 26:26,28). Christ does not look upon the person who utters these words, nor upon his degree of perfection, but He is obedient to every priest without exception, in order to descend on our altars and give Himself to us entirely."
—Mother Raphael Lubowidzka of the sweetest Heart of Jesus, CSFN, p.65-66 Daily Verse "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult."
–Psalm 46: 1-3 | St. John (Don) Bosco St. John Bosco (1815–1888) was born in Italy to a poor farming family. His father died when he was two, leaving his religious instruction to his pious mother. At the age of nine he had his first of many powerful visions which would come throughout his life. In it, Jesus and the Virgin Mary showed him that he was to instruct poor, wayward boys and bring them back to God. John eventually joined the priesthood, paying his way through school with odd jobs. As a priest he began ministering to the poor and neglected boys of Turin, Italy, who were driven to desperate conditions in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Many of these street boys ended up in prison as teenagers. Don Bosco became a mentor and spiritual director to them, helping them to live a life of virtue and saving many from a future of crime and poverty. He met with them as a group – called the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales – and catechized them as a kindly spiritual father. He also established the Salesians of Don Bosco, priests and brothers who minister to and educate boys under the patronage of the great spiritual director, St. Francis de Sales. Don Bosco is the patron saint of boys, laborers, young people, students, and Mexican young people. His feast day is January 31st. | Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest • Readings for the Memorial of Saint John Bosco, priest Reading 1 2 Sm 24:2, 9-17 King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
"Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number."
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:
in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service;
in Judah, five hundred thousand. Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD:
"I have sinned grievously in what I have done.
But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant,
for I have been very foolish."
When David rose in the morning,
the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying:
"Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says:
I offer you three alternatives;
choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'"
Gad then went to David to inform him.
He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land,
or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you,
or to have a three days' pestilence in your land?
Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me."
David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty.
Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful;
but let me not fall by the hand of man."
Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest
when the plague broke out among the people.
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
"Enough now! Stay your hand."
The angel of the LORD was then standing
at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking the people,
he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred." Responsorial Psalm PS 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7 R. (see 5c) Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done. Alleluia JN 10:27 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel MK 6:1-6 Jesus departed from there and came to his native place,
accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
| Daily Meditation: 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17 Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people. (2 Samuel 24:10) Amidst life's uncertainties, it's natural to find yourself engaged in various forms of accounting: Do I have enough money? Enough friends? Enough clothes and possessions? But the security we truly seek comes from trusting in God, not from counting and measuring the things of the world. David fell victim to this very temptation. Surrounded by enemies, he recognized that a war could be catastrophic. So to assess the strength of his kingdom, he ordered a census. It seemed like a sensible move. He wanted to know how many men he could call into military service if he needed to. So why did he later regret doing this? Many commentators believe that David's problem was lack of faith. Regretting his decision, he realized that he had forgotten that Israel's true strength was in the Lord (2 Samuel 24:10). Time and time again, God had given them victory even when they had been vastly outnumbered. So David's assessment of his people's strength revealed a lack of trust in God their protector. Where do you find yourself counting without trusting? Maybe in an earnest attempt to become holier, you measure your worth by external religious markers, like the number of prayers you recite, the extent of your charitable deeds, or the size of your contribution to the poor box. All of these are important, of course, but God doesn't measure your worth by them. He doesn't love you more if you do more. He offers you his grace simply because he loves you. And that grace is immeasurably more than you can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Perhaps financial responsibilities or a busy calendar makes you feel as if you constantly have to monitor how much time and money you have available. You might be acting very responsibly, but even so, how much are you able to trust in the One who provides for all your needs? Or to what extent do you still believe that peace comes from your power to measure and control your resources? Your heavenly Father cares as deeply about you as he did for the people of Israel. You can count on him. "Lord, give me more faith to believe that you are in control. Help me to trust you in all things." Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7
Mark 6:1-6 |  click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian:
Audio English | In the Gospel today we heard:
"They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him. ....." end of Gospel verse.
. . . | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus is rejected by the people of his own town. For as he says, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place." But he astounded crowds throughout Galilee because he taught with authority.
As far as we can determine, Jesus was not formally trained in a rabbinic school, nor was he educated to be a temple priest or a scribe, nor was he a devotee of the Pharisees, the Saduccees, or the Essenes. He was, if I can use a somewhat anachronistic term, a layman. And this made his arrival on the public scene all the more astounding.
For this Nazarene carpenter with no formal religious education or affiliation began to speak and act with an unprecedented authority. To the crowds who listened to him preach, he blithely declared, "You have heard it said, but I say—" He was referring, of course, to the Torah, the teaching of Moses, the court of final appeal to any faithful rabbi; and therefore, he was claiming for himself an authority greater than that of Israel's most significant teacher and lawgiver.
......" end quote Bishop Barron.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith." There's 2 ways we can amaze our Lord. One way is to show Him our amazing faith, like the centurion who said "no need to come to my house, just SAY THE WORD and he shall be healed". Jesus was amazed.
Or, we can amaze Him by our lack of faith. Like in today's Holy Scripture.
Wouldn't we all want to amaze our Lord?
We can. How? Believe in Him and His ways above yourself and your own ways! And if there's doubt, well, sorry, that means there's room for the devil, for there is where chaos begins, wars begin, and pains begin. How many times have you doubted and it has caused so much stress and anxiety in your life! Trust in the Lord!
And to amaze Him with a lack of faith? Well, that's easy. Just believe all the nay sayers. Believe all those who say we can doubt. There's nothing wrong with questioning, but there is something wrong when you doubt. These are completely opposite things. To inquire, to believe is one thing. To inquire to doubt, that's a whole other thing. Remember if in doubt when dealing with sin, fall to the side of greater good.
Let's say for instance, you are not sure if what you are doing is a mortal sin, or even a venial sin....then, the answer is, "if you are not sure, then don't do it!". It is not rocket science to follow God's ways. It is a choice of humility and obedience.
The same thing can happen in your life. And it can happen like this: God speaks through people, even those that are not following His ways. The other day someone said that they were being encouraged in the good things they were doing for the poor, or a just judgement, and those people don't even go to church! If it is for the greater good, listen up! And sometimes those are things we don't want to hear!
Being humble is a big lesson, and it is more than just letting yourself get run over for doing God's things...it is WAY MORE than that. Being humble is to let yourself be sacrificed, and still love them with all your heart, mind, body, and soul.
We've no better example than our Lord crucified.
He's right there eternally sacrificed, so that we might follow Him to the path less taken.
If it were easy, everyone would do it and not put up a fight.
But it is not. Faith is a gift from God. A gift we ought to take heart in, appreciate, and make it grow, and how will it grow apart from the Vine of which we are the branches? Let us pray today:
Lord, I want to amaze You and those around me with great faith, but for that, I need more of You! Lord I do believe! Help my disbelief! Help me love like I ought! |  Click for Audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Matthew 5:9 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons1 of God. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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