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TRÁI TIM
MẸ: NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA |
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"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm
cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến" |
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December 10/2009 - Thursday
of 2nd
Week of Advent
LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION:
"He is Elijah who is to come"
UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S):
US Bishops Lament Senate's
Rejection of Pro-life Amendment
SAINT OF THE DAY
Blessed Adolph Kolping
GENERAL
MARIOLOGY
Nativity of the
Virgin Mary
The History of Joseph Carpenter
DIVINE MERCY
Divine Mercy Diary -
Inspirational Quotes
Apostles of Mercy
TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION:
Experiencing God in Nature
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DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION |
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Thursday (12/10): "He is Elijah who is to
come"
Scripture: Matthew 11:11-15
Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one
greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until
now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence
take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until
John; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Eli'jah who is to
come.15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 41:13-20
13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to
you, "Fear not, I will help you." 14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men
of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy
One of Israel. 15 Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge, new,
sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff; 16 You shall winnow them and
the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And
you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall
glory. 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and
their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them, I the
God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare
heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the
wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will
put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together;
20 that men may see and know, may consider and understand together, that
the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created
it.
Meditation: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Jesus
praised John the Baptist as the greatest person born. Who can top that
as a compliment? But in the same breath Jesus says that the least in the
kingdom of God is even greater than John! That sounds like a
contradiction, right? Unless you understand that what Jesus was about to
accomplish for our sake would supercede all that the prophets had done
and foreseen. John is the last and greatest of the prophets of the old
covenant. He fulfilled the essential task of all the prophets: to be
fingers pointing to Christ, God's Annointed Son and Messiah. John
proclaimed Jesus' mission at the Jordan River when he exclaimed, "Behold
the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). John
saw from a distance what Jesus would accomplish through his death on the
cross – our redemption from bondage to sin and death and our adoption as
sons and daughers of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
John the Baptist bridges the Old and New Testaments. He is the last
of the Old Testament prophets who point the way to the Messiah. He is
the first of the New Testament witnesses and martyrs. He is the herald
who prepares the way for Jesus the Messiah. Jesus confirms that John has
fulfilled the promise that Elijah would return to herald the coming of
the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). Jesus declares that John is nothing less that
the great herald whose privilege it was to announce the coming of the
Messiah. Jesus equates the coming of his kingdom with violence. John
himself suffered violence for announcing that the kingdom of God was
near. He was thrown into prison and then beheaded. Since John's
martyrdom to the present times the kingdom of heaven has suffered
violence and persecution at the hands of violent men. The blood of the
martyrs throughout the ages bear witness to this fact. The martyrs
witness to the truth – the truth and love of Jesus Christ who shed his
blood to redeem us from slavery to sin and Satan and the fear of death.
The Lord Jesus gives us the power of his Holy Spirit to overcome fear
with faith, despair with hope, and every form of hatred, violence,
jealousy, and prejudice with love and charity towards all – even those
who seek to destroy and kill.
God may call some of us to be martyrs for our faith in Christ. But
for most of us our call is to be dry martyrs who bear testimony
to the joy of the gospel in the midst of daily challenges,
contradictions, temptations and adversities which come our way as we
follow the Lord Jesus. What attracts others to the gospel? When they
see Christians loving their enemies, being joyful in suffering, patient
in adversity, pardoning injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to
the hopeless and the helpless. Jesus tells us that we do not need to
fear our adversaries. He will give us sufficient grace, strength, and
wisdom to face any trial and to answer any challenge to our faith. Are
you eager to witness to the joy and freedom of the gospel?
"Lord Jesus, by your cross you have redeemed the world. Fill me with
joy and confidence and make me a bold witness of your saving truth that
others may know the joy and freedom of the gospel."
Psalm 145:1, 9-13
1 I will extol thee, my God and King, and bless thy name for ever and
ever.
9 The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has
made
10 All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O LORD, and all thy saints
shall bless thee!
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power,
12 to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, and the glorious
splendor of thy kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures
throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and
gracious in all his deeds.
www.dailyscripture.net
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UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS |
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US Bishops Lament Senate's Rejection of Pro-life Amendment
Say Current Health Care Reform Bill Doesn't Protect Life
WASHINGTON, D.C., DEC. 9, 2009 ( Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference is calling the Senate's move to table an amendment that would prevent federal money from funding abortion "a serious blow" to health care reform. Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, said this today after the Senate voted 54-45 on Monday to kill the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment proposed by senators Ben Nelson, Orrin Hatch and Robert Casey.
