Summer Solstice
Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 17 The Number of Psalms to be Sung at the Hours
Mass: 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30; Resp Ps 34; Mt 6:19-23
Look to the Lord that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame.
What kind of day are you having? Here are a few things St Paul faced in his life: Five times he received forty lashes minus one; three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, three times he was shipwrecked. Paul was in danger from rivers and robbers in the city, wilderness, and at sea. He had toils and hardships through sleepness nights, hunger, thirst, frequent fastings, and through cold and exposure. And if that was not enough, Paul had the daily pressure of anxiety for all the churches! We all suffer in ways big and small. We have crosses to carry that come in various shapes and sizes. Let us be united and extend compassion and mercy to one another. With the psalmist we sing, "I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears … When the poor one called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him."
Happy the person who at each gift of grace returns to God in whom is the fullness of all graces. If we show ourselves grateful for graces received, we make room for grace in ourselves, that we may deserve to receive even greater graces than in the past. For the only thing that hinders us from advancing in the spiritual life is our ingratitude.
(Bernard of Clairvaux)
Today's photo: Wallflower
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