#call on their names and Christ will command His angels and the Holy Spirit of God our Father to lead the way through this darkened world

[1-1-s1ay-2-2]

Guardian Angels from Heaven are waiting for you to call on them! ✨😇💯

The most important list you'll ever need!

Archangel Ariel -- Angel of strength and support of material needs.

Archangel Chamuel -- Intuitive angel of unconditional love.

Archangel Gabriel -- Angel of good messages and positive communication.

Archangel Haniel -- Angel of grace and feminine spirituality.

Archangel Jeremiel -- Angel of clarity and understanding.

Archangel Jophiel -- Angel of beauty and confidence. The beauty of life and positive energy -- thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Archangel Metatron -- Angel of healing and protection by pushing away unwanted (negative) energy.

Archangel Michael -- Angel of protection over every aspect of your life.

Archangel Raguel -- Angel of fairness, justice, and harmony.

Archangel Raphael -- Angel of health and traveling.

Archangel Raziel -- Angel of guidance and opportunity.

Archangel Sandalphon -- Twin angel of Metatron. Angel of motivation who delivers prayers for us to the divine realm of heaven and helps us stay close to our faith. Also helps us with our commitment and confidence in reaching our life goals.

Archangel Uriel -- Angel of focus, concentration, and inspiration.

Archangel Zadkiel -- Angel of freedom and forgiveness.

The angels in heaven were appointed by God our Father to watch over us as we live our earthly lives. The angels cannot intervene in our lives unless we call upon them. Their protection is designated just for human beings on earth because God our Father loves us dearly and only wants for our safety and wellbeing. If you do not call upon them by name, they cannot help. But if you call upon them by name, they answer the call and they protect you immediately -- without fail.

It's their job. They are ANGELS after all. That's what God has angels for...to protect humanity against all the negative energy that bombards us from the spiritual principalities of darkness. That which we cannot see but the angels know how to protect us against.

WHEN YOU CALL, your guardian angels rush to your side, and they activate their angel charge and they protect you just as God instructed them to do! Amen in Jesus' name.

[apenitentialprayer]

Credo of the People of God

This Creed was promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI, on the 30th of June, 1968. This Creed, "without being strictly speaking a dogmatic definition," was meant to repeat "in substance . . . the creed of Nicaea" while also elaborating upon the dogmas of the Church "to a high degree complete and explicit" (§3, 7). Pronounced at the end of the Year of Faith, it was meant as a gift to "all those in the world, to whatever spiritual family they belong, who are in search of the Truth" (§7). Bolded emphases are added to better separate the articles of the Creed for convenience of reading.

We believe in one only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator of things visible such as this world in which our transient life passes, of things invisible such as the pure spirits which are also called angels, and Creator of each man of his spiritual and immortal soul.

We believe that this only God is absolutely One in His infinitely holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence, His infinite knowledge, His providence, His will, and His love. He is He who is, as He revealed to Moses; and He is love, as the Apostle John teaches us: so that these two names, being and love, express ineffably the same divine Reality of Him who has wished to make Himself known to us, and who, "dwelling in light inaccessible," is in Himself above every name, above every thing, and above every created intellect. God alone can give us right and full knowledge of this Reality by revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose eternal life we are by grace called to share, here below in the obscurity of faith and after death in eternal light. The mutual bonds which eternally constitute the Three Persons, who are each one and the same divine Being, are the blessed inmost life of God thrice-holy, infinitely beyond all that we can conceive in human measure. We give thanks, however, to the divine goodness that very many believers can testify with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know not the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal love. Thus in the Three Divine Persons, coaeternae sibi et coaeuales, the life and beatitude of God perfectly superabound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated Being, and always "there should be venerated unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the unity."

We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri, and through Him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made Man: equal therefore to the Father according to His divinity, and inferior to the Father according to His humanity; and Himself one, not by some impossible confusion of His natures, but by the unity of His Person.

He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. He proclaimed and established the Kingdom of God and made us know in Himself the Father. He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved us. He taught us the way of the beatitudes of the Gospel: poverty in spirit, meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, mercy, purity of heart, will for peace, persecution suffered for justice sake. Under Pontius Pilate He suffered — the Lamb of God bearing on Himself the sins of the world, and He died for us on the cross, saving us by His redeeming Blood. He was buried, and, of His own power, rose on the third day, raising us by His Resurrection to that sharing in the divine life which is the life of grace. He ascended to heaven, and He will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead, each according to his merits — those who have responded to love and piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished.

And His Kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life, who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He spoke to us by the prophets; He was sent by Christ after His Resurrection and His Ascension to the Father; He illuminates, vivifies, protects, and guides the Church; He purifies the Church's members if they do not shun His grace. His action, which penetrates to the inmost of the soul, enables man to respond to the call of Jesus; "Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." We believe that Mary is the Mother, who remained ever a Virgin, of the Incarnate Word, our God and Savior Jesus Christ, and that by reason of this singular election, she was, in consideration of the merits of her Son, redeemed in a more eminent manner, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, and filled with the grace more than all other creatures. Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate, was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory and likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of all the just; and we believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ's members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.

We believe that in Adam all have sinned, which means that the original offense committed by him caused human nature, common to all men, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of that offense, and which is not the state in which it was at first in our first parents — established as they were in holiness and justice, and in which man knew neither evil nor death. It is human nature so fallen, stripped of the grace that clothed it, injured in its own natural powers and subjected to the dominion of death, that is transmitted to all men, and it is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, "not by imitation, but by propagation," and that it is thus "proper to everyone."

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of the Cross, redeemed us from Original Sin and all the personal sins committed by each one of us, so that, in accordance with the word of the Apostle, "where sin abounded, grace did more abound."

We believe in one Baptism instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Baptism should be administered even to little children who have not yet been able to be guilty of any personal sin, in order that, though born deprived of supernatural grace, they may be reborn "of water and the Holy Spirit" to the divine life in Christ Jesus.

We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter. She is the Mystical Body of Christ; at the same time a visible society instituted with hierarchical organs, and a spiritual community; the Church on earth, the pilgrim people of God here below, and the Church filled with heavenly blessings; the germ and the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, through which the work and the sufferings of Redemption are continued throughout human history, and which looks for its perfect accomplishment beyond time in glory. In the course of time, the Lord Jesus forms His Church by means of the sacraments emanating from His plenitude. By these She makes Her members participants in the Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, in the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives Her life and movement. She therefore is holy, though She has sinners in Her bosom, because She Herself has no other life but that of grace: it is by living by Her life that Her members are sanctified; it is by removing themselves from Her life that they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of Her sanctity. This is why She suffers and does penance for these offenses, of which She has the power to heal Her children through the Blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Heiress of the divine promises and daughter of Abraham according to the Spirit, through that Israel whose Scriptures She lovingly guards, and whose patriarchs and prophets She venerates; founded upon the Apostles and handing on from century to century their ever-living word and their powers as pastors in the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him; perpetually assisted by the Holy Spirit she has the charge of guarding, teaching, explaining, and spreading the Truth which God revealed in a then-veiled manner by the prophets, and fully by the Lord Jesus. We believe all that is contained in the word of God written or handed down, and that the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed, whether by solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. We believe in the infallibility enjoyed by the successor of Peter when he teaches ex cathedra as pastor and teacher of all the faithful, and which is assured also to the episcopal body when it exercises with him the supreme Magisterium.

We believe that the Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which He prayed is indefectibly one in faith, worship, and the bond of hierarchical communion. In the bosom of this Church, the rich variety of liturgical rites and the legitimate diversity of theological and spiritual heritages and special disciplines, far from injuring Her unity, make it more manifest.

Recognizing also the existence, outside the organism of the Church of Christ, of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to Her as Her own and tend to Catholic unity, and believing in the action of the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the heart of the disciples of Christ love for this unity, we entertain the hope that the Christians who are not yet in full communion of the one only Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only Shepherd.

We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation, because Christ, who is the sole Mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself present for us in His Body which is the Church. But the divine design of salvation embraces all men; and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in number known only to God, can obtain salvation.

We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the Person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the Name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His Body and His Blood which were to be offered for us on the Cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious Presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is true, real, and substantial Presence.

Christ cannot thus be present in this sacrament except by the change into His Body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His Blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of thus mystery must, in order to be in accord with the Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.

The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord, glorious in heaven, is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word whom they cannot see, and who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.

We confess that the Kingdom of God begun here below in the Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and that its proper growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science, or of human technology, but that it consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the love of God, and an ever more generous bestowal of grace and holiness among men. But it is this same love which induces the Church to concern Herself constantly about the true temporal welfare of men. Without ceasing to recall to Her children that they have not here a lasting dwelling, She also urges them to contribute, each according to his vocation and his means, to the welfare of their earthly city, to promote justice, peace, and brotherhood among men, to give their aid freely to their brothers, especially to the poorest and most unfortunate. The deep solicitude of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, for the needs of men, for their joys and hopes, their griefs and efforts, is therefore nothing other than Her great desire to be present to them, in order to illuminate them with the light of Christ and to gather them all in Him, their only Savior. This solicitude can never mean that the Church conform Herself to the things of this world, or that She lessen the ardor of Her expectation of Her Lord and of the eternal Kingdom. We believe in life eternal. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ, whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as He did for the Good Thief, are the people of God in the eternity beyond death, which will finally be conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will be reunited to their bodies.

We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is, and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.

We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: "Ask, and you will receive." Thus it is with faith and in hope that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Blessed be God thrice-holy. Amen.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

and Hezron the father of Ram.

4 Ram was the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,

and Obed the father of Jesse.

6 Jesse was the father of David the king.

David the king was the father of Solomon, by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

and Abijah the father of Asa.

8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,

and Joram the father of Uzziah.

9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

and Amon the father of Josiah.

11 Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were exiled to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon,

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.

13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,

and Eliakim the father of Azor.

14 Azor was the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

and Akim the father of Eliud.

15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

and Matthan the father of Jacob.

16 And Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the exile to Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the exile in Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way: After His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, had in mind to divorce her privately.

20 But while he thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for He who is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 Now all this occurred to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, saying, 23 “A virgin shall be with child, and will bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is interpreted, “God with us.”

24 Then Joseph, being awakened from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and remained with his wife, 25 and did not know her until she had given birth to her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS. — Matthew 1 | Modern English Version (MEV) The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. Cross References: Genesis 22:18; Genesis 25:19; Deuteronomy 22:23; Deuteronomy 24:1; Ruth 4:18; Ruth 4:20; 1 Samuel 1:20; 2 Samuel 7:12; 2 Samuel 11:27; 1 Kings 3:5; 1 Kings 11:43; 1 Kings 15:24; 2 Kings 24:14; 1 Chronicles 2:12; 1 Chronicles 3:14; Isaiah 7:14; Jeremiah 22:30; Jeremiah 27:20; Haggai 1:1; Matthew 16:16; Matthew 16:20; Matthew 27:17; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:7; Acts 5:19; Romans 1:2

[angeltreasure]

In what way do Guardian angels live among us and what do they do? (I mean I know they’re guardian angels so clue is in the name!) but I mean yeah I’ve never actually thought about this much before so I’m hoping you could educate me a little!!! 🙏🙏💕

Before the concept of time began, all of the angels were created at one moment. God gave them a glimpse of the beatific vision of Heaven, what their exact role would be, and then the vision of what would happen if they said no.

God’s most beautiful and smartest angel called Lucifer (who was likely in the Cherubim choir) became very angry when seeing the beatific vision: that God the Father out of great love would send His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to be fully man AND fully God (John 3:16)… Lucifer was even more furious actually of Jesus’s mother, Mary, who is just human, would be SO full of grace from God that she would be conceived and born without ever having original sin. Her womb had to be pure for the Son of God. The graces from God were so great that all the angels combined and all the saints combined would not much up to even as much as a sigh, in her holiness. Although not God, Mary would be queen of the angels. Lucifer did not like the fact that his own queen would be a woman, a woman that had not only one chance to offer herself as sacrifice but over and over and over, compared to himself. Lucifer wanted all the purity and power to himself that Mary had, he wanted to even take the place of God.

St. Michael the archangel, from the choir of Archangels (the second lowest angel choir) was given the gift from God to cast Satan and other bad angels out of Heaven. St. Michael rose up against Lucifer and said “Who is like God?!”, casting Lucifer and the bad angels out of Heaven, forever, down to earth and eventually hell. Lucifer is then known as Satan. 1/3 of angels fell from the sky that day.

Our guardian angels are in the 9th choir of angels, this choir is called Angels, the lowest choir. The choir called Angels are angels who are ones most around humans. The exact number is unknown. Your own guardian angel said yes to the beatific vision. When your guardian angel said yes, God told them their role would be your guardian, told them who you are, told them to wait until the exact moment you were born to go by your side, and that their one goal is to get you to Heaven.

