† Quote of the Day "Work hard every day at increasing your purity of heart, which consists in appraising things and weighing them in the balance of God's will." — St. Francis de Sales Today's Meditation "Once, while I was wondering why Our Lord so dearly loves the virtue of humility, the thought suddenly struck me, without previous reflection, that it is because God is the supreme Truth and humility is the truth, for it is the most true that we have nothing good of ourselves but only misery and nothingness: whoever ignores this, lives a life of falsehood. they that realize this fact most deeply are the most pleasing to God, the supreme Truth, for they walk in the truth." —St. Teresa of Avila, p. 175-176
An excerpt from Interior Castle Daily Verse "[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might." — Ephesians 1:17-19 | St. Patrick Of Ireland St. Patrick (387-493) was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland, to Roman-British parents. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders at the age of sixteen and sold as a slave to a Druid high priest. He worked as a shepherd and spent much time in prayer as he labored in the fields. He also acquired a perfect knowledge of the Celtic language and the Druid cult, which later enabled him to evangelize the Celtic people. After six years of slavery, an angel told him to flee his oppressive master and return to his native land. Upon returning to Britain, Patrick desired to devote himself to God's service. He went to France and placed himself under the direction of St. Germain, who ordained him a priest and sent him to evangelize the pagans in Ireland. St. Patrick devoted the rest of his life to converting the island to Christianity. He was ordained a bishop and himself ordained many priests. He divided the country into dioceses, held local Church councils, founded monasteries, and urged the people to greater holiness. He suffered much opposition from the Druids and occult magicians, who, threatened by Christianity, conjured demonic power to defy Patrick. However, the prayer, faith, fearlessness, and episcopal authority of Patrick triumphed, and he was so successful in his endeavor that in the Middle Ages Ireland became known as the Land of Saints, and himself the "Apostle of Ireland." Later, the missionaries sent from Ireland to Europe were largely responsible for the Christianizing of the continent. St. Patrick's feast day is March 17th. | Monday of the Second Week in Lent Lectionary: 230
Reading 1 Daniel 9:4b-10 "Lord, great and awesome God,
you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you
and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;
we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.
We have not obeyed your servants the prophets,
who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes,
our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Justice, O Lord, is on your side;
we are shamefaced even to this day:
we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem,
and all Israel, near and far,
in all the countries to which you have scattered them
because of their treachery toward you.
O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers,
for having sinned against you.
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!
Yet we rebelled against you
and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God,
to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets." Responsorial Psalm Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13 R. (see 103:10a) Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low. R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake. R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Let the prisoners' sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins. Verse Before the Gospel See John 6:63c, 68c Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life. Gospel Luke 6:36-38 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you." | Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Luke 6:36-38 Give and gifts will be given to you. (Luke 6:38) Doesn't Jesus make it sound as if he's promising us something like the "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" that we hear about on St. Patrick's Day? But there's one important difference in the reward Jesus speaks of here: we receive it only as we respond to his invitation to give, to forgive, and to put an end to judgmental and condemning thoughts within us. St. Patrick, whose feast we celebrate today, is a perfect illustration of this spiritual principle. In his Confessio, Patrick describes how he had been kidnapped from his home in England and taken as a slave to Ireland. Up to that point, he hadn't paid much attention to his faith. But the trauma of his kidnapping awakened something in him: I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times. . . . As I realize now, the Spirit was burning in me. (16) This rich prayer life set Patrick on a path that would dramatically turn his life around. After making his escape back to England, he continued to seek the Lord. Some years later, in response to a dream, he decided to return to Ireland to preach and care for the people there. He had forgiven his captors and knew nothing but love for them. And that love was contagious—he led thousands to the Lord and established churches all over the island, despite the constant risk of martyrdom. Obedient to Jesus' words in today's Gospel, Patrick forgave the people—and he knew the joy of the Lord's forgiveness. He gave his life to the Lord and gave himself to the Irish—and the Lord gave him the gifts of joy, courage, faith, and perseverance. And he gave him the greatest gift of all: a deep, abiding relationship with Christ. Let's follow Patrick's example. Let's give the gifts of our love, our forgiveness, and our presence to the people God puts in our lives. Not because we want more of his gifts, but because we are so grateful for all the gifts we have received already! "Jesus, teach me how to give to others as you have given to me—and as St. Patrick gave to the people of Ireland!" Daniel 9:4-10
Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | From today's Holy Gospel: "Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;........." - Word of the Lord! | Isn't there something spectacular about being made in His image, and being called one of God's children?
How so?
Are you all knowing? You will know the one thing necessary.
Are you all mighty and powerful? With Him, we are one.
Are you omniscient? In the next reality, the real life, we can see all around us all at once, and this is possible only because we are made like Him, but for now, the eyes behind our head are simply the ones our Guardian Angel has for us, so yes, this is amazing.
But forget all those super amazing things for a moment.
Think about the power we have to: forgive.
The power to show love like no other. Who exercises this power has something to show the world...that God lives, and that true love reigns.
It is indeed the message of the Holy Cross, the crucifixion of the heart of God which is the culmination of this lent.
Evil people love to quote the bible as they live in sin "Don' JUDGE ME!". But that is a thread of the whole scripture that is taken out of context, kind of like when protestants say "call no man a father".
All we have to do as faithful Catholics, the first Christians is to respond with this line "let us read the rest of the text in that Gospel" and then we will have the broader picture. And in this case, our Lord goes on to say after stating not to judge, He said "do not Condemn!". We judge everything, it is in our nature! But, we are not to condemn others, unless, we want to be condemned ourselves. Do unto others as you would like done to you. Amen?
So how can we judge with the Lord's heart? A fraternal correction is good. Pointing the sheep in the right direction is to be made in the Good Shepherds image. Our Lord says that "love covers a multitude of sins."
If this is true, then, we should be covering the world with this truth, that He may live and reign through us, that His will be done, in mercy, in healing, in spreading His word as He would love to do. We've no further to look than today's Saint Patrick, who was kidnapped. He fled home, but was converted to come save those who tortured him. You see, Jesus became alive in the conversion, and went back to save the world. He wants to do that constantly through all of us, conquering enemies with arms wide open. Let us then be shrewd, and humble. Saint Patrick, pray for us! | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 23:4 [Psalm 23] 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,1 I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment