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"You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy - the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the proud." -St. Vincent de Paul
Today's Meditation“If you wish to explore the Holy Scripture, and you overcome your laziness and apply yourself, thirsting for the knowledge, then every good thing will be yours. You will fill your mind with the divine light. Then, when you apply that light to the doctrines of the Church, you will very easily recognize everything that is true and unadulterated, and lay it up in the hidden treasures of your soul.”
—St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 167
Daily VerseAre they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Hebrews 1:14
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EWTN Daily Saint
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St. Cassian of ImolaPatron Saint of: Stenographers, secretaries, and educators
Feast Day: August 13 St. Cassian of Imola (4th c.) was the Bishop of Brescia near Milan, Italy. When a wave of persecution erupted under the Roman Emperor, Cassian fled to Imola, Italy, where he found work as a schoolmaster teaching children how to read and write. He was a disciplined and effective educator. In addition to instructing his students in the Christian faith, he also taught them a form of shorthand that allowed them to write as fast as they could speak. A city official discovered that Cassian was a Christian and denounced him to the government authorities. Cassian was arrested and ordered to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, which he refused. As punishment the local judge ordered that he be stripped, bound, and tied to a stake. He was then turned over to his pagan students, numbering about 200, to be tortured to death. His students used their iron styli (writing instruments) to mercilessly carve into his skin and slowly stab him to death. St. Cassian died from the many wounds inflicted all over his body. St. Cassian of Imola is the patron saint of students, school teachers, shorthand writers, court reporters, stenographers, and parish clerks. His feast day is August 13th.
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Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 416 Reading 1Ezekiel 12:1-12 The word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house;
they have eyes to see but do not see,
and ears to hear but do not hear,
for they are a rebellious house.
Now, son of man, during the day while they are looking on,
prepare your baggage as though for exile,
and again while they are looking on,
migrate from where you live to another place;
perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house.
You shall bring out your baggage like an exile in the daytime
while they are looking on;
in the evening, again while they are looking on,
you shall go out like one of those driven into exile;
while they look on, dig a hole in the wall and pass through it;
while they look on, shoulder the burden and set out in the darkness;
cover your face that you may not see the land,
for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel. I did as I was told.
During the day I brought out my baggage
as though it were that of an exile,
and at evening I dug a hole through the wall with my hand
and, while they looked on, set out in the darkness,
shouldering my burden. Then, in the morning, the word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, did not the house of Israel, that rebellious house,
ask you what you were doing?
Tell them: Thus says the Lord GOD:
This oracle concerns Jerusalem
and the whole house of Israel within it.
I am a sign for you:
as I have done, so shall it be done to them;
as captives they shall go into exile.
The prince who is among them shall shoulder his burden
and set out in darkness,
going through a hole he has dug out in the wall,
and covering his face lest he be seen by anyone. Responsorial PsalmPsalm 78:56-57, 58-59, 61-62 R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
They tempted and rebelled against God the Most High,
and kept not his decrees.
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers;
they recoiled like a treacherous bow.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
They angered him with their high places
and with their idols roused his jealousy.
God heard and was enraged
and utterly rejected Israel.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
And he surrendered his strength into captivity,
his glory in the hands of the foe.
He abandoned his people to the sword
and was enraged against his inheritance.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord! AlleluiaPsalm 119:135 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your countenance shine upon your servant
and teach me your statutes.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. GospelMatthew 18:21–19:1 Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed,
and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
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Praise to You Oh Lord Jesus Christ!
