Cristy Li

The New Commandment

Jesus: “I give you a new Commandment,
that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, (See: John 3:16; 1 John 4:9)
you also should love one another.

By this everyone will know
that you are My Disciples,
if you have love for one another.” –John 13:34-35
Image Courtesy: –Invisible People

• You May Know the Joy of Salvation, the Assurance of Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life in Heaven Today
  Through The Good News of Christ Jesus!

Brothers and Sisters:

“Rejoice in the Lord always,

I shall say it again, rejoice!

Your kindness should be known to all!

The Lord is near.

Have no anxiety at all but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving

make your requests known to God.

Then by the peace of God

that surpasses all understanding

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally — whatever is true, whatever is honorable,

whatever is just, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,

if there is any excellence

and if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

Keep on doing what you have learned, received,

heard and seen in me. (St. Paul)

Then the God of peace will be with you.” 

–Philippians 4:4-9

Originally Published at ChurchPOP

Jesus speaking to Thomas said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.” –John 14:6
Image Courtesy: Ascension Press

Jesus Teaches in Parables — The Parable of the Weeds

Jesus ministered, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ An enemy did this, the owner replied. The servant’s asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.

At that time I will tell the harvester’s: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’

The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

Jesus continued teaching, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Jesus continued, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables, He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the Prophet:

• “I will open my mouth in parables,
  I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” (See: Psalm 78:2)
  

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. Jesus’ Disciples came to Him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’ Jesus answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world and the good seed stands for the people of His Kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one (demons) and the enemy who sows them is the devil (Satan). The harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels and they will weed out of His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them them into the blazing furnace, (Hell) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

Jesus taught, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

The Parable of the Net

Jesus continued, “Once again. the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in the baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw (the wicked) them into the blazing furnace, (Hell) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Have you understood all these things?

‘Yes,’ they replied.

Jesus said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the Law who has become a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasure as well as old.” –Matthew 13:24-52

• You May Know the Joy of Salvation, Forgiveness of Sins
  and Eternal Life Today Through The Good News of Christ Jesus!

Related: For the Most Holy Scripture Readings on the Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Visit: -USCCB

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,
for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.  –Hebrews 13:16
Image Courtesy: Archbishop Jose Gomez

• Jesus taught, “Give to everyone who begs from you
  and do not refuse anyone
  who wants to borrow from you.”  –Matthew 5:42

• Jesus taught us, “Do to others
  as you would have them do to you.” –Luke 6:31

What good is it my brothers and sisters,
if you say you have faith but do not have works?
Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and
lacks daily food and one of you says to them,
“Go in peace; Keep warm and eat your fill,”
yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that?
So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead.  –James 2:14-17

• You May Know the Joy of Salvation,
  Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life Today
  Through The Good News of Christ Jesus!

Whoever believes in Him (Jesus) may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have Eternal Life. –John 3:15-16
Image Courtesy: Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal World

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Those who believe in Him (Jesus) are not condemned but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the Name of the only Son of God and this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed but those who do what is true come to the light so that it may be clearly seenthat their deeds have been done in God.  John 3:17-21

Prayer for the Restoration of God’s Favor

Lord, You were favorable to Your land;

You restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of Your people;

You pardoned all their sin.

You withdrew all Your wrath;

You turned from Your hot anger.

Restore us again, O God of our salvation

and put away Your indignation toward us.

Will You be angry with us forever?

Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?

Will You not revive us again,

so that Your people may rejoice in You?

Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord

and grant us Your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for He will speak peace to His people,

to His faithful, to those who turn to Him in their hearts.

Surely His salvation is at hand for those who fear Him,

that His glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground

and Righteousness will look down from the sky.

The Lord will give what is good

and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before Him

and will make a path for His steps.  Amen!  –Psalm 85:1-13

• GOOD NEWS! You May Have the Joy of Salvation
  and Assurance of Eternal Life Today in Christ Jesus!

For the wages of sin is (eternal) death
but the FREE GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE
in Christ Jesus our Lord!  –Romans 6:23

• GOOD NEWS! You May Have the Assurance of Salvation
  and Peace of Everlasting Life in Christ Jesus Today!

Dying and Rising With Christ

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in death like His, we will certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died, He died to sin, once for all; the life He lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under Law but under Grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

What then? Should we sin because we are not under Law but under Grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness? Thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted and that you having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. Now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the FREE GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord!  –Romans 6:1-23

“Friends: No matter how far someone has fallen from God,
God is rich in mercy and He is waiting for sinners to come home, to repent.” –Archbishop Jose Gomez

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation

Interior Penance

1430: Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the Prophets before Him, does not aim first at outward works ‘sackcloth and ashes,’ fasting and mortification but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.

1431: Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of His grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Father called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit)  and compuncito cordis (repentance of heart).

1432: The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to Him. “Restore us to Thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored.” (Lamentations 5:21) God gives us the strength to begin a new. It is in discovering the greatness of God’s love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from Him. The human heart is converted by looking upon Him whom our sins have pierced. (John 19:37; Zechariah 12:10)

Prayer to Jesus — Act of Contrition

O My God,

I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee

and I detest all my sins because I dread

the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell

but most of all because they offend Thee,

my God, Who are all good and deserving

of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace,

to confess my sins, to do penance

and to amend my life.  Amen!

Related: Additional Prayers to Jesus -EWTN

You May Know the JOY of Salvation and ETERNAL LIFE Today Through THE GOOD NEWS of Christ Jesus!

Our Lady of Lourdes, Please Pray for a Christian Revival
& Renewal of Our Nation!
Image Courtesy: EWTN

Prayer

Be Blessed, O Most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child St. Bernadette Soubirous: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception and now, O Ever Immaculate Virgin Mother of Mercy, health of the sick, refuge of sinners, comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.

By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors and already many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. I come therefore with the most unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of my request.

• Christian Revival & Renewal of Our Nation

Through gratitude for your favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that I may one day share your glory. Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ Jesus, you had influence with your Divine Son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us! Obtain for us from your Divine Son this special request. Amen!

Our Lady of Lourdes, Please Pray For Us!

St. Bernadette, Teach Us to Serve — Please Pray For Us!

Related: Novena To Our Lady of Lourdes

Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Bread of Life…
I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven.
Whoever eats of this Bread will live forever
and the Bread that I will give for the Life of the world is My Flesh.”
–John 6:48; 51
Image Courtesy: EWTN

Brothers and Sisters: The Cup of Blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the Body of Christ? Because there is One Bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the One Bread.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless drawn by the Father who sent Me and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘They shall all be taught by God.’

(See: Isaiah 54:13;  Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 4:2) Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats of this Bread will live forever and the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My Flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves saying, ‘How can this Man give His Flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day; For My Flesh is true food and My Blood is true drink.

Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood abide in Me and I in them. Just as the Living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of Me.

This is the Bread that came down from Heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate and they died but the one who eats this Bread will live forever.” –John 6:44-58

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings on the Solemnity of the Holy Body & Blood of Christ, Visit: -USCCB