November 14, 2014

Nov. 14

November 14, 2014:  Friday, 32nd week, Ordinary Time


  • 'Heart' tie bar: Let us love one another (1st reading); blessed those who seek God with all their heart (psalm)
  • 'Commandments' tie: Walk according to God's commandments (1st reading); Blessed they who follow the Lord's law (psalm)

 Listen
Actions speak louder than words, particularly in transmitting the faith to young people.  For them to experience truth and love, we must lead by example.  Christians have to take care of children and pass on the faith they live.  What's my attitude toward children?  One of brother, father, mother, sister, that helps them grow—or detached and distant?  We have a responsibility to give our best, our faith:  give it by example!  Words are pointless in today’s image-obsessed world where everyone has cell phones.  Baptism opens the door to Christian life, a lifetime of "walking in truth and love."  Know how to live this journey like Jesus did.  Pray to Jesus and Mary for help in this journey of truth and love.
Read
    Wordle: Readings 11-14-14
  • 2 Jn 4-9  Let us love one another:  walk according to his commandments.  Many deceivers have gone out; they don't acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.  Remain in the teaching of the Christ.

  • Ps 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18  "Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!"  With all my heart I seek you.  Open my eyes, that I may consider the wonders of your law.

  • Lk 17:26-37  “As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so too in the days of the Son of Man:  they were eating and drinking, then the flood came or fire and brimstone rained.  On the day the Son is revealed, don't go back to get what you left behind.  Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it....
Reflect
    • Creighton:  Jesus: “God's kingdom is among you.”  Be prepared, vigilant, and detached.  Be Christ to others; love them.  Am I focused on my relationship with Jesus?  What am I attached to that would hinder me from answering God’s call?
    • One Bread One Body:  "Spaced or graced?"  God in mercy brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin.  No need to be confused or deceived; we can walk in truth and be ready for Jesus' coming.
    • Passionist:  "Walk in truth" = Love one another + acknowledge God's saving love in Jesus.  Remember the 6 Jesuits and their 2 companions martyred in El Salvador 25 years ago; they loved God and their oppressed brothers and sisters to the end.  Ellacuria:  "You can't be for the reign of God unless you're also publicly and actively against the anti-reign" (Dear, "Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs," NCR 11-16-09).  The martyrs are blessed for their work for peace, justice, and integrity of creation.  How well have I loved others and walked in truth?
    • DailyScripture.net:  "Where the body is, there the eagles/vultures) will gather." Attracted to carrion (animal carcasses), they swoop down when their prey is vulnerable to a surprise attack. / Jesus' return is certain; we don't know the time. It'll be swift and unexpected; don't be caught off-guard.
    • Universalis:  St. Dyfrig (Dubric, Dubricius), monastery founder; seeWikipedia.  St. Laurenc O'Toole (Lorcán Ua Tuathail), bishop.
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    November 13, 2014

    Mother Cabrini

    November 13, 2014:  St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin


    • ♥ tie bar:  You've refreshed the saints' hearts....  I'm sending you Onesimus, my own heart, to you....  Refresh my heart in Christ. (1st reading) [♥ easier to see here]
    • 'Crowns' tie:  The Lord shall reign forever (psalm)
    • '[Owl with] eyes' tie pin:  The Lord gives sight to the blind (psalm); Some will tell you, "Look, there he is"... (gospel)
    • Green shirt:  Ordinary Time (season)
    Listen

