SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Tuesday - June 01, 2021

 

Tuesday - June 01, 2021

Love overcomes, love delights, 

those who love the Sacred Heart rejoice.

 

- St. Bernadette Soubirous

June 1, 2021

Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
Lectionary: 354

 

Reading 1                                                                 Tb 2:9-14

On the night of Pentecost, after I had buried the dead,

I, Tobit, went into my courtyard

to sleep next to the courtyard wall.

My face was uncovered because of the heat.

I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me,

till their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts.

I went to see some doctors for a cure

but the more they anointed my eyes with various salves,

the worse the cataracts became,

until I could see no more.

For four years I was deprived of eyesight, and

all my kinsmen were grieved at my condition.

Ahiqar, however, took care of me for two years,

until he left for Elymais.

 

At that time, my wife Anna worked for hire

at weaving cloth, the kind of work women do.

When she sent back the goods to their owners, they would pay her.

Late in winter on the seventh of Dystrus,

she finished the cloth and sent it back to the owners.

They paid her the full salary

and also gave her a young goat for the table.

On entering my house the goat began to bleat.

 

I called to my wife and said: “Where did this goat come from?

Perhaps it was stolen! Give it back to its owners;

we have no right to eat stolen food!”

She said to me, “It was given to me as a bonus over and above my wages.”

Yet I would not believe her,

and told her to give it back to its owners.

I became very angry with her over this.

So she retorted: “Where are your charitable deeds now?

Where are your virtuous acts?

See! Your true character is finally showing itself!”

 

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              112:1-2, 7-8, 9

 

R. (see 7c) The heart of the just one is firm, trusting in the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

 

Blessed the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in his commands.

His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;

the upright generation shall be blessed.

R. The heart of the just one is firm, trusting in the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

An evil report he shall not fear;

his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear

till he looks down upon his foes.

R. The heart of the just one is firm, trusting in the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Lavishly he gives to the poor;

his generosity shall endure forever;

his horn shall be exalted in glory.

R. The heart of the just one is firm, trusting in the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

 

Gospel Acclamation                                              Eph 1:17-18

Alleluia Alleluia

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our hearts,

that we may know what is the hope

that belongs to his call.

Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mk 12:13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent

to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.

They came and said to him,

“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man

and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.

You do not regard a person’s status

but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?

Should we pay or should we not pay?”

Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,

“Why are you testing me?

Bring me a denarius to look at.”

They brought one to him and he said to them,

“Whose image and inscription is this?”

They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”

So Jesus said to them,

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God.”

They were utterly amazed at him.

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The Holy Spirit's Gift of Courage

Have you ever been tripped or trapped by a challenging question? How did you feel? How do you think Jesus felt when it happened to him? Assuredly, he took it much more calmly than you or I do. Why is that?

 

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus responds to a trap laid by Pharisees and Herodians. His confidence comes from knowing that the Holy Spirit always provides the right words and the perfect wisdom.

 

You and I have been given the same Spirit.

 

What do you need from the Holy Spirit so that you can serve God's kingdom courageously? Whatever it is, God's Spirit is reliable and will make everything available to you exactly when you need it. If you don't seem to have it now, it's because you don't need it yet.

 

Courage comes from trust. Although it might feel like you don't have what it takes to stand up to trouble and become victorious, that's only because you're moving beyond your comfort zone. If the situation were in your comfort zone, you wouldn't need courage. Trusting God means taking bold, scary steps into the unfamiliar.

 

One year on Pentecost, I asked for the Holy Spirit's boldness to speak up against injustices that I sometimes witness within our beloved Church. Normally, if speaking up is politically incorrect, if it's socially unacceptable, if it strays from the expectations of what "should" happen in church, if it's outside the comfort zone of the rules of "normalcy", or if it could result in a reprimand or disapproval, my heart would race, my knees would tremble, and I would keep my mouth shut.

 

God readily gives us opportunities for doing what we hope to learn. Shortly after asking for boldness, I found myself facing the need to ask a priest to delay Mass. An accident on the street was keeping many people from reaching church on time. I made the decision to let my concern for these people outweigh my fears.

 

This might not seem like a big deal to some of my readers, but for many Americans, starting Mass on time and ending on time (or ending early) is a big deal. And for many Catholic Americans, disagreeing with a priest is an even bigger deal.

