But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20, 21. NIV
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 Sirach : 34-36 and Acts 2.
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Verses for today – Listen here: For explanations
Reflection for Today.
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Also read the verses, if you like.
Sirach 34
Dreams Mean Nothing
34 The senseless have vain and false hopes,
and dreams give wings to fools.
2 As one who catches at a shadow and pursues the wind,
so is anyone who pays attention to dreams.
3 What is seen in dreams is but a reflection,
the likeness of a face looking at itself.
4 From an unclean thing, what can be clean?
And from something false, what can be true?
5 Divinations and omens and dreams are unreal,
and like a woman in labor the mind has fantasies.
6 Unless they are sent by intervention from the Most High,
pay no attention to them.
7 For dreams have deceived many,
and those who put their hope in them have perished.
8 Without such deceptions the law will be fulfilled,
and wisdom is complete in a trustworthy mouth.
Experience as a Teacher
9 People who have traveled[a] know many things,
and those with much experience know what they are talking about.
10 The inexperienced know few things,
11 but those who have traveled acquire much cleverness.
12 I have seen many things in my travels,
and I understand more than I can express.
13 I have often been in danger of death
but have escaped because of these experiences.
Fear the Lord
14 The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live,
15 for their hope is in him who saves them.
16 Those who fear the Lord will not be timid
or play the coward, for he is their hope.
17 Happy are souls that fear the Lord!
18 To whom do they look? And who is their support?
19 The eyes of the Lord are on those who love him,
a mighty shield and strong support,
a shelter from scorching heat and a shade from noonday sun,
a guard against stumbling and a help against falling.
20 He lifts up the soul and makes the eyes sparkle;
he gives health and life and blessing.
Offering Sacrifices
21 If one sacrifices ill-gotten goods, the offering is blemished;[b]
22 the gifts[c] of the lawless are not acceptable.
23 The Most High is not pleased with the offerings of the ungodly,
nor for a multitude of sacrifices does he forgive sins.
24 Like one who kills a son before his father’s eyes
is the person who offers a sacrifice from the property of the poor.
25 The bread of the needy is the life of the poor;
whoever deprives them of it is a murderer.
26 To take away a neighbor’s living is to commit murder;
27 to deprive an employee of wages is to shed blood.
28 When one builds and another tears down,
what do they gain but hard work?
29 When one prays and another curses,
to whose voice will the Lord listen?
30 If one washes after touching a corpse and touches it again,
what has been gained by washing?
31 So if one fasts for his sins
and goes again and does the same things,
who will listen to his prayer?
And what has he gained by humbling himself?
Sirach 35
The Law and Sacrifices
35 The one who keeps the law makes many offerings;
2 one who heeds the commandments makes an offering of well-being.
3 The one who returns a kindness offers choice flour,
4 and one who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering.
5 To keep from wickedness is pleasing to the Lord,
and to forsake unrighteousness is an atonement.
6 Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed,
7 for all that you offer is in fulfillment of the commandment.
8 The offering of the righteous enriches the altar,
and its pleasing odor rises before the Most High.
9 The sacrifice of the righteous is acceptable,
and it will never be forgotten.
10 Be generous when you worship the Lord,
and do not skimp the first fruits of your hands.
11 With every gift show a cheerful face
and dedicate your tithe with gladness.
12 Give to the Most High as he has given to you
and as generously as you can afford.
13 For the Lord is the one who repays,
and he will repay you sevenfold.
Divine Justice
14 Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it,
15 and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice,
for the Lord is the judge,
and with him there is no partiality.
16 He will not show partiality to the poor,
but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged.
17 He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan
or the widow when she pours out her complaint.
18 Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek
19 as she cries out against the one who causes them to fall?
20 Those whose service is pleasing to the Lord will be accepted,
and their prayers will reach to the clouds.
21 The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds,
and it will not rest until it reaches its goal;
it will not desist until the Most High responds
22 and does justice for the righteous and executes judgment.
Indeed, the Lord will not delay,
and like a warrior[a] he will not be patient
until he crushes the loins of the unmerciful
23 and repays vengeance on the nations,
until he destroys the multitude of the insolent
and breaks the scepters of the unrighteous,
24 until he repays mortals according to their deeds
and the works of all according to their thoughts,
25 until he judges the case of his people
and makes them rejoice in his mercy.