Once you were born, your guardian angel never left you for a second. He guards your soul. Your guardian angel is purely spirit, he has no body. To most humans, he remains unseen. He protects you from spiritual attacks that you can’t see from the enemy. Your guardian angel can’t take over your free will but, since his one job is to get you to Heaven, he will prompt your mind with inspiration to think and do good and holy things: be a Good Samaritan, pray, go to Mass, go to Confession, find your true vocation, to to Eucharistic Adoration, inspire you to read spiritual books and watch videos of sermons, to have you act out works of mercy, to have you follow the Ten Commandments, to be kind to others, to have pure joy, etc. He waits for you to ask him for help. You can ask him to help you in just about anything. Never leaving your side, he waits for you to speak to him as a friend, for friendship. Since time together in Heaven is a long time, it’s best we get to know our guardian angel. You cannot name your guardian angel because naming him means you have ownership over him, plus God already have him a name which is to be respected. You may call him my guardian angel, or simply, my angel. Start a relationship with your guardian angel today!

I highly recommend you read the book called Send Me Your Guardian Angel.

I also highly recommend Angels and the Supernatural.

[myremnantarmy]

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Saturday, June 15, 2024

june 2_june 15

SAINT NICEPHORUS THE CONFESSOR OF CONSTANTINOPLE (820)

Saint Nikephoros (Nikēphóros) was a dignitary at the court of the Empress Irene (797-802). After embracing monasticism, he became widely known for his piety. He assumed the Patriarchal Throne of Constantinople in 806 and became a zealous defender of the holy Icons. In 815, the Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820) exiled him to Prokonnis, where he fell asleep in the Lord in 828.

Saint Nikephoros left behind three writings against Iconoclasm.

HIEROMARTYR ERASMUS OF OCHRID, WHO REPOSED IN PEACE, AND 20,000 MARTYRS WITH HIM (303)

"This saint was born in Antioch and lived in the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. He lived in strict asceticism on Mount Lebanon, and was endowed by God with great wonderworking gifts. As a bishop, he set out to preach the Gospel. Arriving at the city of Ochrid, he restored the son of a man called Anastasius to life by his prayers, and baptised him. At this time, Erazmus baptised many other pagans and tore down the idolatrous altar in Ochrid. For this he was denounced to the Emperor Maximian, who was at that time staying in Illyria. The Emperor brought him before the copper image of Zeus, and ordered him to bring sacrifices and worship the idol. St Erazmus, by his power, caused a terrible dragon to come out of the statue, which terrified all the people. The saint then worked another wonder, and the dragon died. Then the saint preached Christ and baptised 20,000 souls. The furious Emperor commanded that all 20,000 be beheaded, and put Erazmus to harsh torture, before throwing him into prison. But an angel of God appeared to him, as once to the Apostle Peter, and led him out of the prison. After that, this servant of God went to Campania, where he preached the Gospel to the people, then returned again to the town of Hermelia, where he withdrew to a cave and lived in asceticism for the rest of his days. At the time of his death, he prostrated three times towards the East and, with upraised hands, prayed to God to forgive and give eternal life to all those who would, with faith, call upon his name. At the end of his prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: 'Let it be as thou hast asked, My little healer Erazmus!' The saint looked up once more to heaven with great joy and saw a wreath of glory descending upon him, and a choir of angels, prophets, apostles and martyrs waiting to receive his holy soul. He finally cried: 'Lord, receive my spirit!', and breathed his last, in about the year 303. The cave and chapel of St Erazmus stand to this day not far from Ochrid, and from there is proclaimed to this day the great power of the man of God, Erazmus the hieromartyr." (Prologue)   Note: St Erazmus is commemorated on May 4th in the Slavonic Menaion, but St Nikolai Velomirovich gives today as the date on which he was been commemorated in Ochrid "from time immemorial".

ACTS 20:7-12

7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. 9 And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." 11 Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. 12 And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

JOHN 14:10-21

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Loving Someone

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1Corinthians 13:1NIV

What did Jesus say were the two primary commandments? “He answered, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself” Luke 10:27NIV.

Jesus took ten of the commandments and rolled all ten into two. If we love God we won’t have other gods in our lives— basically anything can become a god when it’s put first in importance to Yahweh i.e. gods of money/banks, influential people, traditions, medicine, government offices, sexual behaviors, idols of statue forms, ideologies or religions not serving Yahweh and a plethora of other things. Nor will we profane our Lord’s name.

Second commandment, loving someone will cause us to honor them; while keeping us from lying, stealing, killing them, committing adultery with someone, or desiring to have their stuff. “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” Romans 13:10NIV.

Love is active, and nice, it doesn’t expose the weaknesses of others. Writing to the church, 1Peter 4:8NIV “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Holy Spirit nailed me on this one— ‘Debbie, how many times have you pointed out a particular flaw in someone? Did you do it to lift them up or put them down? Your every word is to lift up others. Some words seem mean and harsh when said. Praying for people is the best way, It’s My job to change them.’ Ouch! I relate this, because I hear others speaking the same way— warning to us all.

How do you confront an evil? We’re living in a very confused time. Satan has deceived people’s minds into living in lies telling them their identity is not in Christ, nor themselves, only in what their imagination. Back in my youth, such an identity crisis would put people into strenuous psychiatric care. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32NIV. Loving speaks the God’s truth— ]you were made in this body at this time by the loving God Who is lovingly concerned about every detail of your life.’

Can love confront a blatantly sinful lifestyle? Which is more loving— warning a sleeping person that the building they’re sleeping in is on fire? — Quietly, turning away and allowing the sleeping person to die in the fire? A normal person without any particular love for others would pound on all the apartment doors in the building to awake all their neighbors. People are applauded for running into a burning building to rescue someone. What’s the difference? Their burning building— their sinful lifestyle will take them directly to the real fires of hell. I’ve heard three separate speakers who were steeped in perverted lifestyles— say that Churches and Believers had loved ’accepted’ them as they were. The churches preached the truth about sin, including theirs. Believers openly answered when asked about their lifestyles, ‘your lifestyle is sin, a sin God calls an abomination and hates. You aren’t lost. Yahweh will help you escape that lifestyle through the blood of Jesus’

Do we really love others? Are we just noisy gongs, crashing symbols, mean, hateful, tongue-talking Believers in Christ? If we’re the latter, there’s a fix it Bible verse— “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1John 1:9ESV. He’ll wash away our sins, like they never happened. Then He’ll allow us to start over with His help. What will you do? It’s your choice. You choose.

LET’S PRAY: LORD God we’ve sinned. Forgive and cleanse us please. Help us to act more like Jesus in every way of love, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2024 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional, as author. Thank you.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

8th April >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Solemnity of The Annunciation of the Lord

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

First Reading

Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10

The maiden is with child.

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’

Then Isaiah said:

‘Listen now, House of David:

are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men

without trying the patience of my God, too?

The Lord himself, therefore,

will give you a sign.

It is this: the maiden is with child

and will soon give birth to a son

whom she will call Immanuel,

a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 39(40):7-11

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,

but an open ear.

