†Quote of the Day "I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own."
–St. Gabriel Possenti Today's Meditation "God sees you in secret. Know that he sees into your very depths, infinitely farther than you do yourself. Make a simple, lively act of faith in his presence. Christian soul, place yourself entirely under his gaze. He is very near. He is present, for he gives being and motion to all things. Yet you must believe more; you must believe with a lively faith that he is present to you by giving you all of your good thoughts from within, as holding in his hand the source from which they come, and not only the good thoughts, but also whatever good desires, good resolutions, and ev¬ery good act of the will, from its very first beginning and birth to its final perfection. Believe, too, that he is in the souls of the just, and that he makes his dwelling there within, according to these words of the Lord: 'We will come to him and make our home with him' (John 14:23). He is there in a stable and permanent way: he makes his home there. Desire that he should be in you in this way. Offer yourself to him as his dwelling and temple. Now come out, and with the same faith that enables you to see him within you, look upon him in Heaven, where he manifests himself to his beloved. It is there that he awaits you. Run. Fly. Break your chains; break all the bonds that tie you down to flesh and blood. O God, when shall I see you? When will I have that pure heart that enables you to be seen, in yourself, outside of yourself, ev¬erywhere? O Light that enlightens the world! O Life that gives life to all the living! O Truth that feeds us all! O Good that satisfies us all! O Love that binds all together! I praise you, my heavenly Father, who sees me in secret."
—Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, p. 4-5 Daily Verse "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
–Isaiah 53:4-6 | St. Polycarp of Smyrna St. Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-155 A.D.) became a Christian in his youth, a disciple of St. John the Evangelist. St. John ordained him Bishop of Smyrna (in modern day Turkey) and from this position Polycarp became one of the most illustrious of the Apostolic Fathers. His closeness with the Apostles, and the long life that he lived, enabled him to protect the Church against heresy. The account of his martyrdom is well-preserved and is one of the earliest in the Church. Knowing the government was seeking his life, he received a vision while praying that he would be burned alive. After his capture he was encouraged to submit to Caeser in order to be released, but he refused. He was then taken to a public arena to be killed. He gave an outstanding testimony, declaring that he had served Christ for 86 years. Witnesses of his execution saw the flames surround his body without burning it, and that Polycarp began to glow and emit a sweet aroma. This amazed the crowds, and his executioners were then ordered to stab him to death. St. Polycarp is the patron saint against dysentery and earache. His feast day is February 23rd | Friday of the First Week of Lent • Readings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Polycarp, bishop and martyr Reading 1 Ez 18:21-28 Thus says the Lord GOD:
If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed,
if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;
he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced.
Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?
says the Lord GOD.
Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way
that he may live? And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil,
the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does,
can he do this and still live?
None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered,
because he has broken faith and committed sin;
because of this, he shall die.
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"
Hear now, house of Israel:
Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,
it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed,
does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed,
he shall surely live, he shall not die. Responsorial Psalm Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8 R. (3) If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand? Verse Before the Gospel Ez 18:31 Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Gospel Mt 5:20-26 Jesus said to his disciples:
"I tell you,
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
| Daily Meditation: Matthew 5:20-26 Leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother. (Matthew 5:24) Jesus wasn't talking here to people who lived across the street from the Temple. He was talking to people living in Galilee. So for them, bringing a "gift to the altar" (Matthew 5:23) required a nearly eighty-mile trip to Jerusalem. Imagine someone making that journey and realizing, with just five miles to go, that they needed to return home to reconcile with a brother! It seems drastic. But to Jesus, the way we treat people is a big deal. His words emphasize the importance of resolving tensions in relationships rather than letting them persist. So he urges us, especially when we're getting ready to come to worship, to examine our relationships and, where necessary, return and reconcile before doing anything else. Did you also notice that Jesus wants us to "leave our gift at the altar" and reconcile with someone who has something against us (Matthew 5:23)? How are we even supposed to know when this is the case? You don't have to read someone else's mind to know if they have something against you. All you need to do is examine your own conscience. Search your heart and see if the Holy Spirit brings a situation to mind. If you see that you've hurt someone, or even recognize that you are avoiding someone you think is angry with you, then it's time to seek reconciliation. How? It depends. If your words have damaged the person, try to reconnect and make amends. If you have taken something material, or "stolen" someone's good name through gossip, do what you can to restore it. Reconcile wherever possible. But sometimes you can't. At those times, bring the situation to the Lord and ask his forgiveness even if you can't ask the other person. It's a serious thing to hurt our brothers and sisters. Serious enough that Jesus said it's better to walk eighty miles to reconcile. So let's make peace with the people in our lives before we come to the Lord in worship. "Jesus, help me to see any ways that I need to reconcile with someone." Ezekiel 18:21-28
Psalm 130:1-8 |  click to hear 2cents | Reflections with Brother Adrian:
Audio English | In the Gospel today we heard:
""I tell you,
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,..." end of Gospel verse.
. . . | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus commands us to be reconciled with one another. I want to say something about the role of forgiveness in repairing our broken relationships.
When you are at worship and realize that you need to forgive someone (or be forgiven by someone), go and do it. Go get reconciled, then come back. It's like a rule of physics. There is something hidden in the deep mystery of God, and I can't fully explicate it. Somehow, if there is a lack of forgiveness in you, it blocks the movement of God in you. Perhaps it's simply because God is love, and so whatever is opposed to love in us blocks the flow of God's power and God's life.
One reason we do not forgive is that we feel that some injustice has been done to us, and we resent it. A good cure for this feeling is to kneel before the cross of Jesus. What do you see there? The innocent Son of God nailed to the cross—the ultimate injustice. What does he do? He forgives his persecutors. Meditate on that, and your sense of being treated unjustly will fade away." End Quote Bishop Barron.
There are so many times that a divided church member, a protestant, comes at the true church, the Catholic, with a statement to argue for purgatory. And then, they want you to point out in the bible, in their smaller bible, the one they took about 7 books out of to prove to them that purgatory exists. And if you point to today's Gospel, words directly from Jesus, they immediately get defensive about it, just like when you point to them the Gospels that speak about the Eucharist, in the Gospel of John.
Regardless if they want to admit to the final judgement, it is true. There is a judgement, when we meet our Lord. All an atheist or protestant has to do is to listen to many new near death experiences and we hear of many meeting judgement day, and if they are luck or not so lucky, they will get rejected on earth and live to tell about it. A dead person speaks.
I cannot forget one of the stories I heard, about a man that met his judgement, and there was recalled the day he was in a fight punching the other guy with fury in the face. He said he felt every single punch in that other person, every pain, the breaking of the nose, everything he was doing, he was doing to himself. This brought so much remorse, an even greater pain.
Why do I mention this? Our Lord said that what we do to others, we do to ourselves, so really, we are hurting ourselves when we lash out at others, even with just words.
There are certain people that believe their words don't mean anything, but our Lord proves them wrong today.
"and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna."
And what is Gehenna? It is to be casted out into the likes of hell. I don't know about you, but to me, just waiting is like hell. I'm impatient, I'm very limited on time. And can you imagine having to wait when you die? There is no time to tell! It is literally forever! Who wants to go through that? And we have been told by dead people, and prophets, and our Lord Himself, don't do that! Don't put yourself through that! Let us break away from sin! That's the point of lent! To break away from sin, to repent! To Believe! To unite ourselves tighter with our Lord! How? Let others be more. Let them hurt you and then pray for them because they are hurting themselves! I'm serious here. I've seen it myself. This is exactly the message of the cross. Mercy. Sacrificial love. God's message written with His blood. Lord, help us appreciate You with all our heart, mind, body, and soul! Help us give ourselves to You totally! |  Click for Audio | Wow! Random Bible Verse 1
James 3:7–9 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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