26 His mercy is as welcome in time of distress
as clouds of rain in time of drought.
Sirach 36
A Prayer for God’s People
36 Have mercy upon us, O God[a] of all,
2 and put all the nations in fear of you.
3 Lift up your hand against foreign nations
and let them see your might.
4 As you have used us to show your holiness to them,
so use them to show your glory to us.
5 Then they will know,[b] as we have known,
that there is no God but you, O Lord.
6 Give new signs and work other wonders;
7 make your hand and right arm glorious.
8 Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath;
9 destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.
10 Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time,[c]
and let people recount your mighty deeds.
11 Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath,
and may those who harm your people meet destruction.
12 Crush the heads of hostile rulers
who say, “There is no one but ourselves.”
13 Gather all the tribes of Jacob,[d]
16 and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.
17 Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name,
on Israel, whom you have named[e] your firstborn.
18 Have pity on the city of your sanctuary,[f]
Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling.[g]
19 Fill Zion with your majesty[h]
and your temple[i] with your glory.
20 Bear witness to those whom you created in the beginning,
and fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name.
21 Reward those who wait for you,
and let your prophets be found trustworthy.
22 Hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servants, according to your goodwill toward[j] your people,
and all who are on the earth will know
that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.
Concerning Discrimination
23 The stomach will take any food,
yet one food is better than another.
24 As the palate tastes the kinds of game,
so an intelligent mind detects false words.
25 A perverse mind will cause grief,
but a person with experience will pay him back.
26 A woman will accept any man as a husband,
but one daughter is preferable to another.
27 A woman’s beauty lights up a man’s face,
and there is nothing he desires more.
28 If kindness and humility mark her speech,
her husband is more fortunate than other men.
29 He who acquires a wife gets his best possession,[k]
a helper fit for him and a pillar of support.[l]
30 Where there is no fence, the property will be plundered,
and where there is no wife, a man will become a fugitive and a wanderer.[m]
31 For who will trust a nimble robber
who skips from city to city?
So who will trust a man who has no nest
but lodges wherever nighttime finds him?
Acts 2
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews[a] and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
22 “Fellow Israelites,[b] listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth,[c] a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24 But God raised him up, having released him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover, my flesh will live in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Fellow Israelites,[d] I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David[e] spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,[f] saying,
‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
32 “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at[g] the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
36 “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah,[h] this Jesus whom you crucified.”
The First Converts
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers,[i] what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Life among the Believers
43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[j] to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home[k] and ate their food with glad and generous[l] hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Sermons by various teachers about these verses.
Catholic Daily Readings and Reflections
Reading 1, First Corinthians 1:26-31
26 Consider, brothers, how you were called; not many of you are wise by human standards, not many influential, not many from noble families.
27 No, God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human standards are weak to shame the strong,
28 those who by human standards are common and contemptible — indeed those who count for nothing — to reduce to nothing all those that do count for something,
29 so that no human being might feel boastful before God.
30 It is by him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God, and saving justice and holiness and redemption.
31 As scripture says: If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:12-13, 18-19, 20-21
12 How blessed the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people he has chosen as his heritage.
13 From heaven Yahweh looks down, he sees all the children of Adam,
18 But see how Yahweh watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his faithful love,
19 to rescue them from death and keep them alive in famine.
20 We are waiting for Yahweh; he is our help and our shield,
21 for in him our heart rejoices, in his holy name we trust.
Gospel, Matthew 25:14-30
14 ‘It is like a man about to go abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out on his journey.
16 The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more.
17 The man who had received two made two more in the same way.
18 But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 Now a long time afterwards, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them.
20 The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. “Sir,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.”
21 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
22 Next the man with the two talents came forward. “Sir,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made.”
23 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
24 Last came forward the man who had the single talent. “Sir,” said he, “I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you had not sown and gathering where you had not scattered;
25 so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back.”
26 But his master answered him, “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered?
27 Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have got my money back with interest.
28 So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he has.
30 As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”
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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