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.