    Pope Francis homily
    The Kingdom of God is a celebration, not a spectacle.  Celebrations like weddings are often transformed into spectacles where people seem more intent on being seen, but God's Kingdom is silent, growing inside through the Spirit and our willingness.  Only at the end of time will it be manifest in all its power.
    Think of the perseverance of Christians who care for children and elders and struggle with finances, but pray. There is the Kingdom hidden, in everyday holiness.  It's near, every day.  Even when Jesus describes his return in glory, he adds that first he must suffer and be rejected; even suffering, the cross of work, family, and doing good, is part of the Kingdom.
    Ask the Lord for the grace to nurture the Kingdom within you with prayer, worship, and service of charity, silently.  The Kingdom is humble, like a seed, but it becomes great by the power of the Spirit.  It's up to us to to let it grow in us without boasting:  let the Spirit come, change your soul, and carry you forward in silence, peace, and closeness to God, to others, in worship of God.
    Read
      "Lightning bolt"
      from today's readings
      Click to animate
    • Phlm 7-20  You've refreshed the holy ones' hearts.  I urge you on behalf of Onesimus; he was once useless to you but is now 'useful' to you and me.  I send him, my own heart, back to you.  Perhaps he was away from you so you could have him back forever, not as slave but beloved brother.  Welcome him, and if he owes you, charge me, though you owe me your very self.  Refresh my heart in Christ.
    • Ps 146:7-10  "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob."  The Lord secures justice, gives food to the hungry, frees captives, restores sight, loves the just, protects strangers, sustains the fatherless and widow, and shall reign forever.
    • Lk 17:20-25  “The coming of the Kingdom can't be observed; no one can announce, ‘Here it is.’  God's Kingdom is among you.  The day will come when you'll long to see a day of the Son of Man but won't see it.  Some will tell you, ‘Look, there!’ but don't run in pursuit, for as lightning lights the whole sky, so will the Son be in his day.  But first he must suffer and be rejected....”
    Reflect

      • Creighton:  Paul wants Philemon to see Onesimus with new eyes so they can have a new relationship.  Whom do I need to see with new eyes?
      • Passionist:  Onesimus was Philemon's slave.  Paul presents opportunities to forgive, be forgiven, and ask and show mercy and love.  May I be open to people God [re]sends into my life. / The gospel encourages us to persevere and hope amid suffering.
      • DailyScripture.net:  Jesus told the Pharisees the reign of God was already present and also would be manifested at the end of time.  Image of lightning and the sudden appearance of Christ on Judgment Day:  In arid Palestine, lightning would fill the sky with no warning and strike awe.  Jesus:  the "Son of Man" (Messiah; Dn 7:13-15) will come like that, and all will recognize him as clearly.  Jesus himself was the sign.  Is my hope in God and his Kingdom?
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      November 12, 2014

      Josaphat

      November 12, 2014:  St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr


      • 'Peace sign' tie bar: Be peaceable (1st reading)
      • 'Sheep' tie bar: The Lord is my Shepherd (psalm)
      • Red shirt: martyrdom of St. Josaphat
      • Green and blue in suspenders: verdant pastures, restful waters (psalm)
      • 'Stick figures' tie pin: ten lepers (gospel)
      • 'Country stamps' tie:  the one who returned to give thanks was a foreigner (gospel)
      Listen

