Daily Thought

  God's Generosity No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ.  St. Leo the Great 

  Cast Your Cares As a camel kneels before his master to have him remove his burden at the end of the day, so kneel each night and let the Master take your burden. Corrie Ten Boom

  Powerful Reflection from The Word Among Us Let’s not get off on the wrong foot with the Pharisee in this parable. He seemed to be doing pretty well spiritually. He was not greedy, dishonest, or adulterous. He fasted twice a week and went so far as to pay tithes on all his income. He prayed at the Temple regularly. That was better than most people. So why did Jesus say he didn’t go home justified? Because the Temple was a place of encounter with God. A holy location where God and his children came together. This Pharisee seemed to be missing that connection with the Lord. Instead of speaking his prayer to God, he prayed “to himself” (Luke 18:11) and itemized his accomplishments. By focusing on his righteous acts, he was not really making himself present to God. He wasn’t inviting God to be present to him either. So he missed the chance to encounter God and receive his mercy and grace. In that sense, the Pharisee left the Temple basically the same way he had entered. The tax collector,

  Ocean of Goodness Let us throw ourselves into the ocean of His goodness, where every failing will be canceled and anxiety turned into love. St. Paul of the Cross

  Simplicity The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes. St. Teresa of Avila

  Character Your true character Is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do 'Nothing' for you. St. Teresa of Calcutta

 A Hopeful Perspective Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do. St. John XXIII

  Worship & Weakness This appeal to the moral value of spiritual worship should not be interpreted in a merely moralistic way. It is before all else the joy-filled discovery of love at work in the hearts of those who accept the Lord’s gift, abandon themselves to him and thus find true freedom. The moral transformation implicit in the new worship instituted by Christ is a heartfelt yearning to respond to the Lord’s love with one’s whole being, while remaining ever conscious of one’s own weakness. This is clearly reflected in the Gospel story of Zacchaeus (cf. Lk 19:1–10). After welcoming Jesus to his home, the tax collector is completely changed: he decides to give half of his possessions to the poor and to repay fourfold those whom he had defrauded. The moral urgency born of welcoming Jesus into our lives is the fruit of gratitude for having experienced the Lord’s unmerited closeness. Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007). #82

  Fight The Good Fight As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. Now, before God the source of all life and before Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen and no man is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:11-16

  God Will Make A Way The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.  Corrie Ten Boom

  Asking For Angelic Help “Michael: Help us in our battle – each of us has a battle to fight in our lives; Gabriel: Bring us news, bring us the good news of salvation; Raphael: Take us by the hand and lead us forward without taking the wrong turns. Always walking forward, but with your help!” Pope Francis - Homily 9/27/17

  Truth To live in Truth is the basic minimum of human dignity, even if the price to defend the Truth could be costly. You need to always remain faithful to the Truth. Truth can never be betrayed. Blessed   Jerzy Popieluszko

Creativity & The Mission of the Church Lectio Luke 16:1–13 Meditatio “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” Setting aside the confusing discussion of what the steward actually did before and after getting fired, let’s look at why Jesus is telling this parable in the first place. The moral is basically that the children of light (that’s us) can learn from the creative problem-solving of the steward, who represents the “children of this world.” Jesus is holding up not the steward’s concrete actions for us to learn from, but the prudence he shows. In current usage, the term “prudence” is mostly associated with cautiousness, but that is not the true meaning of the word. Prudence is the virtue that helps us make sound judgments, a kind of practical wisdom. It’s called a cardinal virtue (remember those?) because it is a hinge for other virtues. (“Cardinal” comes from cardo, the Latin word for hinge.) With pru

  Living Life Abundantly If you never take risks, you'll never accomplish great things. Everybody dies, but not everyone has lived. C.S. Lewis

  Heaven Begins with Gratitude It's 'Heaven Begun', for the grateful on earth. Blessed Solanus Casey

