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Quote of the Day "Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent." — St. John of the Cross
Today's Meditation "This world is filled with many vulgar and dishonorable things that will claw and tear at your Christian purity if you allow them to. Don't let them! Seek instead the things of God. He will purify you and free you from your slavery to profane and inconsequential things." —Patrick Madrid, p. 1
Daily Verse "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." — Jeremiah 1:4-5 | St. Nazarius and St. Celsus (1st c.) were early Christian martyrs, but nothing else is known with certainty about their lives or the time they lived, other than that they were put to death for their Christian faith in Milan, Italy, perhaps during the persecution of the Emperor Nero. What we know about these saints came to us from St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. In 395 A.D. St. Ambrose discovered the body of St. Nazarius, with severed head, along with a vial of his blood still as fresh as the day it was spilled, in a garden outside the city gates. St. Ambrose carried the body in procession to bury in the city's Basilica of the Apostles. In the same garden he also discovered the body of St. Celsus, and likewise had the body taken to the same basilica. Miracles occurred in the church at the presence of the relics of these two holy martyrs. According to one account, St. Nazarius was the son of St. Perpetua, the child she bore just prior being executed for her faith. Celsus was a youth given to the care of St. Nazarius by the boy's mother, who desired for the saint to teach her son the Christian faith. The two traveled and preached the Gospel together zealously before being tortured and executed in Milan. They share a feast day on July 28th. | Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 Moses turned and came down the mountain
with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,
tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;
tablets that were made by God,
having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.
Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,
he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."
But Moses answered, "It does not sound like cries of victory,
nor does it sound like cries of defeat;
the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry."
As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.
With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down
and broke them on the base of the mountain.
Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire
and then ground it down to powder,
which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink. Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you
that you should lead them into so grave a sin?"
Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry.
You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.
They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader;
as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has happened to him.'
So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.'
They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out." On the next day Moses said to the people,
"You have committed a grave sin.
I will go up to the LORD, then;
perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."
So Moses went back to the LORD and said,
"Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin
in making a god of gold for themselves!
If you would only forgive their sin!
If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."
The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me
will I strike out of my book.
Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.
My angel will go before you.
When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." Responsorial Psalm Psalm 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 R. (1a) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock. R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea. R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath. R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Alleluia James 1:18 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Matthew 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 The sounds that I hear are cries of revelry. (Exodus 32:18) The people were growing anxious. Moses had been with the Lord on Mount Sinai for forty days, and they began to wonder if he would ever return. In their fear and impatience, they asked Aaron to create an idol for them, something tangible that they could see and rely on. They had grown weary of believing in an invisible God—even though this God had led them out of Egypt. It was easier to worship a god of their own making and to lose themselves in "revelry" over that false god (Exodus 32:18). That is, they thought it was easier. We're not that different from these Israelites. We all yearn to feel secure and protected. And when God feels distant, it can be easy to look elsewhere for that security. We reach for something concrete, something we can touch or see or hear or eat or drink. Experience tells us that we'll never find what we seek in these things, but we somehow convince ourselves that the outcome will be different this time. Where do you turn for relief when life gets stressful? It's probably not an actual golden calf, but for some of us, it may as well be. The truth is, our idols can take many forms. Some of us seek comfort in television. For others, it might be food. And others might turn to the seemingly endless supply of internet news sites. Of course, there's nothing wrong with any of these, just as there is nothing wrong with a golden statue! It's what we do with them that matters. Next time you find yourself imitating the Israelites, try to do something practical to change course. When you feel your stress rising, reach for a rosary instead of your phone or the remote. Open the Scriptures instead of your browser. Make room for the Lord. Let him fill you with the joy that comes from knowing his love. And if, like the Israelites, you're feeling that the Lord is distant, then tell him that you still believe. Tell him that you're going to hold onto your faith no matter how you feel. Then hold on tight. When the time is right, you'll discover that he has been holding onto you as well! "Lord, I proclaim that you are the one true God. And I proclaim that you are my God!" Psalm 106:19-23
Matthew 13:31-35 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: ""The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches......"
Word of the Lord! | From Roberto Juarez:
"The parable invites us to trust and to sow hope: our small works of love, justice and faith are part of God's plan. The Kingdom grows when we live the Gospel faithfully in the ordinary.
We should not be discouraged if we do not see immediate results. The Kingdom is moving forward. He does it in silence, with perseverance. It does it in you, too. • Am I willing to be "leaven" in my environment, bringing hope and transformation? Today Jesus calls us to value the small, every good word, every action of justice, every sincere prayer. Being leaven transforms from within with humility and joy. We must trust God's process, sow, wait, and keep working." end quote.
Our Lord said: "The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
What a short parable, right? Yeast. And then Seed, a tiny mustard seed. In the Old Testament, our Lord spoke in large time spans and tremendous miracles. In the New Testament, our Lord speaks in small parables, and in personal miracles. Such is the purpose of a miracle, to speak to the world, to illuminate something in the darkness.
But our Lord speaks in much more today. He still speaks in large time spans, and tremendous feats of humanity.
Yet, He works in the smallest of things in humanity more. I asked the elderly in the nursing homes to consider the power of their prayers, how formidable they can be, because they may suffer infirmities there at the nursing home, loneliness, all sorts of mental anguish, and more. Yet, the Lord desires to enter into their suffering, and there, with their prayers for others, the Lord hears them.
The smallest, yes, the forgotten...for sure.
And the same for you. You may feel worthless, and unseen. I remember a retreat for 3 men I put on in the desert, and a question arose, to go into nature and see how God is speaking to you. I don't remember much of what the other men said, but I remember doing the exercise, walking up a sand hill in the desert, and seeing a small yellow flower coming out of a plant. It was blooming and reaching to the sun with all its might. That is what I saw. And a thought hit me, "bloom where you are" reach for the Son. Be ready. No matter if nobody sees you.
You see, God sees the interior. We have no idea what He sees in us. I can only hope He sees our inmost desire from the created moment, His child, making an honest effort, although, perhaps a weak will at times.
Only our Lord can help us in our weakness, amen?
In our weakness to sin, reach to Him, for strength in holiness.
In our weakness of health, reach to Him for solace and unity.
In our weakness of the mind, may we reach to him for clarity, to remember Him above all things.
It is the little things that count they say. If this is true, then, remember the tremendous feat and miracle our Lord has done, in the Eucharist, founded in the crucifixion, the giving of self, to be selfless.
This morsel, can become the light in the darkness. This soul of yours, can illuminate, and that is all we may need....forever. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
1 Corinthians 13:4–6 "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;1 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
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