Hear and See

Day's Saints
Blessed Lucy Bufalari, Augustinian
Blessed Maria Klemensa Staszewska, Martyr

Gospel Mt 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?"
He said to them in reply,
"Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.
"But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

+

Bless the Lord and He will bless you.

We can see and hear only if Jesus enabled us. Thus, we ought to be careful to nourish what we have, so that it will become an imperishable reality into which we will be born.

If we do not at least desire to see and hear the meaning of what the Lord says to us, how will we be able to do His Will? Doing penance to atone for our grossness of heart will also make more keen our love of brothers and sisters. If our love grows, we will become closer to the Lord, and we will enter into the reward He has hinted at.

Choose whom you will serve, this day; men or God. Are we of this world, or have we yet been elevated to something else, something better? Do not go into eternity without being transformed by His love, for there is nothing that can comfort the torment of losing what we had. If a child passes away, a part of mother and father has been taken from their hearts, and the pain never goes away, however time may diminish the suffering. Do not subject yourself to the grief of being separated from God after He went to such trouble to bring us closer to Him.

Life in Christ indeed may be a crucifixion to some, and they are deserving of His blessing for their willingness. Pain can be something we fight tooth and nail all our life, or it may be something that coexists with the peace of God and His promise of a better life in the world to come. Love with all your heart and nothing will separate you from Christ.

Hear and See

Day's Saints
Blessed Lucy Bufalari, Augustinian
Blessed Maria Klemensa Staszewska, Martyr

Gospel Mt 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?"
He said to them in reply,
"Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.
"But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

+

Bless the Lord and He will bless you.

We can see and hear only if Jesus enabled us. Thus, we ought to be careful to nourish what we have, so that it will become an imperishable reality into which we will be born.

If we do not at least desire to see and hear the meaning of what the Lord says to us, how will we be able to do His Will? Doing penance to atone for our grossness of heart will also make more keen our love of brothers and sisters. If our love grows, we will become closer to the Lord, and we will enter into the reward He has hinted at.

Choose whom you will serve, this day; men or God. Are we of this world, or have we yet been elevated to something else, something better? Do not go into eternity without being transformed by His love, for there is nothing that can comfort the torment of losing what we had. If a child passes away, a part of mother and father has been taken from their hearts, and the pain never goes away, however time may diminish the suffering. Do not subject yourself to the grief of being separated from God after He went to such trouble to bring us closer to Him.

Life in Christ indeed may be a crucifixion to some, and they are deserving of His blessing for their willingness. Pain can be something we fight tooth and nail all our life, or it may be something that coexists with the peace of God and His promise of a better life in the world to come. Love with all your heart and nothing will separate you from Christ.

Light

Day's Saints
James the Greater, Apostle
Bllessed Antonio of Olmedo, Mercedarian

Gospel Mt 20:20-28
The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her,
"What do you wish?"
She answered him,
"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom."
Jesus said in reply,
"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"
They said to him, "We can."
He replied,
"My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

+

His light is warm.

Just as Jesus did not come to attend to every little pain we suffer, neither did He intend to prolong our suffering beyond what is reasonable, so that it is just that we ask for what we need in order to serve Him in our brothers and sisters. Ask, and you will receive, and if you were healed, be sure to give thanks and tell others so their faith might be strengthened as well.

There is humility in asking without demanding. Today is Tuesday and Tuesday, along with Friday, is a day of penance and fasting. Fasting, for a diabetic can be carried out without harm so long as it does not become obssessive. A good penance is to not mind that what you ask for was not granted, so long as you don't become a sourpuss.

I frequently have need of being reminded of His passion, and He bestows pain upon me as a gift for the sake of souls. There is little time in this world, and all eternity in Heaven, so that spending some time on others suffering for them, or suffering in their place (intercession) for the sake of the grace of salvation for our companions in life is a good thing.

Another penance is to pray the Rosary for the souls in purgatory. They will know it, and one day will repay your consideration with the blessings of the Lord.

