.: † ".Give us THIS . .."

Thursday, June 20, 2024

† ".Give us THIS . .."

†

Quote of the Day

"Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself." — St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus

Today's Meditation

"[Purity of intention] which is intimately connected with zeal, enables us to forget ourselves in all things, and to seek first the glory of God and the accomplishment of His good pleasure, persuaded that the more we sacrifice our own interests in His service, the greater advantage and blessing we shall reap. For this reason we must examine the motives of all our actions, that we may labor purely for God, since nothing is more subtle than self-love, which insinuates itself into every work, unless we maintain a constant guard. ... The practice of the moral virtues and the most severe mortifications are meritorious before God only inasmuch as they are animated by His Divine Spirit. The temple of Jerusalem contained nothing which was not either of gold or covered with gold. It is no less fitting that in our souls, the living temples of the Divinity, there should be nothing that is not charity or animated by it. Let us bear in mind that God values the intention more than the action, and that the simplest work becomes noble when performed with a noble intention, while the greatest will be of little value if performed from an indifferent motive. By endeavoring to acquire this purity of intention we shall follow the example and counsel of Our Saviour, who tells us to love as He has loved – that is, purely and disinterestedly. Happy is he who imitates this noblest characteristic of the divine love. Rapid will be his growth in the likeness of God, and consequently in His love, for resemblance usually begets love. Let us rid ourselves of human respect, and, keeping God ever before our eyes, let us not suffer selfish or worldly motives to mar the merit of our good works and rob us of their reward, which is Heaven and the possession of God Himself." —Venerable Louis Of Grenada, p. 406
An excerpt from The Sinner's Guide

Daily Verse

"Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven." — Lamentations 3:37-41

Bl John Fenwick And Bl John Gavan

Bl. John Fenwick and Bl. John Gavan (d. 1679) were Englishmen and Jesuit priests who were martyred for their faith in England during the monarchy's persecution of the Catholic Church. John Fenwick's Protestant parents disowned him when he became a Catholic. The two priests, along with three other Jesuits, were falsely accused of involvement in the "Popish Plot," a fabricated conspiracy that mounted to anti-Catholic hysteria in England over the course of three years. The men were charged with complicity to assassinate King Charles II and condemned on the charges of High Treason and subversion of the nation's Protestant religion. During their trial, John Gavan acted as the principal spokesman for the group; one historian called him one of the ablest priests of his generation. Both priests were condemned to be hung, drawn, and quartered. It is said that the King, knowing they were innocent yet unwilling to grant them pardon, permitted them to be hanged only. After giving a rousing speech declaring their innocence, Bl. John Fenwick and Bl. John Gavan were martyred together on June 20th, 1679. They share a feast day on June 20th.

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 SIR 48:1-14

Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You brought a dead man back to life
from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.
You sent kings down to destruction,
and easily broke their power into pieces.
You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.
You heard threats at Sinai,
at Horeb avenging judgments.
You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,
and a prophet as your successor.
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you
And who falls asleep in your friendship.
For we live only in our life,
but after death our name will not be such.
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!
Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,
wrought many marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one,
nor was any man able to intimidate his will.
Nothing was beyond his power;
beneath him flesh was brought back into life.
In life he performed wonders,
and after death, marvelous deeds.

Responsorial Psalm PS 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7
R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes round about.
His lightnings illumine the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
All who worship graven things are put to shame,
who glory in the things of nought;
all gods are prostrate before him.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

Alleluia ROM 8:15BC

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.'
"If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

Daily Meditation: Matthew 6:7-15

This is how you are to pray. (Matthew 6:9)

Think about how many great saints have prayed the Lord's prayer! Imagine all the consolation and wisdom that people like Catherine of Siena, Ignatius of Loyola, and Thérèse of Lisieux have derived from offering these simple but profound words to our heavenly Father.

It can be easy to feel inadequate when you hold yourself up to such shining examples of prayer. You might wonder how you could ever hope to even come close to the insights they received—not to mention the courage that so many martyrs found as they offered this prayer at the hour of their deaths! Yet for all their heroism and holiness, they had one thing in common with the rest of us: they prayed. Specifically, they prayed this prayer!

Think about that the next time you say, "Our Father, who art in heaven . . ." You are reciting the same prayer that these great saints did—the same prayer that Jesus himself taught his very first disciples. And they prayed with the same simplicity and sincerity that Jesus recommends to every disciple.

All God wants is for you to come to him with an open heart. He already "knows what you need," so you don't have to worry too much about getting everything right as you pray (Matthew 6:8). In fact, by saying, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done," you are already entrusting yourself and your loved ones to God's care (6:10). And when you ask for your "daily bread," you are confessing that he alone can give you what you need—and that he will provide (6:11). Every part of this prayer, in fact, can bring you closer to the Lord.

