From: your-daily-tripod+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:35:24 +0000
Subject: [Your Daily Tripod] Digest for
your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 3 Topics
To: Digest Recipients <your-daily-tripod+digest@googlegroups.com>
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/topics
- You, Yes You, O Lord August 18, 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/26fe452ad17af894
- For God All Things Are Possible August 16, 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/f4afd86833b2bb2d
- It's Not Fair August 17, 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/b0e8c40b3fd2ab05
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Topic: You, Yes You, O Lord August 18, 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/26fe452ad17af894
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From: The Lighthouse Keeper <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Aug 17 05:40PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/241d6b19209eb003
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who
came out to meet him, with tambourine-playing and dancing. She was his
only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her. When he saw
her, he tore his garments and said, "Ah, my daughter! You have struck
me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the
LORD and I cannot take it back." "Father," she replied, "you have made
a vow to the LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has
taken vengeance for you against your enemies the Ammonites." Judges
11:34-36
But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not
dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, 'My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced
to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and
feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be
wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen."
Matthew 22:11-14
Piety
Blessed the man who sets
his security in the LORD,
who turns not to the arrogant
or to those who stray after falsehood.
You, yes you, O LORD, my God,
have done many wondrous deeds!
And in your plans for us
there is none to equal you.
Should I wish to declare or tell them,
too many are they to recount.
Sacrifice and offering you do not want;
you opened my ears.
Holocaust and sin-offering you do not request;
so I said, "See; I come
with an inscribed scroll written upon me.
I delight to do your will, my God;
your law is in my inner being!" Psalm 40:5-9
Study
Ever throw a party and nobody shows up? The loving and hospitable king
in today's parable must feel pretty dejected trying to get his people
to attend the wedding feast. People were invited but put other things
ahead of attending the party. They had their agenda and it was not the
same as the King's. Finally, King throws the gates of the party open
to whomever would come. Open seating. While people did attend, many
showed up with little or no preparation. Dressed too casually. They
probably did not even bring a gift for the bride and groom.
Action
What does this have to do with us today? It's summer vacation season.
Have you already headed off to the beach or the mountains? Do you have
a getaway planned before Labor Day arrives? You are probably packing
and planning what to bring and what to do. On that list, while away,
where will you attend Mass? Take a minute and look up the nearest
Church. Take some time out to be thankful for your rest and get to
know some of the local people where you will spend some time.
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Topic: For God All Things Are Possible August 16, 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/f4afd86833b2bb2d
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From: The Lighthouse Keeper <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Aug 17 02:50AM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/79c207d81b7a9c14
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for
one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it
is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one
who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God." When the disciples heard
this, they were greatly astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "For men this is impossible, but for
God all things are possible." Matthew 19:23-16)
Piety
My Jesus, remind me each day to put my face toward our Father and walk
beside you rather than walk toward what entices me falsely. May "Thy
will be done" begin with me and even when in doubt may I always hope
and act that "for God all things are possible."
Study
The disciples were astonished at Jesus' teaching but not in the same
way we are today. In Jesus' day, it was believed that good works and
piety were rewarded by God with worldly success, wealth and hopefully,
long life. Today we are more astonished by the implications that we –
who in the vast majority of the Western world – are very rich, should
give away what we have or risk not making it to heaven.
We reassure ourselves, somewhat uneasily, that Jesus does not mean
this but means instead that we do our duty by God and by Him in our
conduct, religious practices and by offering charitable donations,
volunteer or in other ways using our riches to help others in a
Christian sense of caring. This is indeed part of His message while
worldly success is clearly not.
Jesus is more interested in our hearts and where our faith, our hope,
our desires, our attention and time are. The world and our lives are
rich with opportunities to see God, know God, love God and speak God
to one another. Worldly riches distract us with fantasies of
fulfillment when the realty – the truth – is that God is our only
fulfillment. He means that by putting all aside and God first, the
reward is such fulfillment in God's daily presence that we become rich
with God's love which is then naturally fills and overflows into our
everyday. We not only do not need fantasies but we come to participate
more fully in the building of God's Kingdom.
Action
Take stock of where your desires most often draw you. Is it to things
or people that make you feel important? Is it to what "fills" a hollow
within you? Is it what makes you forget or tolerate that which is
hurtful, crushing, or defeating ? Or is it that which just feels too
good to be denied? Ask in prayer for the grace to recognize and put
aside that which stands between you and the Kingdom. Remember: for God
all things are possible.
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Topic: It's Not Fair August 17, 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/b0e8c40b3fd2ab05
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From: The Lighthouse Keeper <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Aug 17 02:57AM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/4f17ae6b74a358f4
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Colleen O'Sullivan
Jesus told the disciples this parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like
a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into
his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing
idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my
vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he
went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did
likewise. Going out about five o'clock, he found others standing
around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They
answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go
into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said
to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had
started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but
each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they
grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only
one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's
burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I
am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily
wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one
the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first,
and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:1-16)
Piety
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(Psalm 13:6)
Study
I wonder how long it took human beings to come up with the phrase
"it's not fair." It must have been early in our history, because
jealousy and resentment date back to Cain and Abel's day. Cain thought
God preferred his brother's sacrifice of a sheep to his own offering
of grain. Envy simmered for a while and then suddenly boiled over into
hatred, resulting in Cain murdering his brother.
We don't seem to have changed much over the centuries. We're still
taking our eyes off the Lord and his goodness toward us, checking out
everyone else's grass, often judging it greener than our own and then
complaining that "it's not fair." Certainly that's true of the workers
in today's parable. The ones hired in the morning couldn't believe
that those hired toward the end of the day received the same pay they
did after they had toiled all day long. Wait a minute, they protested.
It's not fair! If they had stayed focused on their reward from the
vineyard owner, they would have been perfectly happy. They were paid
what was promised. They had what they needed. But that little jealous
streak within them caused them to look around and compare. They
couldn't find it within themselves to rejoice at the good fortune of
the others. They couldn't stop thinking how unfair it was.
Jealousy and resentment are so ugly and so unnecessary. God has love
enough for all of us. God gives each of us all the love he has. God is
the ultimate parent and those of you who have children know that no
matter how many you are blessed with, you never run short on love for
any of them. Your heart expands as each one comes along. That's how
God's love is for us – abundant, overflowing and sufficient.
Personally, I'm glad God isn't fair, by our definition of the word.
I'd rather be showered with God's love, mercy and forgiveness than
treated fairly, or according to what I deserve. I know myself, my sins
and faults too well to ever wish God would be "fair."
Action
Do you ever find yourself jealous of or resentful toward someone else?
Spend a little time in prayer reflecting on God's love for you. Why
wish for what you don't have when you have what really matters?
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