Readings (Sunday’s) & Prayer – The affliction of the proud has no healing,.. The mind of the intelligent man will ponder a parable,..

When: Saturday, September 01, 2007 7:30 AM-8:30 AM.

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Dear Lord God, Your blessings, mercy and grace do not go un-noticed; with each moment, in each situation I can see Your hand. As I look back I realize there is a difference between seeing and feeling; while seeing Your hand is a blessing worthy of praise, I seek to feel Your hand in each moment. For to me seeing is more of an feeling I get when I look back at the moment and feeling is seeing You with me in the moment, in the now of my time under the sun. Feeling is present, feeling is interactive, feeling is what I seek. It is my quest to bring You into each moment, with each breath; breathing You into my being and with each breath a conscious meditation of You as my source of source, Your unconditional love for me, Your will and Your purpose for me, creating my heaven on earth under the sun, now, always in the now with You. O Lord guide my mind and heart as I seek to feel closer to You while under the sun through opening myself to interpretations and writings on Jesus and The Church. Once again the daily readings address what is on my mind and bringing clarity and focus to my thoughts through Your inspired words; for in the meekness and humility that I seek, I also know there must be a state of courage prepared, ready and able to do and be all that You will, knowing all along that I will fail, I will fall short and even though I have many self made issues and problems to resolve and get myself out of, but I will pray for strengthen, energy and focus so that in resolving these things I stay in the now and out of the past and completely trusting in You for tomorrow. For it is in Jesus and in His name that I believe, seek and pray for these things, Amen.
O Catholic Church, true mother of Christians, you are right in teaching that God should be adored with an entirely chaste and pure heart. You unite all brothers and sisters to one another in a bond of religion that is stronger and closer than ties of blood. St. Augustine

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
17 My son, perform your tasks in meekness; then you will be loved by those whom God accepts. 18 The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord. 20 For great is the might of the Lord; he is glorified by the humble. 28 The affliction of the proud has no healing, for a plant of wickedness has taken root in him. 29 The mind of the intelligent man will ponder a parable, and an attentive ear is the wise man’s desire.
Bible Study: [17-27] Humility gives a true estimate of self (Sirach 3:17-19). Through it a man performs duty, avoids what is beyond his understanding and strength (Sirach 3:20-22). Pride, however, begets false greatness, misjudgment, stubborness, sorrow, affliction and perdition (Sirach 3:23-27). [19] An alternate or additional line would read: "For though many have been great in the course of time, it is to the humble he reveals his secrets." Cf Matthew 11:25-26; 1 Cor 1:26-29. [29-4:10] Mercy and kindness toward those in misfortune atone for sin and endear a man to God and to his fellow men.

Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds; his name is the LORD, exult before him! 5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. 6 God gives the desolate a home to dwell in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. 7 O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, [Selah] 10 thy flock found a dwelling in it; in thy goodness, O God, thou didst provide for the needy. 11 The Lord gives the command; great is the host of those who bore the tidings:

Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them. 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.

Luke 14:1, 7-14
1 One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. 7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, `Give place to this man,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, `Friend, go up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
Bible Study: [7-14] The banquet scene found only in Luke provides the opportunity for these teachings of Jesus on humility and presents a setting to display Luke’s interest in Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor (see the notes on Luke 4:18; 6:20-26; 12:13-34). [15-24] The parable of the great dinner is a further illustration of the rejection by Israel, God’s chosen people, of Jesus’ invitation to share in the banquet in the kingdom and the extension of the invitation to other Jews whose identification as the poor, crippled, blind, and lame (Luke 14:21) classifies them among those who recognize their need for salvation, and to Gentiles (Luke 14:23). A similar parable is found in Matthew 22:1-10.

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