24 September 2019 Catholic Mass Daily Bible Reading. USCCB. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8,19-21. The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him …More
24 September 2019 Catholic Mass Daily Bible Reading.
USCCB. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8,19-21.
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you."
He said to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897)
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Last Conversations, 21/08/1897 (trans. ©Institute of Carmelite Studies)
She lived by faith just like ourselves
How I would have loved to be a priest in order to preach about the Blessed Virgin! One sermon would be sufficient to say everything I think about this subject. "I'd first make people understand how little is known by us about her life. We shouldn't say unlikely things or things we don't know anything about! For example, that when she was very little, at the age of three, the Blessed Virgin went up to the Temple to offer herself to God, burning with sentiments of love and extraordinary fervor. While perhaps she went there very simply out of obedience to her parents... For a sermon on the Blessed Virgin to please me and do me any good, I must see her real life, not her imagined life. I'm sure that her real life was very simple. They show her to us as unapproachable, but they should present her as imitable, bringing out her virtues, saying that she lived by faith just like ourselves, giving proofs of this from the Gospel, where we read: “And they did not understand the words which He spoke to them” (Lk 2:50). And that other no less mysterious statement: “His father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (Lk 2:33). This admiration presupposes a certain surprise, don't you think so? "We know very well that the Blessed Virgin is Queen of heaven and earth, but she is more Mother than Queen; and we should not say, on account of her prerogatives, that she surpasses all the saints in glory just as the sun at its rising makes the stars disappear from sight. My God! How strange that would be! A mother who makes her children's glory vanish! I myself think just the contrary. I believe she'll increase the splendor of the elect very much. It's good to speak about her prerogatives, but we should not stop at this... Who knows whether some soul would not reach the point of feeling a certain estrangement from a creature so superior and would not say: “If things are such, it's better to go and shine as well as one is able in some little corner.” what the Blessed Virgin has more than we have is the privilege of not being able to sin, she was exempt from the stain of original sin; but on the other hand, she wasn't as fortunate as we are since she didn't have a Blessed Virgin tn love. And this is one more sweetness for us!
USCCB. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8,19-21.
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you."
He said to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897)
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Last Conversations, 21/08/1897 (trans. ©Institute of Carmelite Studies)
She lived by faith just like ourselves
How I would have loved to be a priest in order to preach about the Blessed Virgin! One sermon would be sufficient to say everything I think about this subject. "I'd first make people understand how little is known by us about her life. We shouldn't say unlikely things or things we don't know anything about! For example, that when she was very little, at the age of three, the Blessed Virgin went up to the Temple to offer herself to God, burning with sentiments of love and extraordinary fervor. While perhaps she went there very simply out of obedience to her parents... For a sermon on the Blessed Virgin to please me and do me any good, I must see her real life, not her imagined life. I'm sure that her real life was very simple. They show her to us as unapproachable, but they should present her as imitable, bringing out her virtues, saying that she lived by faith just like ourselves, giving proofs of this from the Gospel, where we read: “And they did not understand the words which He spoke to them” (Lk 2:50). And that other no less mysterious statement: “His father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (Lk 2:33). This admiration presupposes a certain surprise, don't you think so? "We know very well that the Blessed Virgin is Queen of heaven and earth, but she is more Mother than Queen; and we should not say, on account of her prerogatives, that she surpasses all the saints in glory just as the sun at its rising makes the stars disappear from sight. My God! How strange that would be! A mother who makes her children's glory vanish! I myself think just the contrary. I believe she'll increase the splendor of the elect very much. It's good to speak about her prerogatives, but we should not stop at this... Who knows whether some soul would not reach the point of feeling a certain estrangement from a creature so superior and would not say: “If things are such, it's better to go and shine as well as one is able in some little corner.” what the Blessed Virgin has more than we have is the privilege of not being able to sin, she was exempt from the stain of original sin; but on the other hand, she wasn't as fortunate as we are since she didn't have a Blessed Virgin tn love. And this is one more sweetness for us!
Book of Ezra 6,7-8.12b.14-20.
King Darius issued an order to the officials of West-of-Euphrates: “Let the governor and the elders of the Jews continue the work on that house of God; they are to rebuild it on its former site.
I also issue this decree concerning your dealing with these elders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that house of God: From the royal revenue, the taxes of West-of-Euphrates …More
King Darius issued an order to the officials of West-of-Euphrates: “Let the governor and the elders of the Jews continue the work on that house of God; they are to rebuild it on its former site.
I also issue this decree concerning your dealing with these elders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that house of God: From the royal revenue, the taxes of West-of-Euphrates, let these men be repaid for their expenses, in full and without delay.
I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be carefully executed."
The elders of the Jews continued to make progress in the building, supported by the message of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus and Darius (and of Artaxerxes, king of Persia).
They completed this house on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
The Israelites--priests, Levites, and the other returned exiles--celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
For the dedication of this house of God, they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, together with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, in keeping with the number of the tribes of Israel.
Finally, they set up the priests in their classes and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, as is prescribed in the book of Moses.
The exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
The Levites, every one of whom had purified himself for the occasion, sacrificed the Passover for the rest of the exiles, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.