SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Tuesday - September 08, 2020 [Feast of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary]

 

Tuesday - September 08, 2020

"O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity."

- Saint Basil the Great

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary  

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First reading	Micah 5:1-4 ©

He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord

The Lord says this:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

the least of the clans of Judah,

out of you will be born for me

the one who is to rule over Israel;

his origin goes back to the distant past,

to the days of old.

The Lord is therefore going to abandon them

till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.

Then the remnant of his brothers will come back

to the sons of Israel.

He will stand and feed his flock

with the power of the Lord,

with the majesty of the name of his God.

They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power

to the ends of the land.

He himself will be peace.

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Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 12(13):6-7 ©

I exult for joy in the Lord.

Lord, I trust in your merciful love.

  Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.

I exult for joy in the Lord.

Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me,

  singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

I exult for joy in the Lord.

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Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,

and most worthy of all praise,

for the sun of justice, Christ our God,

was born of you.

Alleluia!

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Gospel
Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 ©

The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,

Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram was the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,

Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,

Obed was the father of Jesse;

and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,

Joram the father of Azariah,

Azariah was the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah;

and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.

Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon:

Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor was the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Achim,

Achim the father of Eliud,

Eliud was the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob;

and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;

of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

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Trusting the Creativity of God in Bad Times

The reading from today's second reading reminds us that all things work together for the good of those who love God. Even the bad things that happen to us will get put to good use if we entrust them to the creativity of our all-powerful, mercifully loving God.

The Jews who read or heard the recitation of Jesus' genealogy in today's Gospel reading saw this spiritual principle illustrated. The list of Christ's ancestors demonstrated that the Messiah came from a long line of sinners. The point of this reading: Despite the errors of the people, God accomplished his salvation plans.

For example, everyone knew that Jacob tricked Essau into selling his birthright. If Jacob had behaved himself, Essau would have become the family's patriarch and the genealogical line would have gone off in a different direction. But Jacob became one of the founding fathers of Judaism. From his line came Joseph, the husband of Mary. If Essau had become head of the family, would Joseph still have been the foster father of the Messiah?

God's plans are always accomplished, eventually, one way or another. By putting God in charge of our lives, rather than taking matters into our own hands out of frustration and impatience, realizing that his timing is always perfect, and remembering that his plans are always good, we realize that we can and should have hope and joy, even while we suffer in the moment of today's trials.

God has fun making good come from evil. I can picture him smirking at Satan and saying (like we did as children when we tricked the bullies), "Nah-nah, nah-nah-nah! You didn't get your way after all. I'm bigger than you are!"

What mishaps have discouraged you? What sins have diverted your path from God's plans? What problems have other people caused you? What mistakes have you made that you strongly wish had never happened?

Is God bigger than these? Does he care about you enough to make them useful for your growth? Does he want to make them work as blessings so that he can achieve another victory for his kingdom? Of course yes!

Is God imaginative enough to find a way to do what seems impossible? Of course yes!

So, why are you limiting your hopes to what only seems possible in your limited perspective? God enjoys doing the unexpected. He enjoys surprising us. And yet, we should not be surprised that he wants to turn bad times into blessings.

Consider what we celebrate today, September 8^th. Mary was born without the effects of Original Sin so that she could later carry God in her totally human womb. If the Divine Father of Mary could do the impossible once for the sake of his salvation plan, he can do it again and again. And he wants to!

God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him and respond to his calling to serve his purposes. You have been called. Do not worry about things that go wrong, for God will develop awesome plans from them and despite them.

Today's Prayer

Thank You, my Lord, because You renew everything and You want to give me the opportunity to write a new and wonderful story for my life with you. Amen.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”