St. Matthew 13.54-58: "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? And is not his mother called Mary?"
"By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man cooperates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. he shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish" (Bl. John Paul II, Laborem Exercens).
Monday 30 April 2012
Sunday 29 April 2012
Saturday 28 April 2012
Good Shepherd Sunday, Day of Prayer for Vocations.
St. John 10.11-18: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep".
"The source of every perfect gift is God, who is love" (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est).
"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus" (Curé of Ars).
"The source of every perfect gift is God, who is love" (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est).
"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus" (Curé of Ars).
Friday 27 April 2012
Saturday, Third Week of Easter
St. John 6.60-69: "Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life".
Explaining the mystery of the conversion of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus during the words of consecration by the priest at the Mass a great Church Father said: "The power of the blessing prevails over nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed...Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature" (St. Ambrose of Milan).
Explaining the mystery of the conversion of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus during the words of consecration by the priest at the Mass a great Church Father said: "The power of the blessing prevails over nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed...Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature" (St. Ambrose of Milan).
Thursday 26 April 2012
Friday, Third Week of Easter
St. John 6:52-59: "Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day'".
"Because Jesus Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a whole change in the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation" (Council of Trent).
"Because Jesus Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a whole change in the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation" (Council of Trent).
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Thursday, Third Week of Easter
St. John 6.44-51: "I am the living bread come down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh".
"Christ, our Lord and God, was once for all to offer himself to God the Father through his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper, 'on the night when he was betrayed', he wanted to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world and it salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of sins we daily commit" (Council of Trent).
"Christ, our Lord and God, was once for all to offer himself to God the Father through his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper, 'on the night when he was betrayed', he wanted to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world and it salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of sins we daily commit" (Council of Trent).
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Feast of St. Mark
St. Mark 16.15-20: "After rising from the dead, Jesus, appeared to the Eleven and said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned".
"O God, who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist, and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel, grant we pray, that we may so profit from his teaching as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ" (Collect from the Feast of St. Mark).
"O God, who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist, and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel, grant we pray, that we may so profit from his teaching as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ" (Collect from the Feast of St. Mark).
Monday 23 April 2012
Tuesday, Third Week of Easter
St John 6.30-35: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty".
"What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh 'given life and giving life through the power of the Holy Spirit', preserves, increases and renews the life of grace received in Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum" (CCC#1392).
"What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh 'given life and giving life through the power of the Holy Spirit', preserves, increases and renews the life of grace received in Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum" (CCC#1392).
Sunday 22 April 2012
Monday, Third Week of Easter
St. John 6.22-29: "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you".
Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (St. Augustine).
Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (St. Augustine).
Saturday 21 April 2012
Friday 20 April 2012
Saturday, Second Week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles 6.1-7: "Select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.
"With regards to deacons, strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of God, in conjunction with the bishop and his body of priests, in the service (diakonia) of the liturgy, of the Gospel and of works of charity" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, 29).
"With regards to deacons, strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of God, in conjunction with the bishop and his body of priests, in the service (diakonia) of the liturgy, of the Gospel and of works of charity" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, 29).
Thursday 19 April 2012
Friday, Second Week of Easter
St. John 6.1-15: "Jesus took the five loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted".
"By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the Kingdom" (CCC# 1340).
"By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the Kingdom" (CCC# 1340).
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Thursday, Second Week of Easter
St. John 3. 31-36: "The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath".
"Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the new Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: 'The first man is of the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven'. From his conception, Christ's humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit, for God 'gives him the Spirit without measure'. From 'his fullness' as the head of redeemed humanity 'we have all received, 'grace upon grace'" (CCC# 504).
"Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the new Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: 'The first man is of the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven'. From his conception, Christ's humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit, for God 'gives him the Spirit without measure'. From 'his fullness' as the head of redeemed humanity 'we have all received, 'grace upon grace'" (CCC# 504).
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Wednesday, Second Week of Easter
St. John 3.16-21: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life".
"By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: 'In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins'. God 'Shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (CCC# 604).
"By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: 'In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins'. God 'Shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (CCC# 604).
Monday 16 April 2012
Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
St. John 3.7-15: "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit".
"No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now Go's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself...When the Father sends the Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him" (CCC# 687, 689).
"I want to be a Christian, though I should die for it" (Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha).
"No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now Go's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself...When the Father sends the Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him" (CCC# 687, 689).
"I want to be a Christian, though I should die for it" (Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha).
Sunday 15 April 2012
Monday, Second Week of Easter
St. John 3.1-8: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit".
"Baptism is called the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one 'can enter the kingdom of God'" (CCC# 1215).
"Baptism is called the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one 'can enter the kingdom of God'" (CCC# 1215).
Divine Mercy Sunday (Second Sunday of Easter)
St. John 20.19-31: "He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'"
"Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world" (Prayers from the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy).
For info on how to pray the Chaplet visit: http://thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/praythechaplet.php
"Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world" (Prayers from the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy).
For info on how to pray the Chaplet visit: http://thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/praythechaplet.php
Friday 6 April 2012
Good Friday from the Holy Land
Isaiah 52.13-53.12: "He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed".
"It is love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all" (CCC# 616).
"It is love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all" (CCC# 616).
Thursday 5 April 2012
Holy Thursday from the Holy Land
The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians: "'This cup is the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me". For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes'.
"It is Jesus who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, In Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonoured in the prophets" (St. Melito of Sardis).
I am praying for you on this Holy Land pilgrimage, please pray for me as well.
"It is Jesus who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, In Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonoured in the prophets" (St. Melito of Sardis).
I am praying for you on this Holy Land pilgrimage, please pray for me as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)