Prayer is the foundation on which all other spiritual growth is built. It is the spring from which works of mercy flow. Most importantly, it is the source of your ability to love as Jesus loves and to forgive as he forgives. This is the path of holiness that the saints themselves walked—and Jesus is inviting you to walk the same path!

So as you pray the Lord's Prayer today, let the saints encourage you. Trust that the Holy Spirit wants to lead you into your Father's presence. Then quiet your heart so you can sense how close he is to you. Holiness is far more accessible than you thought!

"Lord, teach me to pray!"

Sirach 48:1-14
Psalm 97:1-7

HEAR it read by AI

Reflections with Brother Adrian:

In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;......" end quote.

From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, today's Gospel gives us the Our Father. It asks that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven," but biblical cosmology sees these two realms as interpenetrating fields of force. Heaven, the arena of God and the angels, touches upon and calls out to earth, the arena of humans, animals, plants, and planets.
Salvation, therefore, is a matter of the meeting of heaven and earth, so that God might reign as thoroughly here below as he does on high. Jesus' great prayer, which is constantly on the lips of Christians, is distinctively Jewish in inspiration: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
This is decidedly not a prayer that we might escape from the earth, but rather that earth and heaven might come together. The Lord's Prayer raises to a new level what the prophet Isaiah anticipated: "The earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea."
The first Christians saw the Resurrection of Jesus as the commencement of the process by which earth and heaven were being reconciled. They appreciated the risen Christ as the one who would bring the justice of heaven to this world......" end quote Bishop Barron.

Do you have a hard time with calling God your Father?
Do you feel like an orphan? Really no father or mother?
If we probe at these questions, it might start hurting the heart, right? Statistically many do feel great anxiety, and alone.
But here is where things can change.

Our Lord, Jesus, whom you have not met in the flesh like a normal person, comes to us, and lives among us, and invites us to the Father, His Father, and He says that He is Our Father.
And so, with the Lord's prayer, our Lord is inviting us into a very deep connection, and they say this prayer we can pray always, is like 13 Jewish daily prayers all wrapped up into one.
And I better watch my timing here with you, because I am very interested in this offering of our Lord to the Father, a deeper relation into himself, the very gate, the very altar, the very heart of the matter of Heaven.
Our Father who is in Heaven.
And the second commandment, His Name. Make Holy His name. Jewish people were not allowed to even say God, the very name was to be made so holy.

Our Lord is teaching us how to pray, yes, but this means He is teaching us how to live.

Last night, about 50 of our youth in our parish of only 400 families or so, mounted up on a large charter bus. They were so excited, and rightly so, they've been working hard all year to go to this Steubenville Youth Conference. As they gathered to pray before getting on the bus, I distinctively heard the Father speak, this time, it was Father Joseph our priest, after praying for them and blessing them, he said something like "remember, you are representing our parish, everything you do will reflect us as a whole".

And we pray to make Holy our God. Isn't that actually an honor? That we can make Him holy by keeping His command? We don't make Him Holy but we make Him Holy in our lives. He is already the being of holiness, but we are becoming holiness in making Him the holiness. Does that make sense? It is diving into the flames of the Sacred Heart. It is a deep connection of mind, body, and soul.

It is not good to babble and rattle off these prayers. My studies of prayer are making me realize that there is something very special about these prayers, if we make them special. The intent and the heart with which we pray them matters. The Lord doesn't look at the quantity, but at the heart of the quantity in the prayer. Otherwise, we would be a resounding gong. Heartless prayers are just that, no love. And take it from a guy that prays the rosary daily and the divine Mercy chaplet daily, repeated prayers yes, but everybody repeats their prayers, and so what matters is the heart of the prayer.
As Catholics, we have some basic prayers, the creed, the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be. But we cannot pray, we should not pray them without a heart. We shall make sacred His heart with sacred prayers, and we can make them sacred and not empty, but full of love. Does this make sense now?
Father asked us to represent the parish well, and this is how we are to make Holy our Lord God, by living out the prayers.
If I say "Holy Be Thy Name" and I don't make Him holy by how I live, then I'm not being true to the prayer. And so, the prayer is asking us to make Him Holy, right? God loves holiness and love and mercy. He loves righteousness, which means to be a just person, which means to be a holy person.
Ever notice in your study of saints, how many people flock to them for prayer? Why? Because God listens to the just, to the holy. Am I like that with my kids?
I got this one kid that loves to come to work with me. He's always with me, and because of it, I think I do treat him to more of his requests, it just seems natural, more snacks than the others, more stuff at the store he needs, not that I love him any more, but its the very fact that we are always together, it is just natural to provide, he provides for me and I provide for him. Whereas the kids back home, they don't ask for much, we don't hang out as much, and as a matter of fact, we are kind of estranged to a certain degree. And the bad kid that always wants something? I never want to give them anything! LOL, she is spoiled to the max! She does whatever she wants all the time and won't listen to me very well. Yet, I love them all the same.

Our Father, who is in Heaven...may we make Your name holy, by our lives, and by our Love for Thee and one another.