  The Gift of Discernment Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! We are continuing our reflection on discernment – in this time we will speak every Wednesday about spiritual discernment – and for this it can help us to refer to a specific witness. One of the most instructive examples is offered to us by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, with a decisive episode in his life. Ignatius is at home convalescing, after injuring a leg in battle. To dispel the boredom, he asks for something to read. He loves tales of chivalry, but unfortunately only the lives of saints can be found at home. Somewhat reluctantly he adapts, but in the course of reading he begins to discover another world, a world that conquers him and seems to compete with that of knights. He is fascinated by the figures of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, and feels the desire to imitate them. But the world of chivalry also continues to exert its fascination on him. And so, within himself he feels within himself this alternation of tho

  Trusting In God's Grace We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. St. Oscar Romero

Sacred Story Affirmations   I believe the grace of forgiveness opens my heart making my every thought, word and deed bear fruit that endures to eternity. I ask that everything in my life serve Christ's Great Work of Reconciliation.  Fr. Bill Waston, S.J.

  We Can Begin Again! You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. C.S. Lewis

  A Thwarted Air Raid & Padre Pio During World War II a general at the American base near Bari heard that the Germans had an arms depot somewhere around San Giovanni Rotondo. He planned an air raid to destroy the depot, and he led the squadron on this mission. Nearing the target, he saw a friar ascend into the air with his arms outstretched! Suddenly the controls on the planes no longer responded. So they dropped their bombs in the forest, turned around, and went back to base. The general could not understand. He talked about the incident to the officers and pilots, but no one could come up with a reasonable explanation. Who was this friar who had obstructed their mission and disabled the planes’ communication system? What a mystery! One day, the general overheard someone speaking of Padre Pio, who lived on Mount Gargano and worked miracles. Suspecting that this was the friar who had thwarted the bombardment, he went to San Giovanni Rotondo to see him. The priest came toward him, p

  Love Is The Most Important Thing Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world. St. Oscar Romero

  Stay Awake! Lectio Matthew 24:42–51 Meditatio “Stay awake!” The Greek word translated as “stay awake” indicates a constant vigil. Monks of the Eastern tradition would keep vigil through the night in prayer, standing toward the rising sun, in a gesture symbolic of the stance all creatures should have as we await the final return of the Son of God. We are more familiar with vigils at the bedside of the sick or dying. We keep vigil with others, comforting them with our presence, awaiting a turn for the better or a dying person’s last breath. We are all too familiar with waiting, but sometimes our waiting is not like watching in constant vigil. We wait for conflicts to end or babies to be born. We wait for pay increases, good weather, or Christmas to arrive. We wait in checkout lines, restaurants, to receive the Eucharist. We spend much of our life waiting. And the waiting often frustrates and annoys us, breaks our hearts, or leads to boredom. Today’s Gospel might seem distant to us with

  St. Bartholomew ST. BARTHOLOMEW was one of the twelve who were called to the Apostolate by our Blessed Lord Himself. Several learned interpreters of the Holy Scripture take this Apostle to have been the same as Nathaniel, a native of Cana, in Galilee, a doctor in the Jewish law, and one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, to whom he was conducted by St. Philip, and whose innocence and simplicity of heart deserved to be celebrated with the highest eulogium by the divine mouth of our Redeemer. He is mentioned among the disciples who were met together in prayer after Christ’s ascension, and he received the Holy Ghost with the rest. Being eminently qualified by the Divine Grace to discharge the functions of an apostle, he carried the Gospel through the most barbarous countries of the East, penetrating into the remoter Indies. He then returned again into the northwest part of Asia, and met St. Philip at Hierapolis, in Phrygia, Hence he travelled into Lycaonia, where he instructed the

  More Than Conquerors If you are faithful you will be able to count yourself a conqueror. Even though you may lose some battles in your life, you will not know defeat. You can be sure that there is no such thing as failure if you act with purity of intention and with a desire to fulfill the Will of God. And then, whether you win or lose, you will always triumph in the end, because you will have carried out your work with Love.  St. Josemaría Escrivá (The Forge, 199)