As for the Lord, why should one not recall His sufferings? You cannot be sinning at the same time as your are penetrating the mystery of His passon sufferings. How could He not become more affectionate for your consideration in remembering him? As well as the souls in purgatory, we should remember one another, and call on one another for prayers to help our temptations and those moments which press us to the earth like the cross of Jesus when He fell the third time. Remember that He fell because of the magnitude of the wounds and condemnation He suffered on the way to the cross. Sink into every wound and be surrounded by them to lift the cross a little from His Body while He struggled to live until He died. Not one moment was omitted  until  He had suffered all the moments required by His agreement for our salvation through the passion-life He bore.

He has attended countless hours of our tedium and labor, all illnesses and disappointments, and the dire misery of those who have nothing but contempt for anyone who loves the Lord. Pray for them, because it will be difficult for them to be saved unless someone sticks up for them, no matter how contemptuous and indifferent they might have been. Jesus bore the cross for our sake, for all of us, good or bad. What others do with blessings offered them is hidden in the mystery of His merciful love. Let it not be said that we had no mercy in our hearts or did not care that He suffered grievous anguish until it was over. The day we are together with Him will engulf all our sorrows in His love until there is nothing more but love.

Light

Day's Saints
James the Greater, Apostle
Bllessed Antonio of Olmedo, Mercedarian

Gospel Mt 20:20-28
The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her,
"What do you wish?"
She answered him,
"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom."
Jesus said in reply,
"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"
They said to him, "We can."
He replied,
"My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

+

His light is warm.

Just as Jesus did not come to attend to every little pain we suffer, neither did He intend to prolong our suffering beyond what is reasonable, so that it is just that we ask for what we need in order to serve Him in our brothers and sisters. Ask, and you will receive, and if you were healed, be sure to give thanks and tell others so their faith might be strengthened as well.

There is humility in asking without demanding. Today is Tuesday and Tuesday, along with Friday, is a day of penance and fasting. Fasting, for a diabetic can be carried out without harm so long as it does not become obssessive. A good penance is to not mind that what you ask for was not granted, so long as you don't become a sourpuss.

I frequently have need of being reminded of His passion, and He bestows pain upon me as a gift for the sake of souls. There is little time in this world, and all eternity in Heaven, so that spending some time on others suffering for them, or suffering in their place (intercession) for the sake of the grace of salvation for our companions in life is a good thing.

Another penance is to pray the Rosary for the souls in purgatory. They will know it, and one day will repay your consideration with the blessings of the Lord.

As for the Lord, why should one not recall His sufferings? You cannot be sinning at the same time as your are penetrating the mystery of His passon sufferings. How could He not become more affectionate for your consideration in remembering him? As well as the souls in purgatory, we should remember one another, and call on one another for prayers to help our temptations and those moments which press us to the earth like the cross of Jesus when He fell the third time. Remember that He fell because of the magnitude of the wounds and condemnation He suffered on the way to the cross. Sink into every wound and be surrounded by them to lift the cross a little from His Body while He struggled to live until He died. Not one moment was omitted  until  He had suffered all the moments required by His agreement for our salvation through the passion-life He bore.

He has attended countless hours of our tedium and labor, all illnesses and disappointments, and the dire misery of those who have nothing but contempt for anyone who loves the Lord. Pray for them, because it will be difficult for them to be saved unless someone sticks up for them, no matter how contemptuous and indifferent they might have been. Jesus bore the cross for our sake, for all of us, good or bad. What others do with blessings offered them is hidden in the mystery of His merciful love. Let it not be said that we had no mercy in our hearts or did not care that He suffered grievous anguish until it was over. The day we are together with Him will engulf all our sorrows in His love until there is nothing more but love.

The Harvest

Day's Saints
Bridget of Sweden, Franciscan

Gospel Mt 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."

+

Even in the belly of the whale, God safeguards
His beloved.

Let us rather not dwell on the evil done by the wicked, but remember the good done by the just, who will shine like the sun one day, and who did the Will of God and so built up the land and the people of God.

Let your patience be your defining attribute, so your love will shine out to dispel darkness. Be like the Lord who worked obscurely in the midst of His people, so that He could bring them into the light some day to shine like heaven itself.

God brings healing out of suffering and darkness so that all that is left is the strong patience of the holy, who imitating God, gladden the hearts of his brothers.

