Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Ordered to be recited annually at the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
by Pope Pius XI



O Sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thine altar eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violation of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.

We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Thy divine love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and the teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.

Would O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood! We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou didst once make to Thy eternal Father on the cross and which Thou dost continue to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past.

Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of Charity.

We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.

I believed Catholic got its own hand signs for ritual or prayers right? I'm just curious.

Later people (like Sylar) maybe confused it for Satanic hand sign or something.

+ 2 Likes.

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Mass during the Day
Lectionary: 587



Reading 1 (Is 49:1-6)

Hear me, O coastlands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15)

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Reading 2 (Acts 13:22-26)

In those days, Paul said:
"God raised up David as king;
of him God testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'

"My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent."

Alleluia (See Lk 1:76)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Lk 1:57-66, 80)

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?"
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.



REFLECTION

What… will this child be? In a style called diptych or narratives in “two frames,” Luke narrates the conception and birth both of John the Baptist and of Jesus. The parallelism also serves to bring out that Jesus is the greater one. Although wondrous signs accompany the conception and birth of John, he is not the Awaited One, the Messiah of God. Rather, he is a prophet who prepares the way of the Lord, as his father Zechariah prophesies (cf v 76). The name John or Yohanan means “God favors” and this is seen in the neighbors and relatives acknowledging the great mercy given to Elizabeth (and Zechariah), and they rejoice with her (cf Lk 1:14, 58).

As the son of a priest, John is supposed to be trained in the Temple services. Instead, he grows up in the desert, far from the luxury in which the Jerusalem priestly aristocracy lives. By his attire, diet, and preaching, John presents himself more like a prophet than a priest. John wears clothing made of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. This garb makes him resemble the prophet Elijah the Tishbite who was described to King Ahaziah as wearing “a hairy garment with a leather belt around his waist” (2 Kgs 1:8). He is thus presented not as a prophet in general; he is the “new Elijah” who will call for reconciliation before the advent of the Lord.

Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, do you experience God’s “graciousness”? In what way?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

For Malaysia, the holy days of obligation are as follows:

a. Ascension Day
b. Assumption of Mother Mary
c. All Saints Day
d. Christmas Day

God Bless!


This post has been edited by khool: Jun 24 2017, 10:00 AM

His eye is on the Sparrow
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A



Over the years, I’ve become quite an expert of all sorts at self-pity. Some of you may know the feeling, “No one cares about me.” “No one understands me.” “No one really bothers about my well-being.” To help me ascertain the intensity of the feeling, I’ve come up with an index of three degrees. Starting at the lowest level, there is, “NBC” – “Nobody’s child.” Followed by the next level of intensity, “NBLM” “Nobody loves me.” “Ouch!” But the one that tops the barometer of self-loathing is “EHM” “Everybody hates me.” This may have more to do with the fear of not being loved than the fear of being insulted or rejected. Perhaps, this index may come in useful when you have to negotiate the hills and valleys of community life. It’s not hard to feel misunderstood, alienated, estranged and wronged when you are in the company of strangers, minus the family members, friends and acquaintances. But on second thought, better watch out for them too! Often enough, the nastiest sting often comes from those who are the closest. In a tight space, we often end up rubbing more than shoulders and elbows, rather we seem to successfully rub each other’s ego in the wrong way.

I guess that’s what a little leaven of self-doubt and poor self-esteem does to us. Our Lord had warned us of the leaven of the Pharisees, the putrid, demoralising, bitter negativity that usually begins in small ways and that are often dismissed as too minor for our attention. But it is this leaven, when allowed to fester and breed, that will infect our entire outlook of things. It often begins with the way we view ourselves – as insignificant, not worthy of love or attention, and then it is projected unto others who are blamed as the catalyst and cause of our woes. Rather than expecting and watching out for the insults and mud that will be flung at us by others, we should honestly acknowledge that we are capable of doing greater damage to ourselves than we realise.

Perhaps, the reason why we see so little value in ourselves is because we fail to see how much value we have in the eyes of God. This is at the heart of what Jesus conveys in today’s gospel. Out of all the things He could have chosen, Jesus chose the sparrow; a bird so common, it was practically worthless. Sparrows do not draw attention to themselves. Sparrows are not majestic like eagles. Bird watchers, who seem to have a fascination for all sorts of feathered friends, don’t go sparrow-watching. No, sparrows are in-descript as you see them momentarily flutter by. During the time of Jesus, a person could buy two sparrows at the price of one cent. If one were to pay two cents, a free bird was thrown in. This must have been one of the earliest recorded super value deals. We may not esteem the tiny sparrow, but the Lord tells us that not one sparrow is forgotten before God. He uses this buy-four-get-one-free practice to illustrate how much God values every single life. If God is concerned about the tiny sparrow, how much greater must His concern be for man! If God notices, values, and cares about a tiny sparrow, then how much more must God notice, value, and care about us.

