SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - September 07, 2018

Friday - September 07, 2018

There is nothing which edifies others so much as charity and kindness, by which, as by the oil in our lamp, the flame of good example is kept alive.

-- St. Francis de Sales

 

September 7, 2018

 

« September 6  |  September 8 »

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 435

Reading 11 COR 4:1-5

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. 
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Responsorial Psalm PS 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40

R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
Criminals are destroyed 
and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

AlleluiaJN 8:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 5:33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
"The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink."
Jesus answered them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days."
And he also told them a parable.
"No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, 'The old is good.'"

 

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New Wine, New Ways

As today's Gospel passage explains, Jesus is like a groom at a wedding feast. We are his bride.

During the celebration, the fun is grand. However, this groom is going to have to die for his bride. When that happens, everything changes. Everything! What was good in the marriage becomes even better, because the love -- now sacrificial -- has been raised to its highest level. And what had been bad about our pre-married (unconverted) life is transformed, redeemed from the grip of evil, because nothing is stronger than the power of holy love.

Sometimes, though, we try to mix our pre-married ways with our new, redeemed life.

Have you heard Christ's proposal of marriage? What changed after you said yes? The old cloak that dressed up your self-image is no longer needed, because Jesus enthusiastically appreciates all that is good in you. The old holes in your self-esteem cannot even be patched, for the new cloth of God's unconditional love pulls away from the fabric of your self-doubt.

What's different in you because of your love relationship with Jesus and your commitment to remain with him always? How has hiscommitment to you affected your life?

From the old wineskin, you used to drink up the limited ability of others to make you happy, and it was never totally satisfying. Are you still carrying this around? It cannot hold the new wine of Christ's unconditional, completely thirst-quenching love; if you think it can, it will burst and spill gooey mess all over you.

When we try to pour our marriage to Christ into an old way of coping with unmet needs, it backfires. What once seemed to protect us now fits like a coat we've outgrown, because we're not the persons we used to be. For example, trying to make others love us the way we want to be loved only stirs up bigger troubles, because whatever they do is never good enough compared to God's love, since he's the only one capable of meeting all of our needs.

Our old lives were filled with so many holes, why do we even want to patch them? Sewing Christ onto our worn-out habits and dissatisfying lifestyle tears us apart, and painfully so. Our compromises between the world's ways and God's ways lead to disaster. The problem is we do this so often we think this is normal.

To find the peace we're seeking, we have to fully pour ourselves into the King of Peace and let him completely fill our lives.

Any time our way of handling life makes us feel uncomfortable, unhappy and dissatisfied, there's something old we need to throw out. We have to look for the new way, Christ's way. As our Beloved Spouse, he's busy praying for us while hand-holding us toward healing, love, and every good gift from heaven.

Today's Prayer

You, Lord, are New Life for those who receive You with open hearts. Fill me with Your mercy to forgive, to leave my past behind, and to joyfully take Your Word to my neighbors. Amen.

God Bless You.....

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 : Thursday - September 06, 2018

Thursday - September 06, 2018

We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. ''I will be a saint'' means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will of God. 

~~Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

September 6, 2018

 

« September 5  |  September 7 »

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 434

Reading 11 COR 3:18-23

Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:

God catches the wise in their own ruses,

and again:

The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

Responsorial PsalmPS 24:1BC-2, 3-4AB, 5-6

R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.

AlleluiaMT 4:19

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them. 
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

 

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READY TO CALL IT QUITS?

What are you ready to give up on, call it quits and say, "Enough is enough?"

Would you change your mind if Jesus sent you an email from heaven and told you to try again, but this time do it from a different angle, take a different approach? Would you respond like Simon Peter did in today's Gospel reading? Would you throw your net on the other side, even though you couldn't see any fish there and you're way too tired?

Sometimes, Jesus does want us to quit, like when we're casting pearls before swine. He said we should wipe the dirt from our shoes and move on. At other times, he wants us to quit because we're not doing his will in the first place.

And sometimes he tells us to try again but differently, in a strange, perhaps foolish way. This usually occurs when success is only a few steps ahead but we can't yet see it. Weary and losing hope, we're unwilling to take one more step. We think God is not giving us any helpful guidance, but that's only because we're expecting him to say or do something that makes sense to us.

What's your empty net? Perhaps it's a relationship that's deteriorated, and reconciliation seems impossible. Healing often comes after we do what we had resisted before, such as daring to set up and enforce boundaries that block hurtful behaviors. At first this will cause deeper division in the relationship, but it can become the turning point that leads to conversion and new growth in the one who's been hurting us, which finally opens the way to true reconciliation.