God causes your suffering and despair to be healing and salvation; the burning of the damned will be all the more striking beside the bliss of those who loved God and his brothers and sisters.

Jesus drank from the sponge dipped into common wine, and having drunk, commended His soul to God and died. He rose again in due time and ascended back to God to return to His side to judge and to bless, for the good men do reflects His glory so that He may gether them to His side.

The bitterness of our pain reflects the passion of Our Lord, and sweetness is tasted by the faithful who love God and act for the salvation of the children of God.

Will not the just man cry out for the man for whom he suffers so the Lord may be moved to save them? You must know that he will, and the just Lord will reward appropriately, all those who displayed their love of God through their good deeds. God does not punish us for the good we were prevented from doing by evil, but for the love we fail to do willfully, so that the relief cannot come until God acts to requite all.

The Lord's rest will come as surely as dawn follows nightfall, and those who labored so the Lord may rest, will never lack rest for themselves. Neither will despair overcome the just man who labors to love the children of God and bring them good things.

You who wish you could say something comforting to your brothers and sisters will not lack the encouragement of the man consecrated and approved by God, but will speak His holy words to heal and comfort all. For God did not create us for suffering and death, but for the life of Jesus which He proposes to share with everyone who will dispose himself appropriately.

Though it was brief, I woke from my sleep rested for the journey ahead, where I laid down for Him who fixed me to the cross out of my desire placed there burning in my heart like desire itself.

Great things are being done, great things burst out like joy that cannot be constrained. Men are lifted up to God to know Him by the fire of His love in their hearts, warming and purifying and buoying up all who are fastened to the bottom of the sea, stayed like an anchor in God Himself.

It is the nature of fire that the air around it becomes light and bouyant to rise until it cools. I have burned greatly in my youth, and now I settle back down to wait on His pleasure who lavished so much of Himself on me who did not deserve it and and was not grateful to please Him enough. He kindles me, and He will kindle you, for He alone knows if you sinned or fell short of the mark, but He will still be glad we are near Him, and we will rise again, our hearts wafted up in the warmth of the fire of His love.

Trim your lamps and carry oil with you, for out of the night, the Bridegroom comes to enter His home and welcome into it all who kept His vigil in their hearts, eagerly awaiting His coming.

The Harvest

Day's Saints
Bridget of Sweden, Franciscan

Gospel Mt 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."

+

Even in the belly of the whale, God safeguards
His beloved.

Let us rather not dwell on the evil done by the wicked, but remember the good done by the just, who will shine like the sun one day, and who did the Will of God and so built up the land and the people of God.

Let your patience be your defining attribute, so your love will shine out to dispel darkness. Be like the Lord who worked obscurely in the midst of His people, so that He could bring them into the light some day to shine like heaven itself.

God brings healing out of suffering and darkness so that all that is left is the strong patience of the holy, who imitating God, gladden the hearts of his brothers.

God causes your suffering and despair to be healing and salvation; the burning of the damned will be all the more striking beside the bliss of those who loved God and his brothers and sisters.

Jesus drank from the sponge dipped into common wine, and having drunk, commended His soul to God and died. He rose again in due time and ascended back to God to return to His side to judge and to bless, for the good men do reflects His glory so that He may gether them to His side.

The bitterness of our pain reflects the passion of Our Lord, and sweetness is tasted by the faithful who love God and act for the salvation of the children of God.

Will not the just man cry out for the man for whom he suffers so the Lord may be moved to save them? You must know that he will, and the just Lord will reward appropriately, all those who displayed their love of God through their good deeds. God does not punish us for the good we were prevented from doing by evil, but for the love we fail to do willfully, so that the relief cannot come until God acts to requite all.

The Lord's rest will come as surely as dawn follows nightfall, and those who labored so the Lord may rest, will never lack rest for themselves. Neither will despair overcome the just man who labors to love the children of God and bring them good things.

You who wish you could say something comforting to your brothers and sisters will not lack the encouragement of the man consecrated and approved by God, but will speak His holy words to heal and comfort all. For God did not create us for suffering and death, but for the life of Jesus which He proposes to share with everyone who will dispose himself appropriately.