While it is a great encouragement to know that God values the seemingly insignificant sparrow, it is even more encouraging that He values us so much that He takes an interest in every possible detail about us. The Lord revealed the extent of God’s interest by stating that “every hair on your head has been counted.” There is no place we can go, no word we can say, no act too small for God’s notice. If God can give so much value to the tiny worthless sparrow and the insignificant strain of hair, what more, the entire person. As one rotund comedian often commented about her size, “There is so much more of me to Love.”

There are many, many things in this world that argue well as to the worthlessness of man. What is a man to the world? That is one soul among billions that inhabit this third planet from the sun. All the world itself, I suppose, is so put together that a man might have reason to think that whether he lives or dies- what is it? Like a pebble on a beach or just like one other star in the sky? Who are we on the earth, and what is our earth in its universe? When I stare into the skies, the eternal silence of the infinite terrifies me. When they tell us of the light years and billions of light years that separate the earth from other planets, the stars and the galaxies in this universe, in this great cosmic creation; and when they tell us our galaxy is one of the smallest of all, and our earth is one of the smallest planets around the sun –– when you read those astronomical figures, what is a man on the earth? What is your life, or mine?

That is the reason science, with all its promise of a better future, often ends in defeatism and despair. That is the reason infidelity is dead and cold. That is the reason why it is so essential that you and I have to embrace the promise of Christ. That is the reason why the Lord assures us that even if it came to the seemingly insignificant extra sparrow which no one pays attention to, thrown in for nothing – but, God saw it when it fell to the ground. It is the old and neglected, the poor and the homeless, the one who has lost his way or his faith, the one who suffers loneliness and depression, or the newly formed embryo in a mother’s womb, the one who no one sees, but God sees them all. God knows, God understands, because each single person is truly precious and valuable in His eyes, even when the person doesn’t seem to be worthy or deserving of it. Not a single one falls that God didn’t see it.

During moments of self-doubt, during times of home-sickness, during days of loneliness and disaffection, when we are tempted to think, “No one cares for me” or “No one loves me”, as we plod along with heavy hearts and sore feet, let us always remember the truth of what the Lord says at the very end of today’s gospel. Not even the tiny sparrows escape the notice of God. “Every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”

Some of you may remember this gospel song popularised by the movie Sister Act, “The Eye of the Sparrow,” written by Mrs Civilla Martin at the turn of the 20th century. In 1904, Mrs. Martin, went to visit a bedridden friend in New York. She asked the woman if she ever got discouraged because of her physical condition. Her friend quickly responded: “Mrs. Martin, how can I be discouraged when my heavenly Father watches over each little sparrow and I know He loves and cares for me?” On her journey back home, Mrs. Martin completed the writing of her new text, which has since been a source of much encouragement to many.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, why should my heart be lonely and long for Heaven and home, when Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me...
“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, and resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; though by the path He leadeth but one step I may see: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me...
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him; from care He sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me...

Let’s face it: It is hard to remember, hard to live without fear, hard to live with the assurance of God’s profuse care of even us. But our perspective changes when we remember, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”

Source: http://michaelckw.blogspot.my/

God bless, and have a wonderful Holy Spirit filled weekend my brothers and sisters in Christ!

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 94



Reading 1 (Jer 20:10-13)

Jeremiah said:
"I hear the whisperings of many:
'Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!'
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
'Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.'
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
for he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!"

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35)

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!''
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Reading 2 (Rom 5:12-15)

Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.

Alleluia (Jn 15:26b, 27a)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord;
and you also will testify.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 10:26-33)

Jesus said to the Twelve:
"Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father."



REFLECTION

We are in the hands of a loving father. In the preface to his book Let Go of Fear, Carlos Valles shares how on a leisurely bicycle ride in a lonely countryside road he is stopped by an unusual sight. In the low grass is a cobra, half coiled, half-erect, with its hood spread out and its tongue flickering danger. On the branch of a nearby bush is perched a little bird paralyzed with fear. The bird has wings, but is unable to fly. It has a larynx, but is unable to sing. It is frozen, stiff, mesmerized. Fear holds the bird. Though the vast expanse of the sky is open to it, the prey cannot escape.

Fear haunts all of us. We worry about persons, events, things. We fret over job and possessions, health of body and spirit, welfare and security of loved ones. We are afraid of the varied dangers that threaten our life and disturb our peace of mind. These concerns explain our frantic efforts and frazzled nerves; they visit as nightmares in our troubled sleep.

In the Gospel, the Apostles have reason to be apprehensive about their mission of proclaiming the Kingdom and witnessing to Jesus. True, their Master has just given them authority to expel unclean spirits and to heal diseases. But he has also warned them that their message will not find an easy hearing. They will be entering dens of wolves, filled with hostile forces bent to kill them. They will be maligned and haled before courts, persecuted and murdered.

Jesus addresses their apprehensions by bidding them three times: “Do not be afraid.” They are not to allow themselves to be intimidated or to be crippled by fear.

