The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Thursday, 29 May 2008 Thursday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time Today the Church celebrates : St Raymond and companions William of Saint-Thierry : "What do you want me to do for you?" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10,46-52. They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, he is calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. Commentary of the day : William of Saint-Thierry (c.1085-1148), first a Benedictine, then a Cistercian monk The Contemplation of God, 1-2 "What do you want me to do for you?" «Come! Let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways,» (Is 2,3). You, good intentions, burning desires, thought and will, affections and all the heart's strength, come!, let us climb the mountain, let us get to the place where the Lord sees and is seen. But as for you, worries, cares and anxieties, hard work and heavy bondage, wait for us here... until, hastening to that place, we return to you when we have worshipped (cf. Gn 22,5). For unfortunately we have to come back again only too quickly. Lord, God of my strength, turn us towards you, «bring us back to you, show us your face and we shall be saved,» (Ps 80[79],20). However, my Lord, how premature, bold and presumptuous he is, how opposed to the rule borne by the word of your truth and wisdom, to claim to see God with impure heart! O sovereign goodness, supreme good, life of our hearts, light of our interior eyes: in your goodness, Lord, have mercy on us. See! my purification, trust and right: see it now, the contemplation of your goodness, my good Lord! You say to my soul, O my God, as you well know how: «I am your salvation,» (Ps 35[34],3). Rabboni, sovereign master and teacher, the only physician able to make me see what I long to see, say to this blind beggar of yours: «What do you want me to do for you?». And how well you know, who give this grace to me..., with what strength my heart cries out to you: «I have sought you, Lord, and still will seek your face! Hide not your face from me,» (cf. Ps 27[26],8-9).

Catholics Must Bring Wisdom about Marriage to Gay Union Debate, California Bishop Says

Oakland, May 22, 2008 (CNA).- In a pastoral letter responding to the California Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, Bishop of Oakland Allen Vingeron said that Catholics must respond to this “profoundly significant” issue by bringing a proper understanding of marriage into public life. The failure to do so, he said, would result in a difficult situation where Christianity becomes a counter-cultural way of life.

Writing in a May 16 letter, Bishop Vingeron said the “most fundamental point” is that “marriage is a reality authored by God in his very act of creating the human race.” A marital relationship is only possible between one man and one woman for the purposes of “mutual loving support” between them and for their “loving service of life” by bringing children into the world.

All Catholics implicitly affirm this conviction when they profess to share the Church‘s faith in their baptismal promises, the bishop said.

However, he said, this conviction about marriage can be known from reason. Therefore, its position in society is not an ideological imposition but an aspect of the common good.

“This wisdom about the nature of marriage is not a form of discrimination, but undergirds our freedom to live according to God’s plan for us,” Bishop Vigneron said. “No government has the power to change the order which God has inscribed in our nature.”

Bishop Vigneron said future challenges related to same-sex unions can be divided into short term and long term categories.

In the short term, Catholics are called to bring marriage laws into conformity with their knowledge about the nature of marriage.

If such efforts fail, the bishops said, “our way of life will become counter-cultural, always a difficult situation for Christians -- one our forebears faced in many ages past, one that the Lord himself predicted for us.”

Bishop Vigneron recommended Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body as a resource for Catholics to use in renewing both their own and their society’s understanding of marriage and human life.

Recalling Pope John Paul II’s constant reminder to “be not afraid,” he concluded:

“Christ is risen. His vision for our world, and for the place of marriage in it, will, according to the time he has appointed, become the truth of our world.”

The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Friday, 23 May 2008 Friday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time Today the Church celebrates : St William of Rochester Vatican Council II: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her" (Eph 5,25) Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10,1-12. He set out from there and went into the district of Judea (and) across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Commentary of the day : Vatican Council II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the modern world, «Gaudium et Spes», §48 (©Libreria editrice vaticana) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her" (Eph 5,25) A man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh", render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them. Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His union with His Church (Eph 5,32). For as God of old made Himself present to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the Spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf (Eph 5,25), the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal. Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother. For this reason Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as spouses fulfil their conjugal and family obligation, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.

Worthy Brief - 5/13/2008

CFC, spiritually prepare for the storms are brewing!

Matthew 7:24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

After spending three months on the road, with an incredible wife and two kids -- it's great to be home! As you can imagine, living out of a suitcase with a 4 year old daughter and a son who is barely 6 months old now, it was quite a trip as we traveled over 11,000 miles!

As we spoke in numerous places throughout the United States, we stressed the need for our spiritual foundation to be solidified, and of how important it is right now for believers to be grounded on the rock that doesn't move! We are entering ever so quickly into some of the most turbulent times in the history of the world, and sad to say, it seems much of the church is asleep in the light without a clue of what's ahead and how rapidly it is approaching.

While we see these events moving toward us on the horizon, we need more than ever to guard against worry or fear. Rather, let's embrace our God, who has promised to protect His children in the very midst of storms! In my own personal life, I have often experienced God's faithfulness and protection most dramatically in the midst of great storms. Not only that, but when you think of it, how can a rainbow be formed without a cloud or a storm?

