†No one can make excuses, because anyone can love God; and he does not ask the soul for more than to love him, because he loves the soul, and it is his love. ▪ Blessed Angela of Foligno
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Blessed Angela of Foligno |
“The vow of poverty is a generous renunciation and detachment from the heavy burden of temporal things. It is an alleviation of the spirit, it is a relief afforded to human infirmity, the liberty of a noble heart to strive after eternal and spiritual blessings. It is a satiety and abundance, in which the thirst after earthly treasures is allayed, and a sovereignty and ownership, in which a most noble enjoyment of all riches is established. All this, my daughter, and many other blessings are contained in voluntary poverty, and all this the sons of the world are ignorant and deprived of, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches and enemies of this holy and opulent poverty.”
—Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 85
Daily Verse †We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:19-20
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EWTN Daily Saint
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Pope Saint Callistus I.Patron Saint of: Cemetery workers, gravediggers, and undertakers
Feast Day: October 14 Pope St. Callistus I (d. 223 A.D.) was a Roman by birth and a Christian slave. He was the servant of a fellow Christian serving in the Roman imperial household. He was entrusted with the task of managing his master’s wealth, which he used to operate a bank into which many Christians invested their money. When the bank failed due to unpaid loans, Callistus fled the city in fear of retribution. He was soon caught, and in punishment was sentenced to hard slave labor in the Sardinian mines. He eventually obtained his freedom when he and the other Christian slaves working in the mines were released, or perhaps ransomed, with special pardon from the Emperor. Callistus was later recalled to Rome by Pope Zephyrinus to serve as his deacon, top adviser, and the caretaker of the important Christian cemetery along the Appian Way. This cemetery, which now bears Callistus’ name, contains the relics of many martyrs. When Pope Zephyrinus died, Callistus was elected to the Chair of St. Peter in 217 A.D. As pope, St. Callistus was known for his leniency and forgiveness. He upheld the teaching of the Church that grave sins could be forgiven with true contrition and due penance, which was controversial at the time. He reigned for five years and died a martyr; one account holds that he was killed by an anti-Christian mob, being thrown from his house and stoned to death. His feast day is October 14th.
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Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 469 Reading 1Galatians 5:18-25 Brothers and sisters:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. Responsorial PsalmPsalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 R. (see Jn 8:12) Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life. AlleluiaJohn 10:27 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. GospelLuke 11:42-46 The Lord said:
“Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.
Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
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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: Psalm 1:1-4, 6Blessed the man who . . . delights in the law of the Lord. (Psalm 1:1, 2) It may strike you as unusual to think of delighting when you think of laws. The word “law” can bring to mind a list of rules that you have to follow if you don’t want to face punishment. So why does the psalmist talk about the blessings of those who delight “in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 1:2)? Because when he ponders the Law, he sees the heart of the One who gave it. It’s the same with us as well. As we meditate on God’s law, we see how it expresses his desire to save his people; it shows his mercy and his patience. And that’s where we find delight and blessing. As today’s psalm tells us, when we set our hearts on God, the lawgiver, he fills us with good things. We become “like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season” (Psalm 1:3). He quenches our inner thirst for life and love. Even more, he enables us to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit in all seasons. St. Paul is a good example: his life shows us that delighting in the Law is not simply following a list of things to do or not do. As a Pharisee, he acknowledges that “in righteousness based on the law,” he “was blameless” (Philippians 3:6). And yet something changed dramatically when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul realized that by fulfilling God’s plan of salvation, Jesus had fulfilled the Law as well. But that didn’t make the Law useless: Paul also came to see that meditating on that very same Law—the Law enshrined in the word of God—opened him to the Holy Spirit and produced the fruit that he talks about in today’s first reading (Galatians 5:22-23): fruit like joy, patience, generosity, and self-control. This is the blessedness that comes to us as we contemplate God’s law. He fills us with his life and starts to lessen our desires for sin and our drive toward selfishness. The weight of striving on our own power falls away, and our love for his ways grows. Because God’s love and his desire for us to walk with him are part of every one of his decrees. Today, let’s proclaim with the psalmist that we delight in the law of the Lord! “Jesus, I delight in your law!” Galatians 5:18-25
Luke 11:42-46
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Reflections with Brother Adrian:
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“Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
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From Roberto Juarez end of his reflection:
"Jesus' words are demanding because they call us to a profound conversion. It is not enough to fulfill some religious practices, to occupy a place in the community or to know Christian teachings. We are called to live in such a way that God's love becomes visible in our decisions. Let us ask for the grace not to confuse the secondary with the essential; not to seek recognition over service; not to demand of others what we ourselves reject; and not to turn faith into a burden, but into a journey of encounter with Jesus Christ.
