Wednesday, October 31, 2018

GOD IS MY SHIELD

God Is My Shield
O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. So many are saying, “God will never rescue him!” But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head high. I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain.Psalm 3:1-4
Have you ever felt as if someone was out to get you? as if you were surrounded by people who meant you harm in some way? When David wrote this psalm, he was crying out to God as he raced from the palace, pursued by enemies loyal to his son Absalom, who was trying to overthrow David’s kingdom by force. As David prayed this God-centered prayer, he was exercising his confidence that in this situation the Lord would reveal himself as a shield and protector, as David’s “glory and the one who lifts my head high.” In the midst of hearing others telling David that there was no hope, that all was lost, he had hope. But the source of his hope wasn’t in his mighty warriors or in the ability of another army to protect him. His hope was in God’s character. Though David was surrounded by foes on every side, he knew that God heard him when he cried out to him. He was confident that God was his shield of protection, that he watched over David and would deliver him.

LORD, you are my shield and my eternal protector. When I am in danger or distress, help me trust in your character. Be my glory and the lifter of my head this day. Lift my gaze and my heart from everything on this earth to you, who reign over all. Thank you for answering me from heaven and acting on my behalf when I cry out to you. May you be glorified in my life.

THE ARMOUR IS FOR THE BATTLE OF PRAYER. THE ARMOUR IS NOT TO FIGHT IN, BUT TO SHIELD US WHILE WE PRAY. PRAYER IS THE BATTLE.Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

THE LORD MY SHIELD


HAPPY FEAST OF ALL SAINTS

               Feast of All Saints

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Instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown. It owes its origin in the Western Church to the dedication of the Roman Pantheon in honuor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the martyrsby Pope Saint Boniface IV in 609, the anniversary of which was celebrated at Rome on 13 MayPope Saint Gregory III consecrated a chapel in the Vatican basilica in honor of All Saints, designating 1 November as their feastPope Gregory IV extended its observance to the whole Church. It has a vigil and octave, and is a holy day of obligation; the eve is popularly celebrated as Hallowe’en.

Monday, October 29, 2018

IS GOD FAIR?

Is God Fair?
Read Genesis 18:1–20:18
24Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. 26But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. 27Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence. 28He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace. 29But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.Genesis 19:24-29
When was the last time you heard “It’s not fair!”? Perhaps that familiar phrase was uttered two minutes ago by a child, or maybe you can remember saying it yourself not long ago. Most people have a keen sensitivity to how the scales are tipped, especially when we think that we are being treated unfairly.
This reading shows us three kinds of belief and unbelief. Abraham and Sarah struggled to believe as three angels repeated another of God’s specific promises. In contrast, the unbelief of Sodom and Gomorrah was so absolute that the entire population was destroyed. In between stood Lot, a man who seemed to think mainly of himself and who stretched the meaning of the term righteous. Notice how God dealt differently with each one.
Look for other lessons as you read: hospitality; not compromising with the world around you; and the dangers of desperation.
Was God being unfair to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:27-28)? Actually, God’s fairness stands out: (1) he agreed to spare them if only ten righteous people lived there (18:32); (2) he showed great mercy toward Lot, apparently the only man in either city who had any kind of relationship with him (19:12); and (3) he showed great patience with Lot, almost forcing him to leave Sodom before destroying the wicked city (19:16).
Remember God’s patience when you are tempted to think he is unfair. All people, even the godliest, deserve his justice. We should be glad that God doesn’t direct his justice toward us as he did toward Sodom and Gomorrah. As we grow spiritually, we should find ourselves developing a deeper respect for God because of his anger toward sin, and a deeper love for God because of his patience when we sin.
Take time today to recount God’s acts of mercy and love for you. Thank him for not giving you what you deserve, and instead of giving you what you don’t deserve—forgiveness and eternal life through Christ. It certainly isn’t “fair”—but isn’t that great?

