† Quote of the Day "And Thou sent Thine hand from above, and drew my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heard her, O Lord; Thou heard her, and despised not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heard her." — St. Augustine in The Confessions Today's Meditation "I was sure that it was better for me to give myself up to your love than to give in to my own desires. However, although the one way appealed to me and was gaining mastery, the other still afforded me pleasure and kept me victim. I had no answer to give to you when you said to me, 'Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.' When on all sides you showed me that your words were true, and I was overcome by your truth, I had no answer whatsoever to make, but only those slow and drowsy words, 'Right away. Yes, right away.' 'Let me be for a little while.' But 'Right away—right away' was never right now, and 'Let me be for a little while' stretched out for a long time." —St. Augustine, p. 152 An excerpt from The Confessions of Saint Augustine Daily Verse "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to thee! Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!" — Psalm 102:1-2 | St. Monica (322-387 A.D.) was raised in a Christian home in Tagaste, North Africa. Early in life she struggled with alcoholism, sneaking draughts of wine from the family cellar, before being caught and overcoming the habit. She was later given in marriage to an ill-tempered and adulterous pagan Roman official. She suffered greatly on account of her husband, and that of her unkind mother-in-law with whom she lived, and she fervently prayed for their conversion over the course of many years. Her patience and kindness became a source of encouragement to other unhappy housewives with whom she came in contact. Monica gave birth to three children, and she was grieved that her husband would not allow them to be baptized. Her eldest son, Augustine, was a wayward child and caused her the most pain, and she prayed fervently for decades for him to become a Christian. Through her persistence in prayer and good example, her husband was converted shortly before his death. When Augustine became entrenched in heretical sects and moved to Milan, St. Monica followed him. Monica befriended the Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, who consoled her by saying, "The child of those tears shall never perish." Augustine was eventually brought into the Church by St. Ambrose. Everything we know of St. Monica's heroic virtue is from the writings of her son, who became the great St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential saints in Church history. St. Monica is patron of housewives, difficult marriages, alcoholism, mothers, widows, abuse victims, victims of adultery, and disappointing children. Her feast day is August 27th. | Memorial of Saint Monica • Readings for the Memorial of Saint Monica Reading 1 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery.
Working night and day in order not to burden any of you,
we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and so is God,
how devoutly and justly and blamelessly
we behaved toward you believers.
As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children,
exhorting and encouraging you and insisting
that you walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into his Kingdom and glory. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 139:7-8, 9-10, 11-12ab R. (1) You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there. R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast. R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light"–
For you darkness itself is not dark,
and night shines as the day. R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord. Alleluia 1 John 2:5 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Matthew 23:27-32 Jesus said,
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"
| Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ! | Daily Meditation: Matthew 23:27-32 You are like whitewashed tombs. (Matthew 23:27) If Jesus had lived in Vietnam, maybe he would have compared the scribes and Pharisees to the voodoo lily, a native flower that's a favorite at botanical gardens worldwide. The stately plant is a sight to behold, with a flowery spike cradled by a leaf of deep purple. But its stunning bloom is not the main reason it draws people. They come because they're fascinated by the contrast between its dramatic beauty and the stench it produces as its flowers emerge. "Like dead mice in a plastic bag" is how one plant specialist in Minnesota described the odor. How can something so pretty smell so bad? The "scribes and Pharisees" to whom Jesus addresses seven "woes" (Matthew 23:13-30) might intrigue us in a similar way. How can people who look so spiritual on the outside be so "unclean" on the inside? Don't they know how far they've strayed from God? Do they really believe they're as blameless as they strive to appear? But let's be careful not to observe these "hypocrites" at a distance, standing in judgment as if they're some exotic species with whom we have nothing in common. As the Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said, the dividing line between good and evil doesn't pass through parties, groups, or classes of people. "It cuts through the heart of every human being." The truth is, we, too, can be blind to our own sins. We, too, can have areas in our lives where we try to justify wrongdoing and resist God's correction. It's tempting to focus on making a good impression and covering up our faults instead of confessing them and trying to change them. Blessed be God, who never stops loving us and calling us out of these tombs we have constructed for ourselves! Whenever we turn to him, he gives us the courage to search our hearts, the humility to repent, and the grace to take another step into the light of Christ. What's more, he doesn't just help us to shed our sins; he makes us into the very "aroma of Christ," spreading the fragrance of his love everywhere we go (2 Corinthians 2:15). "Search me, O Lord, and lead me on your path of righteousness!" 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Psalm 139:7-12 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: |  Hear AI Read it for u | From today's Holy Gospel: "....you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing........." Word of the Lord. | From Roberto:
"Jesus uses powerful imagery to challenge the Pharisees, and by extension, all of us, to live out an authentic faith, where the inner and the outer are in harmony. It invites us to reflect on our own lives, to reject hypocrisy and to seek a true transformation of the heart. We are called to an honest examination of our spiritual lives, to repent of our inconsistencies, and to commit ourselves to living with integrity before God and others." end quote.
You appear beautiful on the outside...but inside....it's a whole others story!
Wouldn't you rather be beautiful on the inside?
It is the inside that God sees! It is biblical, remember the story of how David was chosen among all his brothers? It wasn't all about the looks, they chose the shepherd boy. And we will all be chosen by criteria that fits, picked out of the fish nets, the good ones, and the bad ones, by what is inside at the time of reckoning.
So, how do we assure Heaven for ourselves and our loved ones?
Simply stop being the hypocrite God sees! The book of revelation says He would rather us be hot or cold, not lukewarm. In some translations it says that the lukewarm will forcibly be vomited, spewed out and rejected. Not in a horrible evil way, but in a natural way, as a body reacts to poisonous food.
Today, we have a choice. Yesterday, you had a choice. Tomorrow, you will have a choice. To be with Him, or against Him. To sin, is to pick a poison. How I wish we could see how horrible one sin is. We live piling on sin as if it were no big deal. Like a lifetime of eating certain foods unhealthy foods, or a lifetime with a vice, thinking it is not bad...but after time...it rots one away.
In this message, God is pleading for repentance. Not just from scribes or Pharisees, but from every person that this message reaches, so it will reach those that have not been reached.
So that the world may see what is inside...and may your inside be only filled with the light of Christ.
Less of me...more of Him. |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Psalm 121:7–8 "The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."
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God Bless You! Peace | | |