CFC, now is the time to dig deep, and be firmly planted on the Rock -- so that when the approaching storms do come, we will weather them through, and be there to rejoice as we see the fulfillment of God's promises at the end of the storm!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Rivka, Elianna & Baby Obi

The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Tuesday, 13 May 2008 Tuesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time Today the Church celebrates : Our Lady of Fatima Jean-Pierre de Caussade : "Do you not yet understand or comprehend? " Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 8,14-21. They had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?" They answered him, "Twelve." When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up? They answered (him), "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" Commentary of the day : Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Jesuit Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, II, 1 (trans. Algar Thorold) "Do you not yet understand or comprehend? " Could we pierce the veil, and were we vigilant and attentive, God would reveal himself continually to us and we should rejoice in his action in everything that happens to us. At every occurrence we should say: «Dominus est. It is the Lord!» (Jn 21,7) and in all circumstances we should find a gift from God. We should consider creatures as very feeble instruments in the hands of an almighty worker, and we should recognize without difficulty that nothing is lacking to us and that God's constant care leads him to give us each instant what is suited to us. If we had faith, we should welcome all creatures; we should, as it were, caress them and thank them interiorly for contributing so favourably to our perfection when applied by the hand of God. If we lived uninterruptedly by the life of faith, we should be in continual contact with God; we should speak with him face to face... Faith is the interpreter of God; without the illumination which it brings, nothing can be understood of the language in which creatures speak to us. That language is a cypher in which nothing is apparent but confusion; it is a thorn-bush from which no one could imagine God speaking. But faith makes us see, as in the case Moses, the fire of divine charity burning in the midst of the thorns; faith gives us the key to the cypher and enables us to discover in that confusion the marvels of heavenly wisdom. Faith gives a face as of heaven to the whole earth, and by it our hearts are ravished and transported to converse in heaven... Faith is the key of the treasury, the key of the abyss of divine wisdom.

The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Monday, 12 May 2008 Monday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time Today the Church celebrates : Pancras, Nereus & Achilleus Blessed Teresa of Calcutta : "They were seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 8,11-13. The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore. Commentary of the day : Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity "They were seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him" God is everywhere, in everything; without him we cannot exist. I've never doubted his existence for one moment but I know there are some who doubt. If you don't believe in God, at least you can help others with deeds inspired by love, and the fruit of those works will be the coming down of extra graces into your soul. Then you will begin to open yourself out gradually and will long for the joy of loving God. There are so many religions! Each one follows God in its own way. But I follow the way of Christ: Jesus is my God, Jesus is my Spouse, Jesus is my only Love, Jesus is my All for me in everything, Jesus is all for me. This is why I'm never afraid. I do my work with Jesus; I do it for him, offering it to him; so the results are his, not mine. If you need a guide, you have only to turn your eyes to Jesus. You have to hand yourself over to him and rely entirely on him. If you do that then doubt vanishes away and assurance takes over. But Jesus said: «Unless you turn and become like children, you cannot come to me» (cf Mt 18,3).

The Daily Gospel

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68

Friday, 09 May 2008

Friday of the Seventh week of Easter

Today the Church celebrates : St. Pachomius,

Saint Augustine : "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 21,15-19.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

Commentary of the day :

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Guelferbytanus Sermon 16,1; PLS 2,579 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)

"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

The Lord appeared once again to his disciples after his resurrection, and questioning Peter, who from fear had thrice denied him, extracted from him a threefold declaration of love. Christ had been raised to life in the flesh and Peter to life in the spirit; for when Christ died as a result of the torments he endured, Peter was also dead as a result of denying his master. Christ the Lord was raised from the dead; Christ the Lord raised up Peter through Peter's love for him. And having obtained from him the assurance of that love, he entrusted his sheep to Peter's care.

We may wonder what advantage there could be for Christ in Peter's love for him. If Christ loves you, you profit, not Christ; and if you love him, again the advantage is yours, not his. But wishing to show us how we should demonstrate our love for him, Christ the Lord made it plain that it is by our concern for his sheep.

«Simon, son of John, Do you love me?» he asked. «I do love you.» «Then feed my sheep.» Once, twice, and a third time the same dialogue was repeated. To the Lord's one and only question, Peter had no other answer than «I do love you.» And each time the Lord gave Peter the same command: «Feed my sheep.» Let us love one another then, and by so doing we shall be loving Christ.

The Daily Gospel

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68

Thursday, 08 May 2008

Thursday of the Seventh week of Easter

Today the Church celebrates : St Victor

Saint Peter Damian : "May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,20-26.

I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

Commentary of the day :

Saint Peter Damian (1007-1072), hermit, then a Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Opuscule 11 «Dominus vobiscum», 6 (Migne 1992, p.22 rev.)

"May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you"

Holy Church, although diverse in multiplicity of persons, is brought into unity by the fire of the Holy Spirit. If, from the physical point of view, she seems to be divided among several families, yet the mystery of her profound unity loses nothing of its integrity: «because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us,» (Rom 5,5). There is no question that this Spirit is both one and many at the same time: one at the core of its majesty; many in the gifts and charisms granted to the Holy Church filled by his presence. And it is this same Spirit that enables the Church to be at one and the same time single in its universal extent yet wholly present in each of its members...

