Saturday, September 24, 2011 {Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Do you ask how to resist anger? As soon as you feel the slightest resentment, gather together your powers, not hastily or impetuously, but gently and seriously. For as in some law courts, the criers make more noise in their efforts to preserve quiet than those they seek to still, so, if we are impestuous in our attempts to restrain our anger, we cause greater discomposure in our hearts than before; and once thrown off its balance, the heart is no longer its own master.
-- St. Francis de Sales


READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15
(The Exiles Are Called to Come Home)
5 The Lord has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory.”
6-7 The Lord said to his people, “I scattered you in all directions. But now, you exiles, escape from Babylonia and return to Jerusalem. 

8 Anyone who strikes you strikes what is most precious to me.”
So the Lord Almighty  sent me with this message for the nations that had plundered his people: 
9 “The Lord himself will fight against you, and you will be plundered by the people who were once your servants.”
When this happens, everyone will know that the Lord Almighty sent me.
Psalms: Jeremiah 31:10-13
10 The Lord says, “Nations, listen to me and proclaim my words on the far-off shores. I scattered my people, but I will gather them and guard them as a shepherd guards his flock.
11 I have set Israel's people free and have saved them from a mighty nation.
12 They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts— gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden; they will have everything they need.
13 Then the young women will dance and be happy, and men, young and old, will rejoice. I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness.
Gospel: Luke 9:43-45
(Jesus Speaks/ Spoke Again about His Death)
44 The people were still marveling at everything Jesus was doing, when he said to his disciples, 
44 “Don't forget what I am about to tell you! The Son of Man is going to be handed over to the power of human beings.” 
45 But the disciples did not know what this meant. It had been hidden from them so that they could not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about the matter.