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO FEAR THE LORD


BIOGRAPHY OF BLESSED BENVENUTA BOJANI

                  Blessed Benvenuta Bojani

Also known as
  • Benvenuta Boiani
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Youngest of seven daughters. She refused to play any childhood games that smacked of worldliness or vanity; by age twelve she was voluntarily wearing hair shirts and a rope belt. As she grew, the rope began to cut into her; it had to be removed, but was too embedded to be untied. She prayed over it, and it fell to her feet.
Dominican tertiary as a very young woman. Lived her entire life at home, practicing extreme austerities. Confined to her bed for five years with a serious illness, she had to be carried to daily Mass. During a Mass on the eve of the feastof Saint Dominic de Guzman, the saint appeared to her, and later in the liturgy, she was miraculously healed.
Visionary who had visits from both angels and demons; she could banish the demons by mentioning the name of Our Lady. However, hard life or no, sickness or no, visions and demonic oppression or no, she was known to be always cheerful and confident in God.
Born
  • holding a length of rope
Lord, you gave Blessed Benvenuta the gifts of penance, prayer and humility. Through self-denial and contemplation on heavenly things may we too live in the Spirit and find rest and glory in you, the one God. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. – General Calendar of the Order of Preachers

ABRAHAM'S SURRENDER..... AND MINE

ABRAHAM’S SURRENDER . . .
AND MINE
READING: Genesis 22:1 – 19
VERSE: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and . . . sacrifice him . . . as a burnt offering.” —Genesis 19:2
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READINGS: Hebrews 11:8 – 19James 2:21 – 24
How many times I’ve followed in Abraham’s footsteps up the side of Mount Moriah to that place of surrender . . . every time I’ve released a child to circumstances beyond my control and with an uncertain outcome.
Sometimes when I’m on the way, my fears grow too big, and I stop before I get to the place of surrender . . . the powerful what-ifs make me turn back. So instead of an openhanded release, I wrap my fingers more tightly around my treasure, assuming for an absurd instant that I can protect my child from some circumstance or control some uncontrollable outcome. I cannot. I have only taken a detour on the path to the place of surrender.
. . . God has a divine love for our children that’s even greater than our human love for them; he will never leave them; and he has a plan for their lives that’s bigger and better than our expectations. Relinquishing our children means acknowledging God knows better than we do.
. . . Surrendering our feelings is essential as we seek to relinquish our treasures to God’s greater plan. Abraham must have struggled greatly with his feelings as he took Isaac on the three-day journey toward the place of surrender. Yet his feelings did not guide his actions; his obedience to God did.
. . . Just as God gave Isaac back to Abraham, he returns our treasure to us. We may not receive it back in the same exact way, however, but in a better way from the Father who promises, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Sunday, October 28, 2018

THE INTEGRITY OF THE UPRIGHT SHALL GUIDE THEM


BEHAVE LIKE GOD.


FEAST AND BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT GAETANO ERRICO

            Saint Gaetano Errico

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Second of nine children born to Pasquale, a pasta factory manager, and Marie Marseglia Errico, who worked weaving plush. A good child, pious, always ready to help his father at work, or his mother with his younger siblings. He felt a call to the priesthood at age fourteen. He was turned away by the Capuchins and Redemptoristsdue to his youth. Studied at a diocesan seminary in NaplesItaly from age sixteen, walking the five miles to class each day, and was ordained on 23 September 1815 in Naples.
School teacher for twenty years. Parish priest at the church of Saint Cosmas and Damian. Known for his devotion to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and ministry to the sick, his self-imposed austerties and penances. He made yearly retreats to the Redemptorist house in PaganiItaly.
During his retreat in 1818Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori appeared to him in a vision, and told him that God wanted Gaetano to build a new church, and to found a new religious congregation. While Gaetano initially received strong support from the local people, it faded in the face of fund-raising and work, and it wasn’t until 9 December 1830 that he dedicated and blessed the church Our Lady of Sorrows at Secondigliano; it has since become one of Italy‘s most popular pilgrimage sites.
Nearby he built a small house for himself and a lay-brother who took care of the church; this was the beginning of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The Missionaries received local approval on 14 March 1836, approval by the Congregation of Bishops on 30 June 1838, royal approval on 13 May 1840, and papal approval by Blessed Pope Pius IX on 7 August 1846. Gaetano served as first Superior General.
His beatification miracle occurred in southern Italy in January 1952 and involved a man with a perforated stomach wall. Just before emergency surgery, his wife slipped a relic of Father Gaetano under his pillow, and together they prayed for his intercession. His health began to improve immediately, and he was soon healedwithout medical intervention.
Born

