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Quote of the Day "All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully." — St. Ignatius of Loyola
Today's Meditation -"If God can use everything and everything is good, then an essential starting point of being able to discern God's will is the gift of being "equal-minded." St. Ignatius of Loyola called this gift being "indifferent," but some modern people interpret this term as not caring about the choices. Better is the term "equal minded," which implies that I am happy to take either this option or that option. Neither option matters to me except insofar as one gives greater glory to God than the other." –Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, p. 73 An excerpt from How to Listen When God Is Speaking
Daily Verse "For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? — the God who girded me with strength, and made my way safe. He made my feet like hinds' feet, and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand supported me, and thy help made me great." — Psalm 18:31-35 | St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was born at the castle of Loyola in Basque country, Spain, the youngest of thirteen children. In keeping with the young aristocrats of his day, Ignatius sought after military prowess, vainglory, and fame, and became a knight at the age of seventeen. He was known as a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, a womanizer, sensitive to insult, and involved in criminal behavior. During a period of convalescence after being wounded in battle, he read a collection of saint biographies and a Life of Christ. These books profoundly affected him, and he experienced a conversion of heart. He desired to pattern his life after the great saints, and ceremoniously hung up his military garments before an image of the Virgin Mary. After experiencing a vision of the Blessed Mother with the Infant Jesus, he lived for a time as an ascetic in a cave. It was during this time that he formulated his famous Spiritual Exercises, the spiritual centerpiece of the religious order he would later establish. He then went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and studied theology for many years. During his studies he gathered a group of six like-minded men and founded the Society of Jesus, today known as the Jesuits. They went as missionaries all over the world to spread the Gospel, especially focusing on education. Today the Jesuits have over 30,000 members and 500 universities. St. Ignatius of Loyola's feast day is July 31st. | Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest Reading 1 Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.
On the first day of the first month of the second year
the Dwelling was erected.
It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.
He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,
and set up its columns.
He spread the tent over the Dwelling
and put the covering on top of the tent,
as the LORD had commanded him.
He took the commandments and put them in the ark;
he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.
He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil,
thus screening off the ark of the commandments,
as the LORD had commanded him. Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,
and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.
Moses could not enter the meeting tent,
because the cloud settled down upon it
and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.
Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,
the children of Israel would set out on their journey.
But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;
only when it lifted did they go forward.
In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling;
whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud
by the whole house of Israel
in all the stages of their journey. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11 R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God. R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God! R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength. R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God! Alleluia See Acts 16:14b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Matthew 13:47-53 Jesus said to the disciples:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." "Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 The glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling. (Exodus 40:34) What is the most glorious royal palace that has ever been built? You might answer Versailles in France, with its 2,300 rooms and its vast Hall of Mirrors. Or maybe the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, which covered more than two million square feet. Or perhaps the Forbidden City in Beijing, which was the palace of the Chinese emperors for more than 500 years. How about a tent in the middle of the Sinai desert instead? That's the structure Moses had built to house the ark of the covenant and the place where Israel's priests would offer sacrifice to the Lord. As today's first reading tells us, when Moses completed constructing this tent, "the glory of the Lord" himself filled the place in the form of a great cloud (Exodus 40:34). There's nothing more glorious than that! On the outside, Moses' tent probably didn't look anywhere near as awe-inspiring as a grand palace. But imagine how it must have felt being on the inside when the cloud of God's glory settled on it! No amount of gold leaf or crystal chandeliers could even come close! Fast-forward three thousand years later, and there's something even more astounding: each one of us has become a glorious dwelling place for the Lord. As St. Paul reminded the Corinthians, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). Or as he told the Ephesians, "We are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus" (2:10). And when God crafts something as his "handiwork," it is glorious indeed! This is something that we should always keep in mind. Each of us has a dignity and a kind of grandeur, both because we are created in God's image and because we have been redeemed by him and have become a dwelling place for his Spirit. That we, with all of our human frailties, could hold God's presence is truly stupendous. Even when life throws challenges your way, remember that you are still a temple of the Holy Spirit. God himself dwells in you! "Lord, may I never forget that I have been filled with your glory. Help me to rejoice in that truth every day!" Psalm 84:3-6, 8, 11
Matthew 13:47-53 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: "....Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." Word of the Lord! | Roberto Juárez said: "Jesus praises the scribe who has become a disciple and who knows how to unite the old and the new. The Christian is called to actualize the faith faithfully, transmitting it in a living, current and profound way.
