SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Sunday - August 01, 2021

Sunday - August 01, 2021

 You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions.

 

-- St. John Mary Vianney

August 1, 2021

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 113

 

Reading 1                                                     EX 16:2-4, 12-15

The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them,

“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,

as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!

But you had to lead us into this desert

to make the whole community die of famine!”

 

Then the LORD said to Moses,

“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.

Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;

thus will I test them,

to see whether they follow my instructions or not.

 

“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.

Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,

and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,

so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”

 

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.

In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,

and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert

were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.

On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?”

for they did not know what it was.

But Moses told them,

“This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              PS 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54

 

R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

 

What we have heard and know,

    and what our fathers have declared to us,

we will declare to the generation to come

    the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength

    and the wonders that he wrought.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

He commanded the skies above

    and opened the doors of heaven;

he rained manna upon them for food

    and gave them heavenly bread.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Man ate the bread of angels,

    food he sent them in abundance.

And he brought them to his holy land,

    to the mountains his right hand had won.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

 

Reading 2                                                     EPH 4:17, 20-24

Brothers and sisters:

I declare and testify in the Lord

that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,

in the futility of their minds;

that is not how you learned Christ,

assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him,

as truth is in Jesus,

that you should put away the old self of your former way of life,

corrupted through deceitful desires,

and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

and put on the new self,

created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

 

Alleluia                                                                      MT 4:4B

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

One does not live on bread alone,

but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       JN 6:24-35

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,

they themselves got into boats

and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

And when they found him across the sea they said to him,

“Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered them and said,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

you are looking for me not because you saw signs

but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for food that perishes

but for the food that endures for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give you.

For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”

So they said to him,

“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them,

“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

So they said to him,

“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

What can you do?

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

    He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;

my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world.”

 

So they said to him,

“Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them,

“I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

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WORKING HARD FOR WHAT MATTERS MOST 

In this Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus says: "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life." In other words: In your daily life, work hard to obtain whatever will nourish your soul and sustain you past death into eternity.

 

Jesus says: "The work God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent." Why does he call this "work"?

 

To fully believe, we must work at getting rid of every doubt and distrust that interferes with our belief in Christ, our trust in his words (including what he inspired in the official teachings of the Church), and our willingness to conform to his way of life.

 

This work requires (1) identifying our vulnerabilities that make us doubt and distrust, (2) uncovering what we're afraid will happen if we do trust, and (3) overcoming that fear by gaining a better understanding of the truth. Any fear that interferes with our holiness is always based on something untrue.

 

Jesus says: "The bread of God, which nourishes your soul, is that which comes down from heaven and gives life." He's referring to his presence in the Eucharist, the bread that he provides in every Mass. What do you need to do so that you can be nourished more fully by the Eucharist? Is there something that's stopping you from receiving the Eucharist? Work hard to remedy that obstacle! It will make a difference to your eternal soul. If you're sincere about uniting yourself to Christ, he will make possible whatever is needed to clear the way.

 

Because the Eucharist is Jesus, it can heal us, purify us, and help us become more like Christ himself. However, it takes conscious effort to fully embrace this opportunity. Why would we want to be lazy about that? The benefits of hard work in our faith life will endure for eternity.

 

Today's Prayer

 

My Lord, May my love for You move me to search and announce the good news boldly and with perseverance. Thank you Lord, because Your work in me goes beyond my own existence in this world. 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 : Saturday - July 31, 2021

 Saturday - July 31, 2021

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.

~~Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

July 31, 2021

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Lectionary: 406

 

Reading 1                                                     Lv 25:1, 8-17

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

“Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–

so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.

Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound;

on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo

throughout your land.

This fiftieth year you shall make sacred

by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.

It shall be a jubilee for you,

when every one of you shall return to his own property,

every one to his own family estate.

In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee,

you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth

or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines.

Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you,

you may not eat of its produce,

except as taken directly from the field.

 

“In this year of jubilee, then,

every one of you shall return to his own property.

Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor

or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly.

On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee

shall you purchase the land from your neighbor;

and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops,

shall he sell it to you.

When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more;

when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less.

For it is really the number of crops that he sells you.

Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God.

I, the LORD, am your God.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11ab

 

R.     (4)  O God, let all the nations praise you!

 

May God have pity on us and bless us;

    may he let his face shine upon us.

So may your way be known upon earth;

    among all nations, your salvation.

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

May the nations be glad and exult

    because you rule the peoples in equity;

    the nations on the earth you guide.

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

The earth has yielded its fruits;

    God, our God, has blessed us.

May God bless us,

    and may all the ends of the earth fear him!

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 5:1014:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 14:1-12

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus

and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.

