One Walk

Dear Lord God, maybe it is foolish optimism, but I feel peaceful and liberated from the insanity of being responsible without being empowered, and from an environment of belittlement, distrust and negative energy. O Lord I know I have offended and hurt many people and for this I am truly sorry, I know I lacked kindness and a gentle manner, failing to reflect the fruit of the Spirit, but I do seek Your image and will continue the race. Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. In Jesus name I ask and pray, Amen

The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.

— Lumen Gentium

Acts 18:23-28

23 After spending some time there he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phryg’ia, strengthening all the disciples. 24 Now a Jew named Apol’los, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aq’uila heard him, they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Acha’ia, the brethren encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully confuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Bible Study: [18:23-21:16] Luke’s account of Paul’s third missionary journey devotes itself mainly to his work at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-20:1). There is a certain restiveness on Paul’s part and a growing conviction that the Spirit bids him return to Jerusalem and prepare to go to Rome (Acts 19:21). [24,25] Apollos appears as a preacher who knows the teaching of Jesus in the context of John’s baptism of repentance. Aquila and Priscilla instruct him more fully. He is referred to in 1 Cor 1:12; 3:5-6, 22. [26] The Way [of God]: for the Way, see the note on Acts 9:2. Other manuscripts here read “the Way of the Lord,” “the word of the Lord,” or simply “the Way.”

Psalm 47:2-3, 8-10

2 For the LORD, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

Bible Study: [Psalm 47] A hymn calling on the nations to acknowledge the universal rule of Israel’s God (Psalm 47:2-5) who is enthroned as king over Israel and the nations (Psalm 47:6-9).

John 16:23-28

23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. 24 Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 “I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

Bible Study: [30] The reference is seemingly to the fact that Jesus could anticipate their question in John 16:19. The disciples naively think they have the full understanding that is the climax of “the hour” of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension (John 16:25), but the only part of the hour that is at hand for them is their share in the passion (John 16:32).

/ raangulo

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Dear Lord God, create in me a clean heart, refreshed daily in faith, hope and love; faith in Your promises, hope that You will help me to fulfill Your purpose for me, and love of You, my family and those You place in my path. Today I recall the words of Wally the new host on 88.1 WayFM about prayer; that true faith reveals itself in prayer in trusting that once placed before You, we trust You will handle according to Your will. So there is not need to keep asking or praying over or about the same person, thing or situation. This made sense to me Lord in that I do trust Your will and since there is so much to pray for and about time does not allow us to be repetitive. So with that mind set and a spirit of trusting faith, persevering hope and unconditional love I place today before You and will leave it to You to decide and guide me.

            Well Lord did I let my pride get in the way again; looking back I am not sure if my timing was not the best or if ‘over turning the tables’ that moment was the right thing to do, I know that I should not allow or put up with the such behavior had to come to an end, but I am at peace for myself though meditating on my intentions. I say they were good and it was clear I would only be taken advantages further by those whose intention were not, but once again was my method without the required love and kindness, it sure wasn’t gentle; was I once again thinking that I was right but then acted wrongly. Only You know Lord, for I am not sure. I will seek Your guidance in the coming days and I do ask in the name of Jesus that You protect me, bless me and bring good out of this, for I do care about all those effected and fight the selfishness ambition and pride that lies within in me. I pray that I was right and that You will help me make it so, for I feel today was a day to rise for myself, not die to myself. Help me Jesus, let me know! Amen 

By the unity of the divine nature, which remains present in each of the two components of man, these are reunited. For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two.

— St. Gregory of Nyssa

Acts 18:9-18

9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city." 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Acha’ia, the Jews made a united attack upon Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, "This man is persuading men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, I should have reason to bear with you, O Jews; 15 but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I refuse to be a judge of these things." 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sos’thenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to this. 18 After this Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aq’uila. At Cen’chre-ae he cut his hair, for he had a vow.

Bible Study: [12] When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia: Gallio’s proconsulship in Achaia is dated to A.D. 51-52 from an inscription discovered at Delphi. This has become an important date in establishing a chronology of the life and missionary work of Paul. [13] Contrary to the law: Gallio (Acts 18:15) understands this to be a problem of Jewish, not Roman, law. [18] He had his hair cut because he had taken a vow: a reference to a Nazirite vow (see Numbers 6:1-21, especially, 6:18) taken by Paul (see also Acts 21:23-27).

Ps 47:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

2 For the LORD, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. [Selah] 5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

Bible Study: [Psalm 47] A hymn calling on the nations to acknowledge the universal rule of Israel’s God (Psalm 47:2-5) who is enthroned as king over Israel and the nations (Psalm 47:6-9). [5] Our heritage . . . the glory: the land of Israel (cf Isaiah 58:14), which God has given Israel in an act of sovereignty. [6] God mounts the throne: "has gone up to the throne," according to the context (Psalm 47:9). Christian liturgical tradition has applied the verse to the ascension of Christ.

Luke 12:22-31

22 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. 30 For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.

Bible Study: [13-34] Luke has joined together sayings contrasting those whose focus and trust in life is on material possessions, symbolized here by the rich fool of the parable (Luke 12:16-21), with those who recognize their complete dependence on God (Luke 12:21), those whose radical detachment from material possessions symbolizes their heavenly treasure (Luke 12:33-34).

