† Quote of the Day "God writes his name on the soul of every man." — Archbishop Fulton Sheen Today's Meditation "Now, may our God be our hope. He Who made all things is better than all things. He Who made all beautiful things is more beautiful than all of them. He Who made all mighty things is more mighty than all of them. He Who made all great things is greater than all of them. Learn to love the Creator in His creature, and the maker in what He has made." —Saint Augustine, p. 136
An excerpt from Augustine Day by Day Daily Verse "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." — 1 John 4:7-8 | Blessed Ambrose Of Siena Blessed Ambrose (1220-1286) was born in Siena, Italy, the son of a book illuminator. He was born so severely deformed that his parents could not bear the sight of him. They put their son in the care of a nurse who took the child with her to daily Mass at the Dominican church. The child, often fussy, would become calm when he was placed near the altar of relics, and would cry when he was removed. While praying at the altar, the nurse would conceal the child's hideous face with a scarf. This practice continued for a year. One day a pilgrim told the nurse to remove the baby's scarf and prophesied that the child would one day become a great man. A few days later, before the same altar, the child Ambrose stretched out his deformed limbs and pronounced the name of Jesus; from that moment he was miraculously healed into a beautiful and perfectly formed child. Blessed Ambrose grew in piety and was determined to become a Dominican friar. His family and friends opposed his plan and attempted to dissuade such a handsome and talented youth from becoming a poor friar. Ambrose overcame these obstacles and joined the Dominicans at the age of 17. He studied under St. Albert the Great along with St. Thomas Aquinas, and went on to become a preacher, teacher, missionary, diplomat, and peace-broker. His skills with diplomacy earned him the respect of kings and popes alike. His feast day is October 8th. | Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 GAL 1:13-24 Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it,
and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother's womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that "the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
So they glorified God because of me. Responsorial Psalm PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15 R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way. Alleluia LK 11:28 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
| Daily Meditation: Luke 10:38-42 Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? (Luke 10:40) The story of Martha and Mary is so well known that we often reduce it to a caricature: Mary is holy; Martha is bitter. Be like Mary, not Martha. We might even interpret Jesus' words as condemning a life of active service. But that would be a mistake. The work that Martha was busy doing needed to be done! This episode occurs immediately after Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable, he tells us that it is important to care for the foreigner and to show mercy to the stranger (Luke 10:24-37). Next, Jesus enters Bethany, likely tired and hungry from his journey, and Martha shows him the same kind of care. She opens her home and offers him a warm meal. Her generous attentiveness to Jesus' real, practical needs is a beautiful thing. In correcting Martha, Jesus is reminding her—and us—to check our hearts. Even when we are doing works of mercy, our hearts can turn inward, and we can become frantic and bitter. As Martha rushed about the house, her attention shifted from the joy of waiting on Jesus to the stress of the tasks at hand. We all know this feeling. It's the slow creep of tension as you prepare for guests to arrive, the sudden rush of anxiety as you notice that no one else seems to be helping, the pride that comes from being the "only one who gets anything done around here." St. Ambrose said that our service must be "diligent and not distracted." Martha's mistake was not in her service but in letting the work distract her. The key, as Mary shows us, is to try to hold Christ at the center of our gaze. It's to remember that Jesus himself is present in the person we are serving (Matthew 25:40). We will be able to keep our peace when we keep our hearts fixed on encountering Jesus in those people. Thank God for the Marthas in the world, who notice the needs of suffering people and act to meet them. And thank God for the Marys, who call us always to remember Jesus. May we learn to do Martha's part with the purity of Mary's heart. "Jesus, keep my heart fixed on you as my hands are fixed on serving your people." Galatians 1:13-24
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
""Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her...." end quote. | Bishop Barron said:
"While this typically women's work was going on, men would sit out in the main room of the residence and talk. If a prominent rabbi or Pharisee were present, the men would sit at his feet and listen to his words.
Now we can see why Mary's attitude was so offensive to Martha and probably to everyone else in the room. Martha wasn't simply mad that Mary was giving her more work to do; she was mad that Mary had the gall to assume the stance of a man, to take up her position in the men's space.
In his response to Martha's complaint, Jesus signals more than a preference for listening over acting; he invites a woman into full participation in the life of discipleship. "Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her. . . ." end of Bishop's quote.
From a Spanish Reflection today:
"Martha receives the visit just like her sister, but she understands that God cannot lack anything. He is God, and the guest must be entertained in the most perfect way, so she works hard at serving. However, there is a moth that is undermining her inside. My sister does not understand this, why doesn't she help me? I always take on all the work, if I ever did anything... Of course, Mary focuses on something else and they are two different ways of seeing the same reality and understanding life. Perhaps the lack of dialogue, empathy, asking for help, makes Martha try to get ahead with everything. That is why Jesus puts the emphasis on the root of the problem: "you are restless." It is not that she is reproaching Jesus for anything. But the root of our problems is often that, that we are not able to focus and enjoy what we are doing because we are consumed by stress, neither in action nor in contemplation. We do not enjoy serving Jesus in others as we should because of tiredness, stress, lack of patience. The same happens in prayer, we postpone it, we do not savor it, it does not satisfy us because of the stress of doing something else.
Therefore, the attitude is important: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20-28). Service to the point of giving one's life for others, which centers your life on what is important in Christ, in this way, you are configured with Him."
Friar Juan Manuel Martínez Corral O.P.
So who is right? Martha or Mary? We can lose the focus on who we are serving, right? What are you serving and to who? Jesus sees Mary, she is giving her life in a special way, not leaving Him abandoned. But Martha sees differently, she wants to do her duties as a woman, and to serve the guest of honor, and to provide the best in such short notice, needs help, "where's the help when you need it?" is the question many of us worry warts have, especially when involved in church ministries.
This comes at a time when I am busiest of all, organizing the church and community festival. Tons going on at work, at church, all hands on deck, even our little toddler must find her place to serve this weekend. My stomach turns into knots. I stress. I worry. And as we speak, we got a couple funerals in our parish to somehow work into the schedule. I always feel unprepared all the way until it starts. Nerve racking. And it is happening right now. I'm always praying "God send help". But most of the help I need is within.
Our Lord says "you are anxious and worried about many things".
There are things that are seriously wrong that it seems we cannot control.
It happens at work. I'm the boss, but it seems I cannot control everything. For those things I rely on God with a prayer, and things smooth out at least to a degree manageable by His grace.
It happens at church. LOL. Like this Sunday, while leading the choir, felt we were not harmonizing or on the same not on some songs. I could not control the other person. Then as I sang, I thought, "I'm tired of fighting it, Lord, come now". And at that moment, I remembered my daughter singing which she mumbles or sings way louder too, and a thought hit me, "this is God's daughter too", the lady singing, and from that moment, the voice changed and we were in tune. But I was just going to enjoy the out of tune, as a loving Father would enjoy an imperfect gift given too.
He knows your worries. Offer them up.
He knows why you are anxious. Let Him help.
Go to His feet. He's asking "Martha, where is your heart? Where is your faith? Am I not here?" |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Romans 6:3–4 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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