† Quote of the Day "Act, and God will act, work and He will work." — St. Joan of Arc Today's Meditation "God's delays are mysterious; sorrow is sometimes prolonged for the same reason for which it is sent. God may abstain for the moment from healing, not because Love does not love, but because Love never stops loving, and a greater good is to come from the woe. Heaven's clock is different from ours." —Fulton J. Sheen, p. 357
An excerpt from Life of Christ Daily Verse "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." — Psalm 1: 1-3 | St. Valentine St. Valentine of Rome (c. 270) was a priest who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Little is known of his life with certainty, except that he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr. One account has it that the emperor banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. Valentine defied this unjust decree and continued to perform marriages for lovers in secret. He was arrested, and while in prison he restored sight to his jailer's blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Claudius ordered Valentine's execution. St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended, and signed it "From Your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14th. St. Valentine is the patron of many causes including bee keepers, betrothed and engaged couples, lovers, love, happy marriages, and young people. His feast day is February 14th. | Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop • Readings for the Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop Reading 1 Genesis 3:1-8 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
"Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?"
The woman answered the serpent:
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil."
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7 R. (1a) Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD," and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven. Alleluia Acts 16:14b R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Mark 7:31-37 Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Genesis 3:1-8 The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. (Genesis 3:6) The woman knew what God had said about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: "From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die" (Genesis 2:17). So why did she believe the serpent when he told her that she wouldn't die? Perhaps because she decided to judge the matter for herself. The food on the tree looked delicious, and maybe it would even give her wisdom. What a fatal mistake! Unfortunately, it's one that's been repeated by human beings ever since. We know what God has forbidden us to do, and we also know that these restrictions are for our own good. The Lord isn't arbitrary; he sets boundaries for us because he loves us and wants to protect us from the negative consequences of certain actions. Yet like the man and the woman in today's first reading, sometimes we choose to rely on our own judgment of what seems "pleasing to the eyes, and desirable" (Genesis 3:6). Often it's only after we've transgressed God's commandment that we realize what a mistake we've made! Thank God he doesn't leave us on our own without direction! He has given us the Ten Commandments, the teachings of Jesus, and the wisdom of the Church to guide and protect us. As he did for Adam and Eve, he has also given us a whole "garden" of pleasures to delight in. However, when he draws a line and tells us not to indulge in something that could cause us harm, we should believe him. Why? Because he loves us and knows what will help us to grow and flourish and what will hurt and ultimately destroy us. Like the serpent, many voices in the world today try to convince us that we can determine for ourselves what is good or evil, what is permitted or not permitted. Let's choose instead to listen to the voice of the One who loves us beyond anything we could ever imagine. God has only good in mind for you. Trust him to lead you in the way you should go, even when you're tempted to eat that forbidden fruit! "Lord, thank you for giving me boundaries that keep me safe and close to you!" Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7
Mark 7:31-37 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: "He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it........" - Word of the Lord! | From Bishop Barron:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus heals a deaf man who had a speech impediment.
Mark tells us that he took him "off by himself away from the crowd." Jesus then "put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, 'Ephphatha!' (that is, 'Be opened!')." Looking up to his Father and inserting his fingers into the man's ears, Jesus establishes, as it were, an electrical current, literally plugging him into the divine energy, compelling him to hear the Word.
Now for the healing's spiritual significance. The crowd is a large part of the problem. The raucous voices of so many, the insistent bray of the advertising culture, the confusing Babel of competing spiritualities—all of it makes us deaf to God's word. And therefore, we have to be moved to a place of silence and communion.
Jesus draws us into his space, the space of the Church. There, away from the crowd, we can immerse ourselves in the rhythm of the liturgy, listen avidly to Scripture, study the theological tradition, watch the moves of holy people, take in the beauty of sacred art and architecture. There we can hear....." end quote.
Be opened! That is the command, be opened so that the Lord will be able to do His will.
Notice though, that the man to be healed was "set apart" at first. He took him by himself away from the crowd. The old Hebrew word for "Holy" was "Ka-dosh" meaning "set apart". We must be set apart. Not divided, but it is the message, the same one as to Abraham. To set ourselves apart from the world, and its ways. We are that fish that swims against the crowd and against the current. And this happens when we set our Sundays apart, when we go together to Mass, we are being Holy, we are doing God's will. Holy never meant perfect, just set apart, to love God, with all our heart! With all our mind! All our strength and all our soul! We were made to love. I don't know if I told you this story, of my daughter, that dislocated her knew about a year or so ago, really bad, an ambulance had to come get her among the crowds where we were at a parade doing a display for our family festival. It was heart wrenching to see it unfold right before my eyes, and nurses were close by, with experience, dressed as normal people, angels in disguise. They said call an ambulance, it is not good. I had to pack everything as fast as I could and watch my daughter on the floor suffering with all looking at her helpless. That hurt my heart. Yes, I prayed, many of us were praying.
I didn't get to see her in the emergency, but a few hours later they said they were able to put her knee back together, then we focused on therapy and realized she has a small knee cap issue.
Fast forward til today. She is now in public school, and is running in the track and field program, something I would've never have imagined would ever be. She is a little smaller than other girls, and is trying to run, usually towards the back of the crowds in the group of cross country runners. Last week she ran an 1800 meter in track and field. We were all there 6 hours to her, and finally she ran, and she came in very far last, and I was on the track side by the stands with lots of people. On her last out of 4 laps around the track, I couldn't see her anymore behind the track people in the middle of the field,had she given up?
Then suddenly I could see her coming around the last turn with frustration on her face. Indeed, when we went to pick her up, I could see her crying when speaking to my wife.
When we all drove home, after we went to eat, I tried to console her by telling her what was in her daddy's heart: "You don't need to cry, I was there for you, I was cheering you on, all I cared about was you, that you were ok, I know you were frustrated, but I was so happy to see you finish the race". This bring sentimental tears, because, yes, we all think we need to be first place, or middle of the pack, or not dead last, but, as the Father, our Father sees it, all He cares is that we finish the race, that you have given it all you had, because in the end, we are all racing to His loving embrace, to wipe away every tear from our face, and to feel love like no other has ever felt in their life. That is what is awaiting us all in the faith.
This day of love, may we remember the Father's love that has given us the greatest gift from above....the love with which to love, the entire purpose of our lives, and for this we need grace, and faith, that brings about mercy, and peace like no other. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
James 5:8 "You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
