SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Thursday - June 23, 2022

 

Thursday - June 23, 2022

The school of Christ is the school of charity. 

On the last day, when the general examination takes place, there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian. Charity will be the whole syllabus.

~~St. Robert Bellermine

June 23, 2022

SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

Lectionary: 587

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Is 49:1-6

 

Hear me, O coastlands,

            listen, O distant peoples.

The LORD called me from birth,

            from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.

He made of me a sharp-edged sword

            and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.

He made me a polished arrow,

            in his quiver he hid me.

You are my servant, he said to me,

            Israel, through whom I show my glory.

 

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,

            and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,

yet my reward is with the LORD,

            my recompense is with my God.

For now the LORD has spoken

            who formed me as his servant from the womb,

that Jacob may be brought back to him

            and Israel gathered to him;

and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,

            and my God is now my strength!

It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,

            to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

            and restore the survivors of Israel;

I will make you a light to the nations,

            that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15

 

R.        (14)  I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

 

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

            you know when I sit and when I stand;

            you understand my thoughts from afar.

My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,

            with all my ways you are familiar.

R.        I praise you for I am wonderfully made.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;

            you knit me in my mother’s womb.

I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;

            wonderful are your works.

R.        I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

My soul also you knew full well;

            nor was my frame unknown to you

When I was made in secret,

            when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.

R.        I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

 

Reading II    

                                                                                    Acts 13:22-26

 

In those days, Paul said:

“God raised up David as king;

of him God testified,

I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;

he will carry out my every wish.

From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,

has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.

John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance

to all the people of Israel;

and as John was completing his course, he would say,

‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.

Behold, one is coming after me;

I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’

 

“My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,

and those others among you who are God-fearing,

to us this word of salvation has been sent.”

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2:8 Lk 1:76       

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Lk 1:57-66, 80

 

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her.

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

“No. He will be called John.”

But they answered her,

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,

“What, then, will this child be?”

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

The child grew and became strong in spirit,

and he was in the desert until the day

of his manifestation to Israel.

 

**********************************

How are you like John the Baptist?

On this day that celebrates the birth of John the Baptist, look at how much you and John the Baptist are alike!

 

God assigned John's vocation to him at his birth and gave him his name while he was still in his mother's womb. The Lord did the same with you! Since the moment of your conception, even before you looked human and had a beating heart and a brain that could think, he named you as his precious child.

 

God gifted John with a sharp-edged sword, i.e., the ability to speak the truth (the sword of the Spirit), which cuts through the lies and deceptions of evil. He gave you the same gift during your baptism when you received the Holy Spirit.

 

God concealed John in the shadow of his arm, i.e., he protected him. No matter how difficult your life has been, and no matter how often you strayed from the Lord, you still belong to him. He is holding onto you.

 

Even though you sometimes toil in vain and your efforts to do God's work seem worthless, as if you've uselessly spent your strength, like John, your reward is with the Lord. He will reward you generously.

 

No matter how ugly you think you are, no matter if you are too short or too tall or diseased or malformed by a birth defect, you look glorious to the Lord, your Creator. The verses of today's responsorial Psalm confirm this: You are wonderfully made! Since the moment of your conception, your life has been precious and important.

 

As it was with John, God is your strength. And like John, what you think you can do is "too little" compared to what he knows you can do. He has a more important use for your gifts and talents and experiences and training. He wants to make his light shine through you! His salvation will reach others as long as you're willing to serve him.

 

What our Gospel reading today tells us of John is true of you also: You are God's child, growing and becoming strong in spirit. You have experienced the desert of hardships and training. Everything that has happened to you can become valuable and useful when you let God send you forth in service for his kingdom.

 

Today's Prayer

 

I praise and bless You, my Lord, because You want to write a new history in my life, due to Your great love for me. May the things You work in me be a motive of praise by all of those who, like me, are ardently waiting in You. Amen.

 

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!”