Daily Thought

  Prayer For An Steadfast Heart Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. St. Thomas Aquinas

  Walk in Confidence He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely. St. Catherine of Siena

  The Peace That Surpasses Understanding The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not—like some well in a retired and shady place, difficult of access. He is the greater part of his time by himself, and when he is in solitude, that is his real state. What he is when left to himself and to his God, that is his true life. He can bear himself; he can (as it were) joy in himself, for it is the grace of God within him, it is the presence of the Eternal Comforter, in which he joys. He can bear, he finds it pleasant, to be with himself at all times—“never less alone than when alone.” He can lay his head on his pillow at night, and own in God’s sight, with overflowing heart, that he wants nothing—that he “is full and abounds”—that God has been all things to him, and that nothing is not his which God could give him. More thankfulness, more holiness, more of heaven he needs indeed, but the thought that he can have more is not a thought of trouble, but of joy. It d...

  Finding The Good In People I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors' defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues. St. Therese of Lisieux

Lose Yourself and Find Happiness Our happiest times are those in which we forget ourselves, usually in being kind to someone else. That tiny moment of self-abdication is an act of true humility: the man who loses himself finds himself and finds his happiness. Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen

  Powerful Reflection! This man is a chosen instrument of mine. (Acts 9:15) Ananias knew all about Saul of Tarsus, the zealous persecutor who posed a mortal danger to him and his fellow Christians. Surely God couldn’t be asking Ananias to seek Saul out and pray to restore his vision! But when Ananias questioned God further, God invited him to adjust his thinking and view Saul in a new light. It was the Lord, not Ananias, who decided what Saul deserved or didn’t deserve. God had identified Saul as his own chosen instrument to bear witness throughout the world, and that’s what counted. Clearly God didn’t see Saul the way Ananias did! Notice how Ananias took this to heart. When he found Saul, he didn’t question him or bring up his past sins. He simply addressed him as “my brother” and prayed that God would restore his sight (Acts 9:17). And he didn’t stop there. He also prayed for Saul to be filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized Saul, and made sure he had something to eat. In other wo...

  Philip & The Ethiopian Eunuch (Commentary) From Samaria, the Holy Spirit presses Philip onward, directing him to join an Ethiopian eunuch, probably a Jewish proselyte, whom he finds reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah (cf. Acts 8:29–30):   As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth (Acts 8:32–33; cf. Is. 53:7–8). When asked if he understands what he is reading, the eunuch replies, “How can I, unless some one guides me?” (Acts 8:31). The eunuch’s response conveys the profound truth that Scripture does not interpret itself, but rather must be interpreted in light of the Tradition handed on by Jesus to the apostles. Countless learned Jews had studied Isaiah 53:7–8 without comprehending its application to the messianic work of Jesus. The passage refers to one who allows himself to be offered up as a sa...

  The Inclusion of the Samaritans WEDNESDAY First Reading: Acts 8:1b–8 Responsorial Psalm: Ps 66:1–3a, 4–5, 6–7a Gospel: Jn 6:35–40 In his commentary on Acts, Luke Timothy Johnson suggests the possibility that Saul may have instigated the action against Stephen. He offers three reasons to support his suggestion: First, Saul is from Cilicia, as are some of Stephen’s accusers; second, placing clothing at someone’s feet, as the witnesses placed their cloaks at Saul’s, is to recognize that person’s authority; and third, as today’s reading records, Saul leads the subsequent persecution. Be that as it may, today’s text proves the truth of the old saying “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Persecution, not Church policy, accounts for the spread of the Gospel beyond Jerusalem and Judea and even into Samaria. Philip’s conversion of the Samaritans will require the confirmation of the apostles in Jerusalem (see Acts 8:14–17). For the early Church, welcoming the Samaritans in...

  Ocean of God's Love There is an ocean of Gods love available-there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love-whatever the circumstances. Corrie Ten Boom

  A Father Shares His Wisdom Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam-when do I give you your ticket?" I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train." "Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.  Corrie Ten Boom

  Pray & Don't Lose Heart If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. 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

  The Gift of Prayer Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! The Church is a great school of prayer. Many of us learned how to whisper our first prayers on our parents’ or grandparents’ laps. We might, perhaps, cherish the memory of our mommy and daddy who taught us to say our prayers before going to bed. These moments of recollection are often those in which parents listen to some intimate secret and can give their advice inspired by the Gospel. Then, as they grow up, there are other encounters, with other witnesses and teachers of prayer (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2686-2687). This is good to remember. The life of a parish and every Christian community is marked by liturgical moments and moments of community prayer. We become aware that the gift we received with simplicity in infancy is a great heritage, a rich inheritance and that the experience of prayer is worth deepening more and more (see ibid., 2688). The garment of faith is not starched, but develops with us; i...

