First or Last?

“If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.” --- St John Chrysostom

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

"All that we do must be motivated by love and not force. We must love to obey rather than fear to disobey."

1 Peter 4:8-10; Matthew 7:1-5 = hypocrite!

Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.9Be hospitable to one another without complaining.10As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.


Matthew 7 :1-5  Judging Others.1 “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.2For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.3Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye?5You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.


(Sorry for the weird underlining and color - don't know why it happened and I can't get rid of it!)

Waiting for God

If God at times seems to be slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift.  He will not deny us.  We well know that the long-awaited gift is all the more precious for the delay in its being granted… Ask, seek, insist.  Through this asking and seeking you will be better prepared to receive God’s gift when it comes.  God withholds what you are not yet ready for.  He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts.  All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.  (St. Augustine, Catena Aurea) 

Where to Look

Our Mother Mary will teach us how to live entirely for God’s glory.  Don’t ever lose the supernatural point of view.  Correct your intention as the course of a ship is corrected on the high seas – by looking at the star, by looking at Mary.  Then you will always be sure of reaching harbor. --- ICWG, Fr Fernandez and The Forge, St Josemaria Escriva

A Bruised Reed He Will NOT Break...

In spite of these disappointments God returns with renewed generosity time and time again to look for results.  This is the patience of God (2 Peter 3:9) towards souls.  He does not become discourage by our lack of correspondence.  He knows how to wait.  He sees our faults and failings but He also sees our capacity for doing good.  The Lord never gives up on any soul.  He trusts through thick and thin. 

Isaiah 42:3  …a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not quench.

In Conversation with God, twenty-ninth Saturday in Ordinary Time

Perseverance in Prayer

The Lord wants to grant us His graces, but He also wants us toesk for them.  Do not complain to Me if you are not filled with blessings.  Complain to yourselves for not having sought what you need.  From now on all of Me and your prayers will be answered. ---  St. Alphonsus Liguori

Let us resolve to pray as Moses did.  Exodus 17:8-13.  With perseverance nothing could shake...and at times with the help of his friends.

Let us examine the quality of our prayer today.  Is it persevering, trusting, insistent, tireless?  If so, this will be the source of peace, cheerfulness and serenity, do it will make you humanly and supernaturally effective.  --- St. Josemaria Escriva and Father Francis Fernandez from In Conversation with God

A great deal depends on our devotion.  There is nothing more powerfully effective than steadfast prayer...  ICWG

I'd ask you to pray for several of my closet friends and their special intentions concerning family members as well as for our priests and religious, the poor souls on purgatory, the ill, those in need of conversion, our youth, peace and unity in our families, country, world, etc.  Good bless you!

Prayer - it's SO important!

"It is not surprising that the devil does everything in his power to get us to lessen the time of our personal dialogue with the Lord or to do it poorly."  ---  St. Jean Vianney, The Cure d'Ars, Homilies on Prayer

Prayer is the foundation of faithful perseverance in the Lords' service.  "A person who does not stop going forward will eventually arrive... There is no greater cause of straying from the path of faithful perseverance than letting up in prayer."  ---  St. Teresa of Avila, Life

We must prepare for prayer carefully beforehand, realizing we are in the presence of the living and glorious Christ!  "Look at that senseless set of reasons the enemy gives you for abandoning prayer.  'I have no time' - when you are constantly wasting it.  'This is not for me.' 'My heart is dry...'  Prayer is not a question of what you say or feel, but of love.  And you love when you try hard to say something to the Lord, even though you might not actually say anything."  --- St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow

Let us make a resolution never to slacken in our devotion to prayer.  May we always dedicate the best possible time and place to it, in front of the tabernacle as often as we possibly can, trying to not give in to voluntary distractions.  We pray so that we may encounter the living Christ, who is awaiting us, who is our Best Friend.  Many of our difficulties will disappear when we pause to consider that we are in the presence of God.  Prepare by saying something like, "My Lord and My God, I firmly believe that You are here (within the tabernacle and within my soul), that You see me, You hear me, smile upon me and send Your graces upon me.  I adore You with profound reverence.  Help me make my time of prayer with You fruitful!  Mother Mary, St. Joseph, Guardian Angel, pray for me!  Holy Spirit, guide me to know and do God's will with a cheerful heart!"

May God bless you with a terrific day! No matter what happens, try offering it back to Him and thanking Him for it whether or not you enjoy it! ;)

Joy

"Joy is an abiding God-given reality; a fruit of the Holy Spirit characterized by  a profound serenity and inner peace which flows from allowing oneself to be embraced by God's love and is capable of withstanding all the trials and tribulations of life."  ~Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus
Others
Youself

Silence

In our world of almost eternal distraction we need this esteem for silence, this admirable and indispensable condition for our spirit, assaulted as it is by such a deafening clamour…   O blesses silence of Nazareth!  Teach us recollection; teach us interior life; teach us to be docile to good inspirations and trustworthy spiritual guides.  Teach us the value of study, of meditation, of interior life, of the secret prayer that is only heard by God.    ---  In Conversation with God, italicized part by Paul VI, Address in Nazareth, 5 January 1964

To Bear Fruit...