So if those who believe in Christ are one, no matter where any particular one of them happens physically to be, the whole body of the Church is there through the sacramental mystery. And everything suitable to the whole body seems suitable to each one of its members... Hence it is that, when several of the faithful are together, they can say: «Incline your ear, O Lord; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. Keep my life, for I am devoted to you» (Ps 86[85],1-2). And when we are alone, we can still sing: «Let us all sing joyfully to God our strength; acclaim the God of Jacob» (Ps 81[80],2). It is not misplaced for us all to say together: «I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth» (Ps 34[33]2) nor, when I find myself alone, to proclaim: «Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol his name» (v.4) and many other, similar expressions. Solitude prevents nobody from speaking in the plural while the mass of the faithful can just as well express themselves in the singular. The Holy Spirit's power, which dwells in each of the faithful and encircles them all, means that in the latter case there is a peopled solitude and in the former a great many who form but one.

The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Wednesday, 07 May 2008 Wednesday of the Seventh week of Easter Today the Church celebrates : St. John of Beverley Saint Augustine : "I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,11-19. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church Sermons on St John's Gospel, no.107 "I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely" When he had said to his Father: «And now I will no longer be in the world...; I am coming to you» (Jn 17,11), our Lord recommended to his Father those who were about to be deprived of his physical presence: «Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given to me.» As man, Jesus prays to God for the disciples he has received from God. But note what follows: «So that they may be one just as we are.» He does not say: That they may be one with us, or: So that they and we together may be one thing just as we are one, but he says: «That they may be one just as we are.» That they may be one in their nature just as we are one in ours. The truth is that these words imply that Jesus spoke as having the same divine nature as his Father, as he says elsewhere: «The Father and I are one,» (Jn 10,30). According to his human nature he had said: «My Father is greater than I, « (Jn 14,28), but since God and man form one and the same person in him, we understand that he is man because he prays and understand him to be God because he is one thing with the one to whom he prays... «But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.» As yet he has not left the world; he is still there; but since he is shortly going to leave it, he is no longer in it, so to speak. But what is that joy with which he wants his disciples to be filled? This he has already explained a little before, when he said: «That they may be one as we are.» Concerning this joy, which belongs to him and which he has given to them, he foretells to them the perfect fulfillment and that is why he speaks about it «in the world». This joy is the peace and happiness of the world to come and, to gain it, we must live in the present world with self-restraint, justice and devotion.

Worthy Brief - 5/6/2008

CFC, life awaits us!

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There are two kinds of birds that roam the desert: vultures and hummingbirds. The vulture thrives on a diet of rotting meat. He flies overhead searching for traces of leftover carcasses from slow-footed critters eaten by wild animals who've already had their fill.

Hummingbirds, on the other hand, will sweep through the desert, passing over all those repulsive, dead animals and seek colorful patches of beautiful wild desert flowers. They will suckle the delicious juices of those sweet desert blossoms and be satisfied.

While vultures look to the dead for their survival, the hummingbird seeks the living! Likewise, some of us unconsciously look to our past with its regrets, failures and sins to keep us alive. We think that somehow by looking back to those dead things, we might find some motivation to keep surviving here and now. But let's take a lesson from the hummingbird.

CFC, let's sweep past that which is dead and focus on the sweet new life -- the exciting future that God holds for us as we continue seeking Him and moving forward in our relationship with Him!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Currently in Baltimore, MD

The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Tuesday, 06 May 2008 Tuesday of the Seventh week of Easter Today the Church celebrates : St Petronax, St Dominic Savio Saint Irenaeus of Lyons : "So that he may give eternal life to all you gave him" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,1-11. When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. Commentary of the day : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.208), Bishop, theologian and martyr Against the Heresies, IV,14 (SC 100, p.537 rev.) "So that he may give eternal life to all you gave him" In the beginning it was not because he had need of man that God fashioned Adam but so as to have someone on whom to set his blessings. For, not only before Adam but even before creation, the Word glorified the Father while dwelling in him and was glorified by the Father as he himself said: «Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world began.» Further, it wasn't because he needed our help that he told us to follow him but to win salvation for us. Because following the Savior is to share in salvation just as following the light is to have a share in the light. When people stand in the light, it is not they who illumine the light and cause it to shine but who are illumined and made to shine by it. Far from contributing anything at all to it, they benefit from the light and are lit up by it. This is how it is in serving God: our service contributes nothing to God for God has no need of man's service; but to those who serve and follow him God gives life, incorruptibility and eternal glory... If God requests man's service it is so that he who is good and merciful might grant his blessings to those who persevere in his service. For, if God has no need of anything, yet man has need of communion with God. The glory of man is to persevere in the service of God. That is why our Savior said to his disciples: «It was not you who chose me but I who chose you» (Jn 15,16). Thus he showed that it was not they who glorified him by following him but that, since they had followed the Son of God, they were glorified by him. «Father, I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory» (Jn 17,24).