      Gospel-inspired
      For the psalm
      The Lord continues to shepherd his flock with love through bishops, priests, and deacons.  They should be holy people of faith, kind, gentle, patient, prudent, and concerned for others, as all spiritual leaders should be.  They can't be authoritarian or call attention to themselves.  Only by acknowledging their ministry as God's gift can they serve with humility, generosity, wisdom, and compassion.  They must be able to learn, ask for help. and listen, even to those far from faith and the Church.  May our ordained ministers be sustained in their efforts to be living icons of the Father’s love and concern.
      Read
      • Ti 3:1-7  Be obedient, open to good, peaceable, considerate, and gracious.  We were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to pleasures, and hateful, but God's kindness and love appeared; he saved us through baptism and renewal by the Spirit so that we might become heirs in hope of eternal life.
        Wordle: Readings 11-12-14
      • Ps 23:1b-6  "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want."  You give me rest, refreshment, guidance, and courage.  I'll dwell in your house...
      • Lk 17:11-19  Ten lepers / Jesus:  (from a distance) “Have pity on us!” / “Show yourselves to the priests.”  They were cleansed.  One Samaritan, realizing it, returned to thank Jesus.  “Weren't ten cleansed?  Has only this foreigner returned to give thanks?  Go; your faith has saved you.”
      Reflect
        • Creighton:  Neither leprosy nor Jesus had borders.  Nine of the lepers are likely Jews who knew to show themselves to the priests (Lv 14:2-32).  Today's gospel is often used on Thanksgiving Day.
        • One Bread One Body:  The healed Samaritan leper, Mary of Bethany, and a woman known as a sinner all went to Jesus' feet.  We should throw ourselves at his feet and embrace, kiss, and perfume them, repenting of sin and praising God.
        • Passionist:  Did the healing distract "the other nine" from returning to Jesus?  The greatest gift we receive can be a source of weakness.  The life, strength, creative thinking, and particular gifts/talents God has entrusted to me can become means to forget or turn against God and others.  As Jesus gave himself, may we give our gifts to help others.
          St. Josaphat
        • DailyScripture.net:  It's rare that a Samaritan leper would be with the Jewish ones; did adversity bring them together?  They asked Jesus for mercy (vs. healing).  Mercy ("sorrowful at heart") is sorrow at another's misfortune but goes farther than empathy to remove suffering; the merciful share others' suffering as if it were theirs and do all they can to relieve it.  God's mercy brings healing of mind, heart, and body.  Gratitude is homage of the heart....  Do I express gratitude to God for his help and mercy?  Am I kind and merciful to others?
        • Universalis:  St. Josaphat, bishop, Ruthenian-Roman reconciler, martyr
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        November 11, 2014

        Martin of Tours

        November 11, 2014:  St. Martin of Tours, Bishop /  Veterans Day


        • 'Sheep' tie bar: "Would you say to your servant back from tending sheep..." (gospel)

        • 'Silverware' tie bar: 'Wait on me while I eat and drink.'" (gospel)

        • White shirt:  color of St. Martin's memorial

        • 'Flags, snowmen, and Christmas trees' tie:  honoring our veterans as winter and Christmas approach
        Listen
        (And don't forget music from Sunday and the surrounding days...)
        Pope Francis homily
        Resist temptations that distance us from service.  Instead, like Jesus, serve without asking for anything.  The parable of the unprofitable servant teaches us what Christian service means:  it's is total, following the example of Jesus who came to serve, not be served.  Christians who receive faith but don't carry it forward by serving lose strength and fertility and become Christians out for themselves, wasting things of the Lord.
        Laziness distances us from service; it makes us lukewarm and comfortable and leads to selfishness.  Many serve only to a point, but service means everything:  worship, prayer, praise, serving others, to the very end, asking nothing in return.  Be strong in this, like Jesus.
        Don't try to take control.  The Apostles distanced people so as not to disturb Jesus, so they could be at ease, taking control of the Lord's time and power to have him for themselves.  They turned service into a power structure, as James and John's mother asked Jesus to put her sons in positions of power, and it still happens when Christians try to be masters of the faith, the Kingdom, and Salvation—but the Lord speaks to us about serving with humility, hope, and joy.  Struggle against laziness, halfheartedness, control, and trying to becoming master (leading to arrogance, pride, treating people badly, feeling important...).  The Lord gives us humility so we can say, "We're unprofitable servants," and hope....
        Read
          Wordle: Readings 11-11-14
        • Ti 2:1-8, 11-14  Older men, be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance; older women, teach good, be reverent, not slanderers or addicts.  Be a model to the young, with integrity, dignity, and sound speech.  God's grace has appeared, saving us and training us to reject godless ways and to live temperately, and justly, awaiting the appearance of God' glory and our savior, who gave himself to deliver us and make us his own...
        • Ps 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29  "The salvation of the just comes from the Lord."  Trust in the Lord and do good.  Take delight in the Lord, and he will grant you your heart’s requests.  The Lord watches over the wholehearted and makes their steps firm....
          Mulberry tree
        • Lk 17:7-10  “Would you say to your servant back from work in the field, ‘Come take your place at table,’ or ‘Make something for me to eat, wait on me, and eat when I'm finished'?  When you've done what's been commanded, say, 'We're unprofitable servants; we've done our duty.’”
        Reflect
          • Creighton:  We so value youth, we often pooh-pooh our elders'  experience.  Some youths may not honor their elders because the elders haven't earned their respect.  If we want youths to be self-controlled, we need to set good examples.  The devil waits for us to shame and discredit each other.  To model virtue, we need to trust God and uplift each other.  We can’t model godly lives without God's grace.  Jesus makes us eager to do good.  Share your experience of trusting God during your struggles with someone younger who's struggling. 
          • One Bread One Body:  "Streetcar named Desire":  Worldly desires can deform us and rob us of life.  Be free in the Spirit, not enslaved by worldly desires.
          • Passionist:  The gospel can rub us the wrong way:  don't you reward faithful and hard work with a bonus or at least a compliment?  ("I can live for two months on a compliment."  —Twain)  But the master gives the servant more work, not appreciation.  We can't put God in our debt; we have no claim.  When we do our best, it's what we're supposed to do as disciples.  There's work to be done....
          St. Martin of Tours
          • DailyScripture.net:  Are you ready to give God your best at any cost?  Who can satisfy the claims of love?  God doesn't owe us anything but is ready to work in and through us; his love compels us to give our best.  We must regard ourselves as servants; service of God and others is both a voluntary, free act and a sacred duty.  True love is sacrificial, generous, and selfless.  We can never outdo God's goodness or love.
          • Universalis:  St. Martin of Tours monk, bishop of Tours, good shepherd, monastery founder.

