The Word for today: I can do all things with Christ which strengtheneth me. Phillipians 4:13 KJV
To finish the Bible in one year, Read Psalms 107 to 111 and John 4 :43-5:15.
Old Testament Reading for today – Listen or read it for yourself:
Reflection for Today.
Also read the verses, if you like.
Psalm 107
1 Alleluia! Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, his faithful love lasts for ever.
2 So let them say whom Yahweh redeemed, whom he redeemed from the power of their enemies,
3 bringing them back from foreign lands, from east and west, north and south.
4 They were wandering in the desert, in the wastelands, could find no way to an inhabited city;
5 they were hungry and thirsty, their life was ebbing away.
6 They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
7 he set them on the road, straight to an inhabited city.
8 Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
9 He has fed the hungry to their hearts’ content, filled the starving with good things.
10 Sojourners in gloom and shadow dark as death, fettered in misery and chains,
11 for defying the orders of Yahweh, for scorning the plan of the Most High-
12 he subdued their spirit by hard labour; if they fell there was no one to help.
13 They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
14 he brought them out from gloom and shadow dark as death, and shattered their chains.
15 Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
16 He broke open gates of bronze and smashed iron bars.
17 Fools for their rebellious ways, wretched because of their sins,
18 finding all food repugnant, brought close to the gates of death-
19 they cried out to Yahweh in their distress; he rescued them from their plight,
20 he sent out his word and cured them, and rescued their life from the abyss.
21 Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
22 Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and recount with shouts of joy what he has done!
23 Voyagers on the sea in ships, plying their trade on the great ocean,
24 have seen the works of Yahweh, his wonders in the deep.
25 By his word he raised a storm-wind, lashing up towering waves.
26 Up to the sky then down to the depths! Their stomachs were turned to water;
27 they staggered and reeled like drunkards, and all their skill went under.
28 They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
29 he reduced the storm to a calm, and all the waters subsided,
30 and he brought them, overjoyed at the stillness, to the port where they were bound.
31 Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
32 Let them extol him in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the council of elders.
33 He has turned rivers into desert, bubbling springs into arid ground,
34 fertile country into salt-flats, because the people living there were evil.
35 But he has turned desert into stretches of water, arid ground into bubbling springs,
36 and has given the hungry a home, where they have built themselves a city.
37 There they sow fields and plant vines, and reap a harvest of their produce.
38 He blesses them and their numbers increase, he keeps their cattle at full strength.
39 Their numbers had fallen, they had grown weak, under pressure of disaster and hardship;
40 he covered princes in contempt, left them to wander in trackless wastes.
41 But the needy he raises from their misery, makes their families as numerous as sheep.
42 At the sight the honest rejoice, and the wicked have nothing to say.
43 Who is wise? Such a one should take this to heart, and come to understand Yahweh’s faithful love.
Psalm 108
1 [Song Psalm Of David] My heart is ready, God, I will sing and make music; come, my glory!
2 Awake, lyre and harp, I will awake the Dawn!
3 I will praise you among the peoples, Yahweh, I will play to you among nations,
4 for your faithful love towers to heaven, and your constancy to the clouds.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, God. Your glory over the whole earth!
6 To rescue those you love, save with your right hand and answer us.
7 God has spoken from his sanctuary, ‘In triumph I will divide up Shechem, and share out the Valley of Succoth.
8 ‘Mine is Gilead, mine Manasseh, Ephraim the helmet on my head, Judah my commander’s baton,
9 ‘Moab a bowl for me to wash in, on Edom I plant my sandal, over Philistia I cry victory.’
10 Who will lead me against a fortified city, who will guide me into Edom,
11 if not you, the God who has rejected us? God, you no longer march with our armies.
12 Bring us help in our time of crisis, any human assistance is worthless.
13 With God we shall do deeds of valour, he will trample down our enemies.
Psalm 109
1 [For the choirmaster Of David Psalm] God whom I praise, do not be silent!
2 Wicked and deceiving words are being said about me, false accusations are cast in my teeth.
3 Words of hate fly all around me, though I give no cause for hostility.
4 In return for my friendship they denounce me, and all I can do is pray!
5 They repay my kindness with evil, and friendship with hatred.
6 ‘Set up a wicked man against him as accuser to stand on his right.
7 At his trial may he emerge as guilty, even his prayer construed as a crime!
8 ‘May his life be cut short, someone else take over his office,
9 his children be orphaned, his wife be widowed.
10 ‘May his children wander perpetually, beggars, driven from the ruins of their house,
11 a creditor seize all his goods, and strangers make off with his earnings.
12 ‘May there be none left faithful enough to show him love, no one take pity on his orphans,
13 the line of his descendants cut off, his name wiped out in one generation.
14 ‘May Yahweh never forget the crimes of his ancestors, and his mother’s sins not be wiped out;
15 may Yahweh keep these constantly in mind, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.’
16 He had no thought of being loyal, but hounded the poor and the needy and the broken-hearted to their death.
17 He had a taste for cursing; let it recoil on him! No taste for blessing; let it never come his way!
18 Cursing has been the uniform he wore; let it soak into him like water, like oil right into his bones.
19 Let it be as a robe which envelops him completely, a sash which he always wears.
20 Let this be the salary Yahweh pays the accusers who blacken my name.
21 Yahweh, treat them as your name demands; as your faithful love is generous, deliver me.
22 Poor and needy as I am, my wounds go right to the heart;
23 I am passing away like a fading shadow, they have shaken me off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from lack of food, my body lean for lack of fat.
