04162009
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The Words of Jesus of Nazareth by Lee Cantelon
An Invitation to Life
Everyone who believes in the Son will have life everlasting.
A wealthy man planned a great banquet, and invited many guests. When the preparations were completed, he sent his servant to gather those who had been invited. "Come,” he said, “for all things are ready."
But all those who had been invited began to make excuses.
The first replied: "I have just purchased a piece of land, and I must go and look at it again. Please have me excused."
The second said: "I have just purchased a herd of cattle, and I must go and examine it. Please have me excused."
A third answered: "I have recently been married, and for this, I cannot attend."
Finally, the servant returned and reported what had happened. Hearing the disappointing news, the master commanded: "Go quickly into the streets of the city, and gather the poor, the lame, the ill, and the blind."
The servant hurried to do this and soon returned, saying: "Sir, I have done as you commanded, and still there is room at the table."
"Go then," the rich man replied, "along the highways and among the fields, and urge those you meet to come in, that my table might be filled. For I say to you: none of those that were originally invited will taste of the banquet that I had prepared for them."
Whoever hears my word and believes in the One who has sent me will find eternal life and not be condemned. Instead, they will pass from death unto life. Do not be amazed at this , for the time is coming when even the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear his voice shall live. In their graves, the dead will recognize his voice and be raised up; those that have done good will be raised to new life, and those who have lived wrongfully will be raised to condemnation.
Herein lies the way to eternal life: know the only true God and Jesus Christ, the one sent to you by God. Take my words to heart. For God so loved the world that he offered his only Son a living sacrifice, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but be redeemed and have everlasting life. This good news of the kingdom shall be preached to the entire world as a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.
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Lord God, Abba Father, I see, I feel, I wait on Your will, Your guidance; for I know my way must be Your way, I am what You meant me to be, and can be nothing else – nothing more, nothing less. Help me to find that purpose, and use me to help others lost without You to feel what I feel, know what I know. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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O Holy Mary! My Mother; into thy blessed trust and special custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, I this day, and every day, and in the hour of my death, commend my soul and body. To thee I commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my actions may be directed and governed by thy will and that of thy Son.
— St. Aloysius Gonzaga
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Reading 1
Acts 3:11-26
As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called "Solomon’s Portico."
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
"You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said:
A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people.
"Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (2ab) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Gospel
Lk 24:35-48
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have."
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them,
"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things."
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MP3 audio link to today’s readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_16.mp3
Moody Radio Online http://www.moodyradio.org/
Today in the Word http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_ProgramToday.aspx?id=35654
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
http://www.richardangulo.com/reading
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One Walk 