 

The priest replied that Mass must always start on time. To my surprise, I looked him in the eye and, with my voice full of compassion, said: "For the sake of the people who want to be here on time but cannot, please wait just a few minutes!" The priest's reply? "Okay."

 

That happened a long time ago. Since then, I have experienced that same Spirit-filled confidence every time God wants me to stand up to injustices, which always involves stepping away from what's normal and expected and socially "proper". However, to receive this gift from the Holy Spirit, I have to be willing to feel uncomfortable.

 

What's the gift you're asking for? He's ready to provide it! Now ask the Holy Spirit to show you what comfort zone you must step away from so that you can experience this gift.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord Jesus, may Your image be always printed in my heart so that I may give You what is fair: All my life. 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!” 

SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Monday - May 31, 2021

  

Monday - May 31, 2021

“To give worthy praise to the Lord's mercy, we unite ourselves with Your Immaculate Mother, for then our hymn will be more pleasing to You, because She is chosen from among men and angels. Through Her, as through a pure crystal, Your mercy was passed on to us. Through Her, man became pleasing to God; Through Her, streams of grace flowed down upon us.”

 - St. Faustina

May 31, 2021

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary: 572

 

Reading 1                                                                 Zep 3:14-18a

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!

    Sing joyfully, O Israel!

Be glad and exult with all your heart,

    O daughter Jerusalem!

The LORD has removed the judgment against you,

    he has turned away your enemies;

The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,

    you have no further misfortune to fear.

On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:

    Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!

The LORD, your God, is in your midst,

    a mighty savior;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

    and renew you in his love,

He will sing joyfully because of you,

    as one sings at festivals.

 

OR:   

Rom 12:9-16

 

Brothers and sisters:

Let love be sincere;

hate what is evil,

hold on to what is good;

love one another with mutual affection;

anticipate one another in showing honor.

Do not grow slack in zeal,

be fervent in spirit,

serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope,

endure in affliction,

persevere in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,

exercise hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you,

bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice,

weep with those who weep.

Have the same regard for one another;

do not be haughty but associate with the lowly;

do not be wise in your own estimation.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

 

R.    (6)  Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

 

God indeed is my savior;

    I am confident and unafraid.

My strength and my courage is the LORD,

    and he has been my savior.

With joy you will draw water

    at the fountain of salvation.

R.    Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;

    among the nations make known his deeds,

    proclaim how exalted is his name.

R.    Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;

    let this be known throughout all the earth.

Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,

    for great in your midst

    is the Holy One of Israel!

R.    Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

 

Gospel Acclamation                                              Lk 1:45

Alleluia Alleluia

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.

Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 1:39-56

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

“Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.”

 

And Mary said:

 

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

    my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

    for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

    the Almighty has done great things for me,

    and holy is his Name.

 

He has mercy on those who fear him

    in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

    he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

    and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

    and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

    for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

    the promise he made to our fathers,

    to Abraham and his children for ever.”

 

Mary remained with her about three months

and then returned to her home.

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Being visited by Our Blessed Mother

Imagine what it might have been like for Elizabeth when Mary visited her, as told in today's Gospel story. Have you been personally visited by Our Blessed Mother? I'm not talking about having visions or getting messages from her. Do you know what it's like to have a personal relationship with her, in which you experience her motherly concern for you? Because God loves you and wants the best for you, through his power this is possible!

 

I grew up Protestant. Although I became Catholic in 1977, I couldn't feel any personal connection to Mary. I listened to what others with more experience said about her, but it just didn't seem real. I learned to pray the Rosary, but it was boring and less meaningful than my other methods of praying.

 

After a few years of trying and failing to understand how to experience Mary's motherly involvement in my life, I gave up and told Jesus that if he wanted me to have a relationship with his mom, he'd have to introduce her to me. A few more years went by.

 

In 1990, I landed a job as a staff reporter for a Catholic newspaper. One day, I was invited to write about a Marian speaker named Wayne Weible while he toured my diocese. As I interviewed the man who had organized the event, he told me that Our Lady had personally selected me to cover this story. Wow! She picked me? This was not just a decision by my editor? What a thought!

 

I travelled with Mr. Weible from church to church for my article. I questioned him, I listened to him, I prayed with him. I watched people thank him for his words. Some of them gave him gifts, such as a crucifix and a picture of Mary. Each time, he turned and gave them to me and said, "Your mother wants you to have this." Really? Mary was giving me gifts through these people?

