FLAG DAY
Micah,
Chapter 7, verse 17
17They will lick the dust like a
snake, like crawling things on the ground; They will come quaking from their
strongholds; they will tremble in FEAR of you, the LORD, our God.
Micah’s name means “who is like Yahweh”. Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10) Let us this day practice silence as much as possible and contemplate on our God and Savior. Say the Shema Yisrael and call on the Holy Spirit to make this day a turning point in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you realize the universe is more than what we can see, touch and feel. We are not crawly things and we need not build strongholds. May our fear, be the Holy fear, of men of God. This day let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to know God is without limitations. Help us in the quiet of this day to realize that Jesus Christ, the begotten son of the Living God, came to have mercy on me a sinner. In our silence, we may this day discover, we are a useless servant yet we are chosen for love[1] by an all-powerful God who chose to become man to suffer the pains in our stead and to save us not only from damnation but to show us how to live and be true men.
All life is a battle and sometimes we
fail but like David let us always return to the Lord.
Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to suffer. Indeed, the devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Rv. 2:10)
Let us build up our gratitude to the Lord
for his saving graces.
“Lord
Jesus Christ, you are the strength or the weak and the confidence of those who
trust in you. Be my secure confidence and my abundant strength! Teach me to
understand myself and to believe in effectiveness of your saving grace. Grant
me the courage not to stop trying and teach me the humility to trust in you
when I tend to be discouraged by my weakness.[2]
Apostolic
Exhortation[3]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most
Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My
beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Part III
Loving and Adoring the
Eucharistic Lord
IV. Invite a friend to join you
in adoration.
89. The Apostle Andrew gives a
direct, personal invitation to his brother Peter to accompany him to see the
Lord. He declares to his younger brother that “we have found the Messiah” and
then walks with him into the presence of Jesus (Jn 1:42). Are there not a host
of persons who are one confident, loving invitation away from engaging (or
re-engaging) the Lord through His Eucharistic body? What a blessing for so many
of our closest loved ones and friends if we were to have Andrew’s courage to
say, “I’ve found a treasure in the Eucharistic presence of Christ. Would you
like to join me there?”.
90. Faith-filled intercession
for others plays a key role, especially when neither testimony nor invitation
is sufficient to draw a person into Christ’s presence. A man was so
incapacitated that he could not even walk to where Christ was. So, his friends
picked him up and they “were trying to bring him in and set him in His [Jesus’]
presence”. Unable to carry him into the crowded house, they lowered him on a
stretcher through an opening in the roof. Jesus saw their faith, forgave and
healed the man, who “went home glorifying God” (Lk 5:17-26). We should never
despair when someone we love is unable or unwilling to accompany us to the
Eucharist. With deep faith, we can still lower them on the stretcher of our
intercessory prayer into the Lord’s presence.
91. These three events remind
us that Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is meant to be shared. They also
remind us that there is no single method of drawing others into the Lord’s
presence. Sometimes honest testimony is enough for those to seek Him out on
their own, as with the people of Samaria. For others like Peter, it requires a
direct, friendly invitation to come with us into Christ’s presence. For still
others who may be spiritually “paralyzed” and for whom direct access to
Eucharistic adoration is not yet a possibility, we can carry them on the
stretcher of our intercessory prayers, lowered before Christ in His presence
despite their immobilized condition.
To be continued…
Which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost? They are the twelve following:
1. Charity.
2.
Joy.
3. Peace.
4. Patience.
5. Benignity.
6. Goodness.
7. Longsuffering.
8. Mildness.
9. Faith.
10. Modesty.
11.
Continency.
12.
Chastity.
These fruits
should be visible in the Christian, for thereby men shall know that the Holy
Ghost dwells in him, as the tree is known by its fruit.
Notice I have
placed the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in stairstep fashion so we may
reflect on them seeing that by concentrating on each step of our growth in the
spirit we may progress closer and closer to our heavenly Father. Today we will
be focusing on the eighth step which is Patience.
Flag Day[4]
National Flag Day is when
Americans celebrate the meaning of their nation's flag, honor the traditions
associated with its care, and educate those around them to its significance.
The Flag of the United States is to be honored and carries with it both history
and tradition. On June 14, 1777, the Flag Resolution was signed, making
the current stars and stripes the National Flag of the United States of
America. On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson called for the nation-wide
observance of Flag Day. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed congress'
decree, making June 14th of each year National Flag Day.
Flag Day Facts & Quotes
·
Worn
out flags may be given to the American Legion or Boy/Girl Scouts of America
where they will burn the flags in a formal ceremony on June 14th.
·
The
Flag should never touch the ground when being taken down. It should be
folded neatly and stored ceremoniously.
