† Quote of the Day "He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely." — St. Catherine of Siena Today's Meditation "Only he will receive, will find, and will enter who perseveres in asking, seeking, and knocking. It is not enough to ask Almighty God for certain graces for a month, a year, ten, or even twenty years; we must never tire of asking. We must keep on asking until the very moment of death, and even in this prayer that shows our trust in God, we must join the thought of death to that of perseverance and say; "Although he should kill me, I will trust in him" (Job 13:15) and will trust Him to give me all I need." –St. Louis Mary de Montfort, p.201 An excerpt from The Secret of the Rosary Daily Verse "And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein." — Isaiah 35:8 | St. Barlaam Of Antioch St. Barlaam of Antioch (d. 304 A.D.) was an elderly, uneducated peasant laborer from a village near Antioch. He was arrested for his Christian faith under the persecution of Roman Emperor Diocletian. He was detained for a long time in a dungeon before being brought before his judge. At his trial he was severely scourged, his bones dislocated on the rack, and tortured in other ways in an attempt to force him to renounce his faith in Christ and sacrifice to idols. Instead of crying out, there was joy in his countenance. His meekness, answers, and resolute will confounded his persecutors. The judge, determined to not be humiliated by a peasant, then devised a plan that would force Barlaam to offer sacrifice to the gods despite his constancy. He had an altar with a fire prepared, and had Barlaam's right hand held over the fire and filled with incense and hot coals. This would force Barlaam's burning hand to recoil, causing the incense to fall before the pagan altar, which the judge could then proclaim as a public act of sacrifice to the idols. Instead, Barlaam endured the pain in perfect stillness. He held his hand steady until it burned off completely. Irate, the judge ordered his immediate death. St. Barlaam's feast day is November 19th. | Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 RV 3:1-6, 14-22 I, John, heard the Lord saying to me:
"To the angel of the Church in Sardis, write this:
"'The one who has the seven spirits of God
and the seven stars says this: "I know your works,
that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die,
for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent.
If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief,
and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.
However, you have a few people in Sardis
who have not soiled their garments;
they will walk with me dressed in white,
because they are worthy."'
The victor will thus be dressed in white,
and I will never erase his name from the book of life
but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father
and of his angels.
"'Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'""
"To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this:
"'The Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the source of God's creation, says this:
"I know your works;
I know that you are neither cold nor hot.
I wish you were either cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold,
I will spit you out of my mouth.
For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,'
and yet do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich,
and white garments to put on
so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed,
and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.
Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
"'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
then I will enter his house and dine with him,
and he with me.
I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne,
as I myself first won the victory
and sit with my Father on his throne.
"'Whoever has ears ought to hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.'" Responsorial Psalm PS 15:2-3A, 3BC-4AB, 5 R. (Rev. 3: 21) I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
By whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the LORD.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
shall never be disturbed.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne. Alleluia 1 JN 4:10B R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God loved us, and sent his Son
as expiation for our sins.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 19:1-10 At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost."