You do not ask for holocaust and victim.

Instead, here am I.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

In the scroll of the book it stands written

that I should do your will.

My God, I delight in your law

in the depth of my heart.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Your justice I have proclaimed

in the great assembly.

My lips I have not sealed;

you know it, O Lord.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

I have not hidden your justice in my heart

but declared your faithful help.

I have not hidden your love and your truth

from the great assembly.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Second Reading

Hebrews 10:4-10

God's will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on coming into the world:

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,

prepared a body for me.

You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;

then I said,

just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,

‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’

Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation

John 1:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word became flesh,

he lived among us,

and we saw his glory.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 1:26-38

'I am the handmaid of the Lord'.

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[psalmonesermons]

Only God can provide total security Part 3B

Psalm 91:11-16 Angelic protection

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

The mighty and holy angels of God are commanded by him to post a special watch over those who under the shelter of Almighty God. It is their sacred duty to protect God’s people.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the

serpent.

These represent the various obstacles, difficulties, and dangers we encounter in life, even those that are life threatening. We also must be aware of the venom of our spiritual enemies , the fallen angels who operate in the heavenlies. God’s elect, holy and mighty angels are able to deal with such. Jesus has put all things that could harm us under our feet.

The Apostle Paul shook off the viper in Malta and was unharmed. When we know we are fully protected in our spirit, soul, and body we can confidently tread on those beings which seek to do us harm.

This gives us great confidence in our God.

Interim Prayer Lord we thank you for your holy and mighty angels that form a hedge of shelter around your people. Lord, give us your wisdom that we be not deceived into testing you just because we know of your marvelous protection around us. Lord, give us your wisdom to live in these difficult times and bring the light of the Gospel to those still in darkness. In Jesus’ name we ask it.

Amen

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

God reveals what he himself finds delightful in a man or woman.

v14 Speaks of such a person, who is devoted the Lord, God says because this person clings/cements to God in love then God will deliver such a person and protect them. This is what God delights to do for those who cling to him in love, those who come to recognise his holy name, his person, and his divine attributes. If we want to know the meaning of his holy name in this verse, then we must turn to the example of Jesus Christ, but remembering that because we are ‘in him’ and this verse also applies to us, to the believers dwelling in Gods shelter. This is a position of great honour.

v15 Whenever the person who is clinging to the Lord in love, calls out in distress, the Lord promises to answer him. Here we have the very privileged access to the Lord’s help and intervention on our behalf. He promises to be present with us in our various troubles, and if needed to rescue us from our dangers and difficulties. He not only rescues those under his shelter but brings them into a place of honour.

V16 God promises to give those who cling to him in love, a long enough life to fulfil all their destiny irrespective of the age they live too as was the case of Jesus who fulfilled all his destiny yet died at a comparatively young age.

God’s wonderful salvation extends beyond this life into the next.

Prayer Lord teach us how to cling you in our thoughts, in our hearts and in our wills, Lord, cement our hearts to your heart in love, and help us to come to know your holy name in fullness. Lord, we thank you that whenever we call out to you, we know that you will answer us, and rescue us from trouble and bring us into a place of honour. Lord help us fulfil all your destiny of this life and when it is time move us from salvation on earth to salvation in heaven. In Jesus’ name we ask it.

Amen

In Part 4 we discuss whether eternal security is part of God's total package of security.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

19th March >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. Matthew 1:16, 18, 21-24/Luke 2:41–51a) for the Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘He did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do’.

Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 1:16,18-21,24 How Jesus Christ came to be born.

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.

Or

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 2:41-51a Mary stored up all these things in her heart.

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’

‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.

He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.

Gospel (USA) Matthew 1:16, 18–21, 24a Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Or

Gospel (USA) Luke 2:41–51a Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.

Reflections (11)

(i) Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The gospel reading for the feast of Saint Joseph is the story of the birth of Jesus, according to Matthew. It is a little less familiar to us than the story of the birth of Jesus as we find it in Luke’s gospel and which we read on Christmas night. The gospel reading portrays Joseph at a moment of crisis. It could be termed a crisis of intimacy. Joseph tends to be depicted in religious art as an elderly man, more like Jesus’ grandfather than father. In reality, at the time of Jesus’ birth, he must have been a vigorous young man, perhaps still in his teens. The gospel reading describes him as betrothed to Mary. Betrothal is more than what we refer to as an ‘engagement’. As betrothed, he and Mary were legally husband and wife, but they would only live together as husband and wife after their marriage ceremony. The future happiness of this young man is suddenly clouded by an event of which he can make little sense, Mary’s pregnancy. What is he to do in this unexpected and confusing situation? The Jewish Law would have required him to take a course of action that went against all his natural feelings for Mary. In that moment of personal crisis, according to the gospel reading, Joseph experienced God as Emmanuel, God with him. God communicated with Joseph at this difficult time in his life and Joseph was open to hearing God’s word to him, a word that directed him beyond what the Law required, prompting him to marry his betrothed, to take her home as his wife. The story of Joseph reminds us that God continues to communicate with us in the challenging situations of our own lives, including crises of intimacy. There is no personal dilemma that need cut us off from God. God speaks a word of love and wisdom to us even in the most unpromising moments of our life’s journey. Jesus reveals God to be Emmanuel, God with us, and God is with us, guiding us and supporting us, especially in our own difficult family experiences. The gospel reading also suggests that Joseph was not only open to God’s presence but revealed God’s presence to Mary, showing her great care and sensitivity in a disturbing and unsettling moment. Joseph inspires us not only to be open to God’s presence in difficult family moments, but to reveal God’s loving and tender presence to each other, to look out for one another, when events come along that are disruptive and disturbing. Joseph’s care the vulnerable, for the pregnant Mary, and later for Mary and his young son when faced with exile, might prompt us to ask his intercession for all who have been rendered vulnerable today by war.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Joseph

It is strange how Christian art has tended to portray Joseph as an old man, more like Jesus’ grandfather, than his father. One striking exception to this is a painting of Joseph by the Spanish artist, El Greco. He depicts Joseph as a vigorous young man, with Jesus clinging to his legs. In that painting Joseph is portrayed as a strong figure, trustworthy and protective. This is much closer to the portrayal of Joseph in the gospels than the usual elderly depiction of him. The gospel reading this morning suggests that although Joseph, the young father, was protective of his young son, he also struggled to understand him at times. Having anxiously searched for Jesus with Mary, Joseph finally finds him in temple, only to be told that by Jesus that he must be busy with his Father’s affairs. Joseph was beginning to learn that there was someone else in his young son’s life whom he called ‘Father’, and to whom he had a stronger allegiance that he had to his earthly parents. Joseph discovered early on that he would have to let his son go to a greater purpose than what he wanted for him. As such, Joseph could serve as an inspiration, a reference point, for all parents who have to work through that difficult task of learning to let go of their offspring.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Joseph