          Special greetings to and prayers for
          the community at
          St. Martin of Tours Parish and School!

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          November 10, 2014

          Leo the Great

          November 10, 2014:  St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor


          • 'Faces around the earth' tie:  Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.  The earth is the Lord's (psalm) [New, thanks to my wife's keen eye and SOS/Share Our Selves Thrift Shop in Glendale; watch for more from her find.]
          • 'Stone' tie pin:  Better for one that a millstone be put around his neck than he causes little ones to sin (gospel)
          • 'Tree' pin: If you had mustard seed-sized faith, you'd tell the tree to move and it would (gospel)
          • White shirt:  color of St. Leo memorial
          Listen
          Roamin' Catholic report:  music for Saturday's wedding
          *: Assembly can sing.  Similarly, at Friday's funeral, all the assembly could sing were the Alleluia, Holy, Mystery of Faith, and Amen (same as above).  All music ministry members were in the loft (with organ), and there was no cantor.  I'm a big proponent of choosing more music the assembly can sing and having an 
          animator they can see and hear to encourage them, but maybe funerals and weddings really are times for more listening and less singing, especially if that's how the attendees are so inclined??  What do you think?  Please comment below!
          More Roamin' Catholic reports
          Pope Francis homily
          Scandal:  Christ:  "Woe to those who scandalize."   Paul to Titus:  priests should be irreprehensible, the antithesis of scandal; so should every Christian.  Scandal is professing Christian life but living like a pagan.  There's no witness, since we profess faith by how we live.  People say, "I don't go to church; I'd rather be honest than be like that person who goes then does this...."  Scandal destroys faith, and we're all capable of it!
          Wordle: Readings 11-10-14Forgiveness:  Instead, forgive, forever as Jesus invites.  Christians who can't forgive cause scandal.  We have to forgive, because we've been forgiven; Jesus taught that in the Lord's Prayer.  Human logic leads us to revenge, hate, and division, not forgiveness.  So many families break up because they can't forgive!  If I don't forgive, I don't understand God's forgiveness or have the right to be forgiven.
          Faith:  When the disciples heard this, they asked, "Increase our faith."  Without the light faith—in a merciful Father, a Son who gave himself for us, a Spirit in us helping us grow, and the Church, God's people—you can't forgive or live without scandal.  The disciples ask for faith because they know it's a gift.
          Read
          • Ti 1:1-9  Titus, I left you so that you might set right what remained to be done and appoint presbyters:  blameless, married only once, with believing children not licentious or rebellious.  A bishop must be blameless, not arrogant, irritable, aggressive, greedy, or a drunkard, but hospitable, good, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message, both to exhort and to refute opponents.
          • Ps 24:1b-4ab, 5-6  "Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face."  The Lord’s are the world and those who dwell in it.  Those with clean hearts, God will reward.
          • Lk 17:1-6  “Better for you to have a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause little ones to sin.  Rebuke sinners; forgive those who repent.  If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you'd say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey.”
          Reflect
            • Creighton:  Forgiveness identifies Jesus' disciples more than any other behavior; Jesus models it perfectly and demanded it intensely.  If you meet the 1st reading's requirements, it's likely you're forgiving.  Forgiveness is the way to dialogue, discernment, and peace.  Refusing forgiveness threatens our compassion, peace, and virtue.  From whom do I need to seek forgiveness?  Whom do I need to forgive?  Pope Leo is known for meeting Attila the Hun and his warriors and turning them from their destructive plans.  Let's face our internal warriors of anger, bitterness, or revenge, and count on Christ’s mercy to dispel them so we may be forgiving and forgiven.
            • Passionist:  Paul's list of qualifications for bishop should apply to us all.  Are we humble, hospitable, just, holy, self-controlled models of discipleship?
              St. Leo Magnus
              Francisco de Herrera el Mozo
            • DailyScripture.net:  Jesus speaks of two forces:  temptation and faith. The Greek for temptation (scandalon) is like our 'scandal,' originally meaning trap or stumbling block....  Jews held that teaching others to sin was unforgivable; Jesus commanded to not give bad example or lead others into sin.  Faith can overcome obstacles, and the Spirit helps us grow in faith.
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            November 9, 2014

