† Quote of the Day "Announcing the Gospel is the first and greatest act of charity." — St. Arnold Janssen Today's Meditation "Jesus himself, after all, had given everything for the sake of the reign of God. He gave up the security and comfort of a family and a spouse. He did without a house or property or any other form of security. Still more serious: He avoided putting himself at the center of everything and thus exercising religious power... Jesus lives not for Himself, His own person, but surrendering utterly and slowly to God's cause, or more precisely to the reign of God that is now coming...Jesus possessed unheard-of freedom. He is not a model of one who is tormented, grim, dissatisfied, or who has fallen short of His goal. He is no fanatic, utterly convinced that He must force others to adopt His own position. Nor is He the type of the hero, tragic or otherwise. He remains to the end a free person...a man full of generosity and humanity." —Gerhard Lohfink, p.53-54
An excerpt from The Forty Parables of Jesus Daily Verse "For rulers are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil. Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Then do what is good and you will receive approval from it, for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer. Therefore, it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of conscience." — Romans 12:3-5 | St. Priscilla Of Rome St. Priscilla of Rome (1st c.) was a Christian noblewoman who served as a benefactor to the Christian community in Rome. She supported St. Peter the Apostle, the first Bishop of Rome, and her home near the catacombs served as his headquarters. She was the wife of Manius Acilius Glabrio, a Roman politician, who was executed by the Emperor Domitian for atheism, that is, his refusal to worship the Roman gods because he was Christian. Priscilla buried him in what was once a quarry and donated the property to the Church so that others could also be laid to rest there. Her catacombs, known since the earliest days of Christianity as the "Catacombs of Priscilla" are also referred to as the "Queen of the Catacombs" because such a large number of martyrs and popes were buried there. It also holds a significant collection of early Christian iconography including the earliest known depiction of the Madonna and Child. St. Priscilla was also martyred for her Christian faith and buried there. Her feast day is January 16 | Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Hebrews 3:7-14 The Holy Spirit says: Oh, that today you would hear his voice, "Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, 'They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'"
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today,"
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11 R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice: "Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works."
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Forty years I was wearied of that generation; I said: "This people's heart goes astray, they do not know my ways."
Therefore I swore in my anger: "They shall never enter my rest."
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Alleluia Matthew 4:23 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mark 1:40-45 A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Hebrews 3:7-14 Hold . . . firm. (Hebrews 3:14) If you dive into the ocean for a swim, you might find that when you get out of the water, you have drifted quite a bit from the spot where you started. In fact, an experienced body surfer will swim against the current just to end up in the right place. Today's passage from Hebrews makes a similar observation about our lives as Christians. We must "hold . . . firm" by pushing against the tides of temptation and discouragement so that we end up where God wants us to be (Hebrews 3:14). So how do we hold firm? Here are some surefire ways: Oh, that today you would hear his voice (Hebrews 3:7). As you read God's word each day, reflect on a phrase or verse that strikes you. Then go one step further and try to put those words into practice. If you are pondering God's mercy, be quick to show mercy to others. If you are reflecting on God's generosity, look for opportunities to be generous in your thoughts and deeds. By listening to God and heeding his words, you will not drift off course. Oh, that today you would . . . harden not your hearts (Hebrews 3:7, 8). We wander from God when we are tempted to doubt his care for us and suspect that he will not meet our needs. We begin to rely on ourselves and the empty promises of this world. Then, before we know it, our hearts have hardened, and we are far "offshore." When we realize we have drifted away, we need to return to the Lord without delay. Today is the day to ask him to soften your heart and to receive his mercy. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today" (Hebrews 3:13). We all need to be encouraged—each day, if necessary—to persevere in our life with the Lord. So be open to receiving the encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ. And be ready to encourage them as well. Walk beside someone who is doubting. Be a friend who listens. Remind them of God's love. Above all, reassure them that it's worth swimming against the tide in order to arrive at a place of freedom and peace! "Lord, soften my heart so that I can hear your voice and stay close to you each day!" Psalm 95:6-11
Mark 1:40-45 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | In the Holy Scripture we hear today: "A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly......" end Gospel quote, word of the Lord. | From Bishop Barron: "Friends, our Gospel today gives us one of the great scenes of Jesus healing a leper. And as is usually the case, it becomes an icon of the spiritual life in general.
Once in the Lord's presence, the leper kneels down and begs him for healing. The suffering man realizes who Jesus is: not one prophet among many, but the Incarnation of the God of Israel, the only one before whom worship is the appropriate attitude.
In our sickness, our weakness, our shame, our sin, our oddness—lots of us feel like this leper. We feel as though we're just not worthy. But whatever trouble we are in, we have to come to Jesus in the attitude of worship. He is the Lord and we're not. This is the key step in getting our lives in order: right praise.
Consider the leper's beautiful plea, essential in any act of petitionary prayer: "If you wish, you can make me clean." He is not demanding; he is acknowledging the lordship of Jesus, his sovereignty. "Thy will be done" is always the right attitude in any prayer......" end quote.
The leper pleaded "If you wish, my Lord".
How do we pray to our God?
Do we pray like that?
God knows our hearts. How do we get what we want? LOL. We love tuning into that station WIIFM right? That station stands for What's In It For Me.
What if we figured out a way to get everything we wanted? At what point will we have let God have what HE wanted? As a father with kids along with my wife, we know we can't give our kids everything each kid wants. But what if I could get them everything they need?
Did that leper want healing, or need healing? God knew. And so He granted it, saying "I do will it" and then "go show yourself to a priest", make amends, show the atonement, get right back in the church family as you desired.
This is the revelation that we should see...that God sent Him back to the flock, reconciled, what was needed to be paid, was paid at that moment, in Christ very living blood. And for that, we are to be truly grateful. Such was the excitement, that once healed, the man blasted out what was supposed to be a secret. Was this an act of ingratitude? All Jesus asked for was that nobody to know what happened.
I want you to know, that the secrets between us and God are to be made known, only as He desires. What am I talking about?
Your love offerings and sacrifices. Choosing to do good secretly, to bite your tongue, to reign your thoughts, to suffer patiently, to endure things as an offering of love and in the name of love. It hurt our Lord to be put on blast. The point was conversion, not for thousands to flock for healing. Conversions are powerful. Repented souls are made beautiful. Souls that are walking dead, come to life. All things that are good are of God, and if you will believe, all bad things can make beautiful things if we allow God to work in us. This is hope.
Hope is alive, His name is Jesus.
I say this remembering yesterday, after sending you the message, I got word that one of our new big water trucks had just been involved in an accident, rolled over and the driver was ejected, somehow flew out the window and the truck cab was crushed. It was strange, everything. He suffered only a broken ankle awaiting surgery. A miracle. Strange though how it happened, and to see our new truck in shambles and even caught fire as it struck a telephone pole.
Do you trust in Jesus now? How can we not? This calls for even more trust. An eye opening miracle has occurred, but it is baffling.
And things like this constantly happen. It seems us that are trying so hard to do good, these things happen, because it happened as I was working on a flyer for a pro-life rosary to pray for the unborn on January 25th in town at church. And also working on our men's conference at the same time. Was it an attack? Did angels come to save the coworker, pulling him out of the truck and saving his life? Are these spiritual battle things really happening?
The leper, unknowingly, launched so many after Jesus, because he didn't listen thoroughly. Does it matter? God can take it. But we shouldn't put Him through that. He loves us. He loves us dearly. That is why this message has reached you, with His words from Heaven " I do will it my child, I'm all yours, just love Me, Your Father, trust Me." Lord, if You wish, I will be made clean, to enter into a pure love with You, both now and forever! |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 22:6 6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