This morning’s gospel reading gives us a mini portrait of Joseph. We are told that every year Joseph and Mary used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. Joseph, along with Mary, was a devout Jew. The Temple in Jerusalem had an important place in his life. It was the place where God was believed to be present in a special way. Like many faithful Jews, Jesus went up to the Temple in Jerusalem for the great Jewish feasts, such as the Feast of Passover. On this occasion when Jesus was twelve years old, little did Joseph know that Jesus would be crucified by the Romans on the feast of Passover about twenty years into the future.  In bringing his son with him to Jerusalem for the great feasts, Joseph was initiating his son into his own Jewish faith, passing on to his son his own religious traditions, beliefs and practices. Joseph was called by God to be a human father to Jesus, to be the best father possible for Jesus. This was a great privilege, but the gospel reading suggests that it was also a very particular challenge, one that made great demands on him. That challenge for Joseph is captured in the exchange between Mary and Jesus. Mary says to her son, ‘see how worried your father and I have been, looking for you’. Jesus replies to her, ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ Jesus spoke as one who had another Father than Joseph, a heavenly Father and it was the affairs of his heavenly Father that had to take priority over the concerns of his earthly father. This must have been very difficult for Joseph to come to terms with. He had the responsibility of overseeing the upbringing of Jesus and, yet, he had to learn that his son did not belong to himself or to Mary but was subject to a higher authority than theirs. The gospel reading said, ‘they did not understand what he meant’. Joseph is portrayed in the gospel reading as faithful to his calling to care for Jesus, without fully understanding what was going on in the life of his son. Joseph can be an inspiration to all of us, who are also called to be faithful to the Lord without always fully understanding the Lord to whom we seek to be faithful. Like Joseph we are called to give our heart to the Lord, even though our reason may never fully understand him. 

And/Or

(iv) Feast of Saint Joseph

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph. We know relatively little about Joseph. In the gospel of Matthew, when Jesus preached for the first time in his home town of Nazareth, those who knew him asked, ‘Is not this the carpenter’s son?’ Jesus was known to them as the son of the carpenter, the son of Joseph. Joseph had a skill which not everybody in Nazareth had; he could make useful things from wood. He used his skill to provide for his family, including his son Jesus. Jesus would go on to provide for many people in the course of his public ministry. He gave everything he had, including his very life, for God’s people, for all of us. Yet, before Jesus could provide for others, he needed to be provided for, and Joseph played a key role in providing for him. With Mary, Joseph made it possible for Jesus to get to the point where he could leave home a fully formed adult and begin in earnest the work that God gave him to do. Jesus was able to do his work in Galilee and Judea because Joseph did his work in Nazareth. Joseph’s work might seem insignificant compared to the work Jesus went on to do and still does as risen Lord. Yet, Joseph’s work was just as important because without Joseph’s work, Jesus would not have gone on to do the work of God. Joseph teaches us the importance of doing what we have to do as well as possible, even if what we are doing seems of little significance in the greater scheme of things. We are all interdependent. If we do what we have to do as well as we can, we make it easier for everyone else to do what they are called to do. Everything we do has greater significance that we realize. We all have vital roles to play within God’s greater purpose. We are all called to do God’s work, at every stage of our lives, each of us in our own particular way.

And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Joseph

Joseph does not appear in the gospels during the public ministry of Jesus. His presence in the gospels is confined to the first two chapters of Matthew and of Luke which concern the birth and early childhood of Jesus. Yet Joseph is referred to during Jesus’ public ministry in relation to Jesus. Later on in Matthew’s gospel the people of Nazareth ask of Joseph, ‘is not this the carpenter’s son?’ Apart from that detail about Jesus being a carpenter we know very little else about him. However, this morning’s gospel reading from Matthew describes Joseph as a ‘man of honour’, or a ‘just or righteous man’. He is just in that he lives as God commands him to live; he does the will of God and, so, is a good and compassionate man. When he hears God call him to take Mary home with his wife, he does so, in spite of his earlier confusion as to how best to deal with Mary’s expected pregnancy. He is portrayed as someone who seeks God’s will in the complex situations of life. He does not always know how best to act but he leaves himself open to God’s guidance and direction and faithfully responds to God’s promptings. He lives that call of Jesus that is to be found later in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness’.

And/Or

(vi) Feast of Saint Joseph

There is a wonderful painting of Saint Joseph by the Spanish artist El Greco. In it Joseph is a vibrant young man and the child Jesus is holding on to one of his legs. The sense we get from that painting is of Joseph as a strong, warm, noble presence in the life of the child Jesus. He had a very important role to play in the life of his young son. He may well have died before Jesus began his public ministry because he only appears as a character in the gospels in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke, when Jesus is a child. Joseph reminds us that the Lord often asks us to play some important role in the life of another for a period of time. Jesus moved on from Joseph because he had to be busy with his Father’s affairs, his heavenly Father’s affairs. Having played his vital role in the life of his son, Joseph had to let him go. When we have played the role in the life of another that only we can play, very often we too are then asked to let them go, and that can be painful as it must have been for Joseph. It is very often there that love meets the cross.

And/Or

(vii) Feast of Saint Joseph

Joseph is often depicted as an old man in Christian art and sculpture. Yet, he was obviously a very young man at the time of Jesus’ birth, as young as Jesus’ mother Mary, the woman to whom Joseph was married. It can’t have been easy being the father of such a special child. This morning’s gospel reading portrays something of the struggle that being the parent of Jesus entailed. When Jesus’ parents eventually found him in the Temple after much anxious searching, Mary said to her young son, ‘See how worried your father and I have been?’ In reply Jesus said, ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs’. When Mary referred to ‘your father’ she meant Joseph; when Jesus said ‘my Father’ he meant God. Luke suggests that because Jesus belonged to God from an early age, his parents had to learn to let him go much sooner than would have been the norm. Joseph had to learn that his son had another Father, a heavenly Father, to whom he was totally dedicated. Yet, Joseph remained a full father to his son in the earthly sense, fulfilling all the roles that would be expected of a father in that culture. Very early into his son’s life, Joseph had to learn to love his son while leaving him free for whatever God was asking of him. In that sense, we can all look to Joseph as someone who embodies a love that is generous without being possessive, faithful without being controlling.

