ADVENT MASS READINGS & SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Thursday - December 01, 2022

Thursday - December 01, 2022

“At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God's own love and concern.”

― Mother Teresa

December 1, 2022

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

Lectionary: 178

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Is 26:1-6

 

On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah:

 

    “A strong city have we;

        he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.

    Open up the gates

        to let in a nation that is just,

        one that keeps faith.

    A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace;

        in peace, for its trust in you.”

 

    Trust in the LORD forever!

        For the LORD is an eternal Rock.

    He humbles those in high places,

        and the lofty city he brings down;

    He tumbles it to the ground,

        levels it with the dust.

    It is trampled underfoot by the needy,

        by the footsteps of the poor.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a

 

R.    (26a)  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

 

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

    for his mercy endures forever.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

    than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

    than to trust in princes.

R.    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Open to me the gates of justice;

    I will enter them and give thanks to the LORD.

This gate is the LORD’s;

    the just shall enter it.

I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me

    and have been my savior.

R.    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

O LORD, grant salvation!

    O LORD, grant prosperity!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;

    we bless you from the house of the LORD.

    The LORD is God, and he has given us light.

R.    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2:8         

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call him while he is near.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Mt 7:21, 24-27

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

will enter the Kingdom of heaven,

but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

 

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them

will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

The rain fell, the floods came,

and the winds blew and buffeted the house.

But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.

And everyone who listens to these words of mine

but does not act on them

will be like a fool who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, the floods came,

and the winds blew and buffeted the house.

And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

 

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Will Obedience Get Us to Heaven?

Today’s Gospel reading answers the question: “Can a person lose their salvation?” Many Protestants believe in the theology of “once saved always saved” and that heaven is forever guaranteed on the day of conversion when a person says yes to the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

Catholic teaching, however, acknowledges that a conversion might not be sincere or complete, and that deliberate, terrible sins will turn an unrepentant sinner away from Christ forever (we call such sins “mortal”, because they kill the soul).

 

Knowing this can happen, many good Catholics fear that someday they might choose to turn away from Christ. This leads some to become very scrupulous in obeying every Church law, rule, and norm as an insurance policy.

 

Salvation is more than knowing who Jesus is. Many know who he is without having faith in him. He is more than a who. Demons know who he is and obey his commands. Obedience alone does not get anyone into heaven.

 

Jesus is more than an authority we must obey. To know Jesus is to know what he’s all about (his purpose, his love, and his life). Salvation is placing our faith in this to such an extent that we want to follow him, doing what he does, changing the world around us, all the way to heaven.

 

We can believe in Jesus and yet remain in the darkness of sin and eternal death. To have faith in Jesus, we must not only believe that he is God. We must not only believe that he is Savior. We must also believe in everything – oh yes, everything! – that he taught by word and by deed.

 

We enter the kingdom of heaven by listening to his words and acting upon them. Salvation is more than a statement of belief. It’s more than going to Mass and reciting the Creed (“I believe in …”). It’s faith in action. We act the way Jesus acted and we do what Jesus did, because we love him so much that we want others to love him too.

 

This scripture ends the Sermon on the Mount, which started with Matthew’s fifth chapter. Read this entire sermon as an examination of conscience. How well are you are behaving like Christ with the people around you? We let our faith shine, for example, when we love our enemies, and when we forgive others as he forgives us and, as he said earlier in this sermon, when we do more than what is asked of us, going the extra mile – not because he told us to, but because we genuinely care.

 

Obedience is merely the minimum. To be heralds of hope and flames of light that Christ brings to the world, we have to embrace the way he delivers that hope and light. Going the extra mile is the way we go to the cross with him. And while the cross looks like the antithesis of Christmas, it is sacrifice that opens the door of hope in the hearts of others.