            Lateran Basilica Dedication

            November 9, 2014:  Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

            Lateran basilica's papal cathedra
            Basilica's façade

            Listen

            For 1st reading and psalm
            For 2nd reading / today's feast
            From Handel's Messiah (for gospel's temple purification)
            More on Ed Bolduc's Setting the tone blog including songs by Angotti, Angrisano, Baloche, Bolduc, Hart...
            Look
            • 'Fish' tie pin:  Where the river flows, it teems with every living creature; fish will abound... (1st reading)
            • 'Angel' pin:  The angel brought me to the temple entrance (1st reading)
            • Blue shirt:  flowing water (1st reading, psalm)
            • 'Buildings with people' tie:  church dedication, "You are God's building" (2nd reading)
            • 'Rock' tie pin:  Christ, cornerstone/foundation of the Church (2nd reading)
            • 'No excuses sign' button:  "What sign can you show?" (gospel)
            Pope Francis Angelus

            Where there are walls, there are closed hearts. We need bridges, not walls!  The Berlin Wall fell suddenly [25 years ago today], but the efforts of many (including Pope St. John Paul II) who fought, prayed, suffered, and sacrificed for it made it possible.  May everyone spread a culture of encounter and bring down walls that divide the world.  May there be no more killing and persecution of the innocent.
            The Lateran Basilica is the cathedral of Rome, the "mother of all churches."  When we celebrate a church dedication, we recall that temples made of bricks are signs of a Church alive and active, a "spiritual temple" of people sanctified by Christ's blood.  The Spirit asks each of us to take a journey of Christian witness.  May the communion of the Churches encourage us to build bridges of understanding, dialogue, and reconciliation.
            Read

            • Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12  Water flows out of the temple.  Where the river flows, creatures live, the sea is made fresh, and fruit trees grow and bear fruit.
            • Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9  "The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!"  God is our refuge and help; we're not afraid.  The Lord our stronghold is with us.  Behold God's astounding deeds!
              Wordle: Readings 11-9-14
            • 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17  You're God’s building.  I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.  Be careful how you build; don't lay a foundation other than Christ.  You're God's holy temple, and God's Spirit dwells in you.  If you destroy it, God will destroy you.