Many people...sincerely resolve to pursue the good.  Yet when adversity and suffering come, they soon abandon good works.  --- Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels
How many good resolutions have come to naught when the spiritual life has come to a struggle!  These souls were seeking themselves rather than God.  ---  Fr. Fernandez, In Conversation with God
Some act for one reason.  Others act for another.  The fact is that few look for Jesus for the sake of Jesus.  --- St. Augustine, Commentary on St. John's Gospel
We can accomplish this daily only if we are faithful to our daily prayer, whether it comes to us easily or is more of a sacrifice.  Prayer and mortification prepare the soul to receive the divine seed and then give fruit.  All roads that lead to God have to pass through prayer and sacrifice.  Let us resolve never to become separated from the Lord. We have to go to His merciful heart many times during the day.  ---  Fr. Fernandez

Be careful what you wish for...

Don’t wish to be like a gilded weather-cock on top of a great building. However much it shines and however high it stands, it adds nothing to the solidity of the building. Rather be like an old stone block hidden in the foundation underground where nobody can see you. Because of you the building will not fail.

St. Josemaria Escriva

Materialism

"Lord Jesus, you have captured our hearts and opened to us the treasures of heaven. May you always be my treasure and delight and may nothing else keep me from giving you my all."

Lost Sheep... Found by Jesus!

Have you ever meditated on the lost sheep?  Jesus leaves 99 sheep to go search for the ONE that is lost.  He doesn't just let it go because He has 99% of the flock left; He searches until He finds that one, poor, lonely, lost little soul.  The image of Him reaching down to rescue the lamb from a cliff and of Him with the little sheep carried over Jesus' shoulders to his home safe and sound is a great thing to ponder.  He loves each one of us with the ultimate love, the consummate price of laying down His very own life for each one of us because we were made in His image and likeness.  YOU are a beloved son or daughter of God!  He always loves you, cares for you, watches over you and seeks you.  He desires only your complete trust in His will for you.  It seems trite, but if you just sit with it, this is tear-jerking and heart-wrenching:  GOD LOVES YOU!  Meditate on these images and thoughts to see if you aren't just astounded by the love He has just for you!

Feeding the 5,000

How do you treat others, especially when they interrupt your times of rest and quiet? When Jesus and the disciples sought a lonely place to regroup and rest, they found instead a crowd of more than five thousand people waiting for them! Did they resent this intrusion on their hard-earned need for privacy and refreshment? Jesus certainly didn't but welcomed them with open-arms. Jesus put human need ahead of everything else. His compassion showed the depths of God's love and concern for all who are truly needy. Jesus gave the people the word of God and he healed them physically as well as spiritually. We can never intrude upon God nor exhaust his generosity and kindness. He is ever ready to give to those who earnestly seek him out. Do you thirst for his saving word and for his healing power?

http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/
Gospel Mt 14:13-21

Another meditation I read today made me stop and think - are you so worried about the 5 loaves and 2 fishes that you cling to them instead of offering them to Jesus and seeing what miracle He has in store for you with those loaves and fish????

Judging Others

Meditation: Are you quick to judge the faults of others? Jesus’ parable teaches us patience lest we judge before the time is right. Jesus also warns that there is an enemy who seeks to destroy the good seed of his word before it can bear fruit. Both good and evil can be sown in our hearts like tiny seeds which germinate, and in due time yield a harvest of good or bad fruit. We must stand guard lest evil take root in our hearts and corrupt us. Charles Read said: “Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” In the day of judgment each will reap what he or she has sown in this life. Those who sow good will shine in the kingdom of their Father. They will radiate with the beauty, joy, and fulness of God’s love. Do you allow the love of Jesus Christ to rule in your heart, thoughts, and actions?
"Lord Jesus, may your all-consuming love rule in my heart and transform my life that I may sow what is good, worthy, and pleasing to you.”

http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/

Lord, help me do Your will...

"Lord Jesus, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. Open my eyes to your deeds, and my ears to the sound of your call, that I may understand your will for my life and live according to it."

St. Francis says...

"Lord, make us to walk in your way: Where there is love and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance; where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor annoyance; where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice; where there is peace and contemplation, there is neither care nor restlessness; where there is the fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter; where there is mercy and prudence, there is neither excess nor harshness; this we know through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (Prayer of Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226)

Home is...

"The business done in the home is nothing less than the shaping of the bodies and souls of humanity." -- G.K. Chesterton

Knowing vs Understanding

Any fool can know. The point is to understand. – Albert Einstein