 

Faith is what motivates to do more than the minimum. If we have faith in Christ, we love as he loves and thus we cannot help but want to do more for others. There is the guarantee of heaven: If we love others in him and through him, of course we will have eternal life with him.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord, may I always remember Your promises of salvation when I’m in the midst of trials. May my words and my deeds be the fruit of a life full of faith totally founded 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!”

ADVENT MASS READINGS & SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Wednesday - November 30, 2022

 

Wednesday - November 30, 2022

Perfect love leads a man on to perfect fear. Such a man fears and keeps to God's will, not from fear of punishment, not to avoid condemnation, but because he has tasted the sweetness of being with God; he fears he may fall away from it.

-- St. Dorotheos of Gaza

November 30, 2021

Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Lectionary: 684

 

Reading 1                                                     Rom 10:9-18

Brothers and sisters:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

For one believes with the heart and so is justified,

and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

The Scripture says,

No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;

the same Lord is Lord of all,

enriching all who call upon him.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 

But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone to preach?

And how can people preach unless they are sent?

As it is written,

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

But not everyone has heeded the good news;

for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?

Thus faith comes from what is heard,

and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

But I ask, did they not hear?

Certainly they did; for

 

    Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,

        and their words to the ends of the world.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              19:8, 9, 10, 11

 

R.    (10)  The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

or:

R.    (John 6:63)  Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

 

The law of the LORD is perfect,

    refreshing the soul;

The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,

    giving wisdom to the simple.

R.    The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

or:

R.    Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

The precepts of the LORD are right,

    rejoicing the heart;

The command of the LORD is clear,

    enlightening the eye.

R.    The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

or:

R.    Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

The fear of the LORD is pure,

    enduring forever;

The ordinances of the LORD are true,

    all of them just.

R.    The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

or:

R.    Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

They are more precious than gold,

    than a heap of purest gold;

Sweeter also than syrup

    or honey from the comb.

R.    The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

or:

R.    Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 4:19

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Come after me, says the Lord,

and I will make you fishers of men.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,

Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,

casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.

He said to them,

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

At once they left their nets and followed him.

He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,

James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.

He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father

and followed him.

 

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HOW TO EVANGELIZE OUR FAMILIES

We all have the vocation of revealing the Gospel of Joy so that others feel attracted to Christ. Through baptism, we have been joined to the ministry and purposes of Christ. We are called and empowered by his Spirit to give others the joy that heals. The world becomes a better place because we are apostles of joy.

 

In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus calling people into apostleship. Saint Andrew was the first Apostle (see John 1:40-42), and although he would later lead many others to Christ, the first person he evangelized was his brother, Simon (who later became Peter our first pope). Can you see the joy he shared with his brother?

 

The most difficult people to evangelize are usually our own family members. We're too close. We care so much about them that we're too hard on them. And since no one likes to believe that they need to change, we don't have much credibility when we invite them to change.

 

Apostleship means being sent forth to do whatever God calls us to do. Remember that whatever he calls us to do he gifts us and empowers us to do. The first reading describes why God gives us apostolates: The message must go out! And it describes our importance: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

 

Being good apostles and terrific evangelizers does not mean that we're going to be successful at changing the hearts and minds of family members. "Not everyone has heeded the good news." But it's at home where we learn to love others unconditionally. It's at home where we become good at forgiving. And it's at home where we're tested and strengthened in serving others with joy.

 

Fulfilling our vocation of joy in the home does not mean preaching conversion and debating the need to go to Mass. We can evangelize them by treating them the way Christ wants to treat them. Consider every interaction as an opportunity for them to meet Jesus, even if they stubbornly refuse to recognize him in you. And when they ask questions and show an openness to learning from us, then we can evangelize through words.

 

They already know that you follow Christ and that you go to Mass because you believe that participation in church community makes an important difference. You don't need to remind them. Simply concentrate on bringing more of Christ's joy into the relationships.

 

Today's Prayer 

Lord, give me a docile heart and alert ears to Your calling, to send me whenever and wherever You want. 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!”