I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
1 Corinthians 16:7 NIV
A quote from the Saints:
St. Vincent of Lerins
Dedication of the basilica of St Mary Major
For be it that anyone should try to defraud holy Mary of her privileges of divine grace and her special glory. For by a certain singular favor of our Lord and God, and of her Son, must be confessed to be most true and the most blessed Mother of God.
A Christian’s goal should be to create the Kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in Heaven. Not only, to get to Heaven.
To finish the Bible in one year, Read Proverbs 22-24 and John 10:22-42.
Verses for today – Listen here:
Reflection for Today.
Also read the verses, if you like.
Proverbs 22
1 Fame is preferable to great wealth, favour, to silver and gold.
2 Rich and poor rub shoulders, Yahweh has made them both.
3 The discreet sees danger and takes shelter, simpletons go ahead and pay the penalty.
4 The reward of humility is the fear of Yahweh, and riches, honour and life.
5 Thorns and snares line the path of the wilful, whoever values life will stay at a distance.
6 Give a lad a training suitable to his character and, even when old, he will not go back on it.
7 The rich lords it over the poor, the borrower is the lender’s slave.
8 Whoever sows injustice reaps disaster, and the rod of such anger will disappear.
9 A kindly eye will earn a blessing, such a person shares out food with the poor.
10 Expel the mocker and strife goes too, law-suits and dislike die down.
11 Whoever loves the pure of heart and is gracious of speech has the king for a friend.
12 Yahweh’s eyes protect knowledge, but he confounds deceitful speeches.
13 ‘There is a lion outside,’ says the idler, ‘I shall be killed in the street!’
14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit, into it falls the man whom Yahweh rebukes.
15 Folly is anchored in the heart of a youth, the whip of instruction will rid him of it.
16 Harsh treatment enriches the poor, but a gift impoverishes the rich.
17 Give ear, listen to the sayings of the sages, and apply your heart to what I know,
18 for it will be a delight to keep them deep within you to have them all ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in Yahweh, it is you whom I wish to instruct today.
20 Have I not written for you thirty chapters of advice and knowledge,
21 to make you know the certainty of true sayings, so that you can return with sound answers to those who sent you?
22 Do not despoil the weak, for he is weak, and do not oppress the poor at the gate,
23 for Yahweh takes up their cause, and extorts the life of their extortioners.
24 Do not make friends with one who gives way to anger, make no one quick-tempered a companion of yours,
25 for fear you learn such behaviour and in it find a snare for yourself.
26 Do not be one of those who go guarantor, who go surety for debts:
27 if you have no means of paying your bed will be taken from under you.
28 Do not displace the ancient boundary-stone set by your ancestors.
29 You see someone alert at his business? His aim will be to serve kings; not for him the service of the obscure.
Proverbs 23
1 If you take your seat at a great man’s table, take careful note of what you have before you;
2 if you have a big appetite put a knife to your throat.
3 Do not hanker for his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 Do not wear yourself out in quest of wealth, stop applying your mind to this.
5 Fix your gaze on it, and it is there no longer, for it is able to sprout wings like an eagle that flies off to the sky.
6 Do not eat the food of anyone whose eye is jealous, do not hanker for his delicacies.
7 For what he is really thinking about is himself: ‘Eat and drink,’ he tells you, but his heart is not with you.
8 You will spit out whatever you have eaten and find your compliments wasted.
9 Do not waste words on a fool, who will not appreciate the shrewdness of your remarks.
10 Do not displace the ancient boundary-stone, or encroach on orphans’ lands,
11 for they have a powerful avenger, and he will take up their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to discipline, and your ears to instructive sayings.
13 Do not be chary of correcting a child, a stroke of the cane is not likely to be fatal.
14 Give him a stroke of the cane, you will save his soul from Sheol.
15 My child, if your heart is wise, then my own heart is glad,
16 and my inmost self rejoices when from your lips come honest words.
17 Do not let your heart be envious of sinners but remain steady every day in the fear of Yahweh;
18 for there is a future, and your hope will not come to nothing.
19 Listen, my child, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
20 Do not be one of those forever tippling wine nor one of those who gorge themselves with meat;
21 for the drunkard and glutton impoverish themselves, and sleepiness is clothed in rags.
22 Listen to your father from whom you are sprung, do not despise your mother in her old age.
23 Purchase truth — never sell it-wisdom, discipline, and discernment.
24 The father of the upright will rejoice indeed, he who fathers a wise child will have joy of it.
25 Your father and mother will be happy, and she who bore you joyful.
26 My child, pay attention to me, let your eyes take pleasure in my way:
27 a prostitute is a deep pit, a narrow well, the woman who belongs to another.
28 Yes, like a brigand, she lies in wait, increasing the number of law-breakers.
29 For whom is pity, for whom contempt, for whom is strife, for whom complaint, for whom blows struck at random, for whom the clouded eye?
30 For those who linger over wine too long, ever on the look-out for the blended liquors.
31 Do not gaze at wine, how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup! How smoothly it slips down the throat!
