FEAST OF SAINTS GERTRUDE THE GREAT & MARGARET OF SCOTLAND.

SAINTS GERTRUDE THE GREAT & MARGARET OF SCOTLAND. 

"Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.

He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 

And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’”

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18: 1 - 8).

Saturday 16th November 2024, 32nd Week in Ordinary Time. 

Today is the feast of St Gertrude. (1256 - 1301). Virgin and Religious. Gertrude was a German citizen. Known as Gertrude the Great, she was a respected scholar and mystic.

Over 300 years before St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Gertrude, a mystic like Margaret Mary introduced the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Benedict XVI, says that St Gertrude “shows us that the heart of a happy life, of a true life, is friendship with the Lord Jesus.”

Today is also the feast of St Margaret of Scotland (1046 - 1093). Born Hungarian and married to King Malcolm of Scotland. Margaret was the mother of 8 children who raised her children in the fear of the Lord. She is noted especially for her love for the poor. Margaret is the Patroness of Scotland.

In the Gospel of today, 

"Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary."

The Widow in today's Gospel proves that even with God, persistence breaks resistance. So pray always. Pray everywhere. Pray about everything. God hears the prayers of the widow, the orphan and the immigrant. He hears the prayers of all who call on Him in faith and persistence. 

"Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" (Psalm 27: 14). 

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (Romans 12: 12).

St Augustine teaches that "God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what He is prepared to give."

"It is important to persevere in prayer because if we do, God will not simply answer the prayer, He will reveal His will to us - this is much more important.  Perseverance in prayer reveals the quality of our faith. James says, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18).

( Anonymous.) 

God could NEVER say NO to any prayer. God promises:

"Ask and you will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." 

Then God adds: "Whoever asks shall receive..." 

In another passage God promises that "Whatever you ask for shall be given you..." 

For God to say No to a Prayer will be DIVINE INJUSTICE. God is not capable of being unjust. It is one of the greatest lies of Satan to convince us that God is a Liar. He never answers all our prayers, the Great Liar says. 

In the Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18: 1 - 8, Jesus calls failure to answer prayers by God an act of injustice. Read the text below:

"Because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” 6 The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 7 Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? 8 I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily."

Jesus reveals the power of the Holy Rosary to a Benedictine mystic:

"There are no sufferings that cannot be borne peacefully, so long as a soul is praying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, all the grace and power of My mysteries passes through My Mother’s Immaculate Heart into the hearts of the little ones who invoke her, repeating the angel’s “Ave” over and over again. There are illnesses that can be cured through the Rosary. There are clouds of darkness and confusion that only the Rosary can disperse, and this because it is My Mother’s favourite prayer, a prayer that originated in the heights of heaven and was carried to earth by My Archangel, a prayer echoed and amplified in the Church through the ages, a prayer loved by all My saints, a prayer of disarming power and of immense depth." (IN SINU JESU, Tuesday, December 2, 2014).

November is the Month we pray for the Souls in PURGATORY. 

“Purgatory is simply the place where already saved souls are cleansed of the temporal effects of sin before they are allowed to see the holy face of Almighty God. Revelation 21:27 tells us that “...nothing unclean will enter [Heaven].”

For Catholic Church teaching on the Souls in PURGATORY and how to help them, click the link below:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2023/10/10-ways-to-assist-poor-souls-in.html