SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Saturday - December 01, 2018

Saturday - December 01, 2018

"Virtues are formed by prayer.

Prayer preserves temperance.

Prayer suppresses anger.

Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.

Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven."

-- St Ephraem

 

December 1, 2018

 

« November 30  |  December 2 »

Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 508

Reading 1RV 22:1-7

John said:
An angel showed me the river of life-giving water,
sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God
and of the Lamb down the middle of the street,
On either side of the river grew the tree of life
that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month;
the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.
Nothing accursed will be found anymore.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and his servants will worship him.
They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun,
for the Lord God shall give them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, 
and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits,
sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.”
“Behold, I am coming soon.”
Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.

Responsorial PsalmPS 95:1-2, 3-5, 6-7AB

R. (1 Cor 16: 22b, see Rev. 22: 20c) Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great king above all gods;
In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the tops of the mountains are his.
His is the sea, for he has made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
R. Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!

AlleluiaLK 21:36

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 21:34-36

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”

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 The Voice amidst voices

   

One day, a music teacher from a high school told his students that everyone would graduate if they could accomplish the challenge he was going to propose to them. The enthusiastic students accepted and, believing that nothing could be more difficult than a final exam of all topics of the whole year, they eagerly awaited his proposal.

"Well," said the professor, "the challenge is to follow the oboe throughout a piece of music, indicating when it is executed and when it is silent."

The students' smiles immediately disappeared from their faces: "The oboe? What does an oboe sound like?"

"Ah!" said the professor. "You'll have to find out! You have one week. The test will be next Monday." The students looked at each other and, thinking that it shouldn't be too bad, they agreed.

At home, each child began to search the social networks and other media for the sound of an oboe. They found musical pieces by Bach, Hellinger and other musicians who composed exclusive musical plays for oboes. Some were surprised by the beauty and sweetness of the oboe's sound, but others, annoyed, also focused on listening to the whole music performances.

Of course, the pieces for oboes were simple, but -- to detect an oboe in a symphony orchestra? In the midst of so many instruments? It was not easy! The piano, the violin, the cello stood out a lot and hid the sound of the oboe. To hear the oboe required spending a lot of time learning its distinctive sound.

We Christians face a similar challenge. We have to learn to detect the voice of the Holy Spirit in the midst of so many other voices in the world! How can we know when it is the Spirit of God that is speaking to us and not our imagination, our own desires, the world or the "great enemy"? Like the kids in high school, we have to spend a lot of time listening to the Holy Spirit in solitude so we can then distinguish God's voice in the midst of so much noise.

There is much anger and fear in our world today. We feel it ourselves when we hear about corruption in our Church or the politics that make friends seem like enemies or the loss of our children to the immorality of the world. This, too, is noise that prevents us from hearing God unless we vigilantly take time to pray and do it often.

Jesus tells us in this Saturday's Gospel reading: "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent." Be vigilant and pray, that is, in the company of the Holy Spirit , listening to our Father, dialoguing with Jesus, trying to discern the ways of God, because only then will the noise of the world be unable to cover the Voice of the One who is the "Water that gives Life".

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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!”

SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - November 30, 2018

Friday - November 30, 2018

"Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be."

~St. John Berchmans

 

November 30, 2018

 

« November 29  |  December 1 »

Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Lectionary: 684

Reading 1 ROM 10:9-18

Brothers and sisters:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone to preach?
And how can people preach unless they are sent?
As it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!
But not everyone has heeded the good news;
for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?
Thus faith comes from what is heard,
and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
But I ask, did they not hear?
Certainly they did; for

Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.

Responsorial PsalmPS 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R. (10) The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. (John 6:63) Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

AlleluiaMT 4:19

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father 
and followed him.

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How to Evangelize Our Families

We all have the vocation of revealing the Gospel of Joy so that others feel attracted to Christ. Through baptism, we have been joined to the ministry and purposes of Christ. We are called and empowered by his Spirit to give others the joy that heals. The world becomes a better place because we are apostles of joy.

In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus calling people into apostleship. Saint Andrew was the first Apostle (see John 1:40-42), and although he would later lead many others to Christ, the first person he evangelized was his brother, Simon (who later became Peter our first pope). Can you see the joy he shared with his brother?

The most difficult people to evangelize are usually our own family members. We're too close. We care so much about them that we're too hard on them. And since no one likes to believe that they need to change, we don't have much credibility when we invite them to change.

