SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Saturday - September 11, 2021

Saturday - September 11, 2021

Do you ask how to resist anger? As soon as you feel the slightest resentment, gather together your powers, not hastily or impetuously, but gently and seriously. For as in some law courts, the criers make more noise in their efforts to preserve quiet than those they seek to still, so, if we are impetuous in our attempts to restrain our anger, we cause greater discomposure in our hearts than before; and once thrown off its balance, the heart is no longer its own master.

-- St. Francis de Sales

September 11, 2021

Saturday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 442

 

Reading 1                                                     1 Tm 1:15-17

Beloved:

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Of these I am the foremost.

But for that reason I was mercifully treated,

so that in me, as the foremost,

Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example

for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.

To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,

honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              113:1b-2, 3-4, 5 and 6-7

 

R. (2) Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.

 

Praise, you servants of the LORD,

    praise the name of the LORD.

Blessed be the name of the LORD

    both now and forever.

R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.

From the rising to the setting of the sun

    is the name of the LORD to be praised.

High above all nations is the LORD;

    above the heavens is his glory.

R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.

Who is like the LORD, our God,

    and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?

He raises up the lowly from the dust;

    from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.

R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 11:28 Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 6:43-49

Jesus said to his disciples:

“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,

nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.

For every tree is known by its own fruit.

For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,

nor do they gather grapes from brambles.

A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,

but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;

for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

 

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?

I will show you what someone is like who comes to me,

listens to my words, and acts on them.

That one is like a man building a house,

who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock;

when the flood came, the river burst against that house

but could not shake it because it had been well built.

But the one who listens and does not act

is like a person who built a house on the ground

without a foundation.

When the river burst against it,

it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

 

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INTERIOR FRUITS

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have invited me to this moment of prayer. You are the source of my life and of all that is good. I wish to listen to your heart in these moments of prayer and to receive whatever fruit of your love and light you wish to give me. 

Encountering Christ: 

1. Good Fruit: A tree is known by its fruit; a student becomes like his teacher; a Christian is known by his likeness to Christ. Christ also said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The key to bearing good fruit is to remain united to Christ, the source. All goodness is a reflection of and participation in his own goodness. 

2. Inner Storehouses: The task of keeping our interior storehouse clean and ordered is lifelong. It requires our constant effort, but not effort out of a desire for perfection, but rather for love. Love is what keeps Christ at the center of our hearts and redirects us when our humanity turns from his so easily and often. Christ assures us of his help in this process. “[The Father] takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit” (John 15:2). While he asks us to be attentive, receptive, and active, he also reminds us who is the real protagonist in this work. Perhaps Mary Magdalene was on to something when she mistook the risen Christ for the gardener (John 20). Jesus is the gardener of our souls. 

3. Housing Foundations: Christ showed his disciples repeatedly that he’s not a God of lip service. What he says, he does. In fact, his word is effective and performative—it does what it says. When he said, “Let there be light,” there was light. When he said, “Be healed,” healing happened. When he said, “This is my body,” the first Eucharist was consecrated. What he says to us, he will do. And he hopes for the same from us. It’s only possible to fulfill his hopes for us when we remain in him. “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me” (John 15:4). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the gardener of my soul, the source of my life, and my daily strength. You are the foundation of all I am and have. I recognize this and I thank you for it. I ask you to help me to believe in you with even greater faith and to continue building my life upon the truth of your absolutely gratuitous, generous, and tireless love. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will strive to be aware from which inner storehouse my words and attitudes are flowing. If I see I need correction, I will ask for your grace to allow it. 

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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!”