Thursday of the Fifth Week of
Easter
Judges,
Chapter 8, Verse 19-20
19“They
were my brothers, my mother’s sons,” he said. “As the Lord lives, if you had
spared their lives, I would not kill you.” 20Then he said to his
firstborn, Jether, “Go, kill them.” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he
was AFRAID, for he was still a boy.
Jether
was still a boy when asked by his father to continue the cycle of violence.
Sometimes children are wiser than parents. Children instinctively know that
being fair starts with understanding your own shortcomings and listening to
that small voice of conscience.
Gideon Ushers in a
Golden Age[1]
·
Gideon's
army continues to pursue the fleeing Midianites, led by their kings Zebah and
Zalmunna.
·
They
pass through the towns of Succoth and Penuel, and both refuse to give food to
Gideon's army. This is rude, and Gideon promises he'll make them pay when he's
done with Zebah and Zalmunna.
·
His
army defeats Midian and captures Z&Z.
·
On
their way back, Gideon captures a young man from Succoth, who identifies the
elders and princes of the city that were so inhospitable before.
·
Gideon
beats them with thorns and briars. That'll teach them!
·
He
also returns to Penuel and breaks down their tower and kills the men of the
city. Seriously—don't mess with Gideon.
·
While
interrogating Z&Z, Gideon finds out that they killed his brethren in Tabor.
Their life expectancy suddenly plummets dramatically.
·
Gideon
tells his oldest son, Jether, to kill these fools. Jether is still just a boy,
though, and he doesn't want to.
·
Z&Z
say, "You know what, Gid? Why don't you do the honors? You're
stronger anyway".
·
So
he does, and he takes the ornaments from their camels' necks because, hey, free camel jewelry.
·
Israel
asks Gideon to be their king, and his sons after him, because he's delivered
them from Midian.
·
Gideon
refuses, and tells them that the Lord will be their king.
The
reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) knew violence leads to nothing but
violence and stated:
Hate
begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We
must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. Our aim must never be to
defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting
the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies
it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie,
nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do
not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence
for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already
devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”[2]
National
Day of Prayer[3]
National Day of Prayer is an annual
holiday that serves to encourage Americans to pray, meditate and repent. It is
also used to draw awareness to prayer and religious beliefs. The origins of
National Day of Prayer date back to 1787. Benjamin Franklin asked President
George Washington to open each day with prayer, and to realize that prayer is
deeply intertwined in the fabric of the United States. However, it was
not until February 1952 during the Korean War that Reverend Billy Graham
petitioned support of Representative Percy Priest to observe a National Day of
Prayer. On April 17, 1952 President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming
National Day of Prayer, to encourage Americans to turn to God in prayer and
meditation. National Prayer Day is celebrated every year on the first Thursday
of May.
National Day of Prayer Facts &
Quotes
·
2020
marks the 69th Anniversary of the National Day of Prayer
·
According
to the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study of 2015, 23% of
Americans have indicated that they are not part of any religion. The
survey is based on responses of more than 35,000 Americans.
·
On
October 3, 2008, The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sued President
George W. Bush and staff to challenge the designation of a National Day of Prayer.
On April 14, 2011, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the
National Day of Prayer did not cause harm and a feeling of alienation cannot
suffice as injury.
·
According
to the Pew Research Center, more than 55% of Americans pray every day. 60%
of older Americans are likely to pray every day, compared to 45% of young
Americans.
·
Prayer
is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's
weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words
without a heart. - Mahatma Gandhi, Civil Rights and Freedom Activist
National Day of Prayer Top Events
and Things to Do
·
Attend
a religious service at your place of worship on the National Day of Prayer.
·
Offer
a prayer for your loved ones and for those who are serving at the frontlines to
protect America.
·
Attend
a spiritual retreat that appeals to your beliefs.
·
Practice
mindfulness by focusing upon the internal and external experience of each
moment of life. Mindfulness creates awareness and encourages one to be grateful
for their blessings.
·
Attend
a prayer event on Prayer Day. There are many local events, some religious
based, others meditation oriented.
Meditation of The Sacred Heart for the Eve of the
First Friday[4]
AMONG
those who make profession of piety, but few know Jesus Christ and the treasures
of His mercy; for this cause they give themselves up imperfectly to His love.
Nothing can be more pleasing to the loving heart of Jesus than the childlike
and unlimited confidence which we testify towards Him. It is related in the
life of St. Gertrude that one day, as she reflected on the extraordinary graces
which she had received, she asked herself how the revelations with which she
had been favored could be made known to mankind with the greatest profit to
their souls. Our Lord vouchsafed her this reply:
It
would be good for men to know, and never to forget, that I, their God and Savior,
am always present in their behalf before My heavenly Father. This should never
be forgotten, that when through human frailty their hearts incline to sin I
offer for them my merciful heart; and when they offend God by their works, I
present to Him My pierced hands and feet in order to appease the anger of
divine justice.
Our
Lord Jesus Christ, says the great Apostle, is the mediator between God and man.
He is now ascended into heaven in order to aid our prayers by His powerful
mediation. Fail not, says the devout Blosius, to offer your good works and
pious exercises to the most sweet heart of Jesus, in order that He may purify
and perfect them; for His heart, so full of tenderness, takes delight in so
divine a work. He is always ready to perfect in you whatever He sees imperfect
or defective. Confidence is a key to the heart of Jesus. What may we not obtain
from our fellow-creatures by the confidence we place in them? How much more,
then, will it not obtain from God? How marvelous will be its effects if united
with an absolute dependence on Him!