And/Or

(viii) Solemnity of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph has a somewhat low profile in the gospel story. He doesn’t feature at all during the public ministry of Jesus. He is present in the gospel story only in the context of the childhood of Jesus. This may suggest that Joseph had died before Jesus began his public ministry at the age of thirty or so. Yet, Joseph must have been a hugely significant figure in the early years of Jesus. In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ time, it was the father who passed on the religious traditions to the children. It was the father who taught the children how to live in accordance with God’s will as revealed in the Scriptures. This role of the father is reflected in the earliest document of the New Testament, the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. There Paul compares his role in the church of Thessalonica to that of a father in a family, ‘we dealt with each of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God’. It was above all from Joseph that Jesus would have received instruction in his Jewish faith. Through Joseph, he came to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus, of course, was no ordinary child. He had a unique relationship with the God of Israel; he understood himself to be the son of Israel’s God. This must have complicated Joseph’s task of bringing up his son in the practice of the Jewish faith. This is evident in today’s gospel reading from Luke. When his parents eventually find the boy Jesus in the Temple, his mother says to him, ‘See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you’. Jesus replied, ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ By ‘your father’ Mary meant Joseph. By ‘my Father’ Jesus meant God. The gospel reading suggests that from an early age Jesus’ heavenly Father had a greater influence on him than his earthly father. This must have left Joseph confused and disturbed at times. According to today’s gospel reading, Jesus’ parents ‘did not understand what he meant’ when he spoke about being busy with his Father’s affairs. Joseph struggled to discern God’s will for his son. He came to see that what he wanted for his son was not necessarily what God wanted for him. He had to learn to let go of his son to God’s greater purpose for him. We can all identify with Joseph’s struggle in this regard. We too sometimes struggle to surrender to God’s purpose for our lives and for the lives of those who are close to us. God’s way of working in our own lives and in the lives of others can seem a mystery to us and, sometimes, like Joseph, we have to learn to let go to a mystery we do not fully understand.

And/Or

(ix) Feast of Saint Joseph

The image of the twelve-year old Jesus sitting among the doctors of the law in the Temple, which we find in today’s gospel reading, is a striking one. It doesn’t say that Jesus was teaching these doctors of the law. Rather, he was listening to them and asking they questions. He was receptive to what they were saying. No doubt Jesus was also receptive to what Joseph said to him. In the Jewish family, the father was the one responsible for passing on the religious tradition to the children. Joseph may not have been a doctor of the law, but he was a teacher within his own home. Yet, the gospel reading suggests that at twelve years of age, Jesus was moving on from receiving the wisdom of his superiors to taking his own path in life. Having travelled with his family from Nazareth to Jerusalem, for the feast of Passover, he decided not to travel back with them, apparently without informing any member of his extended family. Mary and Joseph ended up searching for him everywhere. Eventually, they decided to head back to Jerusalem where they did eventually find him in the Temple. Their disappointment in Jesus and the distress he caused them is very evident in the question Mary put to him. Yet, his answer to their question caused them a different kind of distress. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ They didn’t understand what he meant. By, ‘my Father’s affairs’, the boy Jesus was not referring to his father Joseph, but to his heavenly Father, God. If Jesus was learning from the doctors of the law, Joseph had his own lesson to learn from his young son. He was beginning to realize that his influence on his son would have to take second place to God’s influence. He and his wife, Mary would have to learn to let Jesus go to God’s purpose for his life. We can learn from Joseph that gentle art of letting go, of surrendering those we cherish to God’s purpose for their lives, even though it may leave us with a great sense of loss. Joseph learnt to allow God to be God in his own life and in the life of his Son. We pray for something of that same generosity of spirit that Joseph clearly had.

And/Or

(x) Feast of Saint Joseph

In the first reading, Saint Paul refers to Abraham as ‘the father of all of us’. For Paul, Abraham was the father of all believers because he was a man of faith who trusted in God’s word of promise. Just as the Jewish people look back to Abraham as their father in faith, so too can we who believe in Jesus. Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph. As a man of faith, deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition, he certainly would have looked to Abraham as his father in faith. Joseph was unique among the spiritual children of Abraham in being the father of Jesus whose relationship with God was of a different order to Abraham’s relationship with God. According to the gospels, Jesus was known as ‘the carpenter’s son’. There are many titles for Jesus in the gospels and in the rest of the New Testament, but the title, ‘the carpenter’s son’, is, perhaps, the most human. Joseph provided for Mary and his son Jesus by working as a carpenter. He helped to provide a stable home for Jesus where Jesus could grow in ‘wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and people’, according to the gospels. Joseph seems to have died before Jesus began his public ministry because he never features in the story of Jesus’ public, adult, life in the gospels. By the time Jesus began his public ministry, Joseph’s work was done. Mary, we know, lived on at least until the feast of Pentecost at which the Holy Spirit came down upon her and the disciples. Joseph reminds us that the Lord has some work for all of us to do. Very often, our work, like Joseph’s, consists in creating a space for God to work in the life of someone else. That work will often involve a letting go of others, a letting be. That is what we find Joseph being called to do in today’s gospel reading. He had to let Jesus go to God the Father’s work in the life of his young son. ‘I must be busy with my Father’s affairs’, Jesus said, meaning God, not Joseph.

And/Or

(xi) Feast of Saint Joseph

On the 8th December, Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter called “With a Father’s Heart”, in which he recalls the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion of this Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” from 8th December 2020, to 8 December 2021. In his Apostolic Letter, the Pope describes Saint Joseph in a number of very striking ways - as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. He wrote the letter against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, he says, has helped us see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, although far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, the Pope says, they resemble Saint Joseph, whom he describes as “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” and, yet, played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.” It is true that Joseph is a discreet presence in the gospel story. He doesn’t feature at all during the public ministry of Jesus, suggesting that he may have died before Jesus began his public ministry. However, he was there during the crucial formation years of Jesus’ life. Like any parent, he worried about his young son growing up. In today’s gospel reading, we find Joseph and Mary worried when they discovered their son was lost. When they finally found him, the young Jesus said to them, ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ When Jesus said, ‘my Father’, he was referring to God not Joseph. Joseph had to learn to let go of his son Jesus to God his heavenly Father’s plan for his life, even though that often left him confused, as in today’s gospel reading, ‘they did not understand what he meant’. Joseph had an important role to play in Jesus’ life, but he had to let him go to God from Jesus’ early years. Joseph’s life reminds us that we all have some role to play in God’s greater purpose. There is something we can do, no one else can do. We are often called to be a Joseph figure for others, being there for them but knowing when to let them go to God’s purpose for their lives.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[albertfinch]

GOD HAS APPOINTED YOU TO A WALL

God is speaking to many people at this time that angels are waiting at your wall! Take heart, for that situation you are facing is about to become a miracle zone.

