Cristy Li

“Our Lady promises special graces to those who practice  the ‘First Saturday Devotion’
and make  reparation for blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception.”  –EWTN

Our Lady Establishes the Devotion of the Five First Saturday’s

The Apparition of 10 December, 1925

 

On this day Our Lady, holding Her Immaculate Heart in Her Hand appeared to Lucia and by

Her side stood the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud. The Child Jesus said, “Have compassion on

the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it

at every moment and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.”

Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to Lucia, “Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with

thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and

ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death,

with the graces necessary for Salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive

months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep my

company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the

intention of making reparation to Me.”

More here The Revelation of the Immaculate Heart at Fatima in 1917

Related: St. Lucia Santos, St’s. Jacinta and Francisco Marto

First Saturday Devotion hosted by Blue Army Shrine, Our Lady of Fatima

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. –Psalm 145:8
Image Courtesy: St. Paul Street Evangelization

Paul, an Apostle for Christ Jesus by the will of God,

for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus Our Lord!

 

Thanksgiving and Encouragement

 

I am grateful to God — whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did — when I

remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears. I long to see you so

that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your

Grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure lives in you. For this reason I

remind you to rekindle the Gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power

and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then of the testimony about Our Lord or of me His prisoner but join with

me in suffering for the Gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a

Holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace. This

grace was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the ages began but it has now been revealed

through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and

immortality to light through the Gospel. For this Gospel I was appointed a herald and a Apostle

and a teacher and for this reason I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed, for I know the One in

whom I have put my trust and I am sure that He is able to guard until that day what I have

entrusted to Him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the

faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the Good Treasure entrusted to you, with the help

of the Holy Spirit living in us.  –2 Timothy 1:1-14

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings and More, Visit: -USCCB

Blessed are You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth,
You have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom. Cf. Matthew 11:25
Image Courtesy: Archbishop Jose Gomez  

The Greatness and Goodness of God

Psalm of David

I will extol You, my God and King

and bless Your name forever and ever!

Every day I will bless You

and praise Your name forever and ever!

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall laud Your works to another

and shall declare Your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty

and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate.

The might of Your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed

and I will declare Your greatness.

They shall celebrate the fame of Your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all

and His compassion is over all that He has made.

All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord

and all Your faithful shall bless You!

They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom

and tell of Your power,

to make known to all people Your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendor of Your Kingdom.

Your Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom

and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all His words

and gracious in all His deeds.

The Lord upholds all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to You

and You give them food in due season.

You open Your hand,

satisfying the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is just in all His ways

and kind in all His doings.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him,

to all who call on Him in truth.

He fulfills the desire of all who fear Him;

He also hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love Him

but all the wicked He will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord

and all flesh will bless His Holy name forever and ever!  –Psalm 145:1-21

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings and More, Visit: -USCCB

“Let Us Entrust Our Community of Faith to the Loving Care of Mary,
Our Blessed Mother.” –Archbishop Jose Gomez, Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life. –Romans 6:4B
Image Courtesy: St. Paul Street Evangelization

Adam & Christ

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death came through sin and so

death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the Law but sin

is not reckoned when there is no Law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even

over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the One who

was to come.

The Free Gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through one man’s trespass, much

more sure have the grace of God and the Free Gift in the grace of the One Man, Jesus Christ,

abounded for the many and the Free Gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the

judgment following one trespass brought condemnation but the Free Gift following many

trespasses brings justification. If because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion

through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the

Free Gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the One Man, Jesus Christ!

Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so One Man’s righteousness

leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were

made sinners, so by the One Man’s obedience the many will be made righteous but Law came

in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; where sin increased, grace abounded all the

more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion

through justification leading to eternal life through Christ Jesus Our Lord!

Dying & Rising With Christ

What then are we to say? Should we continue to 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 in 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 a 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 but 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

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 the 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 to 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 to 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 now are ashamed? The end of those things is death

but 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 5:12-21; 6:1-23

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings and More, Visit: -USCCB

Jesus said, “Those who love Me will keep My Word and My Father will love them,
we will come to them and make Our home with them.” –John 14:23

A Psalm of Asaph

Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of Your name;

Deliver us and forgive our sins,

for Your name’s sake. –Psalm 79:9

O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance (heritage)

they have defiled Your Holy Temple;

they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the bodies of Your servants

to the birds of the air for food,

the flesh of Your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water

all around Jerusalem

and there was no one to bury them.

We have become a taunt to our neighbors,

mocked and derided by those around us.

How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?

Will Your jealous wrath burn like fire?

Pour out Your anger on the nations

that do not know You

and on the kingdoms

that do not call on Your name.

For they have devoured Jacob

and laid waste his habitation.

Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;

Let Your compassion come speedily to meet us,

for we are brought very low (poor).

Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of Your name;

Deliver us and forgive our sins,

for Your name’s sake.

Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

Let the avenging of the out poured blood of Your servants

be known among the nations before our eyes.

Let the groans of the prisoners come before You;

According to Your great power preserve those doomed to die.

Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors

the taunts with which they taunted You, O Lord!

Then we Your people, the flock of Your pasture,

will give thanks to You forever;

From generation to generation we will recount Your praise. –Psalm 79:1-13

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings and More, Visit: -USCCB

I shall Thank You for in an awesome, wondrous way I was fashioned;
Your works are wondrous and my soul knows it very well! –Tehillim – Psalm 139:14
Image Courtesy: OneLife LA

The Inescapable God

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord You know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before

and lay Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to Heaven (the heavens) You are there:

If I make my bed in in Sheol (the grave) You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there Your hand shall lead me

and Your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me

and the light around me becomes night,”

even the darkness is not dark to You;

The night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to You.

For it was You who formed my inward parts;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are Your works;

that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance (body)

In Your book were written

all the days that were formed for me,

when none of them as yet existed.

How weighty to me are Your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them — they are more than the sand;

I come to the end, I am still with You.

O that You would kill the wicked, O God

and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me

those who speak of You maliciously

and lift themselves up against You for evil!

Do I not hate those (Your enemies) who hate You, O Lord?

Do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God and know my heart;

Test me and know my thoughts.

See if there is any wicked way in me

and lead me in the way of everlasting. –Psalm 139:1-24

Related: For Today’s Holy Scripture Readings and More, Visit: -USCCB