SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Monday - July 01, 2019

Monday - July 01, 2019

He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it.

~~Blessed Titus Brandsma

 

July 1 2019

 

« June 30  |  July 2 »

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 377

Reading 1GN 18:16-33

Abraham and the men who had visited him by the Terebinth of Mamre
set out from there and looked down toward Sodom;
Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their way.
The LORD reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
now that he is to become a great and populous nation,
and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?
Indeed, I have singled him out
that he may direct his children and his household after him
to keep the way of the LORD
by doing what is right and just,
so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham
the promises he made about him."
Then the LORD said:
"The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,
and their sin so grave,
that I must go down and see whether or not their actions
fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me.
I mean to find out."

While the two men walked on farther toward Sodom,
the LORD remained standing before Abraham.
Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said:
"Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?
Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city;
would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it
for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?
Far be it from you to do such a thing,
to make the innocent die with the guilty,
so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike!
Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"
The LORD replied,
"If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom,
I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Abraham spoke up again:
"See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,
though I am but dust and ashes!
What if there are five less than fifty innocent people?
Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?"
He answered, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."
But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it for the sake of forty."
Then Abraham said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on.
What if only thirty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there."
Still Abraham went on,
"Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord,
what if there are no more than twenty?"
He answered, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty."
But he still persisted:
"Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.
What if there are at least ten there?"
He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it."

The LORD departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham,
and Abraham returned home.

Responsorial PsalmPS 103:1B-2, 3-4, 8-9, 10-11

R. (8a)  The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. 
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him. 
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

AlleluiaPS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 8:18-22

When Jesus saw a crowd around him,
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”

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Letting Go of Excuses

In our Gospel reading today, we see a scribe who's very excited about Jesus. Do you know the feeling? We get charged up while hearing a parish mission priest or a conference speaker or a stirring homily. But how long does that feeling last?

If you're still experiencing the thrill of growing spiritually, and if it's still producing good fruits, congratulate yourself. God is very pleased with you. He's admiring you, appreciating the work you're doing for his kingdom, and pointing you out to the angels and saints in heaven, saying, "Look at what my beloved child is doing!"

But --. Ahhh yes, the but. We sit on our buts far too often. Jesus is continually inviting us to produce more good fruits. Too many Christians do way too little for the kingdom of God, allowing evil to grow more of its own bitter fruits. But we have lots of buts, lots of excuses for why we're not doing more for the Lord and his Church.

Was Jesus complaining when he said he had no place to rest his head? I think not. He was no whiner. Listen closely: "The birds have nests, the foxes have lairs, Peter has a house where his mother-in-law cooks his favorite foods, and you have a spacious home in the suburbs, and I'm not always welcome there."

"But Jesus, when did you come to me and I did not feed you or shelter you or clothe you or give you a drink?"

One of his disciples said, "I want to go wherever you go, Lord, and do whatever you ask of me, but first let me bury my father." The reply Jesus gave him seems to be unsympathetic about the man's sorrow and loss. Was he really telling him to ignore his family and skip the grieving process? I think not. Jesus knows we can do important ministry in the family gatherings of funerals. He also knows when we're making excuses to avoid being sincere and whole-hearted about a life of holiness.

Following Jesus is never convenient. What's on your list of tasks that you're hoping God will not ask you to do? What are your buts? When you hear about a need that's going unmet and you could do something about it (with God's help, of course), do you say, "Sure, I'd do that if only -- but first -- later when --"?

You've heard the question: "If God is real, why is there so much evil in the world?" The answer is: It's not God's fault. There are still too few of us producing enough of the good fruits that defeat those evils.

"Let the dead bury their dead" is God's way of letting go of those who are not willing to join him in his work. He surrenders us to our deadness, but if we surrender to him, we become truly and excitedly alive as he works through us in mighty and amazing ways!

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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 : Sunday - June 30, 2019

 

Sunday - June 30, 2019

Never address your words to God

while you are thinking of

something else.

-- Teresa of Avila

 

June 30 2019

 

« June 29  |  July 1 »

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 99

Reading 11 KGS 19:16B, 19-21

The LORD said to Elijah:
"You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah,
as prophet to succeed you."

Elijah set out and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,
as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;
he was following the twelfth.
Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
"Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you."
Elijah answered, "Go back!
Have I done anything to you?"
Elisha left him, and taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;
he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,
and gave it to his people to eat.
Then Elisha left and followed Elijah as his attendant.

Responsorial PsalmPS 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

R. (cf. 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
 I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you.
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
 you it is who hold fast my lot."
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
 even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
 with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
 my body, too, abides in confidence
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
 nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
 fullness of joys in your presence,
 the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Reading 2GAL 5:1, 13-18

Brothers and sisters:
For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.

I say, then: live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. 
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Alleluia1 SM 3:9; JN 6:68C

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 9:51-62

When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him. 
On the way they entered a Samaritan village 
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. 
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?" 
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go." 
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

And to another he said, "Follow me." 
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." 
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. 
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home." 
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."

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How to Handle Rejection 

How well do you handle rejection? This Sunday's Gospel reading shows us how the disciples reacted to rejection. They had entered a Samaritan village ahead of Jesus, as he had asked them to do, to gather an audience. But because the Samaritans had an anti-Jewish prejudice, they didn't want to listen to Jesus. Their hearts were closed to anything he might want to say. And so they missed an opportunity to experience the Savior of the world.