The walls of an ancient city were where watchmen stood guard. "Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings"  - Isaiah 58:12

A wall can represent an obstacle.  Nehemiah wept when he heard the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the city's gates burned with fire. Nehemiah prayed, he interceded. And then, he realized God had appointed him to go and help rebuild that wall himself.

Like Nehemiah, God has appointed you to a wall.  Your "wall" is an assignment God has given you. An influence that is uniquely yours – something He has given you to protect, watch over and build. It is your Father's promise to you – your Christ calling. l

ANGELS AT YOUR WALL:  It's Time To Show Up

Hear your Father say, "Don't stop asking, seeking, and knocking. Don't stop calling on Me. Don't rest, when it comes to prayer."  - Luke 11:9, 18:7

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth."  - Isaiah 62:6-7

What does it mean to cry out to your Father day and night? It means that when people all around you are resting, you are wrestling. Others may be lukewarm, but you are fanning the flames because passion is burning on the inside of you. You are being fueled, not by your own strength and energy, but by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Gradually, there comes a shift in your prayers –

 "this is what You said, and this is how it is going to be. I command every power of darkness to release the destiny of this wall in Jesus name. I speak life. I say, 'Let that promise spring forth, in Jesus name!'"

Earth-shifting, obstacle-busting, angel-employing prayer starts with simply showing up.

ANGELS AT YOUR WALL:  It's Time to Rise up

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me."  - Isaiah 49:16

As you rise, take your place and pray and take action, expecting a shift to take place. You have moved into the miracle zone. He answers your prayer through the influence of the Holy Spirit upon people's hearts, and through sending angels about His work. But you and others will clearly see the hand of God moving. And glory will be given – not to a human instrument, or an angelic instrument – but all glory will go to Jesus. For you have stepped into your divine appointment.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[godslove]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦

The Greek word for evangelists is euaggelistes which means “one who brings good news.” This word is only found in two other places in the New Testament.

⁸ “On the next day, we left and came to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.”

—Acts 21:8

⁵ “As for you, always be sober. Endure hardships, do the work of preaching the gospel, and carry out your ministry to the fullest extent.”

—2 Timothy 4:5

All Christians are called to evangelize and reach out to the lost with the Gospel

¹⁸ Then Jesus approached them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the world.”

—Matthew 28:18-20

but some are given an extra measure of faith and effectiveness in this area. The spiritual gift of evangelism is found in this verse where Paul says that Jesus:

¹¹ “It was he who established some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry in building up the body of Christ,”

—Ephesians 4:11-12

Evangelists are given the unique ability by the Holy Spirit to clearly and effectively communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. They are burdened in their hearts for the lost and will go out of their way to share the truth with them. Evangelists are able to overcome the normal fear of rejection and engage non-believers in meaningful conversations about Jesus. Their gift allows them to communicate with all types of people and therefore they receive a greater response to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. They continually seek out relationships with those who don’t know Jesus and are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to approach different people. They love giving free treasure away for Jesus,

⁷ “However, we hold this treasure in earthen vessels so that it may be clear that this immense power belongs to God and does not derive from us.”

—2 Corinthians 4:7, The State of an Apostle

and it brings them great joy knowing that the “feet that bring good news” are beautiful to those who believe.

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who bears good news and proclaims glad tidings, announcing salvation and saying to Zion, “Your God is king.”

—Isaiah 52:7

⁵ “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them. ⁶ The crowds welcomed the message proclaimed by Philip because they had heard and seen the signs he was doing. ⁷ For unclean spirits emerged with loud shrieks from many people who were possessed, and many others who were paralyzed or crippled were cured. ⁸ Thus, there was great joy in that city.

—Acts 8:5-8

¹² However, when the people came to believe Philip as he preached about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

—Acts 8:12

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and head south along the road that leads from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.” ²⁷ Therefore, he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, an official at the court of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was now returning home. As he sat in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join that chariot.” ³⁰ When Philip ran up, he heard him reading from the prophet Isaiah, and he asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless I have someone to instruct me?” Then he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² This was the Scripture passage he had been reading: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter; like a lamb that is silent before its shearer he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will be able to speak of his posterity? For his life on earth has been taken away.” ³⁴ Then the eunuch said to Philip, “Please tell me, about whom is the prophet speaking—about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ And so Philip, starting with this text of Scripture, proceeded to explain to him the good news of Jesus. ³⁶ As they were traveling along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, here is some water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

³⁷ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch said in reply, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

³⁸ Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared in Azotus and continued his journey, proclaiming the good news in every town until he reached Caesarea.”

—Acts 8:26-40, Baptism of a High Official

¹⁸ Then Jesus approached them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the world.”

—Matthew 28:18-20

[orthodoxadventure]

The holy apostle Andrew the First Called was born in Bethsaida in Galilee. His father Jonas was a fisherman and he handed over his trade to his sons Andrew and Simon (the apostle Peter). From childhood the little Andrew was very inquisitive and already at the age of five he was going to the synagogue to learn about the Holy Scriptures, astronomy and arithmetic. In his youth the future apostle dreamed of serving God and refused to marry, preserving his chastity. When Andrew and his brother Simon grew up, they moved to Capernaum, where they engaged in the fishing trade with Zebedee and his sons John and Jacob (who were afterwards also apostles). At that time John the Baptist began his preaching concerning the coming of the Messiah. Andrew witnessed the baptism of Jesus Christ and was, along with his brother, among the first men whom Jesus called to follow him, saying “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” It may be for this reason that among the apostles he was known as the first-called. So Andrew became the Messiah’s follower. Once in the course of a long sermon Jesus had to feed 5000 people, and at his request, Andrew pointed to a boy who had five loaves of bread and two fishes, and when Christ blessed them they were transformed into food that satisfied 5000 people. The apostle Andrew then followed the Saviour until the end of his earthly life and when Christ rose from the dead, he was present at the time when the Holy Spirit appeared. Also, like Christ, the apostle Andrew was crucified on the cross. He died in the town of Patras in Greece. Part of his remains are preserved in the Cathedral of the Holy Apostle Andrew, which is one of the largest cathedrals in the Balkans.