He tells them that there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, and no secret that will not be known. The message that they have listened to attentively and received from him they are to speak with boldness.

Jesus also says that the disciples need not fear the things or people who can hurt superficially but cannot harm the spirit. No bodily harm human beings can inflict approximates the real death that only separation from God brings.

Finally, Jesus assures the Apostles that they have no reason to be afraid of anything because they are in God’s hands. The heavenly Father’s loving care extends not only to big things like armies in battle, but also to intimate little details like the life of a sparrow. If God attends to sparrows, an entire flock of which is nowhere near the worth of a human being, how much more does he look after the disciples whose every hair is numbered.

How comforting it is to know that God’s providential care for us is always there, even in the smallest details of our lives. Our concerns and preoccupations, our misfortunes and tragedies, our nightmares and disasters — these are all in the hands of a loving Father. Despite appearances, God is absolutely in control. There is nothing to fear.

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

Be Not Afraid

Our commitment to Christ will be put to the test.

We will hear whispered warnings and denunciations, as Jeremiah does in today’s First Reading. Even so-called friends will try to trap and trip us up.

For His sake we will bear insults and be made outcasts—even in our own homes, we hear in today’s Psalm.

As Jeremiah tells us, we must expect that God will challenge our faith in Him, and probe our minds and hearts, to test the depths of our love.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus assures us three times in today’s Gospel.



As Jeremiah tells us, we must expect that God will challenge our faith in Him, and probe our minds and hearts, to test the depths of our love.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus assures us three times in today’s Gospel.

Though He may permit us to suffer for our faith, our Father will never forget or abandon us. As Jesus assures us today, everything unfolds in His Providence, under His watchful gaze—even the falling of the tiniest sparrow to the ground. Each one of us is precious to Him.

Steadfast in this faith, we must resist the tactics of Satan. He is the enemy who seeks the ruin of our soul in Gehenna, or hell.

We are to seek God, as the Psalmist says. Zeal for the Lord’s house, for the heavenly kingdom of the Father, should consume us, as it consumed Jesus (see Jn 2:17). As Jesus bore the insults of those who blasphemed God, so should we (see Rm 15:3).

By the gracious gift of himself, Jesus bore the transgressions of the world, Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. In rising from the dead, He has shown us that God rescues the life of the poor, that He does not spurn His own when they are in distress. In His great mercy, He will turn toward us, as well. He will deliver us from the power of the wicked.

That is why we proclaim His name from the housetops, as Jesus tells us. That is why we sing praise and offer thanksgiving in every Eucharist. We are confident in Jesus’ promise—that we who declare our faith in Him before others will be remembered before our heavenly Father.

Source: http://stpaulcenter.com/reflections/be-not...n-ordinary-time

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 372



Reading 1 (Gn 13:2, 5-18)

Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,
so that the land could not support them if they stayed together;
their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.
There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock
and those of Lot's. (At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.)

So Abram said to Lot:
"Let there be no strife between you and me,
or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen.
Is not the whole land at your disposal?
Please separate from me.
If you prefer the left, I will go to the right;
if you prefer the right, I will go to the left."
Lot looked about and saw how well watered
the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar,
like the LORD's own garden, or like Egypt.
(This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Lot, therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain
and set out eastward.
Thus they separated from each other;
Abram stayed in the land of Canaan,
while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain,
pitching his tents near Sodom.
Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked
in the sins they committed against the LORD.

After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram:
"Look about you, and from where you are,
gaze to the north and south, east and west;
all the land that you see I will give to you
and your descendants forever.
I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth;
if anyone could count the dust of the earth,
your descendants too might be counted.
Set forth and walk about in the land, through its length and breadth,
for to you I will give it."
Abram moved his tents and went on to settle
near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron.
There he built an altar to the LORD.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5)

R. He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.
R. He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
By whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the LORD.
R. He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
shall never be disturbed.
R. He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Alleluia (Jn 8:12)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 7:6, 12-14)

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.

"Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few."



REFLECTION

DO TO OTHERS. Jesus’ saying, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (v 12), has been known as the Golden Rule since the 18th century. The rule, in essence, encapsulates the Law and the Prophets. This is not distinctly Christian as in antiquity there were many variations of this saying, although in the negative form. Tobit reminds his son Tobiah, “Do to no one what you yourself hate” (Tb 4:15). Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus, is reported to have said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow creatures.” The negative formulation may also be found among sages of other faiths.

On the other hand, the Law and the Prophets — or the essence of the Scriptures — would be summarized in other ways. Jesus Himself says that the commandment of love of God and neighbor is the first and the sum of all the commandments (cf Mk 12:30-31). And the Apostle Paul declares, “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom 13:10).

The Golden Rule—in the positive or negative form—is so basic that it is almost implanted in our conscience. If we use common sense or are in our right mind, we will avoid doing to others what we would not like done to ourselves. But Jesus opens a wider vista for doing good. One does not just refrain from harming; one goes out to do good to others.