32 In the end its bite is like a serpent’s, its sting as sharp as an adder’s.
33 Your eyes will see peculiar things, you will talk nonsense from your heart.
34 You will be like someone sleeping in mid-ocean, like one asleep at the mast-head.
35 ‘Struck me, have they? But I’m not hurt. Beaten me? I don’t feel anything. When shall I wake up? . . I’ll ask for more of it!’
Proverbs 24
1 Do not be envious of the wicked or wish for their company,
2 for their hearts are scheming violence, their lips talking mischief.
3 By wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is made strong;
4 by knowledge its storerooms are filled with riches of every kind, rare and desirable.
5 The wise is mighty in power, strength is reinforced by science;
6 for it is by strategy that you wage war, and victory depends on having many counsellors.
7 For a fool wisdom is an inaccessible fortress: at the city gate he does not open his mouth.
8 Anyone intent on evil-doing is known as a master in cunning.
9 Folly dreams of nothing but sin, the mocker is abhorrent.
10 If you lose heart when things go wrong, your strength is not worth much.
11 Save those being dragged towards death, but can you rescue those on their way to execution?
12 If you say, ‘But look, we did not know,’ will the Weigher of the heart pay no attention? Will not the Guardian of your soul be aware and repay you as your deeds deserve?
13 Eat honey, my child, since it is good; honey that drips from the comb is sweet to the taste:
14 and so, for sure, will wisdom be to your soul: find it and you will have a future and your hope will not be cut short.
15 Do not lurk, wicked man, round the upright man’s dwelling, do not despoil his house.
16 For though the upright falls seven times, he gets up again; the wicked are the ones who stumble in adversity.
17 Should your enemy fall, do not rejoice, when he stumbles do not let your heart exult:
18 for fear that Yahweh will be displeased at the sight and turn his anger away from him.
19 Do not be indignant about the wicked, do not be envious of the evil,
20 for there is no future for the evil, the lamp of the wicked will go out.
21 Fear Yahweh, my child, and fear the king; do not ally yourself with innovators;
22 for suddenly disaster will loom for them, and who knows what ruin will seize them and their friends?
23 The following are also taken from the sages: To show partiality in judgement is not good.
24 Whoever tells the wicked, ‘You are upright,’ peoples curse him, nations revile him;
25 but those who correct him, come out of it well, on them will come a happy blessing.
26 Whoever returns an honest answer, plants a kiss on the lips.
27 Plan what you want on the open ground, make your preparation in the field; then go and build your house.
28 Do not bear witness lightly against your neighbour, nor deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, ‘I will treat my neighbour as my neighbour treated me; I will repay everyone what each has earned.’
30 By the idler’s field I was passing, by the vineyard of a man who had no sense,
31 there it all lay, deep in thorns, entirely overgrown with weeds, and its stone wall broken down.
32 And as I gazed I pondered, I drew this lesson from the sight,
33 ‘A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back
34 and poverty comes like a vagrant, and, like a beggar, dearth.’
John 10:22-42
22 It was the time of the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon.
24 The Jews gathered round him and said, ‘How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us openly.’
25 Jesus replied: I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness;
26 but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine.
27 The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.
29 The Father, for what he has given me, is greater than anyone, and no one can steal anything from the Father’s hand.
31 The Jews fetched stones to stone him,
32 so Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?’
33 The Jews answered him, ‘We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you claim to be God.’
34 Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods?
35 So it uses the word ‘gods’ of those people to whom the word of God was addressed — and scripture cannot be set aside.
36 Yet to someone whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ because I said, ‘I am Son of God.’
37 If I am not doing my Father’s work, there is no need to believe me;
38 but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
39 They again wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded their clutches.
40 He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to the district where John had been baptising at first and he stayed there.
41 Many people who came to him said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’;
42 and many of them believed in him.
Sermons by various teachers about these verses.
Catholic Daily Readings and Reflections
Reading 1, Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
1 To Judah See on the mountains the feet of the herald! ‘Peace!’ he proclaims. Judah, celebrate your feasts, carry out your vows, for Belial will never pass through you again; he has been utterly destroyed.
3 (For Yahweh has restored the vine of Jacob, yes, the vine of Israel, although the plunderers had plundered them, although they had snapped off their vine-shoots!)
1 Disaster to the city of blood, packed throughout with lies, stuffed with booty, where plundering has no end!
2 The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Galloping horse, jolting chariot,
3 charging cavalry, flashing swords, gleaming spears, a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countless corpses; they stumble over corpses-
6 I shall pelt you with filth, I shall shame you and put you in the pillory.
7 Then all who look at you will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh has been ruined!’ Who will mourn for her? Where would I find people to comfort you?
Responsorial Psalm, Deuteronomy 32:35-36, 39, 41
35 Vengeance is mine, I will pay them back, for the time when they make a false step. For the day of their ruin is close, doom is rushing towards them, for he will see to it that their power fails. that neither serf nor free man remains.
36 (For Yahweh will see his people righted, he will take pity on his servants.)
39 See now that I, I am he, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck, it is I who heal (no one can rescue anyone from me).
41 When I have whetted my flashing sword, I shall enforce justice, I shall return vengeance to my foes, I shall take vengeance on my foes.
Gospel, Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?
27 ‘For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour.
28 In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.’
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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