How do you feel when close-hearted people reject your efforts to bring Jesus to them? What do you feel like doing when someone refuses to listen to you? Or when you try to explain a teaching of the Church but they don't even want to try to understand?

The disciples who traveled with Jesus didn't like rejection any more than we do. Two of his closest friends, James and John, thought they would do Jesus a favor by asking, "Do you want us to zap them with a lightning bolt?"

Jesus had previously told them to deal with rejection by wiping the dirt from their sandals and walking away. Now he lived what he preached by walking away these Samaritans. He didn't force his beliefs upon the villagers, even though they definitely needed the truths he could have taught them.

There's a lot we have to give up when we follow Jesus, including the grudges we like to hold and our desire to deal with rejection by retaliating. Why give others that kind of control over our moods? Wiping the dirt from our shoes means we get rid of the bad feelings that steal our joy.

At the end of this scripture, Jesus explains that following him is always a forward motion. We're always walking away from something -- away from rejection, away from our unloving reactions to prejudice, away from the close-heartedness of those who are as yet unteachable -- and moving into the loving embrace of Christ.

To move forward, remember that the Holy Spirit is the only one who can prepare a heart to receive Jesus. When we try to bring someone to Jesus and fail, we're not really failing; we're planting seeds rather than harvesting the crop. Let the Holy Spirit finish the work while you move on to other fields.

Who is frustrating you because he/she is not willing to change? What can you do to "walk away" lovingly and to give yourself a break? (It might not be a literal departure.)

Share the story of a time when someone rejected you because you spoke the truth. How did you feel about it? Did you walk away? How did (or might) the Holy Spirit work on that person's heart to prepare them to eventually accept the truth?

Today's Prayer

Forgive me, Lord, for being self-centered, focused only on my own needs and worries. I want to look at You and follow You with loyalty and a thankful heart. 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 : Friday - June 28, 2019

 

Friday - June 28, 2019

The Servant of Charity 

must go to bed each night 

so tired from work 

that he will think 

he has been beaten!

-- St. Louis Guanella

 

June 28 2019

 

« June 27  |  June 29 »

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 
Lectionary: 172

Reading 1EZ 34:11-16

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I will lead them out from among the peoples
and gather them from the foreign lands;
I will bring them back to their own country
and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel
in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places.
In good pastures will I pasture them,
and on the mountain heights of Israel
shall be their grazing ground.
There they shall lie down on good grazing ground,
and in rich pastures shall they be pastured
on the mountains of Israel.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.

Responsorial PsalmPS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6.

R.(1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
 he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
 for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
 I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
 that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
 in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
 my cup overflows. 
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
 all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
 for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Reading 2ROM 5:5B-11

Brothers and sisters:
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.

AlleluiaMT 11:29AB

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord,
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

OrJN 10:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord,
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 15:3-7

Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes:
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,     
'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance."

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A SHEPHERD’S LOVING HEART

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, you wanted to love me with a human love. You did not spare any sacrifice to love me. Even when I rejected you, you sought me out to bring me back to your fold. Give me a heart as loving as yours. Let me burn with zeal and charity for you, your souls, and your interests. Help me to understand that my life was given to me to love and spend itself loving souls and you.
Petition: Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like yours!
1. The Heart of a True Shepherd: The heart of Jesus pours out its love on us. He came into this world to love us more than anyone else ever could. He follows us long distances to bring us back to him. Christ compares himself to a shepherd, a lowly laborer who makes many sacrifices and puts himself at the service of the flock. A shepherd can give more importance to the life of his flock than to his own life. Christ, the Good Shepherd, lays down his life for his sheep. No flock, no matter how large or valuable, could ever be worth more than a shepherd. Yet the Father wants the sheep to be safe, to thrive, to grow and be strong. Christ dies to give us life. There is nothing that makes the shepherd happier than to give life to the sheep.
2. He Pitched His Tent Among Us: We celebrate our Shepherd and his love for us. He has loved us with an everlasting love that passes through a divine heart but also a human heart like ours. Christ is close to us as a shepherd. He did not remain aloof and distant but wanted to come down to our “desert” to rescue us when we were lost. He did not insist on living in luxury but pitched his tent among the flock, content to live like one of us. The Feast of the Sacred Heart celebrates that proximity to us through a divine love made human. He is true man as well as true God. He has made himself our brother.
3.A Devotion of Love: Christ wants to set each of us on his shoulders to carry us back to the Father. He does not force this on us but follows us until we are ready to surrender to him. Our devotion to the Sacred Heart is a devotion of love. We see a heart that has so loved the world while receiving so little love in return, and we desire to give ourselves to him more and more. We are saddened by the cold and heartless response that he receives in return for his sacrificial love – saddest of all, the weak half-hearted love from many of those who have been called to consecrate themselves lovingly to him. Christ invites us to help him bring in the lost sheep. We can call them and let them know that he is out searching for them. Above all, we can console him by giving our love to him.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, you let your heart be pierced for me on the cross as a sign of the plenitude of your unconditional love. Help me not to allow that sacrifice to go in vain. Inspire a deep and burning love in my soul that will not allow any infidelity or sin to cheapen my love for you. Allow me to accompany you in your mission to bring back the lost sheep. Make me an ambassador of your grace and mercy. May others come to know your love through that same love reflected in me.
Resolution: I will search for a lost sheep and encourage it to come back to Christ. I will be like Christ and not lose patience but charitably help that soul find its way back to the fold.

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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!”