May the Lord purify our intentions, strengthen our coherence and grant us a just, humble and merciful heart. And may the Virgin Mary, humble servant of the Lord, teach us to listen to the Word and put it into practice. Like her, may we know how to respond to God with availability and demonstrate our faith through concrete love for our brothers and sisters." end quote.
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From Bishop Barron's ending of his reflection:
"Some religious leaders get their kicks from burdening people, laying the law on them heavily, making demands that are terrible, exulting in their own moral superiority. At the core of Jesus’s program is a willingness to bear other people’s burdens, to help them carry their loads. And this applies to the moral life as well. If we lay the burden of God’s law on people, we must be willing, at the same time, to help them bear it. When were you cured by Christ and how? What was it like to receive, through the Church, his healing touch? When did you feel ostracized, despised, unworthy—and how did Christ, through his Church, restore you to health and communion? Remember that moment and share it." end quote.
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From your brother Adrian:
"You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. " said our Lord today.
I sometimes tell some people that give to church, to also come give of their time.
It is so different than just giving money. The money you gave to feed the homeless is great! But if only you would come serve as well…everything changes on the giving. It becomes personal. Something happens with the hearts.
Perhaps, that is today's lesson…because, our Lord sees what is going on inside of us.
He sees whitewashed tombs…
He said: "You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.
Woe to you! ".
Now I am going to get personal. Vanity. Things of pride.
"Oh, what will people think of me now!".
It keeps so many people away from God! Why? "What will people think of me?". As if it were bad to be close to God Himself! WHAT? Isn't that weird?
Be backwards from that train of thought. People dismiss themselves and say things like "I'm spiritual but NOT religious". Say what? As if you can split these apart? What does that even mean? It is a dichotomy. What does THAT word mean? A dichotomy is a division, contrast, or separation between two things that are represented as being completely opposed, mutually exclusive, or entirely different.
But all things of God also involve everything that is spiritual! Amen? The obedience. The love of God. The act of living in the Holy Spirit, and this continuous battle with evil spirits! It is all about being religious!
So what some mean is that "I've got my own private thing going on with God". Which inevitably means they are not living in a community, they are not going to church, they are their own religion. What does the word "religion" mean? Simply put, it means a set of beliefs.
But what our Lord said today, is that these Pharisees were missing the point. And this can be deadly, for many eyes are watching you.
They exemplified the law of Moses, to the exactness of the law they had made up. But they missed the point. If a law was to purify a person, then it was all about the person, not so much the law, right?
The phrase "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" is a statement spoken by our Lord in the Bible Gateway Gospel of Mark (Mark 2:27).
The same with the law. It was for man to be more united with God!
And this whole Sabbath thing was to be a revelation of being one with Him…forever.
Some have said "tell me what you do on Sunday, and I will tell you how you will spend your eternity".
Do we go to Mass out of obedience…only?
How many of us go to encounter our Lord with open hearts and open minds, and open arms as He is at the altar?
And that is the point…God meets man, and man becomes intimately united with Him at the Altar.
This is a phenomena that few experience sincerely.
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Random Bible Verse
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Word of the Lord!
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God Bless You! Peace
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