Sunday, June 03, 2012 {The Most Holy Trinity (Solemnity)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Whenever we suffer some affliction, we should regard it both as punishment and as a correction. Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security and rest. On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved. So we must not grumble, my brothers, and for as the Apostle says: some of them murmured and were destroyed by serpents. Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? How then can you think that past ages were better than your own?
-- St. Augustine

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
32 “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
33 Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have?
34 Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen.
39 So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god.
40 Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to be yours forever.”

Psalm: Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22
4 The words of the Lord are true, and all his works are dependable.
5 The Lord loves what is righteous and just; his constant love fills the earth.
6 The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.
9 When he spoke, the world was created; at his command everything appeared.
18 The Lord watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love.
19 He saves them from death; he keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We put our hope in the Lord; he is our protector and our help.
22 May your constant love be with us, Lord, as we put our hope in you.

Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.
15 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!”
16 God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
17 Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
(Jesus Appears to His Disciples)
(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)16 The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted.
18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

Friday, June 03, 2011 Sts. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs (Memorial)

READINGS FOR THE DAY
First Reading: Acts 18:9-18
9     And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;
10     for I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city."
11     And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12     But when Gallio was proconsul of Acha'ia, the Jews made a united attack upon Paul and brought him before the tribunal,
13     saying, "This man is persuading men to worship God contrary to the law."
14     But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, I should have reason to bear with you, O Jews;
15     but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I refuse to be a judge of these things."
16     And he drove them from the tribunal.
17     And they all seized Sos'thenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to this.
18     After this Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aq'uila. At Cen'chre-ae he cut his hair, for he had a vow.

Psalms: Psalm 47:2-7
2     For the LORD, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
3     He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
4     He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. [Selah]
5     God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6     Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7     For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

Gospel: John 16:20-23
20     Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
21     When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.
22     So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
23     In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.

REFLECTION OF THE DAY
Alas, my dear brethren, the man who lives according to the direction of his passions and abandons the service of God is both unhappy and capable of so little! Put an army of one hundred thousand men around a dead man and let them employ all their power to bring him back to life. No, no, my dear children, he will not come to life again. But let someone who is despised by the world, but who enjoys the friendship of God, command this dead man to take up life again; immediately you will see him arise and walk. We have other proofs of this too. If it were necessary to be wealthy or to be very learned to serve God, a great many people would be unable to do it. But, no, my dear children, extensive learning or great wealth are not at all necessary for the service of God. On the contrary, they are often a very big obstacle to it. Yes, my dear brethren, let us be rich or poor, in whatever state we may be, learned or otherwise, we can please God and save our souls.
-- St. John Vianney