Daily Thought

  A Great Perspective! All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully. St. Ignatius of Loyola

  Confidence Jesus is with you even when you don’t feel His presence.  He is never so close to you as He is during your spiritual battles.  He is always there, close to you, encouraging you to fight your battle courageously. He is there to ward off the enemy’s blows so that you may not be hurt. St. Pio of  Pietrelcina

 Explaining The Parable Lectio Matthew 13:36–43 Meditatio “Then the righteous will shine like the sun …” During World War II, Hungary had largely avoided Nazi pressure to persecute the Jews until the spring of 1944, when Adolf Eichmann arrived on the scene. During six weeks of terror, from mid-May to the end of June 1944, Eichmann sent almost 450,000 Hungarian Jews to their deaths. Yet a Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg managed to get many Jews out of Hungary on Swedish passports. His tireless efforts saved around 30,000 people. His reward? When the Soviets rolled into Hungary, they took Wallenberg prisoner and he disappeared into a Soviet gulag. No one knows exactly what befell him. Despite efforts to get him released, he was never freed and he died, deserted and alone, in a Soviet prison or labor camp. A cynic would say that no good deed goes unpunished. But today’s Gospel offers comfort to all the Raoul Wallenbergs of the world, and to all those who were herded into cattl...

  Forgiveness ⏤ An Act Of The Will Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart" "It is not my ability, but my response to God's ability that counts." "Let God's promises shine on your problems." "Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear. Corrie Ten Boom

  Rules For Dealing With Others   There are three rules of dealing with all those who come to us: 1. Kindness, 2. Kindness, 3. Kindness.  Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

  Contentment One of the greatest mistakes is to think that contentment comes from something outside us rather than from a quality of soul.  Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

  Praying For Harmony & Balance For Families Family, work, celebration: three of God’s gifts, three dimensions of our lives that must be brought into a harmonious balance.  Harmonizing work schedules with family demands, professional life with fatherhood and motherhood, work with celebration, is important for building up a society with a human face. In this regard, always give priority to the logic of being over that of having: the first builds up, the second ends up destroying. We must learn to believe first of all in the family, in authentic love, the kind that comes from God and unites us to him, the kind that therefore “makes us a ‘we’ which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is ‘all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28)” (Deus Caritas Est, 18). Amen. excerpt from homily for World Meeting of Families (June 3, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI 

  He Will Not Contend Or Cry Out Lectio Matthew 12:14–21 Meditatio “He will not contend or cry out …” Jesus has just healed a man with a shriveled hand. In the process he has a dispute with the Pharisees. At the beginning of today’s Gospel passage, these men who seriously lived according to the laws of their religion “went out” and began to plot the death of Jesus, who to them is obviously not concerned with keeping the Law. What amazement! Jesus doesn’t descend into arguing with them. He doesn’t withdraw to protect himself or to hide. He doesn’t try to reframe his message so it will be more palatable to those plotting his death. Instead he withdraws and quietly carries on with healing, not just one person as in the last healing story, but healing “them all.” Have you lived in a situation in which you or your plans and beliefs were being attacked? It takes enormous strength of character not to descend into arguing, rationalizing, pleading, capitulating, or just plain being nasty te...

 John 3:16 In The Words of St. Oscar Romero I don’t want to be an anti, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us. St. Oscar Romero

Workers in God's Plan  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. St. Oscar Romero

  More Abundant Life! Don't try to add more years to your life. Better add more life to your years. Blaise Paschal

  Gratitude Gratitude is the memory of the heart.  Saint Mary Euphrasia 

  Labor Pains It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth. St. John Henry Newman

  Great Article on How To Deal With Anger I thought I would share an article today in place of the Daily Thought that addresses how to channel anger utilizing some of the great advice from my favorite saint, Francis de Sales.  Here is the article from the Aletia website which frequently has really good articles.  https://aleteia.org/2021/05/30/how-to-channel-your-anger-like-st-francis-de-sales/

  Guard Your Peace Watch yourself with all diligence, lest the enemy steals near and robs you, depriving you of this great treasure, which is inner peace and stillness of soul. The enemy strives to destroy the peace of the soul, because he knows that when the soul is in turmoil it is more easily led to evil. But you must guard your peace. Lorenzo Scupoli

The Call To Help One Another No one is so rich that he does not need another's help; no one so poor as not to be useful in some way to his fellow man; and the disposition to ask assistance from others with confidence and to grant it with kindness is part of our very nature. Pope Leo XIII