LISTENING

Listening

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
James 1:19
Because both of my daughters were born in China, I tell them they are my favourite Chinese characters. You probably know that the written form of Chinese contains thousands of characters, some of which require dozens of brush strokes to create. What’s more, some of these characters are pictographs—pictorial representations of physical objects. The character for sage, for instance, is of particular interest. Consisting of a large ear and a small mouth, it implies that a wise person is someone who listens well and speaks little. When it comes to our search for peace, we should ask ourselves what life would be like if we developed larger ears and smaller mouths.

Why is it sometimes so difficult to listen? Perhaps because we think we know more than we do. A child complains about her homework for the hundredth time and we tell her to get to work and stop being lazy. But what if her complaints are a symptom of a learning disability and not laziness? Have we really listened, allowing ourselves to consider that more might be going on than “meets the ear”?

Some of us have difficulty listening because we have an urge to fix things. A wife tells her husband she feels down and he tells her she’s got to start exercising more regularly. A friend worries about her son’s inability to keep a job, and we tell her to stop worrying. She can’t do anything about it anyway. Often our advice goes nowhere. That’s because we’re either telling people what they already know or offering advice they aren’t ready to hear. In such instances, we often withhold the thing they need the most—a listening ear.
To fine-tune your listening skills, consider spending the next couple of days straining to hear what others are trying to say. Put down the phone, take a break from your computer, turn off those video games, and really listen to the people around you. Help them to experience more of God’s peace by giving them your full attention.

Father, give me the grace to hear what others are saying. Teach me wisdom as I listen, both for words that are spoken and for those that are not.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT JUDE THADDEUS

                    Saint Jude Thaddeus

Also known as
  • Jude of James
  • Judas Thaddaeus
  • Lebbaeus
  • Jude, brother of Jesus
  • Lebai Sleeha
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Son of Cleophas, who died a martyr, and Mary who stood at the foot of the Cross, and who annointed Christ’s body after death. Brother of Saint James the Lesser. Nephew of Maryand Joseph; blood relative of Jesus Christ, and reported to look a lot like him. May have been a fishermanApostle.
Wrote the canonical Epistle named for him. Preached in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persiawith Saint SimonHealerExorcist. Could exorcise pagan idols, which caused the demons to flee and the statues to crumble.
His patronage of lost or impossible causes traditionally derives from confusion by many early Christians between Jude and the traitor Judas Iscariot; not understanding the difference between the names, they never prayed for Jude’s help, and devotion to him became something of a lost cause.
Name Meaning
  • sweetness or gentleness of character (Thaddeus)
Readings
Saint Jude, pray for us, and for all who invoke thy aid.

Friday, October 26, 2018

HIS PURPOSE, NOT MINE

His Purpose, Not Mine
This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.Mark 1:4
John the Baptist’s camel-hair cloak should not be confused with the luxurious, woven garments found in upscale stores today. His was most likely a tanned, hairy hide held together with a leather belt. He did not preach in the comfort of a temple but baptized in the stark setting of the wilderness. He was well known for his not-so-gentle speeches. His diet was meager, consisting of locusts and wild honey. Though these facts alone set John apart from other religious men, it was his single-minded dedication to his calling that etched his name in history. John never forgot his purpose. When John’s disciples left to follow Jesus, his loyal friends complained bitterly, yet John assured them that this was exactly what he hoped would happen. He wanted to decrease so that Christ could increase. His whole mission in life was to point the way to Jesus. When God gives us a particular ministry, it is easy to assume ownership. We birth it. We pray over it. Yet our calling was never ours in the first place. Just like John the Baptist’s, our purpose is to point others to Christ, not to ourselves.

