My Daily Nourishment

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;

1 Thessalonians 4:1-5 NIV
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Herein is My Father glorified: that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.

John 15:8 KJV
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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17,18 NASB
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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Matthew 23:11,12 NIV
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LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Psalm 10:17,18 KJV
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You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:5-7 NASB
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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

Meditation

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:1-8 ESV

Unbreakable

A salesman was demonstrating unbreakable combs in a department store. He was impressing the people who stopped by to look by putting the comb through all sorts of torture and stress.

Finally to impress even the skeptics in the crowd, he bent the comb completely in half, and it snapped with a loud crack. Without missing a beat, he bravely held up both halves of the ‘unbreakable’ comb for everyone to see and said, “And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what an unbreakable comb looks like on the inside.”

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Hebrews 12:9-11 KJV
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Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD,
And whom You teach out of Your law;

That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,
Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

For the LORD will not abandon His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.

Psalm 94:12-15 NASB
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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV
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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

A fountain inside Caesars Palace here in las Vegas!!.. it just nourishes my mind everytime, I see great work of art like this!! very beautiful!!

take care everyone!! ciao!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25,26 NIV
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But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 KJV
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Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

John 5:28,29 NASB
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God, Whose grace is all sufficient, be glorified!

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

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THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

“Make every effort to supplement your faith…with love.” – 2 Peter 1:5-7

Nora abandoned her baby right after she gave birth. Jenny joyfully adopted him and named him Max.
As Max grew up, it was Jenny who provided for his needs. She took care of him when he was sick, showered him with affection and taught him everything he needed to know.
Max knew that Nora gave birth to him but who do you think he considers his real mother?
My answer would be Jenny.
The story is fictional but it can easily be true. We become who we are not by the titles we acquire but more so by our actions. As Christians, we should not be satisfied with just learning about Jesus but instead, we should be ready to put our faith into action. Cecil Lim

REFLECTION:
There’s a wealth of difference between knowing you’re a Christian and actually living like one.

Lord, may Your example lead me to show my love for others in concrete actions.

1st READING

God is not stingy the way He apportions His gifts. We need never doubt that He will give us all that is necessary to accomplish His will. However, scholastic theology tells us that His grace works upon nature. For the grace to bear fruit, we have to provide a fertile environment for it to grow and be nurtured. In other words, when it comes to looking at the various fruits our life bears, we have to do our part in cooperation with God’s grace.

2 Peter 1:2-7
2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. 4 Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, 7 devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.

P S A L M

Psalm 91:1-2, 14-15b, 15c-16
R: In you, my God, I place my trust.
1 You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 Say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (R) 14 Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in distress. (R) I will deliver him and glorify him; 16 with length of days I will gratify him and will show him my salvation. (R)

G O S P E L

We cannot avoid our time of judgment. It is not meant to be something that scares us into doing one thing or another, but it is a reminder that the choices we make have consequences for which we are responsible. This should be enough incentive to avoid sin. However, we should never forget that the true motivation for good works is love of God and neighbor.

Mark 12:1-12
1 Jesus began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. 5 He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. 6 He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture passage: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’?” 12 They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

my reflections
think:Sin should be avoided not just because it has consequences, but out of true love for God and neighbor.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S WILL

I think we have all experienced times when we have spent a lot of energy preparing something for someone else only to find that they chose to do the task another way. It seems they lacked gratitude and have been rude. The situation in the Gospel is a much worse situation than this. Imagine how the owner of the vineyard must have felt when the evil tenants killed his son. The parable is really about the way each of us has neglected to follow the will of God in our lives, and have allowed sin to take over to a large extent. This is not part of God’s plan for us but because of His mercy, He does not condemn us but calls us to repent and refocus our lives on Him.
It is important for us to take the time to reflect upon our lives once in a while, and see whether or not we are being faithful to God’s call. This will give us the chance to repent of our sin if there is any and maybe just simply re-align our life direction if we are not yet in serious sin, but are headed in that direction. As the old saying tells us: An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. So many of our difficulties and trials could be avoided if we spend a little more time honestly reflecting upon the direction of our lives. The challenge we face is one of a disciplinary nature. Can we commit ourselves to something as simple as a daily time of reflection in order to check where we are going?
I am told that if a person can repeat an action for 30 days without missing one day, then he or she is very close to having developed a habit. It sounds easy enough but when you try it, I am sure you will find that it is not that easy. If you miss the 25th day, you start back at one. Let us see if we are able to develop the habit of a daily time of reflection or recollection in order to keep our lives on the path that’s in accordance with God’s will.Fr. Steve Tynan

Reflection Question:
Do I already have the daily habit of reflecting on my life direction? If not, am I willing to try to develop one? I think the effort is worthwhile.

Holy Spirit, help me with Your grace to be committed to examining my life daily, and give me the strength to do what is necessary to keep my life in accordance with God’s will.

Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs, pray for us.

kyregma.com

The omnipotence paradox is a philosophical paradox which arises when attempting to apply logic to the notion of an omnipotent being. The paradox is based around the question of whether or not an omnipotent being is able to perform actions that would limit its own omnipotence, thus becoming non-omnipotent.

Since the Middle Ages, philosophers have phrased the paradox in many ways, of which the classic example is, “Could an omnipotent being create a rock so heavy that even that being could not lift it?”

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The Sunday School Teacher asks, “Now, Johnny, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?” “No sir,” Little Johnny replies, “I don’t have to, my mom is a good cook!”