In your dealings with other people, are you guided by the Golden Rule? Have you followed this lately?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

His writings are typical of what Jack Chick would spew. Conspiracies etc. His presumptions of what he thinks others believe in takes the cake. Attends protestant churches but does not believe in what they believe in. Awesome right? Should have just created his own church as suggested earlier.



This post has been edited by yeeck: Jun 27 2017, 06:12 PM

Are the Freemasons Finally Exposing their Long-Held Secrets?

The Bern Historical Museum is organizing an exposition from June 15 to September 3, 2017, under the title “Top Secret: The Freemasons”.

In June 1717, exactly 300 years ago, four London lodges combined to form the first Masonic "obedience": the Grand Lodge of London. This date marks the birth of the modern institution of Freemasonry. To commemorate the event, the Bern Historical Museum, with the collaboration of a lodge in Bern, is organizing this display.

The goal of the exhibition is to attempt to dispel the so-called persistent prejudices against this secret society. The exhibition, which is very didactic, shows the emergence of Freemasonry at the time of the Enlightenment, the way it promoted liberalism throughout the 19th century, and the “witch hunt” the secret societies claim to have undergone under the Fascist Italian and Nazi regimes.

Visitors are presented with some Masonic signs and symbols – those the lodges were willing to divulge. Another showcase that will be sure to draw attention: a representation of the famous “Chamber of Reflection”, with a skull and a candle, where the candidate is placed for a time in order to meditate upon his mortal nature and his motives for wishing to join the lodge, reasons which he must afterwards put into writing.

We must not forget the heart of the lodge, the “Temple”, where the ceremonies are held. Before entering this room that is ordinarily reserved for the initiated, sightseers will first see a showcase with a model of the Temple of Solomon, made according to the original temple described in the Old Testament.

A Whitewashing of History


Of course, visitors will keep in mind that this abundance of occult signs is really just a captatio benevolentiae, aimed at presenting Freemasonry as sympathetic, helping them forget how profoundly anti-Christian it is.

But nobody can be mistaken. The exposition in Bern knows who its enemy is: the Catholic Church. It mentions that, at the time of the Enlightenment, “Masonic tolerance was a threat” in the eyes of the Church. The exhibition, which clearly has no fear of amalgams, also recalls that in southern Europe, the Inquisition relentlessly hounded the Freemasons, just like the Nazis in the 20th century.

In order to emotionally mark visitors, they are shown an illustration of the Masonic legend that shows the Portuguese Inquisition torturing John Coustos, a stonemason born in Bern to Huguenot parents, who settled in Portugal, where he was condemned to penal servitude for being a Freemason in 1744.

But the exposition does avoid mentioning all the Catholic magisterium’s doctrinal condemnations of Freemasonry over the past two centuries and more, beginning with the pontifical bull In Eminenti Apostolatus, thundered by Clement XII on April 28, 1738. This document pronounced a latae sententiae excommunication against Catholics belonging to the lodges. After being repeated by the popes many times, this condemnation was inscribed in the 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code.

Current Statements from the Church


The new Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 by the Vatican no longer explicitly mentions the condemnation, but it still prescribes a penalty for anyone who “joins an association which plots against the Church”, and an interdict – which deprives a person of the sacraments, of participating in the divine office, and of burial in consecrated ground –for those who “promote or direct an association of this kind”.

Along the same lines, on November 26, 1983, John Paul II approved a “Declaration on Masonic Associations”. It was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time, and it insists that “the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic associations remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden.” The declaration mentions in passing that “the faithful who enroll in the Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”

If the Church is severe in her judgment on Freemasonry, it is because there are grave reasons to condemn it. The first is naturalism, that is not so much a denial of the existence of God as a refusal to recognize the consequences of His existence in the natural order. Thus society should be organized, according to the “brothers”, as if God did not exist.

Another motive for condemnation: the doctrinal relativism that hides behind the mask of “tolerance”. The Masonic method – as Richard Dupuy, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, publicly stated on July 20, 1968, at the Convention of his obedience – consists in “perpetually questioning everything we know”. On the religious level, the disastrous consequence of this relativism is the refusal of all dogma and all revelation. Not to mention the moral level, where every sort of deviation becomes possible.

Lastly, the sworn “secrecy” of the Freemasons is denounced by the Church in the name of her Divine Founder’s own words: “For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved; but he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God” (Jn. 3:20-21)

Sources: cath.ch / Musée d’Histoire de Berne

Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
Lectionary: 373



Reading 1 (Gn 15:1-12, 17-18)

The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

"Fear not, Abram!
I am your shield;
I will make your reward very great."

But Abram said,
"O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be,
if I keep on being childless
and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"
Abram continued,
"See, you have given me no offspring,
and so one of my servants will be my heir."
Then the word of the LORD came to him:
"No, that one shall not be your heir;
your own issue shall be your heir."
He took him outside and said:
"Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

He then said to him,
"I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession."
"O Lord GOD," he asked,
"how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
He answered him,
"Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: "To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates."

