Consolation

 Day's Saints

John Viannay

John of the Cross

Gospel 

Jn 6:24-35

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
"Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered them and said,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
you are looking for me not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."
So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
So they said to him,
"What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
So Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world."

So they said to him,
"Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

He blesses all you do.

+

Anna, a saint

The Lord God made Manna for the Isrealites raining it down for them to collect. Then He sent His Only Son, and they nailed Him to the cross. Sometimes, joining Him, I am pierced by sudden pains, origins unknown, and I am left hurting and wondering what has happened to me. Then, it passes away, and the Lord remains, and I am able to function again. I give thanks to Him for providing something to offer Him to atone for sins and to console the Heart of the Mother of God.

Whatever He does to me, I am unworthy, and I can only do what He enables me to do, and others are given enviable talents that heal the sick and the desolated children of the Lord God.

One ought to cultivate a gratitude within themselves for all the Lord provides, and all He does. The Israelites lacked that piety which makes humility spring up in the garden of the soul and refreshes and consoles the weary and hard-pressed.

He leads us into the wilderness, and withdrawing for a time, He watches over us lest we lose faith and despair. Then He shows Himself, when, stripped of everything that could blind, He reveals Himself in His consolation to the weary one, tired of the battle and sleepless in countless nights of darkness.

I am old, and my hand trembles and I become dizzy and I wonder how I got this way. Then I show Him my hands, with holes in them which can hold nothing securely, and in response to His urging, I offer what seems so useless to Him, and He blesses me for my gift. We may think we need to be punished, but the Lord sees what we truly deserve, and what He has hidden away for us so it may be safe and not subject to evil or  malevolence.

Peace comes at the hand of the Lord, in the confession of our sins, and our efforts to do His Will. He gave us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink, and His blood makes us live. Let us given thanks, and pray that He bless priests and those consolers of the people of God in exile and surrounded by the shrieks of the afflicted. He reassures them that all is well, and soon they rest in His arms like a child and they dream a dreamless sleep.

Consolation

 Day's Saints

John Viannay

John of the Cross

Gospel 

Jn 6:24-35

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
"Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered them and said,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
you are looking for me not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."
So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
So they said to him,
"What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
So Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world."

So they said to him,
"Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

He blesses all you do.

+

Anna, a saint

The Lord God made Manna for the Isrealites raining it down for them to collect. Then He sent His Only Son, and they nailed Him to the cross. Sometimes, joining Him, I am pierced by sudden pains, origins unknown, and I am left hurting and wondering what has happened to me. Then, it passes away, and the Lord remains, and I am able to function again. I give thanks to Him for providing something to offer Him to atone for sins and to console the Heart of the Mother of God.

Whatever He does to me, I am unworthy, and I can only do what He enables me to do, and others are given enviable talents that heal the sick and the desolated children of the Lord God.

One ought to cultivate a gratitude within themselves for all the Lord provides, and all He does. The Israelites lacked that piety which makes humility spring up in the garden of the soul and refreshes and consoles the weary and hard-pressed.

He leads us into the wilderness, and withdrawing for a time, He watches over us lest we lose faith and despair. Then He shows Himself, when, stripped of everything that could blind, He reveals Himself in His consolation to the weary one, tired of the battle and sleepless in countless nights of darkness.

I am old, and my hand trembles and I become dizzy and I wonder how I got this way. Then I show Him my hands, with holes in them which can hold nothing securely, and in response to His urging, I offer what seems so useless to Him, and He blesses me for my gift. We may think we need to be punished, but the Lord sees what we truly deserve, and what He has hidden away for us so it may be safe and not subject to evil or  malevolence.

Peace comes at the hand of the Lord, in the confession of our sins, and our efforts to do His Will. He gave us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink, and His blood makes us live. Let us given thanks, and pray that He bless priests and those consolers of the people of God in exile and surrounded by the shrieks of the afflicted. He reassures them that all is well, and soon they rest in His arms like a child and they dream a dreamless sleep.

The Scribe

Day's Saints

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Jer 18:1-6

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;

there I will give you my message.

I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, 

working at the wheel.

Whenever the object of clay which he was making

turned out badly in his hand, 

he tried again,

making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

Can I not do to you, house of Israel,

as this potter has done? says the LORD.

Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,

so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

Gospel Mt13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,

which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore

and sit down to put what is good into buckets.

What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous

and throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”

They answered, “Yes.”

And he replied,

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven

is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom

both the new and the old.”

When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

+

Jesus is the good scribe who is master of his task; He knows where everything is, and the nature of all things, so that He may gather the wise and the holy to Himself, relegating the sinful and evil to punishment, the purification which never ends because it cannot. Hell exists because the inhabitants rejected Love and rejected God.

