SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Saturday - December 07, 2019

Saturday - December 07, 2019

Man’s maker was made man, that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that the Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.

~~St. Augustine of Hippo

 

December 7 2019

 

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Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 180

Reading 1IS 30:19-21, 23-26

Thus says the Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel:
O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem,
no more will you weep;
He will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need
and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
"This is the way; walk in it,"
when you would turn to the right or to the left.

He will give rain for the seed
that you sow in the ground,
And the wheat that the soil produces
will be rich and abundant.
On that day your flock will be given pasture
and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows;
The oxen and the asses that till the ground
will eat silage tossed to them
with shovel and pitchfork.
Upon every high mountain and lofty hill
there will be streams of running water.
On the day of the great slaughter,
when the towers fall,
The light of the moon will be like that of the sun
and the light of the sun will be seven times greater
like the light of seven days.
On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people,
he will heal the bruises left by his blows.

Responsorial PsalmPS 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R.(see Isaiah 30:18d) Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
Praise the LORD, for he is good;
sing praise to our God, for he is gracious;
it is fitting to praise him.
The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
the dispersed of Israel he gathers.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
Great is our LORD and mighty in power:
to his wisdom there is no limit.
The LORD sustains the lowly;
the wicked he casts to the ground.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.

AlleluiaIS 33:22

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The LORD is our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King;
he it is who will save us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest."

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus,
"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

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God Hears You When You Cry Out

Saturday's first reading assures us that God will be gracious to you when you cry out. As soon as he hears you he will answer you.

But do you have complete faith in that? I do; I know that he hears and answers us, but I have my doubts about the next verse:

"The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst."

Has the Lord given you everything you need? I've been waiting a long time for his miraculous interventions in some of my greatest thirsts.

While we have faith in the promise that God always provides, our experiences don't always match what faith tells us. Right?

For a long time, my morning prayers have included: "Come Holy Spirit, renew me. Come Holy Spirit, increase in me the gift of faith for miracles." But recently I learned that it's important to add: "Gift me the gift of faith for miracles and the experiences that will increase my faith and the faith of others."

In some parts of the world today, that last part is not necessary. There are places where people gather to praise and worship the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the results are like what we read about in the Book of Acts when the earliest Christians gathered to share their faith. If you have that available, realize that you are very blessed and there are many Catholic Christians who long to see what you see and experience what you experience.

In cultures like mine, independence and self-sufficiency are the lords of many lives. It's individualism to the extent that we're too busy with our personal agendas to make time for community gatherings except for Sunday Mass and, if we're more involved than the average Catholic, monthly committee meetings. This leads to spiritual isolation. And the Devil is thrilled!

Praise be to God, I do experience miracles. But not nearly as often as do those who belong to vibrant Charismatic prayer communities.

Miracles are not meant to be extraordinary events. To evangelize non-believers in today's world, with its escalating relativism and immorality, we have to rely heavily on the Holy Spirit. It is only the Holy Spirit who can change hearts and minds.

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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!”