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Jul
3
John 20:24-29
Posted By reynor | Filed Under Today's Gospel | Leave a Comment
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Jul
3
Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Posted By reynor | Filed Under The Wisdom of The Saints | Leave a Comment
Look what God is doing with nothing. People must believe that it is all his, all his. We must allow God to use us, without adding or subtracting anything.
– Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Jul
3
Co-Workers of the Truth 7/3
Posted By reynor | Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI | Leave a Comment
The question about God is inescapable; it admits of no abstention. This leaves us with further question: Is there, then, no answer to the question about God? And if there is an answer, what degree of certitude can we expect? In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul found himself confronted with precisely this question. The Apostle’s answer to the metaphysical and moral cynicism fo a decadent society ruled only by the law of power is astounding. He asserts that in reality they do know about God: “…What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (Rom 1:19). He supports his statement by pointing out that “Ever since the creation of the world his [God’s] eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:20). Paul concludes from this that they are therefore “without excuse” (ibid.). The truth was available to them, but they did not want the obligation it would entail…People oppose the truth that would place demands upon them -demands such as the worship of God and the giving of thanks (Rom 1:21). The moral corruption of society is for Paul but the logical consequence and the exact mirror-image of its fundamental perversion. When we place our own will, our own pride, our own comfort above the demands of truth, it is inevitable that everything will fall ultimately into decay. God, to whom worship is due, will no longer be worshipped; instead, images, appearances, the prevailing point of view will hold humanity in thrall. This universal distortion will spread to all walks of life. What is contrary to nature will become the norm; the individual who lives contrary to truth, lives contrary to nature. His ingenuity will no longer be at the service of what is good, but will be used instead to devise original and artful forms of wickedness. The relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children, will be dissolved and the sources of life will consequently be thwarted. It will no longer be life that has dominion, but death; a civilization of death will be established. (Rom 1:21-32)
From: Auf Christus schauen, pp. 26ff
Jul
2
Matthew 8: 28 - 34
Posted By reynor | Filed Under Today's Gospel | Leave a Comment
28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them.
31 And the demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.”
32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters.
33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs.
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.
Jul
2
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Posted By reynor | Filed Under The Wisdom of The Saints | Leave a Comment
It is true that God’s power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself.
– St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Jul
2
Co-Workers of the Truth 7/2
Posted By reynor | Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI, Quotes & Excerpts | Leave a Comment
When we believe in the God who loves us, who in Jesus became man for us, it is once a profession and a certainty of eternal life. And when we profess our belief in eternal life, it is a profession of faith in the living God. Because there is a God, we , whom he calls and sees, know that we shall not fall into a vacuum. For that reason, belief in eternal life becomes a very practical testimonial, not just a theory about something that will come to pass at an unspecified date in the future. That is why it was timely and proper for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to remind us, and all Christendom, once again of this profession of belief in the incarnate God who loved us even unto death. It was right and necessary to remind us that the measure of human life is what we call eternity, that heaven and hell, and Purgatory actually exists, and that human beings have souls that do not die with their bodies, but are bearers of the good news of God’s love and of the Resurrection. Such a testimonial is practical [i.e., not merely theoretical] because the whole measure of our lives is determined from this standpoint, because this means that we must live for what is lasting…Faith has as its goal- and that is the goal of all the love that exists between the Christ and us- that there be an interchange of life, that Christ’s life and ours be intertwined, that our lives be inscribed in his and his in ours, that that promise be fulfilled that Saint Teresa of Avila heard addressed to her by the Lord: “Do not be troubled; my concerns are yours and yours are mine!” We should live in such a way that this interchanged of lives becomes a reality, that his concerns truly do become ours and ours become his, and that Christ’s life and ours are inseparbale and therefore true.
From: Christlicher Glaube und Europa, pp. 139-40
Jul
1
Matthew 8:23-27
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23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save, Lord; we are perishing.”
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
Jul
1
St. John of the Cross
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The ignorance of some is greatly to be pitied, who load themselves with unwise penances of their devising, putting all their confidence in them, and expecting to become saints by their means. If they would put half of this labor upon mortifying their appetites and their passions, they would gain more in a month than by all their own exercises in many years.
– St. John of the Cross
Jul
1
Co-Workers of the Truth 7/1
Posted By reynor | Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI, Quotes & Excerpts | Leave a Comment
When faith is truly lived, when God, who is now and forever the Lord of the world, is glorified, something happens that touches and changes the world to its most profound depths. We cannot probe more deeply into the roots of the world in order to change it than by resting on the Heart of God, thus making it possible to call upon the living Ground and Power that supports everything and is alone capable of restoring all things.
If we speak to God, if we open ourselves to God, we are ourselves renewed, and vice-versa: if the world closes itself to God, if it turns away from him, it becomes like a planet that has broken loose from its magnetic field and is roaming aimlessly through nothingness. It becomes like an earth that is no longer lit by any sun and on which life has been extinguished.
If we lose God, we can no longer be what we were supposed to be because we have lost our fundamental standard, and if we break away from our proper standard, everything else is immoderation and perversion. We can become “right”, we can, so to speak, be “made right”, only if we are made right interiorly. But we are “right” interiorly only when we are conformable to the truth of our being. And this truth is that God made us and that he is our way. There can be no rightness that does not begin in us, and it cannot be in us if we deny the very basis of our rightness.
Roman Homilies, March 17, 1985
Jun
30
Matthew 8:18-22
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18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.
19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