Perhaps your job situation seems hopeless. Is Jesus telling you to look in an entirely different direction? Is he trying to take you where you don't want to go? Maybe he's pointing at a goal where the obstacles seem insurmountable. Trust him; he'll open the right doors for you.

Remember who God really is. Even when his guidance doesn't make sense, God is still God. He has an over-abundant catch of blessings waiting to jump into your net. As the responsorial Psalm says, "To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it." If he wants to, he can multiply the fish and make them torpedo themselves directly into our nets. And he does want to!

But first we have to give up our own ideas of how a problem should be fixed. As the first reading says, let's not delude ourselves into thinking that we are wise, for then we are truly foolish. When we're ready to quit doing things our way, because it's only led to failure, that's when Jesus shows us where and how to find success. Although the fishing trip might take a while, he's telling us how to experience miracles that will give us more than what we hope for or imagine to be possible.

Today's Prayer

My Lord: You call me to work in Your vineyard, to conquer hearts for You. Give me the courage and the grace to let go of everything You ask me to so I can follow You with strong decisiveness. Amen.

God Bless You.....

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 : Wednesday - September 05, 2018

Wednesday - September 05, 2018

"Every morning you put on your clothes to cover your nakedness and protect your body from inclement weather. Why don't you also clothe your soul with the garment of faith? Remember each morning the truths of your creed, and look at yourself in the mirror of your faith. Otherwise, your soul will soon be naked with the nakedness of oblivion." 

~~St. Augustine

 

September 5, 2018

 

« September 4  |  September 6 »

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 433

Reading 11 COR 3:1-9

Brothers and sisters, 
I could not talk to you as spiritual people,
but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.
I fed you milk, not solid food,
because you were unable to take it.
Indeed, you are still not able, even now,
for you are still of the flesh.
While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,
are you not of the flesh, and walking 
according to the manner of man?
Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another,
"I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men?

What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul?
Ministers through whom you became believers,
just as the Lord assigned each one.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who causes the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one,
and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.
For we are God's co-workers; 
you are God's field, God's building.

Responsorial PsalmPS 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21

R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
From his fixed throne he beholds
all who dwell on the earth,
He who fashioned the heart of each,
he who knows all their works.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

AlleluiaLK 4:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 4:38-44

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God."
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

 

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ARE YOU ON MILK OR SOLID FOOD?

Hungry for God? Sure you are! If you didn't have a spiritual appetite, you wouldn't be reading these Good News Reflections. But what type of hunger do you have? Some people are satisfied with baby food. They want everything pureed for them, i.e., they want the truth to be plain and simple, clear-cut, black and white with no grey areas, nothing to chew on. This kind of faith is effortless and easy.

However, St. Paul says in today's first reading that this level of faith means we are "still of the flesh". It takes hard work to understand the truth on a deeper level, with all of its nuances, and it takes the same hard work to overcome the sinful desires of our flesh-nature. Jealousy, quarrels, divisions, greed, anger, impatience, swearing, complaining, addictions, selfishness, and all the other vices we succumb to are indications that we haven't put enough effort into deepening our understanding of the truth.

It takes spiritual maturity to appreciate -- and respond to -- the desires of our holy nature, which was given to us by the Holy Spirit during our baptisms. Paul told the "baby" Christians of Corinth that they were God's "field" (to be harvested) and "building" (still under construction). This is our starting point. God has planted us in his field. He has built his foundation in our lives.

But then what? Do we want to stay in this baby stage?

When we accept the hard labor of growing in holiness, we become God's co-workers. As partners in his mission, we are his earthly hands that plant seeds and that build up others on his foundation.

In the more advanced stages of spiritual understanding, we accept suffering and sacrifice as part of the mortar that holds the building together. We see beyond what's obvious and we accept the guidance of God even when it doesn't make sense. We accept Christ's ministry (a glimpse of which we see in today's Gospel reading) as our own, even with all of its hardships.

As we proclaim in today's responsorial Psalm, "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own." However, we cannot enter into this blessing if we act like babies; babies cry out: "give me, feed me, hold me".

Infants are ignorant, but ignorance (contrary to the old cliché) is not bliss. Ignorance leads us into danger, which is why toddlers should not go out into the street alone. Ignorance also hides many exciting challenges, and so we miss wonderful opportunities to make a good difference in the world.

In the more advanced stages of spiritual understanding, we go with Jesus wherever he goes. The work of sharing in Christ's mission is not accomplished in baby cribs. Cribs have bars that hold us back. Ministry -- making a difference in the lives of others -- occurs outside the security of our comfort zones.

Today's Prayer

I thank You, my Lord, because You don't let anything stop You from rescuing me, healing me and delivering me from all my fears. I praise You, because everything is in Your loving hands. Amen.

God Bless You.....

Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”