In times of so much change, ideology and confusion, we need Christians who live the Gospel in depth and communicate it with joy, in current language, without losing its roots. • Am I helping others discover the value of the Kingdom in everyday life? The Gospel encourages us to be disciples who welcome, discern, and teach.
May we be a Church as an open network, which welcomes everyone and does not remain superficial. May we live with the awareness that one day we will stand before God. And may our Christian life become a wise, living and Gospel-filled witness." end quote.
Bishop Barron said:
"Authentic Christianity is a fighting religion, and it calls evil by its name. The Church knows what stands outside of itself, and it turns its back on it. The bearer of light and truth, it separates good from evil, sometimes painfully, like a "two-edged sword." end quote.
There is a group of particular prophets in our modern day, and they are taking to social media to proclaim, not even a prophecy, but an eye witness. Who am I talking about? Many that seem to be on the same page about their near death experience. I guess I am most interested, because my late and dear father had one, electrocuted to death, a year before I was born. He had an out of body experience. Later on, he had a vision as a bird's eye view of a deep hell hole that scared him. I viewed a video last week of a black lady, who came from a large family, very strict, very "religious", and her dad was a pastor at her church.
She decided early on as a career, she wanted to be a famous actor, and pursued this, and soon found herself living in sin, smoking, drinking, being promiscuous. And then, she collapsed one day, and experienced our Lord, and then was sent to experience the hell that awaited her. She saw famous people in hell, and even a lady from her church. She said frantically "that once saved always saved line is a lie from the pits of hell!" She saw the tortures the people went through, and it matched very well other torture stories I have seen from other NDE testimonies. She said God told her that is where she was going, and he would even use her again on earth to save souls but she was doomed to hell. Bodies tortured over and over, and there was no death, the body would just regenerate and experience pain all over. She is living solely to spread the message until this very day. Very few think they experience Heaven, and from my intuition, I do not believe any has truly experienced Heaven, just some type of encounter, in some type of neutral, beautiful place.
No filth is in Heaven, and most of these are coming back, really, as a warning sign for the rest of us.
If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
Our Lord speaks today about a tormenting place for those that are wicked, for those that are obstinate, for those that die in their sin.
But, that is not HIS desire.
To save them from this, He created you. That you might offer sacrifice to God for salvation. And then, He gives us right worship, and as Jesse Romero said this past weekend in a conference, to worship as in the old Testament, you must have a sacrificial animal. And an altar. And this becomes the worship. Not to be confused with praise.
You see, in Mass, we worship. All other denominations cannot worship like we truly do. They have only praise, but not true worship.
We sacrifice in Mass. We don't not crucify our Lord on the cross...but we are to sacrifice ourselves, we unite, Heaven and earth.
We atone for sins. We worship on the eternal mount. We unite everything here. We offer this for all souls.
And our lives are supposed to be transformed, and they are...according to what we carry inside. This is why we must be pure. Only the pure, and the righteous are for Heaven. The gate is narrow to Heaven. The gate to hell is huge, very wide, very horrendous.
New age denominations preach many things against purity, obedience. The way they write the new translations is losing the true translation, the true meaning, and seems to be focused on self, rather than God our Father.
But, thanks be to God, the truth is alive. Jesus is our Savior, we worship God in Mass, with all the saints and angels. It is supreme. And for this, we must be striving to be saints.
This letter has reached the saint in you. |  audio | Oh WOW: Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 32:8 8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Word of the Lord! | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