·
You
should fly the American Flag only between sunrise and sunset. If left
hanging around the clock, it must be
illuminated during the dark hours.
·
The
First Flag Act was signed by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777...
Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a
blue field, representing a new Constellation.
Flag Day Top Events and Things to
Do
·
Fly
the American Flag.
·
Recite
the Pledge of Allegiance.
·
Visit
a National Monument or National celebration.
·
Attend
a Flag retirement ceremony.
Who’s Flag are you under?
We are
created in the image and likeness of God and we have a choice: To do good or to
do evil. Daily we must decide
if we are for ourselves and pursue the things of the world or are we going to
follow Christ by picking up our cross daily and freely live under the flag of
Christ.
Father
John Parks [5]
states that the flag we choose to live under determines everything. He
asks, “Whose
flag are you under? Do we consciously choose to serve, or do we just let it
happen? We have a choice here and indecision is a decision itself. Whose flag will you follow Christ’s or Satan’s. True freedom comes not from
doing what you want but doing the things you were created to do. Father John
recommends we follow the flag of Christ (poverty, chastity, obedience) and not
that of Satan (greed, lust, pride) by having a battle plan.
1. Be in the state of grace at all
times-Go to Mass if you fall get up go to confession.
2. Pray-we know who we are by knowing
who’s we
are. Remember Saint Joseph is known as the terror of demons.
3. Do your daily duty; there is great
heroism in finishing the daily tasks.
4. Be Humble and obey. When you
break a commandment, you do not break it as much as it breaks you.
5. Seek a community there is strength
in numbers “Iron
sharpens iron”.
Remember the Holy Spirit is what sets us free.
Epistle of Barnabas[6]
CHAP. III. — THE FASTS OF THE JEWS
ARE NOT TRUE FASTS, NOR ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.
He says then
to them again concerning these things, "Why do ye fast to Me as on this
day, saith the Lord, that your voice should be heard with a cry? I have not
chosen this fast, saith the Lord, that a man should humble his soul. Nor,
though ye bend your neck like a ring, and put upon you sackcloth and ashes,
will ye call it an acceptable fast." To us He saith, "Behold, this is
the fast that I have chosen, saith the Lord, not that a man should humble his
soul, but that he should loose every band of iniquity, untie the fastenings of
harsh agreements, restore to liberty them that are bruised, tear in pieces
every unjust engagement, feed the hungry with thy bread, clothe the naked when
thou seest him, bring the homeless into thy house, not despise the humble if
thou behold him, and not [turn away] from the members of thine own family. Then
shall thy dawn break forth, and thy healing shall quickly spring up, and
righteousness shall go forth before thee, and the glory of God shall encompass
thee; and then thou shalt call, and God shall hear thee; whilst thou art yet
speaking, He shall say, Behold, I am with thee; if thou take away from thee the
chain [binding others], and the stretching forth of the hands [to sweat
falsely], and words of murmuring, and give cheerfully thy bread to the hungry,
and show compassion to the soul that has been humbled." To this end,
therefore, brethren, He is long-suffering, foreseeing how the people whom He
has prepared shall with guilelessness believe in His Beloved. For He revealed
all these things to us beforehand, that we should not rush forward as rash
acceptors of their laws.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART
ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION
TWO I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER
THREE-I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
Article
12 "I BELIEVE IN LIFE EVERLASTING"
1020 The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus
views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life. When the
Church for the last time speaks Christ's words of pardon and absolution over
the dying Christian, seals him for the last time with a strengthening
anointing, and gives him Christ in viaticum as nourishment for the journey, she
speaks with gentle assurance:
Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the almighty Father,
who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out upon you.
Go forth, faithful Christian!
May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God in Zion,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph, and all the angels and saints....
May you return to [your Creator]
who formed you from the dust of the earth.
May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints
come to meet you as you go forth from this life....
May you see your Redeemer face to face.
The
Week Ahead
·
June 19th Corpus
Christi
Daily
Devotions
·
Do not pour out your feelings. A talkative soul will more easily
be attacked by the devil. Pour out your feelings to the Lord only. Remember, the
good and evil spirits hear what you say aloud. Feelings are fleeting. Truth is
the compass. Interior recollection is a spiritual armor.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Catholic
Politian’s and Leaders
· Make
reparations to the Holy Face-Tuesday Devotion
· Pray Day 2
of the Novena for our Pope and Bishops
· Tuesday:
Litany of St. Michael the Archangel
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1] Larry Baumann, The excitement of
the spiritual Life.
[2] A. Francis Coomes, S. J.,
Fathers’ Manual.
[5] John Parks, Lecture at Catholic Men’s
Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, 3/21/2015.
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