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The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:1-20
#dailyingodsword
Sunday’s installation of lay lectors and catechists at the Vatican may seem inconsequential because lay men and women already serve in those roles, but Pope Francis’ formalization of these ministries is historic.
The new law replaced the term "lay men" as the category of those who can formally serve in those ministries with "lay persons" and gave the role permanence, while highlighting an “expression of the Spirit of God working through the laity to bring the church to greater faithfulness."
Catechists, Lectors and Acolytes are responsible for "serving the Gospel of Jesus, of proclaiming him, so that his consolation, his joy and his liberation can reach everyone."
Their task — and that of all Christians, said Francis — is to "put the word of God at the center of the church’s life and pastoral activity."
On the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul: A Sonnet by M. Guite
An enemy whom God has made a friend,
A righteous man discounting righteousness,
Last to believe and first for God to send,
He found the fountain in the wilderness.
Thrown to the ground and raised at the same moment,
A prisoner who set his captors free,
A naked man with love his only garment,
A blinded man who helped the world to see,
A Jew who had been perfect in the law,
Blesses the flesh of every other race
And helps them see what the apostles saw;
The glory of the lord in Jesus' face.
Strong in his weakness, joyful in his pains,
And bound by love, he freed us from our chains.
📷 Conversion of Saint Paul
Artist Unknown Niedersaechsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover, Germany
I chose you from the world,
to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.
See John 15:16
A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love."
–St. Basil the Great
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.
See 2 Timothy 1:10
“Do not be saddened this day,
for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!”
- Nehemiah 8:10
Your Life is Guided by God
To walk in the presence of the Lord means to move forward in life in such a way that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are constantly guided by him. When we walk in the Lord’s presence, everything we see, hear, touch, or taste reminds us of him. This is what is meant by a prayerful life. It is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understood independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence. This is powerfully expressed by the nineteenth-century Russian Orthodox starets Theophan the Recluse:
Into every duty a God-fearing heart must be put, a heart constantly permeated by the thought of God; and this will be the door through which the soul will enter into active life. . . . The essence is to be established in the remembrance of God, and to walk in his presence.
-Henri Nouwen
PRAYER TO MARY,
MOTHER OF LIFE WITHIN
O Mary, Mother of the Life Within,
all life we entrust to you;
The life of every expectant mother
and the child within her womb:
The life of every human person,
the life of every human soul;
The life of every newborn child
and the life of all grown old.
Safeguard in Love the life within
every human heart as you
held the Lord to your own heart
and drew Him so close in.
So draw us now in all our needs,
O Mother of the Life Within.
Amen.
#saturdayswithmary
