Tuesday, December 13, 2011 {St. Lucy, Virgin, Martyr (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.
-- St Augustine

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13
(Jerusalem's Sin and Redemption)
1 Jerusalem is doomed, that corrupt, rebellious city that oppresses its own people.
2 It has not listened to the Lord or accepted his discipline. It has not put its trust in the Lord or asked for his help.
9 “Then I will change the people of the nations, and they will pray to me alone and not to other gods. They will all obey me.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 St. Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.
-- St Angela Merici

READINGS FOR TODAY

First Reading: Daniel 2:31-45

31 “Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at.

32 Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze,

33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

Saturday, November 12, 2011 {St. Josaphat, Bishop, Martyr (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
By giving yourself to God, you not only receive Himself in exchange, but eternal life as well.
-- St Francis de Sales

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9
14 The short night was half over, and all was quiet and peaceful,
15 when suddenly your threats were carried out! An invincible word of judgment sped from your royal throne in heaven, straight down to that doomed land. It came like a soldier in fierce attack,
16 carrying out your firm command with a fearful weapon, standing with feet on the ground and head touching the sky, filling the land with death.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 {St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr (Memorial)}

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Genesis 19:15-29
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."
16 But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city.
17 And when they had brought them forth, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed."
18 And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords;
19 behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die.
20 Behold, yonder city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there -- is it not a little one? -- and my life will be saved!"
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Make haste, escape there; for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zo'ar.
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zo'ar.
24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor'rah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But Lot's wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD;
28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomor'rah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

Psalms: Psalm 26:2-3, 9-12
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
3 For thy steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to thee.
9 Sweep me not away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 men in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.

Gospel: Matthew 8:23-27
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
25 And they went and woke him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing."
26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"

REFLECTION FOR TODAY 
My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of Heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.

-- St. John Vianney

Wednesday, June 01, 2011 {St. Justin, Martyr (Memorial)}

READINGS FOR THE DAY
First Reading: Acts 17:15, 22 -- 18:1
15     Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
22     So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op'agus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
23     For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24     The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man,
25     nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.
26     And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation,
27     that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us,
28     for `In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, `For we are indeed his offspring.'
29     Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man.
30     The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent,
31     because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead."
32     Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear you again about this."
33     So Paul went out from among them.
34     But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionys'ius the Are-op'agite and a woman named Dam'aris and others with them.
Acts 18:1
After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

Psalms: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14
1     Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights!
2     Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!
11     Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
12     Young men and maidens together, old men and children!
13     Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.
14     He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!

Gospel: John 16:12-15
12     "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13     When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14     He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
15     All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.


REFLECTION OF THE DAY

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.

-- Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August 15th