SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Saturday - August 14, 2021

Saturday - August 14, 2021

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.

-- Saint Therese of Lisieux

August 14, 2021

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
Lectionary: 418

 

Reading 1                                                     Jos 24:14-29

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,

and addressed them, saying:

“Fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely.

Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt,

and serve the LORD.

If it does not please you to serve the LORD,

decide today whom you will serve,

the gods your fathers served beyond the River

or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling.

As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

 

But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD

for the service of other gods.

For it was the LORD, our God,

who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt,

out of a state of slavery.

He performed those great miracles before our very eyes

and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples

through whom we passed.

At our approach the LORD drove out all the peoples,

including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.

Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

 

Joshua in turn said to the people,

“You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God;

he is a jealous God who will not forgive

your transgressions or your sins.

If, after the good he has done for you,

you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods,

he will do evil to you and destroy you.”

 

But the people answered Joshua, “We will still serve the LORD.”

Joshua therefore said to the people,

“You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”

They replied, “We are, indeed!”

Joshua continued:

“Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you

and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

Then the people promised Joshua,

“We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey his voice.”

 

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day

and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem,

which he recorded in the book of the law of God.

Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak

that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.

And Joshua said to all the people, “This stone shall be our witness,

 

for it has heard all the words which the LORD spoke to us.

It shall be a witness against you, should you wish to deny your God.”

Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own heritage.

 

After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD,

died at the age of a hundred and ten.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 11

 

R.    (see 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.

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.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;

you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 19:13-15

Children were brought to Jesus

that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,

“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;

for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

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Opening Prayer: Lord, I come before you as your child in this moment of prayer. Grant me simplicity and great love, the heart of a child, to receive the word you wish to speak to me today and to act on it. 

Encountering Christ: 

1. Jesus and the Children: This scene can be painted as a very pious one—little eager faces upturned and listening to Jesus’s words, his hands extended in teaching. Perhaps it was that way. Or perhaps it was as most of us know children to be, especially a gaggle of them—laughing, energetic, eager, utterly receptive, and sensitive to even those things that are unsaid, the love and goodness of Jesus’s very being. Children have a way of grasping what even adults cannot express with simplicity. It is no wonder Jesus loved to be with them. Perhaps his heart rested when he was with them in a particular way. 

2. Jesus Prays for the Children: We know that God is outside of time, that all things are present to him. In this moment, then, as he prayed with this specific group of children, perhaps all children were present to him. Each name and each face, of all time and history, passing before the eye of his heart—known and cherished by him. What healing grace can be found in this encounter, for the wounds children carry in their hearts are often deeply unseen—unseen by the world, but known by Christ. In this moment of prayer, we can present to the heart of Christ our own woundedness–we are all children before him–and that of the children around the world today who suffer violence, abuse, illness, or other sufferings, that he may extend his healing hands in prayer. 

3. Such As These: What clearer invitation could Christ give us for how to follow him? To such as these, he said, belongs the kingdom of heaven. Simplicity, openness, trust, eagerness—all these qualities that are natural for a  child are also dispositions toward life that help us to encounter and to be encountered by God. But perhaps most important among them is the conviction of being loved by one’s Father God, Mother Mary, and the Church. Let us pray for the grace to become like children again, before our Father who loves us. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you remind me of your special love for children. I pray for the children of the world. You also remind me that I am your child and that you desire that nothing in this world prevents me from coming close to you. Open my heart, that I may be renewed and strengthened by the healing hands you extend to me. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will strive to welcome the day’s events with the simple openness of a child. 

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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!”