Tuesday - October 02, 2018
"Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession."
- St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
October 2, 2018
Memorial of the Guardian Angels
Lectionary: 456/650
Reading 1JB 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
Job spoke out and said:
Perish the day on which I was born,
the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"
Why did I not perish at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?
Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth,
like babes that have never seen the light?
Wherefore did the knees receive me?
or why did I suck at the breasts?
For then I should have lain down and been tranquil;
had I slept, I should then have been at rest
With kings and counselors of the earth
who built where now there are ruins
Or with princes who had gold
and filled their houses with silver.
There the wicked cease from troubling,
there the weary are at rest.
Why is light given to the toilers,
and life to the bitter in spirit?
They wait for death and it comes not;
they search for it rather than for hidden treasures,
Rejoice in it exultingly,
and are glad when they reach the grave:
Those whose path is hidden from them,
and whom God has hemmed in!
Job spoke out and said:
Perish the day on which I was born,
the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"
Why did I not perish at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?
Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth,
like babes that have never seen the light?
Wherefore did the knees receive me?
or why did I suck at the breasts?
For then I should have lain down and been tranquil;
had I slept, I should then have been at rest
With kings and counselors of the earth
who built where now there are ruins
Or with princes who had gold
and filled their houses with silver.
There the wicked cease from troubling,
there the weary are at rest.
Why is light given to the toilers,
and life to the bitter in spirit?
They wait for death and it comes not;
they search for it rather than for hidden treasures,
Rejoice in it exultingly,
and are glad when they reach the grave:
Those whose path is hidden from them,
and whom God has hemmed in!
Responsorial PsalmPS 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8
R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
O LORD, my God, by day I cry out;
at night I clamor in your presence.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my call for help.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
For my soul is surfeited with troubles
and my life draws near to the nether world.
I am numbered with those who go down into the pit;
I am a man without strength.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
My couch is among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom you remember no longer
and who are cut off from your care.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
You have plunged me into the bottom of the pit,
into the dark abyss.
Upon me your wrath lies heavy,
and with all your billows you overwhelm me.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
O LORD, my God, by day I cry out;
at night I clamor in your presence.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my call for help.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
For my soul is surfeited with troubles
and my life draws near to the nether world.
I am numbered with those who go down into the pit;
I am a man without strength.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
My couch is among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom you remember no longer
and who are cut off from your care.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
You have plunged me into the bottom of the pit,
into the dark abyss.
Upon me your wrath lies heavy,
and with all your billows you overwhelm me.
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
AlleluiaPS 103:21
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Bless the LORD, all you angels,
you ministers, who do his will.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Bless the LORD, all you angels,
you ministers, who do his will.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 18:1-5, 10
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."
******************************
Our Angels Show Us How Important We Are To God
You are so important to God that he has assigned an angel to you, which you share with no one else, to help you throughout your life. This angel has been fulfilling its responsibilities to you all along, in ways that you can't even imagine.
When you've needed more angels, God has given you more, especially if you asked him to send more. One of my routine morning prayers is: "Father God, surround me with holy angels who will help me to know and do Your will today. Surround me with so many holy angels that demons cannot even see me or hear me."
Since angels are normally invisible to our eyes, and since we tend to use logic to explain away their interventions, we easily forget about them. In so doing, we underestimate how important we are to God. We worry and fret that he's forgetting about us or that he'll ignore our needs and that disaster will result. Thus, we feel like we're on our own when actually we are not!
How much help we receive from our angels depends upon our trust in God. If we don't really understand that we're important enough to God for him to give us angels, we won't understand their role in our lives. We won't understand their desire to be involved with us.
What the disciples wanted to know in today's Gospel reading is very familiar to our own thoughts: Are we good enough? Are we very important? We want to feel valued. We want to believe that we're indispensable. But what does Jesus think of this?
He raised up the lowliness of little children as an example of what is truly important in the kingdom of God. Toddlers know they are valued when their parents tend to their needs. Do they worry about being indispensable? Only if a brother or sister takes up all of Mama and Daddy's time. When they know they are loved, children know they are important.
We, on the other hand, work hard on feeling important. We expend a lot of effort to create an image of ourselves that's better than what we think we are. This puts us into the mindset of trying to find our value in what we do instead of who we are.
We are God's children; we were made in the image and likeness of our Daddy-God. As we can deduce from Matthew 18:10, the angels are here to help us be who we are.
God doesn't give us guardian angels to help us develop great reputations, because we are already great to God. Only when we cooperate with this - letting the angels minister to the child of God that we truly are - only then can they guide us into doing great things for God. Only then can they guard us from the evil of whatever endangers his plans for us.
If we're sincere in repenting from whatever it is that obscures who we really are, then when we look in the mirror we can see the face that our angels see. Try it. Look for the child of God in the mirror. If you're not rejecting the good person that your Daddy-God sees when he looks at you, you will discover how very beautiful you are to him.
Today's Prayer
Lord, give me mindful eyes to discover Your greatness in the simplicity of what You have given us. Amen.
God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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