Jn 16:20-23

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/BERBALD.TXT

/      raangulo

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Dear Lord God, I come to You with a thankful heart, mindful of my need to pray more fervently and purposely aware that I let to many things under the sun interfere with spending more time in prayer with You for those I want to lift up in prayer for blessings, healing, comfort, contentment and salvation, but also those that I am having problems with as a result of their selfish and prideful intentions, coveting of what I have or they believe I have or those that openly claim to be my enemies wanting to hurt or destroy me. O Lord create in me a clean heart each morning, full of faith, hope and love, able to go out into the secular world as Your disciple, to serve and bring honor to You. Allow me to approach and interact with those I am having problems with and especially those that claim to be my enemies with eyes of faith; calmly, confidently, courageously and connected to Your presence. These things I ask and pray in the glorious name of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ, Amen.

Although set by God in a state of rectitude man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very start of history. He lifted himself up against God, and sought to attain his goal apart from him.

— Gaudium et spes 13

Acts 18:1-8

1 After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aq’uila, a native of Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them; 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them, and they worked, for by trade they were tentmakers. 4 And he argued in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedo’nia, Paul was occupied with preaching, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

Bible Study:  [2] Aquila . . . Priscilla: both may already have been Christians at the time of their arrival in Corinth (see Acts 18:26). According to 1 Cor 16:19, their home became a meeting place for Christians. Claudius: the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome ca. A.D. 40. The Roman historian Suetonius gives as reason for the expulsion disturbances among the Jews "at the instigation of Chrestos," probably meaning disputes about the messiahship of Jesus. [6] Shook out his garments: a gesture indicating Paul’s repudiation of his mission to the Jews there; cf Acts 28:17-31. [7] A worshiper of God: see the note on Acts 8:26-40. [8] Crispus: in 1 Cor 1:14 Paul mentions that Crispus was one of the few he himself baptized at Corinth.

Psalm 98:1-4

1 O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory. 2 The LORD has made known his victory, he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. 4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Bible Study: [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Psalm 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Psalm 98:1-3). All nations (Psalm 98:4-6) and even inanimate nature (Psalm 98:7-8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Psalm 98:9). [1] Marvelous deeds . . . victory: the conquest of all threats to the peaceful existence of Israel, depicted in the psalms variously as a cosmic force such as sea, or nations bent on Israel’s destruction, or evildoers seemingly triumphant. Whose right hand and holy arm: God is pictured as a powerful warrior.

John 16:16-20

16 "A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me." 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, `A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, `because I go to the Father’?" 18 They said, "What does he mean by `a little while’? We do not know what he means." 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him; so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, `A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

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Dear Lord God, a part from You I can do nothing! For You know I firmly believe that You have put the need to know and love You in all our hearts and from the moment of Baptism You begin to grow in us through the Holy Spirit and with that the need to love and know You grows too. Then why is it that we wait? Trying to trick or cheat You out of what is Yours only to look back and find we have only cheated ourselves of time with You, tricked by our selfish and prideful selves into thinking we could find our beatitude (1)) without You.

            O Lord God almighty and power for the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world; let Your grace rain down today, touching and lighting the way home to You for those that are still lost, and touching and reminding us that already found the way that the path is less traveled than the ways under the sun, and the door is narrow so we can only pass one at a time, but the reward is great and as the song goes ‘better is one day with You, than one thousands else where’. So I ask this day that in the name of Jesus Christ You let us feel Your touch, reminding us of Your presence and of all the blessings and gifts You have bestowed on us. Happy Birthday Abuelito, I love you! Amen

This one, true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ."

— Dei Filius

(1)  the perfect happiness and inner peace supposed to be enjoyed by the soul in heaven; extreme happiness and serenity

Acts 17:15, 22 — 18:1

15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. 22 So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op’agus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, `To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, 28 for `In him we live and move and have our being‘; as even some of your poets have said, `For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead." 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear you again about this." 33 So Paul went out from among them. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionys’ius the Are-op’agite and a woman named Dam’aris and others with them.

1 After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

Bible Study: [22-31] In Paul’s appearance at the Areopagus he preaches his climactic speech to Gentiles in the cultural center of the ancient world. The speech is more theological than christological. Paul’s discourse appeals to the Greek world’s belief in divinity as responsible for the origin and existence of the universe. It contests the common belief in a multiplicity of gods supposedly exerting their powers through their images. It acknowledges that the attempt to find God is a constant human endeavor. It declares, further, that God is the judge of the human race, that the time of the judgment has been determined, and that it will be executed through a man whom God raised from the dead. The speech reflects sympathy with pagan religiosity, handles the subject of idol worship gently, and appeals for a new examination of divinity, not from the standpoint of creation but from the standpoint of judgment. [23] To an Unknown God’: ancient authors such as Pausanias, Philostratus, and Tertullian speak of Athenian altars with no specific dedication as altars of "unknown gods" or "nameless altars." [26] From one: many manuscripts read "from one blood." Fixed . . . seasons: or "fixed limits to the epochs." [28] ‘In him we live and move and have our being’: some scholars understand this saying to be based on an earlier saying of Epimenides of Knossos (6th century B.C.). ‘For we too are his offspring’: here Paul is quoting Aratus of Soli, a third-century B.C. poet from Cilicia.

Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host! 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! 12 Young men and maidens together, old men and children! 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. 14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!

Bible Study: [Psalm 148] A hymn inviting the beings of heaven (Psalm 148:1-6) and of earth (Psalm 148:7-14) to praise God. The hymn does not distinguish between inanimate and animate (and rational) nature. [14] The LORD has lifted high the horn of his people: horn = strength, the concrete noun for the abstract. Of all peoples God has chosen Israel to return praise and thanks in a special way.

John 16:12-15

12 "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Bible Study: [13] Declare to you the things that are coming: not a reference to new predictions about the future, but interpretation of what has already occurred or been said.

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