And Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks,

he broke it and gave it to them, saying “This is my body,

which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

~Luke 22:19

"Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with the old bread leavened with malice

and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

~1 Corinthians 5:8

Blessing on this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul!

May the witness of these apostles and martyrs inspire us to live (and die, if necessary) for the splendor and fullness of God's plan of loving goodness made manifest in the Lord Jesus and His Church.

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive;

and to be alive consists in beholding God.”

+ St. Irenaeus

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

St. Irenaeus, pray for us.

Happy Feast Day!

St. Josemaria, pray for us.

God is the Living One; Jesus brings us the life of God; the Holy Spirit gives and keeps us in our new life as true sons and daughters of God. But all too often, people do not choose life, they do not accept the “Gospel of Life” but let themselves be led by ideologies and ways of thinking that block life, that do not respect life, because they are dictated by selfishness, self-interest, profit, power and pleasure, and not by love, by concern for the good of others. It is the eternal dream of wanting to build the city of man without God, without God’s life and love – a new Tower of Babel. It is the idea that rejecting God, the message of Christ, the Gospel of Life, will somehow lead to freedom, to complete human fulfilment. As a result, the Living God is replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death. The wisdom of the Psalmist says: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps 19:8). ~Pope Francis, June 16, 2013

"The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and to put all our trust in Almighty God. That is what I have done." ~Saint Therese of Lisieux

And do not forget to show kindness to strangers,

for in so doing, some of you will have served Angels. ~Hebrews 13:2

“I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.” ~St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

“The materialist is sure that history has been simply and solely a chain of causation, just as the [lunatic] is quite sure that he is simply and solely a chicken. Materialists and madmen never have doubts.” ~G. K. Chesterton

"We do not cause our holiness, we consent to it." ~Kristina Terry

“God is opening before the Church the horizons of a humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the Gospel. ... No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples." ~Bl. John Paul II

"Discouragement is an enemy of your perseverance. If you don't fight against discouragement you will become pessimistic first, and lukewarm afterwards. Be an optimist." ~St. Josemaría Escrivá

God wants men to be free. Free to demonstrate toughness when a situation or relationship demands it. Free to display grit, strength, commitment, and decisiveness under the Holy Spirit’s direction. God also wants men to be free to demonstrate tenderness, sensitivity and humility. Free to be vulnerable enough to foster intimacy and to shed tears. Authentic masculinity produces a divine elasticity in men. Finally they can lead with firmness, then submit with humility. They can challenge with a cutting edge, then encourage with enthusiasm. They can fight aggressively for a just cause, then moments later weep over suffering. Secure, free, authentic men leave a mark – on their colleagues, friends, wives, and especially their children. - Pastor Bill Hybels

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~Corrie ten Boom

Is anti-Catholicism the last acceptable prejudice? Maybe so. But Christ is a divisive figure who makes us choose for or against God. The world has a way of protecting its conventions by punishing those who make the right choice. ~Jeff Mirus

"Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering." ~Saint Augustine

“If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not because God didn’t care for them, but because you and I didn’t give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize him, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise—in the hungry man, in the lonely man, in the homeless child, seeking for shelter.” ~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel,

and for a sign to be opposed

— and a sword will pierce even your own soul —

to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

~Luke 2:34-35

If you've ever felt like a "black sheep,"

have we got a Shepard for you!

 "If Christ is growing in us, if we are at peace, recollected, because we know that however insignificant our life seems to be, from it He is forming Himself; if we go in eager haste, to whatever our circumstances compel us, because we believe that He desires to be in that place, we will find that we are driven more and more to act on the impulse of His love....It is not necessary at this stage of our contemplation to speak to others of the mystery of the Life growing in us.  It is only necessary to give ourselves to that Life, all that we are, to pray without ceasing, not by a continual effort to concentrate our minds but by the growing awareness that Christ is being formed from what we are. We must trust Him for this because it is not a time to see His face. We must possess Him secretly and in the darkness, as the earth possess a seed. We must not try to force Christ's growth in us, but with a deep gratitude for the light burning secretly in our darkness, we must fold our concentrated love upon Him like the earth surrounding, holding and nourishing a seed.We must be swift to obey the winged impulses of His love, carrying Him to wherever He longs to be and those who recognize His presence will be stirred like Elizabeth, with new Life. They will know His presence, not by any special beauty or power shown in us, but in the way that the bud knows the presence of the light, by the unfolding in themselves, a putting forth of their own beauty." ~Caryll Houselander

"Certainly amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds first place, is most pleasing to God, and most useful to ourselves. Do not then, O devout soul, refuse to begin this devotion; and forsaking the conversation of men, dwell each day, from this time forward, for at least half or quarter of an hour, in some church, in the presence of Jesus Christ under the sacramental species. Taste and see how sweet is the Lord." ~St. Alphonsus Liguori