Thus,
when animated by faith, Peter walked on the waters as on dry land; but from the
moment that fear entered his mind the waters lost their sustaining power, and
his compassionate Master, extending His hand, said to him,
“O thou of little faith, why didst
thou doubt?”
On
another occasion also the tempest threatened to ingulf the apostles; but Jesus
said to them, having commanded the winds and the sea:
Where is your faith? why are you
fearful? have you, then, no faith?
In
order to inspire us with a more lively confidence Our Lord Jesus Christ
vouchsafed Himself to teach us the prayer which we address to God; so that our
heavenly Father, touched by the words of His own Son, might refuse us nothing
which we ask in His name; for this He would have us call Him by the sweet name
of Father. But as this is not enough, in order to dispel all our diffidence, He
carries His condescension even so far as to promise by a solemn oath to be
always ready to listen to us.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever
ye shall ask I will do.
Timid
souls, He would say, I swear to you by Myself, Who am the Way and the eternal
Truth; by Myself, Who hate falsehood, and Who will punish perjury with eternal
damnation; by Myself, Who can no more lie or deceive than I can cease to be
that which I am, I swear promises, to you that I will grant what you ask of Me.
These are Thy O my God, says St. Augustine; and who can fear being deceived
when he relies on the promises made by uncreated Truth? When an upright man
pledges you his word, you would believe that you erred if you showed after this
any doubt or fear but if we receive the testimony of man, says St. John, the
testimony of God, is it not greater? Our divine Savior holds Himself so honored
by this confidence that in a thousand passages in the Gospel He attributes more
to the miraculous efficacy of prayer than to His own mercy. Not saying to those
who have recourse to Him, it is My goodness and My power; but It is thy faith,
thy confidence, which has saved thee. Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to St.
Gertrude that he who prayed to Him with confidence was sure to obtain his
request that He could not do otherwise than listen to his prayers. Whatever may
be the grace you request, says Our Lord, be sure of obtaining it, and it will
be granted you. This it is which St. John Climachus expresses in a like manner
when he says, every prayer offered up with confidence exercises over the heart
of God a kind of violence, but a violence which is sweet and pleasing to Him.
St. Bernard compares the divine mercy to an abundant spring, and our confidence
to the vessel which we make use of in order to draw these saving waters. The
larger the vessel the greater the abundance of the grace we shall bring away.
Moreover, this is conformable to the prayer of the psalmist, who sues for mercy
in proportion to His confidence: Let Thy mercy be upon us, O Lord, according to
the hopes we have placed in Thee. God has declared that He will protect and
save all those who put their trust in Him. Let them be glad, then, exclaims
David; let all those rejoice who hope in Thee, O my God; for they shall be
happy for all eternity, and Thou wilt never cease to dwell in them. He
elsewhere says, He who places his trust in the Lord shall dwell under the
protection of the God of heaven. Yes, Lord, says St. Bernard, it is hope alone
which opens to us the treasure of Thy mercies. The efficacy of prayer, says St.
Thomas, is drawn from faith which believes in the promises of God, and
confidence in the holy promises which He has made to us. We see, in short, in
the sacred writings that the Son of God seems to take the faith of those who
address themselves to Him as the rule for the help and the graces which He
grants them, not only doing what they wish, but in the manner in which they ask
it. Grace is attached to confidence; it is a kind of axiom that he who puts his
trust in God shall never be confounded. And the wise man defies a contrary
example to be cited amongst all the nations of the world. Our souls should be
filled with consolations, says St. Ambrose, when we remember that the graces
which God grants us are always more abundant than those which we ask; also,
that the fulfilment of His promises always exceeds our hopes, as says
Ecclesiastes. Let us have, then, a firm confidence, as St. Paul recommends us,
since the Lord has promised to protect whosoever hopes in Him; and when
obstacles present themselves which seem very difficult to overcome let us say
with the Apostle, I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me. Who, indeed,
was ever lost after having placed his trust in God? But we need not always seek
a sensible confidence it will suffice if we earnestly desire it, for true
confidence is an utter dependence on God, because He is good, and wishes to
help us; because He is powerful, and able to help us; because He is faithful
and has promised to help us.
Example.
The venerable Mary of the Incarnation relates that it was revealed to her on a
certain occasion that the Eternal Father was insensible to her prayer. She
sought to know the cause, and an interior voice said to her: Petition Me
through the heart of My Son, through which I will hear thee. Address yourselves
to the heart of Jesus, the ocean of love and mercy, and He will obtain for you,
pious soul, and also for all poor sinners, the most signal graces. Sometime
before her death St. Mechtilde earnestly asked of Our Lord an important grace
in behalf of a person who had asked her to pray for her. Seized with fear at
the sight of the terrible judgments with which the justice of God would visit
this soul, she was weeping bitterly, when Our Lord addressed to her these
consoling words,
my daughter, teach the person for
whom you pray that she must seek all she desires through My heart. There is no
heart so hard as not to be softened by the heart of Jesus, nor any soul so
disfigured by the leprosy of sin that His love cannot purify, console, and
heal.
Thursdays
are Sacred
Thursdays
are next to Sundays the holiest day of the week. Pope John Paul knew this when
he created the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. It was also on Thursday that
our Lord instituted the Mass and last celebrated with the apostles. In a week
also our Lord Ascended into heaven to intercede for us with the Father. It would
be a pious practice to make Thursdays a little special by being in the Lord’s
presence and celebrate Mass.
·
Stations
of the Cross: Thursday before First Friday Devotion
Daily Devotions
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 12 day 2
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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