 Advice to a Son from His Father, St. Stephen of Hungary King Saint Stephen of Hungary from Admonitions to His Son, Emeric My dearest son, if you desire to honor the royal crown, I advise, I counsel, I urge you above all  things to maintain the Catholic and apostolic faith with such diligence and care that you may be an  example for all those placed under you by God and that all the clergy may rightly call you a man of  true Christian profession. Failing to do this, you may be sure that you will not be called a Christian  or a son of the Church. Indeed, in the royal palace after the faith itself, the Church holds second  place, first propagated as she was by our head, Christ; then transplanted, firmly constituted and  spread through the whole world by his members, the apostles and holy fathers. And though she  always produced fresh offspring, nevertheless in certain places she is regarded as ancient. However, dearest son, even now in our kingdom the Church is proclaimed as young and ne

  The Pains of Love If you love, you will suffer. The only way to protect yourself against suffering is to protect yourself against love - and that is the greatest suffering of all, loneliness. Peter Kreeft

Great Advice From Our Saint of the Day   Let go of your plans. The first hour of your morning belongs to God. Tackle the day's work that he charges you with, and he will give you the power to accomplish it. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

  Trusting In God ⏤ Overcoming Worry Worry is a weakness from which very few of us are entirely free. We must be on guard against this most insidious enemy of our peace of soul. Instead let us foster confidence in God, and thank Him ahead of time for whatever he chooses to send us. Blessed Solanus Casey (1870-1957)

  Even Crows? When we see a beautiful object, a beautiful garden, or a beautiful flower, let us think that there we behold a ray of the infinite beauty of God, who has given existence to that object. St. Alphonsus Liguori

  Be A Builder of Hope Dear brother Bishops, dear priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and pastoral workers, good evening! I thank Bishop Poisson for his words of welcome and I greet all of you, especially those who had to travel a long way to get here.  The distances in your country are truly large!  Thank you!  I am happy to be here with you! It is significant that we find ourselves in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, the Cathedral of this particular Church and primatial see of Canada, whose first Bishop, Saint François de Laval, opened the Seminary in 1663 and devoted his entire ministry to the formation of priests.  The brief reading that we have heard spoke to us about the “elders”, that is the presbyters.  Saint Peter urged us: “Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly” ( 1 Pt  5:2).  Gathered here as the People of God, let us remember that Jesus is the Shepherd of our lives, who cares for us because he truly loves us.

  More Than Victors! Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says:           “In an acceptable time I heard you,           and on the day of salvation I helped you.”  Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry;  on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints,  beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts;  by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love,  in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left;  through glory and dishonor, insult and praise. We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful;  as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death;  as sorrowful yet always rejoic

 A Truth To Remember Throughout The Day Have patience with all things - but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. St. Francis de Sales

  We Are Not Redeemed By Science It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love. This applies even in terms of this present world. When someone has the experience of a great love in his life, this is a moment of “redemption” which gives a new meaning to his life. But soon he will also realize that the love bestowed upon him cannot by itself resolve the question of his life. It is a love that remains fragile. It can be destroyed by death. The human being needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty which makes him say: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38–39). If this absolute love exists, with its absolute certainty, then—only then—is man “redeemed”, whatever should happen to him in his particular circumstances. This is what it means to say: Jesus Christ ha

  Much of Our World Today?  People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. Aldous Huxley

  So Many Opportunities! You must realise now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. St. Josemaría Escrivá

  Encouraging Words To Help Us Try to commit yourself to a plan of life and to keep to it: a few minutes of mental prayer, Holy Mass — daily, if you can manage it — and frequent Communion; regular recourse to the Holy Sacrament of Forgiveness — even though your conscience does not accuse you of mortal sin; visiting Jesus in the Tabernacle; praying and contemplating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and so many other marvellous devotions you know or can learn. You should not let them become rigid rules, or water‑tight compartments. They should be flexible, to help you on your journey you who live in the middle of the world, with a life of hard professional work and social ties and obligations which you should not neglect, because in them your conversation with God still continues. Your plan of life ought to be like a rubber glove which fits the hand perfectly. Please don’t forget that the important thing does not lie in doing many things; limit yourself, generously, to those you can ful

