† Quote of the Day "My prayer is that the good God may establish His absolute reign in your heart and in the hearts of all." St. Julie Billiart Today's Meditation "Jesus Christ could have appeared among us, radiant with joy and encompassed by divine splendor, amidst the glitter and pomp of His sovereign majesty. He deemed it more worthy of His glory and more profitable to the salvation of men, to show Himself to them girt with a diadem of thorns, clothed in purple and stained with blood, His face bruised, the gaping grimace of death on His lips, bearing the bloody unction of the nails imprinted on His hands and feet. In uniting Himself closely with suffering, Jesus Christ assuredly did not smooth all its severity and all its pangs; but He removed part of its bitterness, corrected and destroyed its poison. He made the chalice of His Blood fruitful. Like the brazen serpent set up by Moses in the desert, He implanted Himself in the center of the world as an inexhaustible instrument of mercy, life, and health. Owing to this transformation, His divine wounds, like fountains ever gushing, remain eternally open to all straying and fallen souls who are eager to escape from their coarse, sensual aspirations, wanting to immerse themselves anew in the joys of sacrifice and the honor of purity."
—Fr. Charles Arminjon, p. 276-277
Cover image from the book, The End of the Present World
An Excerpt From The End of the Present World
Recommended Products Daily Verse "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord." Psalm 40:1-3 | St. Julie Billiart St. Julie Billiart (1751-1816) was born in Cuvilly, France, to a large and prosperous farming family. By the age of seven she knew her catechism by heart, and would gather her playmates together and teach it to them. Her spiritual progress was so remarkable that her parish priest allowed her to make an early first communion at the age of nine, at which time she took a vow of chastity. As a teenager she already had the reputation of being a living saint. When financial ruin struck her family she worked in the fields alongside the reapers. At the age of twenty-two she became paralyzed and remained a bed-ridden invalid for the next twenty-two years. However this did not prevent her from having an active life. She received Holy Communion daily, made altar laces and linens, catechized the village children from her bedside, and spent many hours in contemplative prayer. When the French Revolution erupted she gave aid to priests in her home, and soon after was smuggled to safety while hidden in a hay cart. She took refuge in the home of a countess, and due to her sanctity soon had a company of young, noble ladies gathered around her bed to whom she taught the ways of the interior life. From this St. Julie founded and led the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame dedicated to the Christian education of girls and the training of catechists. After making her vows in 1804, she was cured of her paralysis. For the next twelve years she made over a hundred journeys as she founded fifteen convents of her order. St. Julie Billiart's feast day is April 8th | Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent Reading 1 Numbers 21:4-9 From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
"Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!" In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
"We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us."
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
"Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live."
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 R. (2) O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily. R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer. R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die." R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Verse Before the Gospel
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever. Gospel John 8:21-30 Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come."
So the Jews said,
"He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
He said to them, "You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins."
So they said to him, "Who are you?"
Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world."
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
"When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him."
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Numbers 21:4-9 Whenever anyone . . . looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:9) Don't you find today's first reading a little strange? Why would God use a statue of a serpent to save his people? Especially when you consider that many ancient Near East cultures worshipped a serpent-like god, the whole idea seems idolatrous! Of course, the Lord wasn't telling his people to worship a false god. He wanted to bring them to repentance for their lack of trust in him. So he gave them a graphic image of what happens when they turn away from him: sadness, suffering, and death. Looking upon that bronze serpent brought them face-to-face with the very real consequences of their sin. And because it looked like a false idol, this statue confronted them with the way their faithlessness was making them act like the pagans around them. That was quite a wake-up call! Today's Gospel makes this point even clearer. Speaking to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus warned that anyone who persisted in sin would "die" in their sins—just as those Israelites had died in the desert (John 8:24). But then he said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM" (8:28). Like the story in our first reading, Jesus was offering his people—and all of us—a way to be set free from the consequences of sin. He was saying that when he was lifted up on the cross, we would see just what sin does. We would see all the pain, weakness, loneliness, suffering, and, ultimately, the death that sin produces. But that vision of a crucified Christ, unsettling as it may be, would also reveal something wonderful. It would open our eyes to the love that God has for us—a love that goes so far as to die for us in order to save us. A love that pierces hardened hearts and turns them back to the Lord with gratitude and awe. We live in a world that avoids the harsh realities displayed on the cross. But the only way we can be saved is to confront those realities, confess our sin, and humbly ask Jesus to rescue us. So gaze at the cross today. Fix your eyes on the One who suffered so humbly out of love for you. "We adore you, O Lord, for by your cross you have redeemed the world!" Psalm 102:2-3, 16-21
John 8:21-30 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel:
"Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come."
So the Jews said,
"He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
He said to them, "You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world. ......" - Word of the Lord! | From Roberto Juarez: "Jesus is not only a wise teacher, nor an admirable martyr. It is the "I am", God himself who became man out of love. The cross, in the eyes of the world, seems like a failure, but for faith it is the place where love without measure is revealed. Only from the cross can we understand who Jesus really is.
The Lord also tells us about his intimate relationship with the Father: "He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone." This certainty that wells up from the heart of Jesus is a comfort to us: God never leaves us alone, even in the darkest moments. If we remain united to Christ, we too will live with that confidence.
Jesus calls us to believe, not superficially, but with a faith that transforms our hearts and our lives. To believe in Him is to live by His word, to embrace the cross, and to follow Him trusting that His love is stronger than death. Lord Jesus,
You are the Son of the Father, the "I am,"
the one who came from heaven to give us life.
Give me the grace to recognize you in every moment,
especially when the road gets tough.
Teach me to look at you on the cross and discover your glory there,
Your love without conditions.
May my faith be steadfast,
and may my life reflect your light and your truth.
Amen......" end quote Roberto Juarez.
From brother Adrian:
""When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me."
Let us repeat that last line, remembering you are baptized as one body with Christ, so we can rightly say with Him and through Him and in Him "The One Who Sent me, Is With me".
Looking back at all the good that has happened, even the bad, it is through divine providence, it is through an amazing course of events that we call incidentals or accidents of how things happen to come together in a beautiful tapestry if, we want to see, through the eyes and heart of God, whom can see not only from above, but in every single possible dimension we care to pierce through.
And to pierce through these things, we must let the light of God pierce our hearts, like our Lord Jesus.
We are going to have to suffer. Nothing comes from doing nothing. We must ask, in order to receive. We must knock, in order for doors to open, although, many may remain shut at first.
But persistence pays. Our Lord is not like us. God is goodness, and so, we must wait for and ask for what is good. We may wonder why our "good"prayers are not answered, and that is because God sees truly what is ultimately, the greater good.
I want to see conversions now! But God has other plans, better plans. I want healing immediately! But God lets healing take the time of the greater good. My sufferings, they just...bring me closer to Our Father. What a strange phenomenon. And the more I do in ministry, the more I pour my heart out dealing with people, the more heartaches I encounter. Not everything is great, or perfect....at first. But, we persist, and we insist, and perseverance to the ultimate goal, attains more fruit, than we will ever possibly know.
Because, "I and the Father, are one, and we are an overwhelming majority!" | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 145:8 "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Word of the Lord. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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