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9)

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations—
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia (Jn 15:4a, 5b)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord;
whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 7:15-20)
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them."



REFLECTION

Beware of false prophets. Scriptures attest to the phenomenon of persons claiming to be prophets alongside the authentic messengers of God. The latter call the former “false prophets.” Since they come in “sheep’s clothing,” acting like the real prophets, they are hard to distinguish. Some indicators that they are false are: Their oracles do not come true, they give a false sense of security, and they avoid speaking the “hard truth” of the divine oracle.

With regard to the Christian message, false prophets are bent on preaching the easy way — hence, the easier way of following Jesus that guarantees good feelings and rewards. They embrace that part of the Gospel that makes life smooth and exciting: they have little or nothing to say about the demands of Jesus. They do not mention the cross. They love the advantages that leadership affords them.

Believers should beware of leaders who say only nice things and hide the painful truth about the faith. True prophets - like true friends - should be honest, even if honesty sometimes hurts.

Who are the friends who have been true to you? In what ways?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

Saint of the Day:St Irenaeus



St Irenaeus, “Father of Catholic Theology”, as he has been
called, came from a Christian family living in Asia Minor (Turkey). Soon after being ordained a priest, Irenaeus was sent to Lyons, the principal city of Gaul, to assist his countryman, Bishop St Pothinus.

As Bishop of Lyons (in France) for some 24 years, Irenaeus succeeded in gaining many new converts to the faith and rebuilding Churches in Gaul. Having studied the Scriptures exhaustively and mastered both the Greek and oriental philosophies, on which the Gnostic heresies (Gnosticism: Salvation comes from knowledge which is the exclusive possession of a small group) were based, he was able to set forth their absurdities and to refute their claims by Catholic tradition as well as by the Scriptures.

His book Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, a presentation of the doctrines of the faith for the use of lay people and written in dialogue form, emphasizes the recapitulation of all things in Christ, the new Adam; that Mary, the Theotokos, is the new Eve; the Eucharist is both a Sacrament containing the real presence and the true sacrifice of the New Law; and that the body will rise again.

In c.190, Irenaeus, whose name means “lover of peace”, facilitated the establishment of peace between Pope Victor I and the Eastern Churches in relation to the latter’s refusal to conform to the Roman practice concerning the Easter date. According to St Jerome, St Irenaeus died a Martyr’s death under Septimius Severus.

Reflection: “When we come to the public service of God, we come as it were in a formidable body, to do violence to him, and to storm heaven by prayer; and this violence is most pleasing to God” (St Irenaeus).

JUNE 29: STS. PETER AND PAUL (2). St. Paul’s Operative Faith and the Interior Struggle to Do God’s Will

In one of the comments written by a non-Catholic to one of my posts in a Christian group, I was advised to “STOP STRUGGLING” (commenting on the title of our FB page and weblog) for FAITH is the only necessary thing to be saved, basing himself on St. Paul, and “WORKS” are not necessary. He also told me to meditate on this: Sola Fide …only faith in Jesus can save…



Well, obviously he is a non-Catholic and told him that I concur that faith in Jesus is necessary for salvation…but differing from his view and non-Catholic interpretation and hermeneutics, I answered that it has to be an OPERATIVE FAITH, A FAITH SHOWN IN WORKS (Had he only read the book of St. James…which I hope is included in his bible for Luther didn’t consider it canonical as it goes against his thesis of sola fides, aside from sola Scriptura, and had wanted it removed from the original Catholic biblical canon from which our other Christian brothers derived their bible). Moreover, ST. PAUL HIMSELF HAD TO STRUGGLE IN ORDER TO DO GOD’S WILL!

In the 2nd reading of today’s solemnity when the entire Catholic Church celebrates Sts. Peter and Paul, I cannot help but meditate on it where St. Paul recounts how he “competed” and “finished the race,” i.e., the vocation he had received from Our Lord to preach to all the Gentiles, a task which he carried out with a passionate zeal to preach the Good news, after realizing that his life in and for Christ is all that really matters and everything else he considers as rubbish.

“I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.
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. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tm 4:6–8, 17–18)

All these, St. Paul willingly fulfilled, without worrying about the tribulations, dangers, sufferings, apparent failures that may assail him coupled with the interior difficulties he had to confront, that “old man” who pulls him away from what he knew he had to do, that “law” in his members which alienates him from doing what he saw was right, from doing God’s will.

My point is: St. Paul had to struggle with all these! He knows that faith in Jesus Christ is what justifies us but he does not ignore the necessity of interior struggle in order to “complete the race” and receive the “crown of righteousness”.

Dear friends: Faith AND works. Not only faith (sola fides), but works as well = operative faith in order to be saved! St Paul himself taught us in his Hymn to Charity in the 1st Letter to the Corinthians of the different manifestations of love:

“Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Cor 13:4-7)

But in order for us to really believe and to really love, day in and day out, we have to struggle to correspond to God’s grace in order to overcome the old man, the law in our members which separates us from doing God’s will, our vocation to holiness and apostolate and to acquire the necessary virtues with God’s grace and this requires struggle on our part.

Let us meditate on the following words of St. Josemaria:

"We cannot stay still. We must keep going ahead toward the goal st. Paul marks out: “It is not I who live, it is Christ that lives in me.” This is a high and very noble ambition, this identification with Christ, this holiness. But there is no other way if we are to be consistent with the divine life God has sown in our souls in baptism. To advance we must progress in holiness. Shying away from holiness implies refusing our Christian life its natural growth. The fire of God’s love needs to be fed. It must grow each day, gathering strength in our soul; and a fire is maintained by burning more things. If we don’t feed it, it may die.

Remember what st Augustine said: “If you say ‘enough,’ you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don’t stay in the same place, don’t go back, don’t go off the road.” … Am I advancing in my faithfulness to christ, in my desire for holiness, in a generous apostolate in my daily life, in my ordinary work among my colleagues?"
St. Josemaria, “Christ is Passing By,” n. 58.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Catholicsstrivingf...hc_ref=NEWSFEED

“Blessed be God who lives forever,
because his kingdom lasts throughout all ages.



For he afflicts, and he shows mercy;
he leads down to Hades in the lowest regions of the earth,
and he brings up from the great abyss,
and there is nothing that can escape his hand.

Acknowledge him before the nations, O children of Israel;
for he has scattered you among them.

He has shown you his greatness even there.
Exalt him in the presence of every living being,
because he is our Lord and he is our God;
he is our Father and he is God forever.

He will afflict you for your iniquities,
but he will again show mercy on all of you.
He will gather you from all the nations
among whom you have been scattered.

If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul,
to do what is true before him,
then he will turn to you
and will no longer hide his face from you.
So now see what he has done for you;
acknowledge him at the top of your voice.
Bless the Lord of righteousness,
and exalt the King of the ages.
In the land of my exile I acknowledge him,
and show his power and majesty to a nation of sinners:
‘Turn back, you sinners, and do what is right before him;
perhaps he may look with favor upon you and show you mercy.’

As for me, I exalt my God,
and my soul rejoices in the King of heaven.

Let all people speak of his majesty,
and acknowledge him in Jerusalem.

O Jerusalem, the holy city,
he afflicted you for the deeds of your hands,
but will again have mercy on the children of the righteous.

Acknowledge the Lord, for he is good,
and bless the King of the ages,so that his tent may be rebuilt in you in joy.
May he cheer all those within you who are captives,and love all those within you who are distressed,to all generations forever.

A bright light will shine to all the ends of the earth;many nations will come to you from far away,
the inhabitants of the remotest parts of the earth to your holy name,bearing gifts in their hands for the King of heaven.
Generation after generation will give joyful praise in you;the name of the chosen city will endure forever.

Cursed are all who speak a harsh word against you;cursed are all who conquer you and pull down your walls,
all who overthrow your towers and set your homes on fire.But blessed forever will be all who revere you.

Go, then, and rejoice over the children of the righteous,for they will be gathered together and will praise the Lord of the ages.

Happy are those who love you,and happy are those who rejoice in your prosperity.
Happy also are all people who grieve with you because of your afflictions;
for they will rejoice with you and witness all your glory forever.

My soul blesses the Lord, the great King!
For Jerusalem will be built as his house for all ages.
How happy I will be if a remnant of my descendants should survive to see your glory and acknowledge the King of heaven.
The gates of Jerusalem will be built with sapphire and emerald,and all your walls with precious stones.
The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold,and their battlements with pure gold.
The streets of Jerusalem will be paved with ruby and with stones of Ophir.

The gates of Jerusalem will sing hymns of joy,and all her houses will cry, ‘Hallelujah!
Blessed be the God of Israel!’and the blessed will bless the holy name forever and ever.”

21 Benefits of Making the Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is a simple gesture yet a profound expression of faith for both Catholic and Orthodox Christians. As Catholics, it’s something we do when we enter a church, after we receive Communion, before meals, and every time we pray. But what exactly are we doing when we make the Sign of the Cross? Here are 21 things:



1. Pray

We begin and end our prayers with the Sign of the Cross, perhaps not realizing that the sign is itself a prayer. If prayer, at its core, is “an uprising of the mind to God,” as St. John Damascene put it, then the Sign of the Cross assuredly qualifies. “No empty gesture, the sign of the cross is a potent prayer that engages the Holy Spirit as the divine advocate and agent of our successful Christian living,” writes Bert Ghezzi.

2. Open ourselves to grace

As a sacramental, the Sign of the Cross prepares us for receiving God’s blessing and disposes us to cooperate with His grace, according to Ghezzi.