He has been raised from the dead;

that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

 

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison

on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,

for John had said to him,

“It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,

for they regarded him as a prophet.

But at a birthday celebration for Herod,

the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests

and delighted Herod so much

that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.

Prompted by her mother, she said,

“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

The king was distressed,

but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,

he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.

His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,

who took it to her mother.

His disciples came and took away the corpse

and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

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Reflection for Saturday:
Confession, one-to-one evangelization

By Fr. Thomas Calleja OFMConv
from Qawra, Malta

Recently I asked the Lord to grant me a break and change the air after an extended period of pandemic lock downs. The Lord understood my need; out of the blue just a couple of days later, I received an invitation to hear confessions for 5 weeks at the Vatican.

My Conventual Franciscan community in Malta agreed that I should accept the invitation. I soon flew to Rome.

The following day I started my ministry of hearing confessions in St. Peter's Basilica!

This was not the first time. I used to go to Rome every summer to hear confessions. I love this ministry. It gives me opportunity to do one-to-one evangelization. I try to make the penitent aware that confession is a personal encounter with Jesus who said: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17). In the Sacrament of Confession we meet the same Jesus who forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11) and the repentant thief who was crucified with him (Luke 23:43).

In the confessional box as a priest, I am aware that I'm just an instrument in God's hands, a channel of his love, mercy and forgiveness.

First I welcome and try to make the person feel comfortable as I give them time for expressing his/her wrongdoing. Then I try, with simple words, to convince the person that God, who is Love, wants to forgive all the sins that he or she has listed, together with all the sins that they have forgotten and even all the sins that they have committed from the time they where a little child till this very day.

I tell them that the Lord is not so much interested in their lists of sins, and the priest is even less interested. What the Lord desires most: He never refuses a contrite spirit, and a humble and contrite heart he will not spurn (Psalm 50). I normally explain that the Lord wants to grab all the sins they committed and throw them into the river of his love, mercy and forgiveness. I explain that the current of the waters carries away their sins and they will never have them again. I add that in that same river the Lord wants to give them a wash-up and also a clean heart and a pure spirit.

I often tell them that the Lord wants also to give them "new walking shoes". When I say this, I always see a smile on their face. They wonder why I mentioned the walking shoes. I explain that Jesus wants us not only to follow him, but also to walk closer with him. I remind them that Jesus' last words were: "I will be with you always, till the end of time (Matthew 28:20). I further explain that he is The Truth and so he keeps his words and is truly with us. But very often we are not with him. Jesus wants us to walk closer to him, like the sheep we read about in Psalm 23. This sheep in the Psalm shares that she has everything she needs (vs 1).

I try to explain how this sheep needs to be a model for us all. The Lord provided her with green pastures and living water. His rod and staff guided her. He prepared a table for her. At one point she says, "Even if walk through a valley of darkness, I will not be afraid". And the sheep explains why: "Because YOU LORD ARE WITH ME" (vs 4). That's the secret of her relationship with the Shepherd. The shepherd was with her and she was with him. This is the key to understanding the relationship between them.

During confession the Lord wants to have the same relationship with you and me -- with all of us. He wants to be with us and he wants us to be with him. 

As a follow-up to the confession, I invite the person to do some homework. I ask the person to go home, find a good and quiet time, open the Bible, look for Psalm 23, read it slowly and meditate upon it. Then I invite the person to see her/himself in the shoes of that sheep and see Jesus in that Shepherd -- in other words, make the sheep's experience their own experience.

At the end of the confession I notice that their face now is shining with joy. Jesus has touched their heart. I strongly believe that this is the beauty of confession: to help the person to meet and experience the presence of Jesus and his love for them. This is what I believe evangelization is all about. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta put it: "To have Jesus present in your heart and make him present in the hearts of others". Indeed, confession is a good opportunity to give Jesus and his forgiveness to others in a way that changes their lives forever.

+++++

Prayer against Depression - by Saint Ignatius of Loyola

O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things. 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 : Friday - July 30, 2021

Friday - July 30, 2021

All the darkness in the world 

cannot extinguish 

the light of a single candle.

~~St. Francis of Assisi

July 30, 2021

Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 405

 

Reading 1                                                     Lv 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37

The LORD said to Moses,

“These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate

at their proper time with a sacred assembly.

The Passover of the LORD falls on the fourteenth day of the first month,

at the evening twilight.

The fifteenth day of this month is the LORD’s feast of Unleavened Bread.

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assembly

and do no sort of work.

On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD.

Then on the seventh day you shall again hold a sacred assembly

and do no sort of work.”

 

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them:

When you come into the land which I am giving you,

and reap your harvest,

you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest

to the priest, who shall wave the sheaf before the LORD

that it may be acceptable for you.

