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

 

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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!”