3. Sanctify the day

As an act repeated throughout the key moments of each day, the Sign of the Cross sanctifies our day. “At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign,” wrote Tertullian.

4. Commit the whole self to Christ

In moving our hands from our foreheads to our hearts and then both shoulders, we are asking God’s blessing for our mind, our passions and desires, our very bodies. In other words, the Sign of the Cross commits us, body and soul, mind and heart, to Christ. (I’m paraphrasing this Russian Orthodox writer.) “Let it take in your whole being - body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing—and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God,” said twentieth century theologian Romano Guardini.

5. Recall the Incarnation

Our movement is downward, from our foreheads to our chest “because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth,” Pope Innocent III wrote in his instructions on making the Sign of the Cross. Holding two fingers together - either the thumb with the ring finger or with index finger—also represents the two natures of Christ.

6. Remember the Passion of Our Lord

Fundamentally, in tracing out the outlines of a cross on ourselves, we are remembering Christ’s crucifixion. This remembrance is deepened if we keep our right hand open, using all five fingers to make the sign—corresponding to the Five Wounds of Christ.

7. Affirm the Trinity

In invoking the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are affirming our belief in a triune God. This is also reinforced by using three fingers to make the sign, according to Pope Innocent III.

8. Focus our prayer on God

One of the temptations in prayer is to address it to God as we conceive of Him - the man upstairs, our buddy, a sort of cosmic genie, etc. When this happens, our prayer becomes more about us than an encounter with the living God. The Sign of the Cross immediately focuses us on the true God, according to Ghezzi: “When we invoke the Trinity, we fix our attention on the God who made us, not on the God we have made. We fling our images aside and address our prayers to God as he has revealed himself to be: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

9. Affirm the procession of Son and Spirit

In first lifting our hand to our forehead we recall that the Father is the first person the Trinity. In lowering our hand we “express that the Son proceeds from the Father.” And, in ending with the Holy Spirit, we signify that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, according to Francis de Sales.

10. Confess our faith

In affirming our belief in the Incarnation, the crucifixion, and the Trinity, we are making a sort of mini-confession of faith in words and gestures, proclaiming the core truths of the creed.

11. Invoke the power of God’s name

In Scripture, God’s name carries power. In Philippians 2:10, St. Paul tells us that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” And, in John 14:13-14, Jesus Himself said, “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

12. Crucify ourselves with Christ

Whoever wishes to follow Christ “must deny himself” and “take up his cross” as Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 16:24. “I have been crucified with Christ,” St. Paul writes in Galatians 2:19. “Proclaiming the sign of the cross proclaims our yes to this condition of discipleship,” Ghezzi writes.


13. Ask for support in our suffering

In crossing our shoulders we ask God “to support us - to shoulder us - in our suffering,” Ghezzi writes.

14. Reaffirm our baptism

In using the same words with which we were baptized, the Sign of the Cross is a “summing up and re-acceptance of our baptism,” according to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

15. Reverse the curse

The Sign of the Cross recalls the forgiveness of sins and the reversal of the Fall by passing “from the left side of the curse to the right of blessing,” according to de Sales. The movement from left to right also signifies our future passage from present misery to future glory just as Christ “crossed over from death to life and from Hades to Paradise,” Pope Innocent II wrote.

16. Remake ourselves in Christ’s image

In Colossians 3, St. Paul uses the image of clothing to describe how our sinful natures are transformed in Christ. We are to take off the old self and put on the self “which is being renewed … in the image of its creator,” Paul tells us. The Church Fathers saw a connection between this verse and the stripping of Christ on the cross, “teaching that stripping off our old nature in baptism and putting on a new one was a participation in Christ’s stripping at his crucifixion,” Ghezzi writes. He concludes that we can view the Sign of the Cross as “our way of participating in Christ’s stripping at the Crucifixion and his being clothed in glory at his resurrection.” Thus, in making the Sign of the Cross, we are radically identifying ourselves with the entirety of the crucifixion event - not just those parts of it we can accept or that are palatable to our sensibilities.

17. Mark ourselves for Christ

In ancient Greek, the word for sign was sphragis, which was also a mark of ownership, according to Ghezzi. “For example, a shepherd marked his sheep as his property with a brand that he called a sphragis,” Ghezzi writes. In making the Sign of the Cross, we mark ourselves as belong to Christ, our true shepherd.

18. Soldier on for Christ

The sphragis was also the term for a general’s name that would be tattooed on his soldiers, according to Ghezzi. This too is an apt metaphor for the Christian life: while we can be compared to sheep in the sense of following Christ as our shepherd we are not called to be sheepish. We instead are called to be soldiers of Christ. As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. … take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

19. Ward off the devil

The Sign of the Cross is one of the very weapons we use in that battle with the devil. As one medieval preacher named Aelfric declared, “A man may wave about wonderfully with his hands without creating any blessing unless he make the sign of the cross. But, if he do, the fiend will soon be frightened on account of the victorious token.” In another statement, attributed to St. John Chrysostom, demons are said to “fly away” at the Sign of the Cross “dreading it as a staff that they are beaten with.” (Source: Catholic Encyclopedia.)