 

I was not convinced. She continued to feel like a stranger. I knew about her, but she seemed long-dead and far away. That night before I went to sleep, I told Jesus again that if he wants me to have a relationship with his mother, he'd have to make it happen.

 

The next morning, I awoke feeling very different. Don't ask me how it happened, but I now had a genuine understanding of who Mary is to me: that she loves me, knows me, cares about me, prays for me, prays with me, and works to accomplish much good for me. She has been dear to me ever since. She guided me into starting Good News Ministries even before I knew God's plans for this.

 

Mary cares about you, too, and every person you know. From heaven, she mourns for those who reject her Son, and she laughs for joy with those who delight in the Lord. She is real. Her love for you is real. She very much wants to have an "Elizabeth experience" with each of us and to praise the Lord with us. She wants us to sing our own Magnificat with her. This is the basis of our relationship with her: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord .... "

 

Imagine the two of you making this a duet for the Father! "God who is mighty has done great things for us, and holy is his name!"

 

Today's Prayer

 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving us Your own Mother as an aid to our salvation. Praised be You, Holy Spirit, because Your full presence in Mary reaches us through her intercession. 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!”

SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Sunday - May 30, 2021

  

Sunday - May 30, 2021

O how long ago the earth would have been destroyed, if Mary had not interposed!

-St. Fulgentius

May 30, 2021

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Lectionary: 165

 

Reading 1                                                                 Dt 4:32-34, 39-40

Moses said to the people:

"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,

ever since God created man upon the earth;

ask from one end of the sky to the other:

Did anything so great ever happen before?

Was it ever heard of?

Did a people ever hear the voice of God

speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?

Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself

from the midst of another nation,

by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,

with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,

all of which the LORD, your God,

did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

This is why you must now know,

and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God

in the heavens above and on earth below,

and that there is no other.

You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today,

that you and your children after you may prosper,

and that you may have long life on the land

which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."

 

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22

 

R. (12b)  Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

 

Upright is the word of the LORD,

    and all his works are trustworthy.

He loves justice and right;

    of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made;

    by the breath of his mouth all their host.

For he spoke, and it was made;

    he commanded, and it stood forth.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,

    upon those who hope for his kindness,

To deliver them from death

    and preserve them in spite of famine.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the LORD,

    who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us

    who have put our hope in you.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

 

Reading 2                                                                 Rom 8:14-17

Brothers and sisters:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,

but you received a Spirit of adoption,

through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit

that we are children of God,

and if children, then heirs,

heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,

if only we suffer with him

so that we may also be glorified with him.

 

Gospel Acclamation                                              Rv 1:8

Alleluia Alleluia

Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;

to God who is, who was, and who is to come.

Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,

to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.

When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.

Then Jesus approached and said to them,

"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

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YOU ARE VERY SPECIAL TO ALL OF THE HOLY TRINITY!

You are very special to God. You belong to God -- all of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

The reason why it's so important to be baptized in the name of the full Holy Trinity, as Jesus instructs in this Sunday's Gospel reading, instead of only through Jesus our Savior as a few Protestant sects do, is because God in his fullness -- all three Persons of the triune nature of God -- wants to have a personal relationship with you, a true friendship.

 

Are you aware of living in a special love relationship with each Person of the Trinity? Can you sit and chat with God as Father, God as Savior, and God as Holy Spirit? When you're feeling hurt, can you sit in the Father's lap and receive his comfort? When you're fighting temptation, can you feel the strength of Jesus coming to your rescue? When you're worried or confused or struggling to have faith, are you aware of the Spirit's gentle guidance?

 

The Father of Jesus is our own, very special Divine Daddy or Abba in the reading from Romans. Is he a fearsome punishing authority who barely understands you? No, he gladly adopted you during your baptism, because he's a doting daddy who provides for our needs.

 

The Holy Spirit assures us of this. God's Spirit embraces us and comforts us and teaches us everything we need to know so we can live in the joy of a life that's full of love. And in that love, Jesus sacrificed himself for us so that we can be free from the punishment of sin and live holy lives with the help of his Holy Spirit.

 

God is a trinity of helpers, healers, strengtheners, and faith-builders. He wants you to live in the fullness of his divinity! He wants you to benefit from all that he is.

 

As baptized Christians and as sacramental Catholics who have God's presence fully available in the Eucharist, we lack nothing that really matters!

 

Today's Prayer

 

My Lord, May I always recognize and accept the commission You gave me, spreading fearlessly the Good News, remembering that You are always by my side. 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!”