Posts Tagged ‘Fasting’

Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:

February 19, 2010

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 02/19/2010

< >< My Daily Prayer >< >

Abba Father, Lord Jesus, in the Spirit, one God the Abba Father, Christ Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.

First I hear You asking where is my focus? What are my thoughts about? Who and what am I putting before You? It’s just a short, soft voice almost dismissed as another random thought, but the feeling is unmistakably You.

Then in the word, You show me that in many ways I am just going through the motions, making habit out of my time with You, and not really addressing what You wish.

Relying on You for rest and comfort is just part of the work to be done; coming to You and submersing myself in You, Your word and all spoken word and devotions that praise You tunes and keeps my ear tuned to You, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. The real work lies on weeding through all that I bring to You until I feel Your answer. Then act!

Help me Jesus to act and not forget, to build on these moments of revealing truths.

In Jesus name I ask and pray, that You bless me and mine for fulfillment of Your will and that You create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me, for one walk; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

< >< Jesus Calling Daily Devotion >< >

February – “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” Psalm 105:4

Today – YOU ARE FEELING WEIGHED DOWN by a plethora of problems, both big and small. They seem to require more and more of your attention, but you must not give in to those demands. When the difficulties in your life feel as if they’re closing in on you, break free by spending quality time with Me. You need to remember who I AM in all My Power and Glory. Then, humbly bring Me your prayers and petitions. Your problems will pale when you view them in the Light of My Presence. You can learn to be joyful in Me, your Savior; even in the midst of adverse circumstances. Rely on Me, your Strength; I make your feet like the feet of a deer, enabling you to go on the heights.

EXODUS 3:14; HABAKKUK 3:17-19

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

Reading I
Is 58:1-9a
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.

Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Responsorial Psalm
51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
R.  (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel
Mt 9:14-15
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, “Lord, I don’t know how to pray!” you can be sure you have already begun.

— St. Josemaria Escriva

< >< Daily Mass Readings Online Sources>< >

USCCB and EWTN

For link to Scripture readings and Bible search click:

New American Bible USCCB

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition EWTN

For audio link to today’s readings click:

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_02_19.mp3 Audio

For link to today’s video Reflection click:

http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml Video

< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >

EWTN

Today in the Word

Moody Radio Online

Today in the Word Radio Online

< >< Bible Online >< >

BibleGateway.com Devotion Scriptures unless noted from New International Version

< >< One Walk >< >

Follow what I am doing, visit www.raagroup.com

Follow what I am thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com

we need never fear that the Mass hinders us in the fulfillment of our temporal affairs; it is altogether the other way around. We may be sure that all will go better and that even our business will succeed better than if we have the misfortune not to assist at Mass.

January 18, 2010

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 01/18/2010

< >< My Daily Prayer >< >

Abba Father, my Lord Jesus, in the Spirit, as one Lord God the Abba Father, the Christ Son and the Holy Spirit; You are my strength; You makes my feet like the feet of a deer, You enables me to go on the heights, You teach me to trust, to love and to forgive as You forgive me. While there are times, often that they may be, that the more I think I know and understand, the less I feel I do; causing me to wonder if I am achieving that which You intend me to in the state I am in. Am I resting too much in Your shadow, hiding under You?  Or is it truly like the refiner, You are purifying me for what is to come? Only You know, as for me and mine, I must keep us focused on You, in the word through Jesus, TRUSTING in what I feel in Him with You no matter what I see. So I continually ask and pray that You bless us indeed, protecting us when we travel and where we find ourselves, keeping us from evil and from pain. Knowing all along You are with us, by our side directing our steps. Help us not to lose the feeling of You presence, help to trust in what we feel in You not what we see under the world.

In Jesus name I ask and pray, that You bless me and mine for fulfillment of Your will and that You create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

< >< Jesus Calling Daily Devotion >< >

January – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Today – I AM LEADING YOU ALONG THE HIGH R0AD, but there are descents as well as ascents. In the distance you see snow-covered peaks glistening in brilliant sunlight. Your longing to reach those peaks is good, but you must not take shortcuts. Your assignment is to follow Me, allowing Me to direct your path. Let the heights beckon you onward, but stay close to Me.

Learn to trust Me when things go “wrong.” Disruptions to your routine highlight your dependence on Me. Trusting acceptance of trials brings blessings that far outweigh them all. Walk hand in hand with Me through this day. 1 have lovingly planned every inch of the way. Trust does not falter when the path becomes rocky and steep. Breathe deep draughts of My Presence, and hold tightly to My hand. Together we can make it!

JOHN 21:19; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:17; HABAKKUK 3:19

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

Reading I
1 Sm 15:16-23
Samuel said to Saul:
“Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Speak!”
Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem,
are you not leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying,
‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction.
Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD?
You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”
Saul answered Samuel:  “I did indeed obey the LORD
and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.
I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel said:
“Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the command of the LORD,
he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

Responsorial Psalm
50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
R.  (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R.        To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R.        To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Gospel
Mk 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.

Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

No, my dear children, we need never fear that the Mass hinders us in the fulfillment of our temporal affairs; it is altogether the other way around. We may be sure that all will go better and that even our business will succeed better than if we have the misfortune not to assist at Mass. — St. John Vianney

< >< Daily Mass Readings Online Sources>< >

USCCB and EWTN

For link to Scripture readings and Bible search click:

New American Bible USCCB

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition EWTN

For audio link to today’s readings click:

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_01_18.mp3 Audio

For link to today’s video Reflection click:

http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml Video

< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >

EWTN

Today in the Word Devotional

Moody Radio Online

Today in the Word Radio Online

< >< Bible Online >< >

BibleGateway.com Devotion Scriptures unless noted from New International Version

< >< One Walk >< >

Follow what I am doing, visit www.raagroup.com

Follow what I am thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com