IN THE SEASON OF EASTER. FEAST OF ST STANISLAUS OF CRACOW, BISHOP & MARTYR.

ST STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR. 

"The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 

Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.

He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. 

The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him." (John 3: 31 - 36).

Thursday April 11th 2024, Thursday in the 2nd Week in the Easter Season. 

Feast of St Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr. (1030 - 1079).

St Stanislaus was the Bishop of Cracow in Poland. He was a brave and courageous preacher. 

St Stanislaus confronted King Boleslaus over his scandalous life. The King murdered him while St Stanislaus was celebrating Mass. 

The Holy Spirit and Peace are the dominant themes of the Easter Season.

We are told in the Gospel of today that God does not ration His Holy Spirit. When you ask for the Holy Spirit in faith, be sure you will receive what you ask for.

God told Solomon when he asked for wisdom and not for riches and power: "Here and now I grant you what you ask for and more." (2 Chronicles 1: 1 11 - 12).

Jesus promises: Ask and you shall receive. If you ask for the Holy Spirit, your Father will be so delighted that He will give you what you ask for at once.

The Father does not ration the Holy Spirit. It means you receive in direct proportion to your desire and capacity to receive. The Holy Spirit is the source of abundant life.

Ask for the Holy Spirit today.

THE EUCHARIST IS THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS THE EUCHARIST. 

The Church learns more and honors the HOLY EUCHARIST in APRIL. 

For Teachings, Prayers and Prayer intentions click the link:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-holy-eucharist_31.html?m=1

GOD SO LOVED YOU!

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only-­begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

"Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

"And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." (John 3: 16 - 21).

Wednesday 10th April 2024 in 2nd Week of Easter Season. 

We have for our reflection one of the most known verses in the Bible. 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only-­begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." 

The proof of God’s love is the crucifixion and death of Jesus. 

Our response to this love is to be constrained or to be controlled by this love to love God back. 

The beginning of this loving relationship between God and man is the initiative of God. Our response is faith. Obedience follows faith. In Baptism, we become the children of God and the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. Through the transformation of the Holy Spirit, we walk by faith and not by sight or feeling. 

Every Sunday, the Church proclaims the Creed to remind us of what we believe. This repetition of the Credo is life transforming if we enter into it in the spirit of faith. 

The Church learns more and honors the HOLY EUCHARIST in APRIL. 

For Teachings, Prayers and Prayer intentions click the link:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-holy-eucharist_31.html?m=1

YOU MUST BE BORN FROM ABOVE.

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.”

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3: 1 - 8). 

TUESDAY 9th April 2024 in the 2nd Week in Easter Season. 

Jesus was born, lived and died to establish the Kingdom of God. The Church is the seed of the Kingdom of God on earth. 

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3: 1 - 8). 

Tuesday 9th April 2024, in the 2nd Week of Easter.

Jesus was born, lived and died to establish the Kingdom of God. The Church is the seed of the Kingdom of God on earth. 

Jesus was born, lived and died to establish the Kingdom of God. The Church is the seed of the Kingdom of God on earth. 

To have a taste for spiritual things, viz: Prayer, Word of God, Eucharist, Reconciliation, you must be born again. The carnal man is incapable of experiencing spiritual things. He is acquainted only with material carnal things. (Cf Romans 8: 6; 1 Corinthians 2: 14). This is what Jesus teaches Nicodemus. This is also a truth anyone can bear witness to by reflecting on his life and the people he knows. 

Everything is created twice. The first creation is from the earth and unsurprisingly earthy. The second creation is from above and is heavenly. 

It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the second birth. And this  happens when we are baptized. We become born anew and in fact new creation.

Since we died with Christ when we were immersed into the water of Baptism and raised with Christ, let us seek what is above where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. (Cf Colossians 3: 1).

THE EUCHARIST IS THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS THE EUCHARIST. 

The Church learns more and honors the HOLY EUCHARIST in APRIL. 

For Teachings, Prayers and Prayer intentions click the link:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-holy-eucharist_31.html?m=1

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD.

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD. 

“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 

And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” 

“But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” 

“And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”

 Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her." (Luke 1: 26 - 38).

MONDAY the 8th of April in the Season of Easter 2024 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. 

The Feast of the Annunciation is the 25th of March. It is moved to the 8th of April because the 25th of March 2024 fell on Holy Week. 

Today, the Sacred Scripture focuses on the Call and Mission of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord.  Who is Mary of Nazareth and why is she a powerful person in the history of salvation and life of the Church? 

#1. Mary is the only daughter of Joachim and Anne. The little Mary was a sweet joy of answered prayer to Joachim and Anne. The couple sensed her uniqueness and destiny and dedicated her to God and after she was weaned brought her to the Temple where she was educated by priests. 

#2. The Church draws most of her knowledge of the infancy narrative of Mary from credible non-biblical sources called Apocrypha. This source is collaborated by the writings of Mystics like Blessed Mary of Alagreda, Blessed Catherine Emerich and others. All these are faithful, true and credible sources. 

Remember that the Church discerns the truth of Revelation from not only Sacred Scripture but also Sacred Tradition and Sacred Magisterium. Sensus fidelium (the common faith of the faithful plays a role in the discernment of truth in the Church. 

#3. The biblical sources of our knowledge of Mary are not voluminous but they contain all we need to know for our devotion and salvation. (Cf Luke, Matthew, Isaiah 7: 14, etc). 

#4. The four Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, viz: Annunciation, the Luminous Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries tell the whole story of salvation and who Mary is. If you do not pray the Rosary, you miss the acres of diamonds in your backyard.  

#5. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the only human being who knew Jesus Christ from the Visitation of the Angel Gabriel (the Annunciation) to the death of Jesus on the Cross, His burial and Resurrection. Mary was present in the Upper Room waiting and praying for the Holy Spirit to descend on Pentecost Sunday, the Birthday of the Church. 

From the writings of Mystics, we learn that Mary continued to teach the Church from Pentecost to her death and Assumption into Heaven.

#6. Mary continues to intervene in the lives of simple people in significant apparition events throughout Church history, viz: Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, etc. 

We read today of how God sent the Angel Gabriel to a young woman with an astonishing promise. Gabriel told Mary that through the power of God, she will become the Mother of God. Once Mary fully understands the implications of the message, she replies:  "I am the handmaid of the Lord: let what you have said be done to me. (Luke 1: 38).

The Church elaborates:

"To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace". In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace." (CCC 490).

"I am your Mother, the Mother given you by my Son Jesus, from the Cross, in the solemn hour of His sacrifice. And you are my son, dear to my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, precious to me, and ever under the mantle of my protection. Let me live with you as I lived with John, the second son of my Heart and the model for all my priest sons down through the ages. Speak to me simply and with complete trust in the compassion of my maternal Heart and in the power given to my maternal intercession." (IN SINU JESU, Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Annunciation).

THE EUCHARIST IS THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS THE EUCHARIST. 

The Church learns more and honors the HOLY EUCHARIST in APRIL. 

For Teachings, Prayers and Prayer intentions click the link:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-holy-eucharist_31.html?m=1