Closed hearts - prejudiced minds

[Weedy]

Closed hearts - prejudiced minds

The prophet Isaiah had warned that some would hear God's word, but not
believe, some would see God's actions and miracles, and remain
unconvinced. Ironically some of the greatest skeptics of Jesus'
teaching and miracles were the learned scribes and Pharisees who
prided themselves on their knowledge of Scripture, especially on the
law of Moses. They heard Jesus' parables and saw the great signs and
miracles which he performed, but they refused to accept both Jesus and
his message. How could they "hear and never understand" and "see but
never perceive"? They were spiritually blind and deaf because their
hearts were closed and their minds were blocked by pride and
prejudice. How could a man from Galilee, the supposed son of a
carpenter, know more about God and his word, than these experts who
devoted their lives to the study and teaching of the law of Moses?
Scripture: Matthew 13:10-17

=============
6 August - Nossa Senhora das Graças / Our Lady of Graces
Pesqueira, Pernambuco, Northeast, Brazil (1936)

On 6 August 1936, Maria da Luz Teixeira, 13, and Maria da Conceição,
16 (a poor girl living with the Teixeira family), were gathering
castor beans on Guarda mountain in the Cimbres district, 15 miles from
Pesqueira. There was a flash of light and then Maria da Conceição
said, “Look, there’s an image that looks like Our Lady.” Maria da Luz
saw it too, up on a rock. They ran home and told Maria da Luz’s
parents. At her mother’s insistence, Artur Teixeira climbed the hill
with the girls, who reached the spot long before he struggled up
through the brush. He saw nothing unusual but, at his suggestion, the
girls together asked the image, “Who are you?” “I am Grace.” They
asked what she wanted. “I’ve come to warn of three punishments sent by
God. Tell the people to pray much and do penance.”

After this the girls returned to the site daily, where they prayed
with a growing crowd of pilgrims. On 9 August, the crowd demanded a
sign; reluctantly, the girls asked for one. The next day, they found
water flowing from the rock and two sets of footprints embedded in
stone, one an adult’s and one a child’s. The apparition confirmed they
belonged to her and her son. The Bishop conducted an investigation.
Maria da Luz described Our Lady of Grace as “similar to Our Lady of
Mount Carmel in Pesqueira Cathedral but her mantle is blue and her
dress cream, with a belt. She has a little child in her left arm and
both have very beautiful crowns on their heads.”

Eventually the Virgin told her that the people’s response had been
sufficient to avert the three chastisements, sometimes identified as
armed bandits (particularly the notorious Lampião, killed by police in
1938) and the coming of World War II or a Communist regime to Brazil.
Maria da Conceição died young. In 1940, Maria da Luz joined the
Religious of Christian Instruction, taking the name Sister Adélia. In
her absence, pilgrims continued to visit the Shrine at the apparition
site, where 296 carved stone steps lead to a Statue of Our Lady of
Grace (as depicted on the Miraculous Medal, without the Child, not as
the girls saw her) and to report miracles there.
In 1966, the Vatican approved the apparitions. Sister Adélia has since
participated in some events at the Shrine, including the anniversary
pilgrimages of 1985 and 1986 and reported some new messages from Our
Lady. As of 2010 she was still living, aged 87. Because the original
site is located in the Xukuru Indian reservation, an area of constant
conflict, the City and Diocese of Pesqueira have built a new Shrine to
Our Lady of Grace, with a grotto and Chapel, on a Calvary Shrine hill
closer to town.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/08/06/


“His face shone like the sun” – (Matthew 17:2)

REFLECTION – “What was surprising about Jesus’ Face becoming like the
sun since He Himself is the Sun? He is indeed the Sun but a Sun hidden
behind a cloud. Now, for a moment, the cloud dispersed and He shone
out. What is this cloud that dispersed? It was not so much the flesh
but the weakness of the flesh that disappeared for a moment.
Peter the Venerable (1092-1156) Abbot of Cluny – Sermon 1 for the
Transfiguration


Saint Quote:
But I know it will be said that a priest ordained by authority derived
from the See of Rome is, by the Law of the Nation, to die as a
Traitor, but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen of
the Church of England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their
Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or not at all, as appears
by their own writers so that Ordination comes derivatively from those
now living.
-- Saint John Plessington, from the gallows as he was about to be martyred

Bible Quote
Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord
thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew
4:10)


<><><><>
Act of Love before Holy Mass

O my God,
I love You with all my heart,
with all my soul, with all my strength
and with no other desire
than to be inseparably united to You.
It is through Your Divine Son
that this union is about to be realised within me.
In the eternal food I will receive,
I long to identify myself with Him,
that it will no longer be myself but He,
who lives in me
and when I have received Jesus within myself,
then I shall love and be loved by You,
in that same measure,
in which I am united to Him.
Hasten then, to give me Your Divine Son,
at the hands of Your priest,
that through Jesus,
I may unite myself forever to You,
O God the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Amen