A similar measure was passed in the House of Representatives, paving the way for the passage there of the "Affordable Health Care for America Act."
"The Senate is ignoring the promise made by President Obama and the will of the American people in failing to incorporate longstanding prohibitions on federal funding for abortion and plans that include abortion," Cardinal George said.
"While we deplore the Senate’s refusal to adopt the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment, we remain hopeful that the protections overwhelmingly passed by the House will be incorporated into needed reform legislation," he added. "Failure to exclude abortion funding will turn allies into adversaries and require us and others to oppose this bill because it abandons both principle and precedent."
Fundamental flaw
Bishop William Murphy, chair of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, called the Senate's failure to keep abortion out of health care reform the "legislation’s fundamental flaw."
"The nation urgently needs health care reform that protects the life, dignity, conscience and health of all," he noted.
Bishop Murphy affirmed that the bishops will continue to work with Congress and the Obama administration "to achieve reform which meets these criteria," and added the need to also address "serious problems related to conscience rights, affordability and treatment of immigrants.”
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged the Senate to "separate facts and truth from political rhetoric on abortion funding."
"Even our opponents claim they do not support federal funding for elective abortions and they want current restrictions to apply," he said. "The way to settle this often misleading debate is simply, clearly and explicitly to apply Hyde restrictions to all the federal funds in the legislation."
"That is what the House did and what the final bill must do," the cardinal added. "The Senate should not approve this bill in its current form."
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DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT |
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http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay
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GENERAL
MARIOLOGY |
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The History of Joseph Carpenter
30. And we
apostles, when we heard these things from our
Saviour, rose
up joyfully, and prostrated ourselves in honour of
Him, and said: O our
Saviour, show us Thy grace. Now indeed we have
heard the word of life:
nevertheless we wonder, O our Saviour, at the fate
of Enoch and Elias,
inasmuch as they had not to undergo death. For truly
they dwell in the
habitation of the righteous even to the present day,
nor have their bodies
seen corruption. Yet that old man Joseph the
carpenter was, nevertheless,
Thy father after the flesh. And Thou hast ordered us
to go into all the
world and preach the holy Gospel; and Thou hast
said: Relate to them the
death of my father Joseph, and celebrate to him with
annual solemnity a
festival and sacred day. And whosoever shall take
anything away from this
narrative, or add anything to it, commits sin.(3) We
wonder especially that
Joseph, even from that day on which Thou wast born
in Bethlehem, called
Thee his son after the flesh. Wherefore, then, didst
Thou not make him
immortal as well as them, and Thou sayest that he
was righteous and chosen?
31. And our
Saviour answered and said: Indeed, the prophecy of
my
Father upon Adam, for his disobedience, has now been
fulfilled. And all
things are arranged according to the will and
pleasure of my Father. For if
a man rejects the commandment of God, and follows
the works of the devil by
committing sin, his life is prolonged; for be is
preserved in order that he
may perhaps repent, and reflect that he must be
delivered into the hands of
death. But if any one has been zealous of good
works, his life also is
prolonged, that, as the fame of his old age
increases, upright men may
imitate him. But when you see a man whose mind is
prone to anger, assuredly
his days are shortened; for it is these that are
taken away in the flower
of their age. Every prophecy, therefore, which my
Father has pronounced
concerning the sons of men, must be fulfilled in
every particular. But with
reference to Enoch and Elias, and how they remain
alive to this day,
keeping the same bodies with which they were born;
and as to what concerns
my father Joseph, who has not been allowed as well
as they to remain in the
body: indeed, though a man live in the world many
myriads of years,
nevertheless at some time or other he is compelled
to exchange life for
death. And I say to you, O my brethren, that they
also, Enoch and Elias,(1)
must towards the end of time return into the world
and die--in the day,
namely, of commotion, of terror, of perplexity, and
affliction. For
Antichrist will slay four bodies, and will pour out
their blood like water,
because of the reproach to which they shall expose
him, and the ignominy
with which they, in their lifetime, shall brand him
when they reveal his
impiety.
