He alone...

"We can lean on nothing but Our Lord for He alone is immutable."
--St. Therese of Lisieux

Duties toward God...

"My son, when you come to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
undisturbed in time of adversity.
Cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will your future be great.
Accept whatever befalls you,
in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold is tested,
and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and he will help you;
make straight your ways and hope in him.

You who fear the Lord, wait for mercy,
turn not away lest you fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.

Study the generations long past and understand;
has anyone hoped in the Lord and been disappointed?
has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken?
has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?

Compassionate and merciful is the Lord,
he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble.
--Sirach, 2:1-11

The Glory of God...

"Thus says the Lord:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
nor the strong man glory in his strength,
nor the rich man glory in his riches;
But rather, let him who glories, glory in this,
that in his prudence he knows me,
Knows that I, the Lord, bring about kindness,
justice and uprightness on the earth;
For with such I am pleased, says the Lord."
--Jeremiah, 9:22-23

Let us be thankful...

As we approach Father's Day, let us reflect on the love and sacrifice of our earthly fathers...and if they were not all that we had hoped them to be for us, let us still thank God our heavenly Father for them...for they gave us life!

Prayer: St. Joseph, protector of the Holy Family, pray for our earthly fathers, and thank Jesus for all the good that they do for us in our earthly life...Amen

Reflections...

"I take refuge, then, in prayer, and turn to Mary, and our Lord always triumphs."
--St. Therese of Lisieux

Eucharistic Adoration...this we believe.

Eucharistic adoration is the act of worshiping God as He is present in the consecrated Eucharist. Since the Last Supper, when Jesus broke bread and distributed the wine, saying, "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood," Catholics have believed that the bread and wine are no longer merely baked wheat and fermented grape juice, but the actual living presence of the Second Person of the Trinity. Spending time before the Blessed Sacrament, in prayer and devotion, is exactly the same as spending time before the living God. Adoration occurs whenever someone kneels in front of a tabernacle, that contains the Blessed Sacrament, genuflects toward a tabernacle, bows before receiving the Blessed Sacrament at Mass, or, in a more focused way, when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration.
Although the Real Presence has been recognized since the time of the apostles, evidence shows perpetual adoration may have begun in the sixth century in the Cathedral of Lugo, Spain. By the twelfth century, St. Thomas a Becket is known to have prayed for King Henry II before the "majesty of the Body of Christ," and by the sixteenth century the devotion known as forty hours had developed. In nineteenth-century France, perpetual adoration developed in communities of contemplative nuns. The devotion eventually spread to parishes throughout the world.
"Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us."
--St. Alphonsus Ligouri

"Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is...an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness...It is pleasant to spend time with (Christ), to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in his heart."--Pope John Paul II, The Church and the Eucharist

* Taken from Our Sunday Visitor (2006).