  Choosing The Better Part Martha and Mary are two sisters; they also have a brother, Lazarus, but he does not appear on this occasion. Jesus is passing through their village and, the text says, Martha received him at her home (cf. 10: 38). This detail enables us to understand that Martha is the elder of the two, the one in charge of the house. Indeed, when Jesus has been made comfortable, Mary sits at his feet and listens to him while Martha is totally absorbed by her many tasks, certainly due to the special Guest.  We seem to see the scene: one sister bustling about busily and the other, as it were, enraptured by the presence of the Teacher and by his words. A little later Martha, who is evidently resentful, can no longer resist and complains, even feeling that she has a right to criticize Jesus: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me". Martha would even like to teach the Teacher! Jesus on the other hand answers her very c

  Focus I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Rest in God! Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. (Matthew 11:25) Think about the amazing advancements in technology that have come about in the past century. Computers that once took up entire rooms now fit on your wrist. People once doomed to die from horrible diseases now go on to live for many happy and healthy years. Airplanes and high-speed trains have made the globe much smaller. And yet the same problems that have dogged us for centuries—poverty, war, crime, abuse—are still around. Why can’t all this incredible knowledge help us tackle these issues? The problem is that technology cannot reveal the most important truth of all: that we are all children of God. Those whom Jesus calls “the wise and the learned”—the ones who rely only on brainpower—can’t quite understand this (Matthew 11:25). They can surmise that there is a God, but only God can reveal himself to us. For that to happen, they have to be “childli

  Resting in God's Heart The holy Gospel relates that after the apostles first went out on their apostolic mission, Jesus said to them: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mk 6:31). The Gospel tells us nothing of how they took that rest, but we can easily conjecture what peace, love, and happiness that secret, intimate retreat with Jesus must have held for them. On some occasions in life, God approaches the soul and speaks similar words, inviting it with immense tenderness to rest sweetly within his divine heart and—dare I say it?—asking it to allow him to rest in it. Heaven is complete rest in God, because earth is always a place of labor, vicissitudes, and sorrow. The soul sighs to be freed from the anxieties of this life, as Saint Paul desired: “… [M]y desire is to depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23). But God, the divine friend, is pleased to grant to souls that love him an experience of beatitude on this earth, in the heaven of his heart—is no

 Proclaim The Greatness of the Lord! Dear Brothers and Sisters, In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to Psalm 126. This Psalm is a joyful prayer of thanksgiving for God’s fidelity to his promises in bringing about Israel’s return from the Babylonian Exile: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced” (v. 3). A similar spirit of joy and thanksgiving should mark our own prayer as we recall the care which God has shown to us in the events of our lives, even those which seem dark and bitter. The Psalmist implores God to continue to grant Israel his saving help: “May those who sow in tears, reap with shouts of joy” (v. 5). This imagery of the seed which silently grows to maturity reminds us that God’s salvation is at once a gift already received and the object of our hope, a promise whose fulfilment remains in the future. Jesus will use this same imagery to express the passage from death to life, from darkness to light, which must take place in the lives

  When Everything Fails — God Will Not At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 2 Timothy 4:16-17

  Praying For All Parents Who Strive To Share Their Faith With Their Children In our time, too, the family, the first school for communicating the faith to the new generations, is a privileged place in which to talk about God. The Second Vatican Council speaks of parents as the first messengers of God (cf. Dogmatic Constitution, Decree Lumen Gentium, no. 11; Apostolicam Actuositatem, no. 11). Parents are called to rediscover their mission, assuming responsibility in educating, in opening the consciences of their little ones to love of God as a fundamental service to their life and in being the first catechists and teachers of the faith for their children. And in this task watchfulness is of the utmost importance. It means being able to take favorable opportunities to introduce the topic of faith in the family and to develop a critical reflection with regard to the many forms of conditioning to which children are subjected. The parents’ attention includes their sensitivity in perceiving

