05062009
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Lord God, Abba Father, today’ readings remind me of the Lord Jesus’ teaching about The Kingdom of Heaven
The kingdom of heaven can be likened to a farmer’s wheat field, planted with good seed. One night, while the farmer slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds among the wheat. When the first blades of wheat finally pushed up through the earth, weeds appeared alongside. Seeing this, the servants rushed to the farmer, and with distressed voices wept: “Sir, did not we sow good seed in your field? Why then are there so many darnel weeds?”
The farmer answered: “An enemy has done this.”
“Shall we try to remove them?” the servants asked.
“No,” the farmer replied. “If you pull up the weeds, you will uproot the wheat as well. Let them both grow together until the harvest time; and at the time of the harvest I will instruct the reapers as follows: ‘Gather first the weeds, and bind them into bundles for burning. Then gather the wheat into my storehouse.’”
Here is the lesson: he that sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed represents the children of the kingdom, while the remaining seeds represent those deceived by the wicked one. The enemy that planted the weeds is the evil one. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the darnel weeds were gathered and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather everything that has caused humankind to stumble and those who live lawlessly outside of the kingdom, and will exile them to a place of weeping and regret. Then the righteous will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears to hear, then hear these words.
O Lord God continue to guide me through the fields I walk under the sun, help to always seek, choose and find the righteous path; narrow as it maybe I know through this door I shine bright as an example of Your Kingdom under the sun so that others may see what the fail to see. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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There are two sides to every sin: the turning of the will toward fleeting satisfaction and the turning away from everlasting value. As regards to the first, the principle of all sins can be called lust— lust in its most general sense, namely, the unbridled desire for one’s own pleasure. As regards to the second, the principle is pride—pride in its general sense, the lack of submission to God.
— St. Thomas Aquinas
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Reading 1
Acts 12:24-13:5a
The word of God continued to spread and grow.
After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission,
they returned to Jerusalem,
taking with them John, who is called Mark.
Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers:
Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
"Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them."
Then, completing their fasting and prayer,
they laid hands on them and sent them off.
So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit,
went down to Seleucia
and from there sailed to Cyprus.
When they arrived in Salamis,
they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6 and 8
R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
Gospel
Jn 12:44-50
Jesus cried out and said,
"Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me."
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MP3 audio link to today’s readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_05_06.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
Music I am listening:
www.richardangulo.com/listening/
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One Walk 