25 I have become the butt of their taunts, they shake their heads at the sight of me.
26 Help me, Yahweh my God, save me as your faithful love demands.
27 Let them know that yours is the saving hand, that this, Yahweh, is your work.
28 Let them curse, provided that you bless; let their attacks bring shame to them and joy to your servant!
29 Let my accusers be clothed in disgrace, enveloped in a cloak of shame.
30 With generous thanks to Yahweh on my lips, I shall praise him before all the people,
31 for he stands at the side of the poor, to save their lives from those who sit in judgement on them.
Psalm 110
1 [Of David Psalm] Yahweh declared to my Lord, ‘Take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool.’
2 Yahweh will stretch out the sceptre of your power; from Zion you will rule your foes all around you.
3 Royal dignity has been yours from the day of your birth, sacred honour from the womb, from the dawn of your youth.
4 Yahweh has sworn an oath he will never retract, you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.
5 At your right hand, Lord, he shatters kings when his anger breaks out.
6 He judges nations, heaping up corpses, he breaks heads over the whole wide world.
7 He drinks from a stream as he goes, and therefore he holds his head high.
Psalm 111
1 Alleluia! I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart, in the meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly.
2 Great are the deeds of Yahweh, to be pondered by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendour and majesty his work, his saving justice stands firm for ever.
4 He gives us a memorial of his great deeds; Yahweh is mercy and tenderness.
5 He gives food to those who fear him, he keeps his covenant ever in mind.
6 His works show his people his power in giving them the birthright of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are fidelity and justice, all his precepts are trustworthy,
8 established for ever and ever, accomplished in fidelity and honesty.
9 Deliverance he sends to his people, his covenant he imposes for ever; holy and awesome his name.
10 The root of wisdom is fear of Yahweh; those who attain it are wise. His praise will continue for ever.
John 4 : 42 -5:15
43 When the two days were over Jesus left for Galilee.
44 He himself had declared that a prophet is not honoured in his own home town.
45 On his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.
46 He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum;
47 hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son, as he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and portents you will not believe!’
49 ‘Sir,’ answered the official, ‘come down before my child dies.’
50 ‘Go home,’ said Jesus, ‘your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home;
51 and while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.
52 He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. They replied, ‘The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.’
53 The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household believed.
54 This new sign, the second, Jesus performed on his return from Judaea to Galilee.
John 5 1-15
1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos;
3 and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed.
4 for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment he suffered from.
5 One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years,
6 and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’
7 ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man, ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.’
8 Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.’
9 The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath,
10 so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’
11 He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.” ‘
12 They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around”? ‘
13 The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded.
14 After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’
15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
Sermons by various teachers regarding the verses above.
Catholic Daily Readings and Reflections
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 5:14-17
14 For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died;
15 his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life.
16 From now onwards, then, we will not consider anyone by human standards: even if we were once familiar with Christ according to human standards, we do not know him in that way any longer.
17 So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
2 Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary, seeing your power and your glory.
3 Better your faithful love than life itself; my lips will praise you.
4 Thus I will bless you all my life, in your name lift up my hands.
5 All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods, a song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
6 On my bed when I think of you, I muse on you in the watches of the night,
8 my heart clings to you, your right hand supports me.
9 May those who are hounding me to death go down to the depths of the earth,
Gospel, John 20:1-2, 11-18
1 It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb
2 and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,’ she said, ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
11 But Mary was standing outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, as she wept, she stooped to look inside,
12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet.
13 They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she replied, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’
14 As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not realise that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’
16 Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She turned round then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ — which means Master.
17 Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’
18 So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and that he had said these things to her.
Book of Psalms, Outline Summary, Outline Book of John (we are studying these books presently)
Audio Drama: Old Testament New Testament Each book is read in its entirety. You can listen to the bible, one book at a time in contemporary English.
Dr. Myles Munroe
I am including a video by Dr. Myles Munroe, I’ve listened to him back in the nineties, and rediscovered him recently. Now his perspective seems to be a good way to also look at scripture. In Pursuit of Purpose – Book Highlights
Sermons Rosary Prayers Catholic Answers
Did Mary have other children? No, Listen here
Called to Communion
Pray the Rosary
Rosary Mysteries
The following 4 videos are the 4 Mysteries that we pray on certain days of the week. I like these videos, because I can pray it alone, with only the images, or go along with the sound. The images help me to focus on the particular mystery that I am contemplating as I say the Hail Mary on each bead.
Joyful Mysteries
Luminous Mysteries
Sorrowful Mysteries
Glorious Mysteries
Prayers of the Rosary
Links to “How to pray the rosary” Popular Catholic Prayers
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried,
He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
(this prayer is optional and may be said after all Glory Be to the Fathers…..)
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of thy mercy.
Console the souls in Purgatory, particularly those most abandoned. Amen
Hail Mary,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The Hail, Holy Queen
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
That we maybe made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Closing Prayer
O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation.
Grant, we beseech Thee, that while meditating on these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
that we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Fatima Prayer:)
Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – I adore thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference’s whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.
Prayer to St. Michael
Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Thurzo Gizella Bible Study 
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