| Daily Meditation: Revelation 3:1-6, 14-22 Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. (Revelation 3:19) How would you feel if you heard God say to you what he told the believers at Laodicea—that he was coming to "reprove" you and "chastise" you (Revelation 3:19)? Most of us would be at least a little nervous. Some of us might be downright terrified! But why is that? Why should we be scared of someone who loves us so deeply? Quite often, it's because this world has thrown us off balance. Violence, and the idea of retribution or "getting even," is commonplace. We may even have personal experience of a parent or teacher or other authority figure coming down on us too hard or making us feel guilty or inadequate. So it should be no surprise to discover that we assume that God acts the same way. When we have sinned, we might expect a wrath-filled, overpowering, and outsize reprisal. But that's not who God is! Scripture tells us that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). And that love is "patient" and "kind." It is not "jealous" or "pompous," and it "does not brood over injury" (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5). Love like that does not lash out in anger or seek vengeance for vengeance's sake. It seeks healing and consolation and restoration. Of course, God does "chastise" us when we need to be corrected. He convicts us of our sin so that we will repent. But rather than imagine him as an abusive taskmaster, we should see him as a good and loving Father. His chastisement may sting, but it doesn't destroy. We may feel guilty when we see how we have betrayed him, but we also feel a sense of hope. As today's passage tells us, we feel him knocking on the door of our hearts, asking us to let him in so he can share his love with us once more (Revelation 3:20). God assured the Laodiceans that he chastises only out of love (Revelation 3:19). He showed them where they needed to change so they could once more know the joy of being in his presence. The same is true for you. Don't let fear hold you back. Open the door and let God in! "Father, thank you for loving me enough to want to heal me!" Psalm 15:2-5
Luke 19:1-10 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Click to hear Audio | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy. ......." end Gospel quote, word of the Lord. | From Bishop Barron today:
"Friends, today's Gospel declares in the story of Zacchaeus how quickly God responds to any sign of faith. Zacchaeus' climbing the sycamore tree shows he had more than a passing interest in seeing Jesus. He had a deep hunger of the spirit. His principal virtue was his willingness to go to great extremes. But this is what we do when we know that something of great moment is at stake. When our health is endangered, we move, we act; when our job is threatened, we go to almost any extreme to keep it.
When Jesus spotted him he said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." Christians, God responds to us readily when we show the least interest in him. He doesn't play hard to get; he is not coy with us. When we seek him, he responds, because loving us is his entire game.
Notice how Jesus tells Zacchaeus to hurry. Don't wait, don't hesitate. Seize the moment of conversion when it comes." end quote from Bishop Barron.
Yesterday we heard about a blind man that wanted to see.
Today we heard about a man that wanted to see Jesus.
The common denominator...both wanted to see Jesus.
And that boils down to you and me.
How much do you want to see the Lord?
He is not that far!
In the book of Heaven, over 36 volumes of a sickly woman's encounters with the Lord, she encounters Him very often, alone, in her sick bed, for months, and even years.
She suffers tremendously, but she wants to see Him all the time. She prays all the time. And He comes, and in different forms, sometimes as a child. Sometimes as someone older. And sometimes even as a baby that needs to be breast fed.
Many times He comes and lets her free, to see, and to see what He sees, and to see the reasons, the very many reasons He suffers.
And He warns her of the eminent wars, the wars that have to be because of justice, things that have to be to make up for the atrocities He suffers.
What makes Him suffer most?
That we forget Him. That we ignore Him. That we choose insults, like profanity, and pornography, all things that are disobedience to holiness, in essence, impurity. What hurts Him the most? I can tell that the priests hurt Him the most. Where they should be His hands, feet, and body, He is not allowed to do His Holy will.
Are we there now again? These visits to Luisa happened in the times of the World Wars.
We cannot say if we are there, but we do know that many priests have been lax in the last decades.
I do notice though, that the good ones are making a comeback. And they need your help.
Priests need formation. Priests must learn the flock by being with the flock. There was a quote by a leader that said by Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin's: "There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. '
When Pope Francis first became Pope He said, "Be shepherds with the smell of the sheep" in a homily at the Chrism Mass in Rome on March 28, 2013. He repeated the analogy in remarks to a group of French priests in Rome.
Pope Francis has also said that pastors should be able to communicate with the people they serve, and that a priesthood that is isolated from the people of God is not a Catholic or Christian priesthood.
And for that, us, the sheep, must flock to the shepherd, the priest, to assist, to follow. If we follow wrongly, it is his neck that will pay, but it is our job too, to give our lives, as a good lamb, for the shepherd. It is not us that must be served all the time, but us that serve the shepherd of the flock.
Did you come to see? He is there. In the Blessed Sacrament. He is there in the Priest in the Holy Sacraments.
Did you come to see Him in the Scripture? He is here!
He has always been here.
He encounters you like the blind man and Zacchaeus. He encounters those who seek. Those who seek will find. Those who knock, the door will open. He knows what we are going through. He knows we want our Father.
He knows the way.
Because He IS THE WAY. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
2 Timothy 1:8–9 " Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to1 a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began" Word of the Lord. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
