Daily Thought from the Saints
"Let us stand fast in what is right, and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: 'O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.'"
— St. Boniface
Daily Scripture Verse
"As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."
Colossians 3:12-13
Daily Meditation
"Everything that exists is a gift from God. Yet oftentimes we look to the things and creatures created by God for a satisfaction and fulfillment that only God Himself can provide. When the soul wraps itself around the things and the people of this world, looking for satisfaction or fulfillment that only God can give, it produces a distortion in itself, and in others as well. Many spiritual writers call the process of unwinding this possessive, self-centered, clinging, and disordered seeking of things and persons ‘detachment’. The goal of the process of detachment is not to stop loving the things and people of this world, but, quite to the contrary, to love them even more truly in God, under the reign of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Things and people become even more beautiful and delightful when we see them in this light. There are almost always painful dimensions to this process of 'letting go' in order to love more, but it's the pain of true healing and liberation. Christian detachment is an important part of the process by which we enter into a realm of great freedom and joy."
— Ralph Martin
Daily Catholic Wisdom
Making faith a purely personal feeling renders it incommunicable, cuts it off from the Church, and, above all, empties it of all content. It is therefore urgent to insist on the teaching of the catechism both to adults and to children.
—Robert Cardinal Sarah
from his book, “The Day Is Now Far Spent”
A Prayer from Notre Dame University
Rev. Michael Belinsky, C.S.C.
No one knows the troubles we suffer, dear Lord, and sometimes our lives are hard to bear. Help us to trust in your consoling words, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." You know the depth of all people's suffering and still you offered yourself on the cross to save us from ourselves, our pride, our self-centeredness. May the Spirit who raised you from the dead raise us up to serve others in their needs today. Alleluia!
The Abbot’s Daily Lectio Divina
Abbot Austin Murphy, O.S.B., St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, IL
John 14:1-4
Reading
[Jesus said to his disciples:] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.”
Meditation
Jesus is no longer here on earth, for He has risen to heaven. Yet, as He says at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, He is with us always. In a way, He is even more with us now that He has died and rose again. From His risen state in heaven He comes back to us, to be with us and to guide us. So, we should not be troubled. Instead, have faith in Him.
Prayer
Lord, increase my faith in Your presence. In Your Name I pray. Amen.
Contemplation…