Some legends exist about sermons and the spread of Christianity by the apostle. The most well-known of them are his journeys around the south and east of Europe at that time. In Britain the Apostle Andrew is one of the leading saints and was proclaimed the defender of Scotland. This is connected with two beautiful popular beliefs. According to the first of these, a monk named Rule (Regulus) dreamt he saw an angel who commanded the monk to take some relics of the saint and bring them from Byzantium by sea to the West. Taking a lot of time in travelling, the monk`s ship was caught up in a violent storm and driven to the coast of Scotland, to the hamlet of Kilrymont (Saint Andrews). At the same time the Apostle appeared in a vision to the Scottish king and promised victory over enemies, which soon happened. As a token of gratitude, the king built a church in honour of the Apostle Andrew the First Called, to which a large number of pilgrims came to venerate the holy remains and be cured in mind and body. Another legend says that Bishop Acca, the successor of St. Wilfred in the 8th century took the apostle’s remains out of pilgrimage and founded a church in honour of the holy apostle Andrew. Also, as in the first tradition, there is a story in which the Holy Apostle Andrew the First Called appeared before the King of Scotland and promised help in defeating the enemy. As a token of gratitude the king endowed the church of the Holy Apostle Andrew with many gifts. In the blood-stained years of the Reformation of the church in England the remains of Saint Andrew the  First Called, which were in Scotland, were completely destroyed, but the profound faith of the people was able to preserve and convey through generations wonderful stories and legends about the saint. The love of the British people towards the apostle Andrew the First Called continues to survive, not failing to give his name to educational establishments, streets, football stadiums and innumerable churches.

The persistent desire to save human souls and warm love of Christ drove the apostle onwards, in spite of the enormous dangers accompanying him during his travels and sermons. For this reason it was said among the people that the Apostle Andrew protected in particular pilgrims, seamen and fishermen, as he himself spent a lot of time on the sea. And of course he helps any ordinary people who direct their prayers towards the Lord and place their trust in Him.

[source]

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Dedication to Theophilus

1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. 20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

The Song of Mary

46 And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

Birth of John the Baptist

57 Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.

Circumcision of John the Baptist

59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. 60 His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.”

61 But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called.

63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. 65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zacharias’ Prophecy

67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, 71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, 73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

[catenaaurea]

The Roman Catechism

Part One: The Creed

ARTICLE VIII : "I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST"

Importance Of This Article

Hitherto we have expounded, as far as the nature of the subject seemed to require, what pertains to the First and Second Persons of the Holy Trinity. It now remains to explain what the Creed contains with regard to the Third Person, the Holy Ghost.

On this subject the pastor should omit nothing that study and industry can effect; for on this Article, no less than on those that preceded, ignorance or error would be unpardonable in a Christian. Hence, the Apostle did not permit some among the Ephesians to remain in ignorance with regard to the Person of the Holy Ghost. Having asked if they had received the Holy Ghost, and having received for answer that they did not so much as know that there was a Holy Ghost, he at once demanded: In whom, therefore, were you baptized? to signify that a distinct knowledge of this Article is most necessary to the faithful.

From such knowledge they derive special fruit. For, considering attentively that whatever they have, they possess through the bounty and beneficence of the Holy Spirit, they begin to think more modestly and humbly of themselves, and to place all their hopes in the protection of God, which for a Christian is the first step towards consummate wisdom and supreme happiness.

"Holy Ghost"

The exposition of this Article, therefore, should begin with the force and meaning here attached to the words Holy Ghost. This appellation is equally true when applied to the Father and the Son, since both are spirit, both holy, and we confess that God is a Spirit; this name may also be applied to Angels, and the souls of the just. Care must be taken, therefore, that the faithful be not led into error by the ambiguity of the words.

The pastor, then, should teach that by the words Holy Ghost in this Article is understood the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, a sense in which they are used, sometimes in the Old, and frequently in the New Testament. Thus David prays: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me; and in the Book of Wisdom we read: Who shall know thy thoughts, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above? And in another place it is said: He created her in the Holy Ghost.' We are also commanded, in the New Testament to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. We read that the most holy Virgin conceived of the Holy Ghost; and we are sent by St. John to Christ, who baptizeth us in the Holy Ghost.' There are many other passages in which the words Holy Ghost occur.

No one should be surprised that a proper name is not given to the Third, as to the First and Second Persons. The Second Person is designated by a proper name, and called Son, because, as has been explained in the preceding Articles, His eternal birth from the Father is properly called generation. As, therefore, that birth is expressed by the word generation, so the Person, emanating from that generation, is properly called Son, and the Person, from whom he emanates, Father.

But as the production of the Third Person has no proper name, but is called spiration and procession, the Person produced is, consequently, designated by no proper name. His emanation has no proper name simply because we are obliged to borrow from created objects the names given to God and know no other created means of communicating nature and essence than that of generation. Hence we cannot discover a proper name to express the manner in which God communicates Himself entire, by the force of His love. Wherefore we call the Third Person Holy Ghost, a name, however, peculiarly appropriate to Him who infuses into us spiritual life, and without whose holy inspiration we can do nothing meritorious of eternal life.

"I Believe in the Holy Ghost"

The Holy Ghost Is Equal To The Father And The Son

The people, when once acquainted with the meaning of His name, should first of all be taught that the Holy Ghost is equally God with the Father and the Son, equally omnipotent and eternal, infinitely perfect, the supreme good, infinitely wise, and of the same nature as the Father and the Son.

All this is obviously enough implied by the force of the word in, when we say: I believe in the Holy Ghost; for this preposition is prefixed to each Person of the Trinity in order to express the exact nature of our faith.

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost is also clearly established by many passages of Scripture. When, in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter says, Ananias, Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? he immediately adds: Thou hast not lied to men, but to God, calling Him God to whom he had just before given the name Holy Ghost.

The Apostle, also, writing to the Corinthians, interprets what he says of God as said of the Holy Ghost. There are, he says, diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all; but, he continues, all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will.

In the Acts of the Apostles also what the Prophets attribute to God alone, St. Paul ascribes to the Holy Ghost. Thus Isaias had said: I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? . . . And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears. Having cited these words, the Apostle adds: Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our fathers, by Isaias the prophet.

Again, the Sacred Scriptures join the Person of the Holy Ghost to those of the Father and the Son, as, for example, when Baptism is commanded to be administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. There is thus no room left us of doubting the truth of this mystery. For if the Father is God, and the Son God, we must admit that the Holy Ghost, who is united with Them in the same degree of honor, is also God.

Besides, baptism administered in the name of any creature can be of no effect. Were you baptized in the name of Paul? says the Apostle, to show that such baptism could have availed nothing to salvation. Since, therefore, we are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be God.

This same order of the Three Persons, which proves the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, is also found in the Epistle of St. John: There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one; and also in that noble eulogy of the Holy Trinity, with which the Divine Praises and the Psalms are concluded: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Finally, what most strongly confirms this truth is the fact that Holy Scripture assigns to the Holy Ghost whatever attributes we believe proper to God. Wherefore to Him is ascribed the honour of temples, as when the Apostle says: Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost? Scripture also attributes to Him the power to sanctify, to vivify, to search the depths of God, to speak by the Prophets, and to be present in all places, all of which can be attributed to God alone.

[myremnantarmy]

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.