Though it was brief, I woke from my sleep rested for the journey ahead, where I laid down for Him who fixed me to the cross out of my desire placed there burning in my heart like desire itself.

Great things are being done, great things burst out like joy that cannot be constrained. Men are lifted up to God to know Him by the fire of His love in their hearts, warming and purifying and buoying up all who are fastened to the bottom of the sea, stayed like an anchor in God Himself.

It is the nature of fire that the air around it becomes light and bouyant to rise until it cools. I have burned greatly in my youth, and now I settle back down to wait on His pleasure who lavished so much of Himself on me who did not deserve it and and was not grateful to please Him enough. He kindles me, and He will kindle you, for He alone knows if you sinned or fell short of the mark, but He will still be glad we are near Him, and we will rise again, our hearts wafted up in the warmth of the fire of His love.

Trim your lamps and carry oil with you, for out of the night, the Bridegroom comes to enter His home and welcome into it all who kept His vigil in their hearts, eagerly awaiting His coming.

Fire

DAY'S SAINTS
Daniel, Prophet
Alberic Crescitelli, Martyr

Gospel Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."

+

The Lord is gracious and generous toward us His children, and looks for our love and affection with longing. Purification of hearts is the watchword of our days.

We can participate in His passon-life, and in so doing, strengthen the fires of His love in His Sacred Heart, from which He shed His Precious Blood. If we participate in that, at the very least we will be purified so His love may cleanse our deficits, and at the most, atone for sins arrogant men presume are not held to account for.

How may we so participate? Loving one another, and serving one another as brothers and sisters, and forgiving sins against ourselves or other people. It is plain that if we desire to live in peace, we will need to desire even more to  be absolutely pure for the Lord.

But what is it to live in peace? Is it simply that no war has broken out and men are not exceeding the limit of transgressions against others?  is it that while we wait on this earth, we are elevated to the embrace of the ecstatic and holy Lord? He holds out to us that participation in Himself and His happiness He desires us to have. The key to obtaining that is that He is all our desire. Might He not wish us to participate in the sorrows and disappointments of others so they may be free of them? Should we be so inclined to pray for others and we find ourselves going beyond that point, we might very well suffer their suffering just when we were hoping to rest ourselves. But if the Lord sees they have succumbed to their cross, would He trouble us to suffer instead of them? Yes. Consider it. At the very least, your disappointments can save souls, and if that is all He asks, are we big enough of heart not to mind?

In the movie (on Youtube), "Shoes of the Fisherman", ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=in+the+shoes+of+the+fisherman), 

the pope proposes to the Chinese that they forsake invasion and war and that the Church will provide money to feed the Chineses by selling all the worldly possessions and treasures and properties of the entire Catholic Church. Such a real event would be apropos and timely in these days, and also absolutely stunning.

Ordinary people throughout time have done exactly that, stirring controvery when they did, by challenging their contemporaries to live the virtues Jesus extolled in His thrity years of life. Jesus warned those who were listening to Him that He would be accused falsely, taken into custody to be tried unfairly and in such a way that He would be guilty of what they considered blasphemy, with the result, that He was crucified with two criminals by the Romans.

His disciples were holed-up together in a building fearful of the same people who crucified Jesus, when He appeared in their midst and gave them the Holy Spirit and told them to go forth into the whole world to spread the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

How we  might do the same requires vision and purpose, and the more vision we have and the more purposeful we became, the more we would see what Jesus always sees in Heaven, and the closer this world would get to being ready for the last day.

No one need wait for some tremendous vision or revelation in the sky; children are being canonized as saints for the simple love they held in their hearts and manifested to others, appearing like great lights in their midst.

Do not decry the darkness if you have not at least lit a candle to shed some light, praying a Rosary with others, or attending the celebration of the Mass with devotion. If He finds devotion in your midst, He will fan the flames of His love to enkindle everyone nearby, and the earth can start enjoying Heaven now instead of thirty years from now.

Who knows how many souls such illumination might save out of darkness seeking God; those seeking with all their heart and more will be blessed. The excess of love will inflame an indifferent world.