460th Meditation
“You then brought Your people out of Egypt with a strong hand and led them into the wilderness with signs and wonders. On the mountain You revealed to Your servant Moses the commandments that had been obscured in the hearts of the peoples” (Praise of the Blessed Trinity).
The darkness into which human beings had plunged since the fall into sin made it necessary for our Father to isolate His people from the pagan nations in order to teach them the way to true life. Read More
Hag 1:1-8
‘In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel governor of Judah and to Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest as follows, ‘Yahweh Sabaoth says this, “This people says: The time has not yet come to rebuild the Temple of Yahweh.” ‘(And the word of Yahweh was addressed through the prophet Haggai, as follows,) ‘Is this a time for you to live in your panelled houses, when this House lies in ruins? So now, Yahweh Sabaoth says this, “Think carefully about your behaviour.
459th Meditation
“You then created for Yourself the people Israel, who bear Your name within them, and whom You called Your first-born. In Egypt You made them grow, making them into a great people, until they cried out to You in their oppression by Pharaoh” (Praise of the Blessed Trinity).
From that just man whom God found in the midst of the confusion of the nations, a whole people arose. This was to be prepared so that, through the kind providence of our Father, the Just One, the Redeemer of humanity and Head of the Church, which is one, might be born of him: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:17-18a). Read More
1 Cor 1:26-31
Reading for the memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul
Consider, brothers, how you were called; not many of you are wise by human standards, not many influential, not many from noble families. No, God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human standards are weak to shame the strong, those who by human standards are common and contemptible – indeed those who count for nothing – to reduce to nothing all those that do count for something, so that no human being might feel boastful before God. It is by him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God, and saving justice and holiness and redemption. As scripture says: If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord.
NOTE: Instead of listening to the reading of the odd year, we will listen to that of the even year.
Prov 21:1-6,10-13
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Read More
458th Meditation
“You saved Noah from the flood and Lot from the destruction of the corrupt city. In Abraham you blessed all peoples” (Praise of the Blessed Trinity).
Even in the midst of the growing chaos in humanity, our Father always found a just man whom He could draw to Himself in a special way, showing Him His favor and saving him from widespread corruption. Read More
457th Meditation
“In your constant goodness you have always sought out man. In Paradise you exclaimed, ‘Adam, where are you?’” (Praise of the Blessed Trinity).
This was our Father’s response to the painful fall of human being, the consequence of which was that sin proliferated and all future generations had to live under the shadow of original sin, except for the Virgin Mary, whom You preserved from the stain of sin so that she could be the bridge across which the Redeemer would come into the world. Read More
Lk 8:16-18
‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, it is put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be made known and brought to light. So take care how you listen; anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he thinks he has.’ Read More
Phil 1:20c-24,27a
Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Read More
456th Meditation
“But man did not remain in his splendor. Tempted by the Evil One, he disobeyed your command and was banished from Paradise” (Hymn of Praise to the Blessed Trinity).
Our Father had made it easy for man… Of all the things that abounded in the beautiful garden of Paradise, only one was forbidden: the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-17). But our first parents listened to the lies of the fallen angel, which aroused their sensual and spiritual appetites. Adam and Eve thus disobeyed God’s commandment, with all the consequences our Father had warned them about. What had happened could not be undone: man had listened to seduction and had to leave Paradise. Read More