On the day after the sabbath the priest shall do this.

 

“Beginning with the day after the sabbath,

the day on which you bring the wave-offering sheaf,

you shall count seven full weeks,

and then on the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day,

you shall present the new cereal offering to the LORD.

 

“The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement,

when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselves

and offer an oblation to the LORD.

 

“The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the LORD’s feast of Booths,

which shall continue for seven days.

On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly,

and you shall do no sort of work.

For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD,

and on the eighth day you shall again hold a sacred assembly

and offer an oblation to the LORD.

On that solemn closing you shall do no sort of work.

 

“These, therefore, are the festivals of the LORD

on which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly,

and offer as an oblation to the LORD burnt offerings and cereal offerings,

sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11ab

 

R.     (2a)  Sing with joy to God our help.

 

Take up a melody, and sound the timbrel,

    the pleasant harp and the lyre.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

    at the full moon, on our solemn feast.

R.     Sing with joy to God our help.

For it is a statute in Israel,

    an ordinance of the God of Jacob,

Who made it a decree for Joseph

    when he came forth from the land of Egypt.

R.     Sing with joy to God our help.

There shall be no strange god among you

    nor shall you worship any alien god.

I, the LORD, am your God

    who led you forth from the land of Egypt.

R.     Sing with joy to God our help.

 

Alleluia                                                                      1 Pt 1:2514:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The word of the Lord remains forever;

This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 13:54-58

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.

They were astonished and said,

“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

Is he not the carpenter’s son?

Is not his mother named Mary

and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

Are not his sisters all with us?

Where did this man get all this?”

And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and in his own house.”

 

And he did not work many mighty deeds there

because of their lack of faith.

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THE PRAYER TEARS OF REJECTION 

How do you handle the times when your desire to serve God with your gifts and skills is met with a closed door? Or when you're rejected for speaking the truth or for using your talents for the glory of God instead of some worldly purpose? What do you do when you know a problem can be resolved through the power of God -- you know how and you know why -- but your advice is ignored?

 

How did Jesus feel in today's Gospel reading when he saw the need for his miraculous healing touch, but the people chose to suffer because they would not trust him? How do you think he feels when this happens today?

 

Sometimes all we can do is weep: Weep for the ignorance and the stubbornness of those who shut their ears and their hearts. Weep while praying for them. Each tear is a drop of prayer, precious to Jesus.

 

Personally, I don't like to cry. My eyes get puffy, and I don't want to draw attention to myself. Lord God, take away this ministry of tears! Yet, I have seen Jesus cry. The first time I saw this was when I visited a college professor-friend who was dying of cancer. He asked me if I, as a Christian, could heal him. I told him I could not, only Jesus could. My friend replied that he wanted no part in such fantasy. I just stood there and blinked. Jesus cried.

 

Rejected prophets must leave those who refuse to believe and seek out those who will listen. Jesus didn't stay in Nazareth after his neighbors rejected his ministry. And he later told his disciples that instead of trying to nag and cajole others into believing, we're to wipe the dirt from our shoes and walk away.

 

But even though we depart, we must continue to love and pray for those who've refused our ministry of love. It's holy to feel the pain of their refusal -- it's the pain in their soul that we're feeling, a pain created by the hole that's eating away at their soul like an ulcer. Feeling their pain gives us tears for prayer.

 

When we give to Jesus our prayer-tears for others, we're joining ourselves to his ministry. And by following him, we will arrive at a place where we will make a difference.

 

On a different topic, I'd like to explain that in verses 55 & 56, "brothers" and "sisters" means relatives, because I'm usually asked about it when this scripture comes up. Research this by going to Matthew 27:55-56, where it's clear that the mother of James is not the mother of Jesus; James is not literally Jesus' brother.

 

Perhaps he was a half-brother. Many early Christians believed so. In the "Protoevangelium of James," an apocryphal Gospel written around A.D. 150, Joseph is named as the father of James by a deceased first wife. According to this book, by the time he became betrothed to Mary, he already had a family and thus was willing to become the guardian of a virgin who was consecrated to God. The Catholic Church teaches that Joseph remained chaste throughout his marriage to Mary.

 

Although the "Protoevangelium of James" was not accepted into the Canon of Scripture (the Bible), it is considered an apocryphal Gospel. It is neither accepted nor rejected as legitimate by the Church. Rather, the Church Magisterium recognizes it as a document that most early Christians took seriously. This is where we get the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna.

 

It was common belief held by many early Christians that Jesus had brothers from his father but not his mother. All the early Christians believed that Mary was ever-virgin.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord: Open my eyes to discover Your works through the people around me. Give me strength, too, to continue proclaiming Your Word, even when I'm not understood by those people who share my everyday 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!”