  Life Is Sacred Every human being is an incalculable force, bearing within him something of the future. To the end of time, our daily words and actions will bear fruit, either good or bad; nothing that we have once given of ourselves will perish, but our words and works, handed on from one to another, will continue to do good or harm to remote generations. This is why life is a sacred thing, and we ought not to pass through it thoughtlessly, but to appreciate its value and use it so that, when we are gone, the sum total of good in the world may be greater. Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur

  A Beautiful Prayer For Mercy God, merciful Father, in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman. Bend down to us sinners, heal our weakness, conquer all evil, and grant that all the peoples of the earth may experience your mercy. In You, the Triune God, may they ever find the source of hope. Eternal Father, by the Passion and Resurrection of your Son, have mercy on us and upon the whole world! Amen.   Excerpt from the Homily of St. John Paul II Dedication of the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow (August 17, 2002)

 Our Mourning Will Be Turned To Joy! Let us end with a reflection on Psalm 126[125] by St Bede the Venerable (672/3–735), commenting on the words by which Jesus announced to his disciples the sorrow that lay in store for them, and at the same time the joy that would spring from their affliction (cf. Jn 16:20). Bede recalls that “Those who loved Christ were weeping and mourning when they saw him captured by his enemies, bound, carried away for judgment, condemned, scourged, mocked and lastly crucified, pierced by the spear and buried. Instead, those who loved the world rejoiced … when they condemned to a most ignominious death the One of whom the sight alone they could not tolerate. The disciples were overcome by grief at the death of the Lord, but once they had learned of his Resurrection, their sorrow changed to joy; then when they had seen the miracle of the Ascension, they praised and blessed the Lord, filled with even greater joy, as the Evangelist Luke testified (cf. Lk 24:53)...

  Divine Mercy & The Importance of Forgiveness "He who knows how to forgive prepares for himself many graces from God. As often as I look upon the cross, so often will I forgive with all my heart"  St. Faustina Diary, 390

  Easter & The Joy Beginning Anew The women thought they would find a body to anoint; instead they found an empty tomb.  They went to mourn the dead; instead they heard a proclamation of life.  For this reason, the Gospel tells us, the women “were seized with trembling and amazement” (Mk 16:8); they were filled with trembling, fear and amazement.  Amazement.  A fear mingled with joy that took their hearts by surprise when they saw the great stone before the tomb rolled away and inside a young man in a white robe.  Wonder at hearing the words: “Do not be afraid!  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen” (v. 6).  And a message: “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him” (v. 7).  May we too accept this message, the message of Easter.  Let us go to Galilee, where the Risen Lord has gone ahead of us.  Yet what does it mean “to go to Galilee”? To go to Galilee means, first, to begin anew. ...

  Unpredictability in Prayer  “We sometimes forget that the goal of prayer is primarily to deepen our relations of love with God, and this implies a certain unpredictability in the time of prayer.  What we start out ‘looking at’ in prayer is sometimes quickly blanketed in shadow despite our efforts and quickly disappears from sight.  Likewise, the words of Scripture that initially hold our mind with some interest may abruptly collapse into fragments and fade away as if the wind had suddenly caught and scattered them.  What seems at first a failure of this sort may actually conceal an invitation to relinquish our sense of control over prayer and allow the hand of another to take over, namely, God’s hand. ...Indeed, we learn in time that what God seems most to desire are encounters with himself that will be poor and unsupported by any ability on our part.”  (Fr. Donald Haggerty, April 2021 Magnificat for 4-7-21, p. 62-63.)

  Easter People We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song! St. John Paull II

  Christ At Work In Us A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps. St. Augustine

  Faith in the Resurrection Lectio Matthew 28:8–15 Meditatio “Say, ‘his disciples came by night and stole him.’  The religious authorities didn’t know what to make of Jesus’ disappearance, and wanted to squelch any rumors at the outset. So they came up with a tale about theft. People would buy it, they thought. And people did buy it. The story was still circulating when Matthew’s Gospel reached its final edit, several decades later. A deep gulf had been dredged between people who passionately believed in the resurrection of Jesus and others who emphatically did not. Our world today is both similar to that world and different from it. The gulf is present, but seldom mentioned. There is little evidence of passionate belief. Why does the somber season of Lent come so naturally, while the joyous season of Easter seems so challenging? By way of an answer, how often do we think of Easter, once the feast itself has passed? In some cultures, people used to (and may still do) greet one...

  Good Friday ⏤ Jesus Lowers Himself To Raise Us Up This evening, in faith, we have accompanied Jesus as he takes the final steps of his earthly journey, the most painful steps, the steps that lead to Calvary. We have heard the cries of the crowd, the words of condemnation, the insults of the soldiers, the lamentation of the Virgin Mary and of the women. Now we are immersed in the silence of this night, in the silence of the cross, the silence of death. It is a silence pregnant with the burden of pain borne by a man rejected, oppressed, downtrodden, the burden of sin which mars his face, the burden of evil. Tonight we have re-lived, deep within our hearts, the drama of Jesus, weighed down by pain, by evil, by human sin. What remains now before our eyes? It is a crucified man, a cross raised on Golgotha, a cross which seems a sign of the final defeat of the One who brought light to those immersed in darkness, the One who spoke of the power of forgiveness and of mercy, the One who as...