Apostleship means being sent forth to do whatever God calls us to do. Remember that whatever he calls us to do he gifts us and empowers us to do. The first reading describes why God gives us apostolates: The message must go out! And it describes our importance: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

Being good apostles and terrific evangelizers does not mean that we're going to be successful at changing the hearts and minds of family members. "Not everyone has heeded the good news." But it's at home where we learn to love others unconditionally. It's at home where we become good at forgiving. And it's at home where we're tested and strengthened in serving others with joy.

Fulfilling our vocation of joy in the home does not mean preaching conversion and debating the need to go to Mass. We can evangelize them by treating them the way Christ wants to treat them. Consider every interaction as an opportunity for them to meet Jesus, even if they stubbornly refuse to recognize him in you. And when they ask questions and show an openness to learning from us, then we can evangelize through words.

They already know that you follow Christ and that you go to Mass because you believe that participation in church community makes an important difference. You don't need to remind them. Simply concentrate on bringing more of Christ's joy into the relationships.

Today's Prayer

Lord, give me a docile heart and alert ears to Your calling, to send me whenever and wherever You want. Amen.

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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!”

SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Thursday - November 29, 2018

Thursday - November 29, 2018

Extend your mercy towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His Mercy from us?

~~ Saint Vincent de Paul

 

November 29, 2018

 

« November 28  |  November 30 »

Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 506

Reading 1RV 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9A

I, John, saw another angel coming down from heaven,
having great authority,
and the earth became illumined by his splendor.
He cried out in a mighty voice:

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has become a haunt for demons.
She is a cage for every unclean spirit,
a cage for every unclean bird,
a cage for every unclean and disgusting beast."

A mighty angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone
and threw it into the sea and said:

"With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down,
and will never be found again.
No melodies of harpists and musicians,
flutists and trumpeters,
will ever be heard in you again.
No craftsmen in any trade
will ever be found in you again.
No sound of the millstone
will ever be heard in you again.
No light from a lamp
will ever be seen in you again.
No voices of bride and groom
will ever be heard in you again.
Because your merchants were the great ones of the world,
all nations were led astray by your magic potion."

After this I heard what sounded like
the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying:

"Alleluia!
Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God,
for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great harlot 
who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

They said a second time:

"Alleluia! Smoke will rise from her forever and ever."

Then the angel said to me, "Write this:
Blessed are those who have been called
to the wedding feast of the Lamb."

Responsorial PsalmPS 100:1B-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (Rev. 19: 9a) Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
For he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

AlleluiaLK 21:28

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 21:20-28

Jesus said to his disciples:
"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword
and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;
and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand."

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ENJOY THE WEDDING FEAST!

What is your Babylon? Read today's first scripture selection and think of Babylon as something in yourself that needs to be thrown into the sea. Selfishness is one example, or any sin that you have not yet overcome. Imagine it as a huge millstone. This is a haunt for demons, a cage for every unclean spirit, a prison that has locked up a part of your life and is barring God from touching you and healing you.

If you desire to overcome it, an angel with great authority picks it up and tosses it like a pebble into the sea. It quickly sinks into the murky depths where you can see it no longer. Not even God can see it, because the only thing he's looking at is the Jesus in you. You're glowing with the goodness you received from Jesus in your baptism. God is absolutely, totally in love with you.

This is what happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

"Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb." In the symbolic language of the Book of Revelation, the Lamb is Christ and the wedding day is the beginning of God's reign. Every time we seek forgiveness for our sins with a sincere desire to change, we renew the vows of our wedding day. God's reign begins anew in our lives, but now more fully than ever!

This is also what happens in the Sacrament of the Eucharist if we sincerely examine our consciences before Mass and desire to become holy in Christ. The entire Liturgy is a wedding feast. At the beginning of the celebration, we put on the white wedding gown during the Penitential Rite. Then as the bride of Christ, we walk down the aisle to become one with our Lord in Holy Communion. At the final blessing, we leave the church to show our spouse to the world.

This is also what happens in the Sacrament of Marriage.

When couples live together unmarried or they wed without the sacrament, they really don't understand the Holy Communion they're denying to their relationship. Weddings are meant to be reflections of the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, and marriages are meant to be reflections of the union between Christ and his beloved Church.

When sacramentally united couples attend Mass together, their commitment is re-energized, the banquet of the Eucharist heals disunity and empowers them to love each other even in the most difficult of circumstances, and they are sent forth with a final blessing to show the world what Christ's undying love is like.

Regardless of whether you are married or single, divorced or widowed, priest or religious, Jesus is absolutely, totally in love with you. He wants to enjoy total communion with you! Do whatever it takes to enter fully into that union.

Today's Prayer

I thank You, Lord, because You talk to my heart and You reveal Your word to me. Give me the grace of persevering in my faith and in my charity to others till Your triumphal coming. Amen.

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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!”