Sunday 14th November 2021, in the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time.

With the end of the Church Liturgical Year in one week, the Gospel of this Sunday focuses on the End Times. When will it be? How will it happen? Who are the big players? How do we recognize the signs of the times?

The Church devotes paragraphs #675 to 679 of the Catechism to answer the questions of the End Times. Below is a very illuminating paragraph into what to know and what to expect:

"Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh." (CCC 675).

For those who may not take Christ's pronouncements on the End Times seriously, Jesus says:
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

Come Lord Jesus!

"If you would abide in Me, according to My word, you must begin by abiding with Me. The union to which I have called you, a fruitful union with Myself, will begin in the time you dedicate exclusively to Me and to My companionship. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (Apocalypse 3:20). Those souls who never abide with Me remain closed to the graces of union with Myself that I so desire to give them. Time spent in My presence softens the heart and makes it permeable to the love that radiates from My Eucharistic Heart. Time spent in My presence allows the eyes of the soul to adjust, in faith, to the brightness of My Eucharistic Face." (IN SINU JESU, Thursday, April 7, 2016).

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com

Saturday 13th November 2021, 32nd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Frances Xavier Cabrini. (1850 - 1917). Virgin. Italian. Patroness of Immigrants.

Our saint for today overcame the first obstacle to her vocation: fear of drowning.  She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to serve immigrants in schools, hospitals and parishes. Before she died in 1917, St Frances Xavier Cabrini had traversed the seas about 30 times planting missionary services to the vulnerable in many countries of the world.

"Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary." The Widow in today's Gospel proves that even with God, persistence breaks resistance. So pray always. Pray everywhere. Pray about everything.

Jesus Christ chose St Frances Xavier Cabrini to be a symbol of His tender care for immigrants. This is why the Church honors her today. In honoring her, we glorify Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd of all immigrants.

"There are no sufferings that cannot be borne peacefully, so long as a soul is praying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, all the grace and power of My mysteries passes through My Mother’s Immaculate Heart into the hearts of the little ones who invoke her, repeating the angel’s “Ave” over and over again. There are illnesses that can be cured through the Rosary. There are clouds of darkness and confusion that only the Rosary can disperse, and this because it is My Mother’s favourite prayer, a prayer that originated in the heights of heaven and was carried to earth by My Archangel, a prayer echoed and amplified in the Church through the ages, a prayer loved by all My saints, a prayer of disarming power and of immense depth." (IN SINU JESU, Tuesday, December 2, 2014).

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com

"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it."  (Luke 17: 33).

Friday 12th November 2021, in the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr.  (1580 - 1623). Born in Poland, ministered and martyred in Ukraine. Josaphat spent his life working for the reconciliation and unity of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church. He paid the supreme price for this with his life.

"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it."  How do you seek to preserve your life? Example:  After the Corona Virus vaccine was approved in the US, there was a great scramble to get the shot. Why? People were terrified of dying from the virus. They did everything within their power to preserve their lives.

Is their great scramble to get to the Church on Easter Sunday or Christmas? Or Ordinary Sunday?
Our saint of today, St Josaphat had the opportunity to preserve his life by hiding from his killers. He chose to die as Jesus did when He refused to come down from the Cross when His enemies taunted Him to do so and prove that He is the Son of God.

No man can serve two masters at the same time. If you elect to serve the world, you must be running here and there trying to preserve your life. First from any pandemics, next from any terminal disease, then from inflation and so forth and so on.

Stop running and realize that it is impossible for any human being to preserve his life. When God, the Lord of life calls a soul home, there is no negotiation.

"The attack on My priesthood that appears to be spreading and growing is, in fact, in its final stages. It is a satanic and diabolical onslaught against My Bride the Church, an attempt to destroy her by attacking the most wounded of her ministers in their carnal weaknesses; but I will undo the destruction they have wrought and I will cause My priests and My Spouse the Church to recover a glorious holiness that will confound My enemies and be the beginning of a new era of saints, of martyrs, and of prophets."  (IN SINU JESU, Tuesday, March 2, 2010).

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com