32. And we
said: O our Lord, our God and Saviour, who are those
four
whom Thou hast said Antichrist will cut off from the
reproach they bring
upon him? The Lord answered: They are Enoch, Elias,
Schila, and Tabitha.(2)
When we heard this from our Saviour, we rejoiced and
exulted; and we
offered all glory and thanksgiving to the Lord God,
and our Saviour Jesus
Christ. He it is to whom is due glory, honour,
dignity, dominion, power,
and praise, as well as to the good Father with Him,
and to the Holy Spirit
that giveth life, henceforth and in all time for
evermore. Amen. |
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DIVINE MERCY
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| {Regarding all those who
will proclaim God's Mercy} I shall protect them Myself at
the hour of death, as My own glory. (378) |
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| With souls that have recourse
to My mercy and with those that glorify and proclaim My
great mercy to others, I will deal according to My infinite
mercy at the hour of their death. (379) |
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| When I entered the chapel to say goodnight to the
Lord before retiring, and apologised for having talked so
little to Him when I was at home, I heard a voice within my
soul, I am very pleased that you had
not been talking with Me, but were making My goodness known
to souls and rousing them to love Me. (404) |
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| This morning after completing my spiritual
exercises, I began at once to crochet. I sensed a stillness
in my heart; I sensed that Jesus was resting in it. That
deep and sweet consciousness of God's presence prompted me
to say to the Lord, "O Most Holy Trinity dwelling in my
heart, I beg you: grant the grace of conversion to as many
souls as the stitches that I make today with this crochet
hook." Then I heard these words in my soul:
My daughter, too great are
your demands. "Jesus,
You know that for You it is easier to grant much rather than
a little."
That is so, it is less difficult for Me to grant a soul much
rather than a little, but every conversion of a sinful soul
demands sacrifice." Well, Jesus, I
offer You this whole-hearted work of mind; this offering
does not seem to me to be too small for such a large number
of souls; You know, Jesus, that for thirty years You were
saving souls by just this kind of work. And since holy
obedience forbids me to perform great penances and
mortifications, therefore I ask You, Lord: accept these mere
nothings stamped with the seal of obedience as great
things." Then I heard a voice in my soul:
My dear daughter, I comply
with your request. |
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| ..write this for many
souls who are often worried because they do not have the
material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet
spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions or
storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the
grasp of every soul. If a soul does not exercise mercy
somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of
judgment. . Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal
treasures for themselves, they would not be judged, for they
would forestall My judgement with their mercy. (1317) |
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| I desire that priests
proclaim this great mercy of Mine towards souls of sinners.
Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me. The flames of
mercy are burning Me - clamouring to be spent; I want to
pour them out upon these souls....Distrust on the part of
souls is tearing at My insides. The distrust of a chosen
soul causes Me even greater pain; despite My inexhaustible
love for them they do not trust Me. Even my death is not
enough for them. Woe to the soul that abuses these [gifts].
(50) |
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CATHOLIC TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY |
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Experiencing God in Nature
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| by Thi Le
e often think about God in our daily life. We
pray to God. We discuss about God and who God
is. But oftentimes, it is difficult for us to
"feel" God or "experience" God. After all, when
we talk about God, we use words like "infinite",
"eternal" and "all-powerful" to describe God.
For most of us, we can understand what these
things mean, but asking us to "feel" these
things is something completely different. As
human beings, we are limited. It seems
contradictory that we could experience God who
is infinite while we ourselves are so small.
One thing that we forget, however, is that there
are many ways in which we can experience God. We
can experience God directly or indirectly
through God's creations. Of course, it is not
always easy because it requires us to put aside
the things in our daily life so that we can
totally turn ourselves toward God. For us who
are busy with school, work, family, and friends,
it is not a thing that we can do automatically.
Many times, I try to sit in silence only to find
myself falling asleep from tiredness. Other
times, I find strange thoughts and images
appearing in my mind without me knowing them. In
those times, it is difficult to experience God
and I become discouraged.
A friend of mine recently told me about a
profound experience he had in which he went out
into the woods by himself for an entire day. He
sat in one place and attempted to become one
with his surroundings. By becoming one with
nature, he was able to have a deep experience of
God because God was present in nature in a very
profound way. I was impressed by what I heard
and decided that I would do the same to see
whether my experience would be similar to his.