20. Seal ourselves in the Spirit

In the New Testament, the word sphragis, mentioned above, is also sometimes translated as seal, as in 2 Corinthians 1:22, where St. Paul writes that, “the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.” In making the Sign of the Cross, we are once again sealing ourselves in the Spirit, invoking His powerful intervention in our lives.

21. Witness to others

As a gesture often made in public, the Sign of the Cross is a simple way to witness our faith to others. “Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still,” wrote St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

Source: http://epicpew.com/21-benefits-making-sign-cross/

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles (Mass during the Day)
Lectionary: 591




Reading 1 (Acts 12:1-11)

In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them.
He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword,
and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews
he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
–It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.–
He had him taken into custody and put in prison
under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.
He intended to bring him before the people after Passover.
Peter thus was being kept in prison,
but prayer by the Church was fervently being made
to God on his behalf.

On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial,
Peter, secured by double chains,
was sleeping between two soldiers,
while outside the door guards kept watch on the prison.
Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him
and a light shone in the cell.
He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying,
"Get up quickly."
The chains fell from his wrists.
The angel said to him, "Put on your belt and your sandals."
He did so.
Then he said to him, "Put on your cloak and follow me."
So he followed him out,
not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real;
he thought he was seeing a vision.
They passed the first guard, then the second,
and came to the iron gate leading out to the city,
which opened for them by itself.
They emerged and made their way down an alley,
and suddenly the angel left him.
Then Peter recovered his senses and said,
"Now I know for certain
that the Lord sent his angel
and rescued me from the hand of Herod
and from all that the Jewish people had been expecting."

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9)

R. The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.

Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.

Reading 2 (2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18)

I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

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.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Alleluia (Mt 16:18)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 16:13-19)

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."



REFLECTION

Upon this rock. As the culmination of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee, Simon confesses him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This faith is arrived at not by human introspection, but by divine revelation. Because of this faith-confession, Simon becomes Peter, the petra-rock on which Jesus will build his Church.

But the high point of Simon Peter’s “career” is also the start of his fall. Because he thinks of Jesus as a glorious Messiah who should not know failure, weakness, suffering, and death, he becomes a skandalon, a stone over which people stumble. Only after he has learned from his own failures—his threefold denial of Jesus during the passion—and after the risen Jesus has appeared to him, does Simon prove to be the “rock” which supports the faith of the believers.

We find in Paul a parallel of Peter. Paul became an Apostle because God revealed his Son to him (cf Gal 1:16). Now he is in the same situation of weakness (cf 2 Tm 4:6-8). The veteran of missionary journeys and countless struggles for the faith is by now an old man, in prison, lonely, and desirous of the company of his close collaborators. He feels that death is imminent. But he is not one to despair of his situation. Faith tells him that his departure from this earth means happiness for him. He has fought the good fight of proclaiming the Gospel. The Lord has always stood with him and given him strength. The Lord will certainly take care of him as now he prepares for the final witness: death by martyrdom.

Why are Peter and Paul considered the two great “pillars” of the Christian faith?



SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 375



Reading 1 (Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him
and said: "I am God the Almighty.
Walk in my presence and be blameless."

God also said to Abraham:
"On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you
that you must keep:
every male among you shall be circumcised."

God further said to Abraham:
"As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai;
her name shall be Sarah.
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her.
Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations,
and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."
Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself,
"Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"
Then Abraham said to God,
"Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!"
God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son,
and you shall call him Isaac.
I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact,
to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.
As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him.
I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,
and I will make of him a great nation.
But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac,
whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year."
When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5)

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Alleluia (Mt 8:17)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 8:1-4)

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
"Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
"I will do it. Be made clean."
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."



REFLECTION

Be made clean. Leprosy in the Bible is not strictly equivalent to Hansen’s disease. The word is loosely used for unspecified skin diseases (cf Lv 13) that are regarded not only as ailments of the body but also as forms of uncleanness meriting separation from the community and its socio-religious life (cf Lv 13:45-46). A leper is numbered among the “living dead” because he is seen as stricken by God due to sin and because he is practically cut off from the life of the living.

It is assumed that God could intervene in this terrible state through his messengers and cure the leper. Hence, the Torah of Moses lays down the regulations for the priest to make the diagnosis of anyone claiming to be cured as well as the rites of purification for admission back to the community. This is why, after curing the leper, Jesus tells him, “Go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed.” In curing the leper that the Law cannot, Jesus shows He is above the Law, but He does not set it aside. He instructs the healed leper to follow the Law.

What sicknesses or situations segregate people from the community today? Do you have the care of Jesus inspiring you to approach the afflicted?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/