The Lord speaks to us when it is necessary, and says the things we must know so we may act prudently and decisively when such things are called for.

The human race has had much to suffer at the hands of evil, but the day is coming when he will repudiated and rejected by those who are the Lord's. Then there will be the just and the holy and there will be a great joy in the instant Heaven is free of evil.

Jesus acts impartially, and in a way that heals and delivers. He makes sure that those in need are provided for, and those who have not reached out in prayer of love will be provided the opportunity to see and know God. Woe to those to whom He reaches out to save them, for they will be beyond rescue if they do not accept Him. There is but one Savior, and one opportunity to be saved. 

Jesus has mourned and tasted death like all men, therefore He knows how to save and to comfort and to set free those in bondage. Lies will be revealed for what they are, and evil deeds as well, but God will rescue those who cry out to Him.

One cannot err putting  one's trust in God. Neither will His Mother turn Her back on us. Reach out to Her in prayer and live in holiness.

The Scribe

Day's Saints

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Jer 18:1-6

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;

there I will give you my message.

I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, 

working at the wheel.

Whenever the object of clay which he was making

turned out badly in his hand, 

he tried again,

making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

Can I not do to you, house of Israel,

as this potter has done? says the LORD.

Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,

so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

Gospel Mt13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,

which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore

and sit down to put what is good into buckets.

What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous

and throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”

They answered, “Yes.”

And he replied,

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven

is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom

both the new and the old.”

When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

+

Jesus is the good scribe who is master of his task; He knows where everything is, and the nature of all things, so that He may gather the wise and the holy to Himself, relegating the sinful and evil to punishment, the purification which never ends because it cannot. Hell exists because the inhabitants rejected Love and rejected God.

The Lord speaks to us when it is necessary, and says the things we must know so we may act prudently and decisively when such things are called for.

The human race has had much to suffer at the hands of evil, but the day is coming when he will repudiated and rejected by those who are the Lord's. Then there will be the just and the holy and there will be a great joy in the instant Heaven is free of evil.

Jesus acts impartially, and in a way that heals and delivers. He makes sure that those in need are provided for, and those who have not reached out in prayer of love will be provided the opportunity to see and know God. Woe to those to whom He reaches out to save them, for they will be beyond rescue if they do not accept Him. There is but one Savior, and one opportunity to be saved. 

Jesus has mourned and tasted death like all men, therefore He knows how to save and to comfort and to set free those in bondage. Lies will be revealed for what they are, and evil deeds as well, but God will rescue those who cry out to Him.

One cannot err putting  one's trust in God. Neither will His Mother turn Her back on us. Reach out to Her in prayer and live in holiness.

Summer Flowers

 Photos

Pied-Billed Grebe adult male.

Sunflower

Nasturtiums

Cosmos

Sunflower, caught in twine.

Summer Flowers

 Photos

Pied-Billed Grebe adult male.

Sunflower

Nasturtiums

Cosmos

Sunflower, caught in twine.

Anticipations

Humility Wins

 I have been reading about Padre Pio again. One thing becomes immediately obvious: if one does not want pain and suffering, they should not expect to suffer the wounds of Christ, who immediately crucifies every victim soul in whom He has instilled a genuine longing for that particular martyrdom.

None of us in this world will ever know completely everything he encountered in life, whether joyful or mournful. The fact is, you seldom find pictures of Padre Pio with a mournful expression on his face. It is equally true of ordinary folk like us, that we know very little about one another unless in our lives we encountered our beloved baring their soul to us to find some peace and comfort.

Things that have passed us by, all too often appears to have settled deeply into a life causing no little pain of soul and mind. This being the case, let us be attentive to one another as we navigate life, and never miss an opportunity to pray for one another, whether acquaintances or the most intimate of friends.

Our separateness is transcended by God, and we often have the opportunity to know about sorrow in the lives of those we love. We ought to be willing to suffer some trivial thing for them so they may know peace and love.

It is a mystery how victim souls can genuinely encounter Jesus nailed to the cross and suffering every indignity in life. The fact is, they do, in such a way that the Will of God is fulfilled and their consciousness encounters the restful peace of His love.

That peace can coexist very well with the most abject pain and divine joy, and cloisters are filled with people who are cheerful, crucified in agony and knowing the full penetration of the lance which opened Christ's side. Let us give thanks for them, and pray that we not be subjected to such misery ourselves, yet willing to encounter some misery ourselves for their sake. Never be ashamed of the humbleness of our participation in their suffering; the humiliation itself, that we are not strong enough, can itself be offered humbly and unselfconsciously.

Blessed are they who encounter the cross and are not distressed to see the Face of God in our brothers and sisters in the world.

If we get to heaven, we may very well give thanks to God that someone confronted the Divine Passion on the Face of Christ.