On a beautiful Sunday morning, I set out to the
woods about half an hour from where I lived. I
walked for fifteen minutes through the groves
and found my place under a tree. I did not know
what kind of tree it was but it was large in
size. The branches, though bare from the winter
that just past, exhibited signs of rejuvenation
as spring had finally arrived. The ground was
still wet after several days of rain, yet it was
vibrant in its colors of green, purple, and
yellow -- all coming from wild flowers that
sprawled about. Dead tree branches and twigs,
though rampant, could do little to inhibit the
wild flowers from adorning the ground with their
beautiful blossoms. Above me, the sky was blue
and clear with the exception of some white,
fluffy patches of clouds hanging high in the
sky. Occasionally, an airplane would fly by
streaking the blue field with their lines of
artificial white clouds.
This was nature on this warm Sunday morning.
This was nature filled with sounds of birds
singing and woodpeckers pecking. This was nature
with sights of ants crawling on the grass and on
my sitting mat, and a multitude of insects
flying about. In search for an experience, I
looked, I touched, I listened. A new and strong
breeze blew a new leaf from the tree and gently
hit my forehead. I picked it up and observed its
tiny stem, the soft greenness of the leaf, the
undefined texture of the veins. I crushed the
leaf and moisture oozed from it. This leaf
represented spring, the new life that came from
it, and the freshness of the season.
My thoughts turned to myself. Where was my place
in this nature? I laughed a little at the fact
that I was sitting on a mat to keep from being
affected by the ground underneath me. I wondered
if the trees could feel a foreign presence in
their midst. I looked for deers but could not
seem to find any. Perhaps they saw that I was
here and they knew that I did not belong here. I
suffered from an inferiority complex, the same
feeling that occurred when I moved into
unfamiliar territories. I felt the desire to
belong, yet at the same time, I was fully aware
of my differences from the norm. I heard
whispers. I was being talked about, mocked,
perhaps criticized.
After several hours in the woods, I stopped
looking around. I fell asleep, though the ground
was not nearly as comfortable as my bed at home.
Nevertheless, the sunlight was soft, the breeze
was gentle, the singing of the birds was
calming, and the sound of the running water in
the nearby creek was relaxing, and I was led
into a sound sleep. I received no vision in my
sleep. No relatives from the nether world came
to talk to me. Jesus did not appear to me in a
dream. Neither angels nor spirits came to
deliver a message. I woke up from my light sleep
at the strange sound of a bird cackling
somewhere close by. From the sound, I imagined
the creature more to be a small dog than a bird.
But I knew no dog was around, and if it were, it
would have to be somewhere above in the trees.
I opened my eyes still lying flat on the ground.
An eagle flew across the expanse above and I
followed it across the sky. I felt immersed in
my environment. I became oblivious to it. The
chirping of the birds no longer sounded strange.
The buzzing of insects in my ears was no longer
a nuisance as before. I lost awareness of where
I was. Was I a part of nature? Did something
happen during my nap that transformed me? I
picked up a bug crawling on my mat, observing it
like an entymologist would observe his subjects.
It came to me. I was still an outsider looking
in. Yet, I did feel sentimental. It's not easy
to like bugs, especially when you're trying to
sleep and they annoy you by buzzing in your ears
and crawling over your body. Nonetheless, I did
feel a strange relation to the bug that I was
holding. Perhaps there was hope for me yet.
My thought turned to God. I tried to not
philosophize. It was difficult, so I forced
myself. I tried to feel God instead. But I
struggled in myself because I felt that I made a
mistake when the thought of "try" appeared in my
mind. I gave up. It all seemed so hopeless. I
could not get out of this web of "think" and
"try" and "force." Why didn't God just come to
me? God was not in my mind. I could not
conceptualize God. Why didn't God just strike my
body like a violent lightning and make his
presence felt? I got scared at such a thought.
What if it came true? Would I be able to survive
it?
At five in the afternoon, my stay in the woods
ended after nine hours. But by this time, I
noticed that I felt happy because I had grown
comfortable in my environment, in my nature.
Perhaps it was because I had grown more
interconnected with the things around me. I did
not feel like I had just come to a beautiful
scenery and appreciate it for the first time as
a traveler would do. Instead, I was a part of
that scenery, no more no less than the things
around me. I relished in this thought. I smiled
at the things I saw, all sharing in the same
existence that made me who I was. I no longer
felt so foreign, so isolated. A sense of peace
came over me. Was it the peace that God bestowed
upon His creations? I wasn't sure. But there was
no uncertainly in the feeling that I had. I
didn't feel the need to reason about it. I sat
there for a few more minutes, immersing myself
in this peace. God was in nature and nature was
in me. Perhaps I had experienced God at last.
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