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From Word Among Us WAU.org
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Daily Meditation: Matthew 18:21–19:1. . . a debtor . . . who owed him a huge amount. (Matthew 18:24) A dad tells his young child, “Son, clean up the front hall before our guests arrive.” His son replies, “If I pick up ten things, does that count as clean? Can I go play after that?” Dad shakes his head. His boy is not quite getting the concept! He’s focused on the minimum amount of work he needs to do. Parents often have to deal with their children trying to do just “the minimum.” But over time, they broaden their children’s perspective so that the kids can see the big picture and respond differently. At some point, the children will grasp the purpose of honoring family guests and develop an internal understanding of the value of a clean home. A similar shift in perspective is at the heart of today’s Gospel. Peter speaks for all of us when he asks how much is enough when it comes to forgiveness. Reaching for what he likely considers an exaggerated limit, he asks, “As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). But Jesus shocks them by going beyond that limit to an even more extreme number: “seventy-seven times” (18:22). Then he tells a parable that shows that for God, the whole effort to establish any limit is the wrong approach. We still don’t have the concept right! The character in the parable who answers Peter’s question is the master. He forgives his servant “a huge amount” (Matthew 18:24) and expects that servant to be just as forgiving toward a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller amount. And the point at which that servant decides not to forgive comes well into the story, after we learn about the “huge amount” that he originally owed to his master. Jesus is telling Peter, and telling each of us, You have already been forgiven a huge debt; you cannot put a limit on how much you are willing to forgive. You need to be as forgiving toward one another as I have been toward you. Jesus looks on you with so much mercy that he has forgiven all your sins. He wants you to live in joy and freedom—and to joyfully and freely extend that forgiveness to everyone around you. “Lord, help me to grasp the depth of your mercy and to be just as merciful toward those who sin against me!” Ezekiel 12:1-12
Psalm 78:56-59, 61-62
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Reflections with Brother Adrian:
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From today's Holy Gospel: "......I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” ....”
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Bishop Barron said today: "Jesus’s own startling practice of forgiving the sins of others emerges as one of the distinctive and most controversial elements in his ministry. And both rhetoric and practice reach their fullest expression when the crucified Jesus asks the Father to forgive those who are torturing him to death. We speak the truth because Jesus is the Truth; we forgive because he forgave." And from a Spanish Reflection from a Roberto Juarez:
"...Let us ask the Lord for the grace to look with his own eyes. Perhaps today all the pain will not disappear. But the path of reconciliation can begin. And let us always remember that the greatest miracle is not to change the heart of the other. The greatest miracle is to let God change ours.
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, accompany us on this journey and teach us to live with a heart like Christ's, always ready to forgive, always ready to love and always open to hope." end quote.
From Brother Adrian: For many years, I have been writing reflections on the Gospel, only after I read a handful of reflections.
And I pray. I teach, and by teaching you learn even more. I read books, I listen to catholic teachings every chance there is.
And what helps even more...a true meditation in the rosary. There, God Himself preaches and teaches.
It even happened once, during a deep meditation during a Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Forget all the books, all the teachings.
Now, looking back, now I know why Saint Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest scholar on theology of our Catholic Faith, he said after a Vision in Holy Mass that he was no longer going to write, because of what he saw in that vision....and he died 3 months later.
He said everything he had written was like straw, compared to what he saw.
Back to the point.
Today, our Lord is talking about forgiving the other.
In this talk, we are speaking of what is prime from the cross...God speaking with His Body, the culmination of all things from the Old Testament, to proclaim to the new. Old wine-skin, in a transformation, in the transubstantiation, the becoming of eternal being in the eternal sacrifice.
Does this make sense?
If not, let me sum it up in one word: mercy. And not just any mercy, but DIVINE Mercy.
He desires more mercy than any other effort for Him.
What good are all your works if you cannot do what He asks from the Holy Cross?
What good is all the faith if it is not what God desires?
How many times must you forgive that person that is coming against you?
Who is keeping count?
It always irked me when a fellow in a ministry would meet others and say exactly how many retreats he did. I always thought "why are you counting? Does it matter?".
I have absolutely no clue how many retreats and things I've helped at... it is like counting how many times you washed the dishes for your kids!
Why would you do that? Does it matter? Is there a cost...for love?
No. God has not put a cost, nor limit on love and mercy.
When God Himself comes to offer Himself, the message is clear, that His mercy is unending.
The sin then, is to put limits on mercy. From your heart.
I told a young man yesterday that struggles with faith ... and drugs, "I can give you all the advice in the world, but nothing is going to help, unless you unlock that heart and make that firm decision".
You see, love and mercy...are not mere feelings...but a decision as well.
You decide if you will suffer when you decide if you will forgive.
Take it from our Lord, from the cross.
And from there He asks us "will you follow me THIS WAY?" and then He asks with His Sacred Heart "Do You Love Me TOO?".
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Random Bible Ve "Random Bible Verse 1
Ecclesiastes 7:9 " Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart1 of fools.
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Word of the Lord!
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God Bless You! Peace
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