 The Witness of St. Justin Martyr and Companions The saints were seized and brought before the prefect of Rome, whose name was Rusticus. As they stood before the judgement seat, Rusticus the prefect said to Justin: “Above all, have faith in the gods and obey the emperors.” Justin said: “We cannot be accused or condemned for obeying the commands of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”   Rusticus said: “What system of teaching do you profess?” Justin said: “I have tried to learn about every system, but I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved by those who are held fast by error.”   The prefect Rusticus said: “Are those doctrines approved by you, wretch that you are?” Justin said: “Yes, for I follow them with their correct teaching.”   The prefect Rusticus said: “What sort of teaching is that?” Justin said: “Worship the God of the Christians. We hold him to be from the beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and things un

  Living Memory  Faith is nourished by the discovery and memory of the ever faithful God who guides history and constitutes the sound and permanent foundation on which to build our life. The Canticle of the Magnificat, which the Virgin Mary addresses to God, is a lofty example of this history of salvation, of this memory that makes and keeps God’s action present. Mary exalts God’s merciful action in the actual journey of his people, his fidelity to the promises of the covenant that he made to Abraham and his descendants; and all this is a living memory of the divine presence that is never absent (cf. Lk 1:46-55). Pope Benedict XVI. The Transforming Power of Faith . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition. 

  The Greatest of These is Love You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love. St. Catherine of Siena

If You Want  If  you want  the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth  forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us. Yet there, under the dome of your being does creation come into existence eternally, through your womb, dear pilgrim— the sacred womb in your soul, as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is His beloved servant never far. If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street pregnant with Light and sing …  St. John of the Cross

  Opportunities Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you. St. Teresa of Calcutta

  The Grace of the Present Moment The present moment is always full of infinite treasure. It contains far more than you can possibly grasp. Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith. Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides. The will of God presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love. Jean Pierre de Caussade

  From One of Our Newest Saints Above all, always see Jesus in every person, and consequently treat each one not only as an equal and as a brother or sister, but also with great humility, respect and selfless generosity. St. Charles de Foucauld

  We Need To Wake Up One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated. St. Thomas More

Blessing For Mother’s Day Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord.

 FREEDOM IN HIM   I APPROACH YOU WITH TENDERNESS, BECAUSE YOU ARE PRECIOUS TO ME AND I KNOW HOW FRAGILE YOU ARE. I draw you with gentle cords, with bands of Love. These Love-cords keep you connected to Me; they also help you discern the way you should go. Though My bands of Love are unbreakable, they do not curtail your freedom. These highly elastic bands allow you to go your own way for a while. However, even if they are stretched out for a long time—as you seek to live independently of Me—they retain their drawing power. Eventually, when you grow weary of worldly ways, the cords draw you gently back to Me. No matter how far you have roamed, I welcome you with unfailing Love.  I stoop down both to nourish you and to liberate you: take the yoke from your neck. The yoke is a symbol of slavery, and you have been a slave to sin. My death on the cross for your sins provided a way to free you from this slavery. I have broken the bands of your yoke and replaced them with bands of Love. Now y

  People of Faith Always Have Hope Space is still filled with the noise of destruction and annihilation, the shouts of self-assurance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and helplessness. But round about the horizon the eternal realities stand silent in their age-old longing. There shines on them already the first mild light of the radiant fulfillment to come. From afar sound the first notes as of pipes and voices, not yet discernable as a song or melody. It is all far off still, and only just announced and foretold. But it is happening, today. Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.

  The Wilderness Any life that cannot measure up to the wilderness, or seeks to evade it, is not worth much. There must be periods of withdrawal alternating with periods of activity and companionship or the horizons will shrink and life lose its savor. Unless a man consciously retires within himself to that quiet place where he may think out great problems he cannot hope to solve them and if he denies himself this healing effort an evil fate will certainly overtake him. God, who loves him, will chain him in loneliness, perhaps to his own undoing. And the world too will be in a bad way if ever it happens that there are no more wildernesses, no more silent unspoilt places to which a man can retire and think, if every corner of the earth is filled with noise and underground tunnels and soaring airplanes and communication networks, if cables and sewers scar the surface and undermine the crust.  Mankind needs to keep a few quiet corners for those who seek a respite and feel the urge to retr

  Lead Us            Lead me in the path of your commandments,     for I delight in it. Psalm 119:35