LORD, thank you for the ministry you have entrusted to me. If others praise me, help me to remember that my one purpose should be that your gospel is proclaimed and you are exalted. In everything I do, may I be a stepping-stone instead of a stumbling block so that others may come to know you as Savior and Lord.

OUR METHOD OF PROCLAIMING SALVATION IS THIS: TO POINT OUT TO EVERY HEART THE LOVING LAMB, WHO DIED FOR US, AND ALTHOUGH HE WAS THE SON OF GOD, OFFERED HIMSELF FOR OUR SINS.Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (1700–1760)

LET US GO REJOICING



BIOGRAPHY OF POPE SAINT EVARISTUS

            Pope Saint Evaristus

Also known as
  • Aristo
  • Aristus
  • Ewaryst
Profile
Son of an Hellenic Jew from Bethlehem. Fifth pope, reigning for eight years, and about whom almost nothing is known. Traditionally considered a martyr, but there is no documentation of the event.
Papal Ascension

OWING RESPONSIBILITY

OWNING RESPONSIBILITY
While growing up, we’ve all made excuses for our inappropriate behaviours and choices. But as mature adults, some of us continue to blame other people or circumstances as a way to avoid accepting responsibility and moving forward with our recoveries.
“It’s not my fault.” “Billy made me do it.” “It’s not fair.” When a teenager’s mother discovered marijuana in his jacket, he immediately used those excuses in an attempt to avoid the punishment he thought was coming. His parents contacted their church to get information about a Christ-centered recovery program for teenagers called “Life Hurts, God, Heals.” The teenager didn’t want to go; it wasn’t “cool,” he would feel “alone,” and “no one would understand.” At his parents’ insistence, he reluctantly attended his first meeting. He was surprised to find that some of the adults leading the program had smoked marijuana in their youth, while others had struggled with alcohol. Some of the other young people had experimented with marijuana and other drugs, starved themselves, cut themselves or struck out at loved ones in anger. He realized he was not alone. Others understood. A few months later, the young man began to encourage some of his friends to join him in order to deal with their hurts, hang-ups and habits.
There are many things, however, that happen to us that we are not responsible for. We are not responsible for an alcoholic parent, the divorce of our parents or the sexual or physical abuse we may have endured. We are, however, responsible for our reactions to the traumatic events in our lives. We still need to seek help and be accountable to others for our behaviours.
We can get stuck in our recoveries when we can’t stop placing the blame on others who have hurt us. That is why it is so important to: “Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.” Doing so frees us from the hold that someone’s hurtful behaviour has had on our lives.
If we keep going back to the “blame” or “excuse” game, we need to go back. A good way to see if we are still blaming others for our own poor choices is found in Psalm 139:23–24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” After we ask God to search our hearts, we need to allow time to hear his response.
We need to practice living Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Then we can hear God’s response. That verse tells us first to “be still.” We cannot hear God if we are busy, distracted or talking back to him. We hear God when we are quiet. Then we can hear his response to the request we asked of him in Psalm 139:23–24. He will show us if we are trying to always fix the blame on others for our actions or if we are accepting responsibility for them.
If we find that we are not accepting responsibility for our actions, that we are still blaming others for the way we misbehave today, we can rely on the second part of Psalm 46:10 for help: “ . . . and know that I am God.” God can and will help us take responsibility for our actions. He will give us the strength to face our part in a failing relationship. He will give us the courage to make things right with others we may have hurt. We will finally be able to break free from living in yesterday. We will be able to enjoy the blessings found in today.
Take a Look:
• Have you blamed those who have hurt you for the poor choices that you are making today?
• How have you learned to stop blaming others for your actions?
• What do the words found in Psalm 139:23–24 mean to you?
• How have you been able to do what Psalm 46:10 asks of you?