            • Jn 2:13-22  Jesus, finding animal-sellers and money-changers and in the temple, drove them out with a whip, spilled the coins, and overturned the tables:  “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”  Jews / Jesus:  “What sign can you show?” / “Destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it.” / “It took 46 years, and you need only 3 days?”  But he was speaking about his Body.  When he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered this and came to believe...
            Reflect
              • Creighton:  Paul:  God dwells not primarily in building but people.  Paul was chosen as master builder to preach Christ the foundation.  The community becomes God's building, sharing in Christ's holiness.  Gospel:  “I'll raise up the Temple.”  Jesus risen ends the order of temple worship.  As water from the temple revived plant and animal life, God’s Spirit transforms every area of life.
              • One Bread One Body:  "Inspect your church's foundation":  Jesus began the Church with apostles who in turn formed small communities.  Some 300 years later, the Lateran basilica was dedicated.  We have many church buildings but broken community.  We need to let the Spirit renew Christian community among us.
              • Passionist:  When unfaithful Israel was in exile, they longed to be in the courts of the Lord, but God had left the temple!  Ezekiel prophesies a new temple and new Jerusalem with lifegiving water flowing from it.  All are now invited to the Cathedral of Rome, the Church of Pope Francis, a place of welcome and peace with doors opened out into the world.  Its baptismal font inscription:  "No barrier between those reborn and made one by the one font, the one Spirit, and the one faith..."
              • DailyScripture.net:  What keeps us from God's presence?  Jesus' cleansing of the temple is a sign that he wants to cleanse us to make us living temples of his Spirit.  Malachi prophesied the Lord would come to his Temple to "purify and refine" (Mal 3:1-4).  The disciples saw Jesus as the Messiah who burned with zeal for God's house (Ps 69:10).  Do I burn with zeal?
              • Universalis:  Constantine built the Lateran basilica, “mother and head of all the churches of the World,” on Lateran Hill.
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                November 8, 2014

                Nov. 8

                November 8, 2014:  Saturday, 31st week, Ordinary Time
                • 'Horns' tie:  The 'horn' of the just shall be exalted (psalm)
                • 'Penny pincher' button:  You can't serve God and mammon (gospel)
                • 'Heart' tie bar:  God knows your hearts (gospel)





                 Listen
                He's not heeding today's gospel!

                Pope Francis

                To Focolare:  We need to act as brothers and sisters, so everyone can recognize we belong to Christ.  Christians are challenged:  many aren't free to express and live their faith publicly, and many are persecuted.  These and other challenges are a call to commitment, perseverance, and patience, leading to to unity, witness, confidence, and courage.
                To adult scouts:  Continue on the path of family, care of creation, and the city, contribute to the common good, and train to be good missionary disciples of the Lord Jesus.
                Read

                • Phil 4:10-19 I've learned to be self-sufficient:  how to live in need or with abundance, well fed or hungry, strong through Christ for everything.  Only you gave to me at the beginning; your gift to me earns you interest.  God will supply what you need from his riches in Christ Jesus.
                  Wordle: Readings 11-8-14
                • Ps 112:1b-2, 5-6, 8a, 9 "Blessed those who fear the Lord," delight in his commands, conduct themselves with justice, and give generously to the poor.  They'll be remembered and exalted.
                • Lk 16:9-15  “One trustworthy or dishonest in small matters is the same in great ones.  No servant can serve two masters; you can't serve God and mammon.”  (to sneering Pharisees:)  “You justify yourselves in others' sight, but God knows your hearts.”
                Reflect
                  • Creighton:  Paul thanks his friends for their concern and money, emphasizing their growth through generous sharing.  Wealth can be a blessing or burden; Jesus warns about making it a life goal.  May we share our wealth, not become attached to it.
                  • One Bread One Body:  "Trustees":  Some lose trust in God because they're disillusioned by Christians who aren't trustworthy.  May we trust God with all our heart and ourselves be trustworthy.
                  • DailyScripture.net:  Generous giving is connected with almsgiving.  Rabbis said, "The rich help the poor in this world, but the poor help the rich in the world to come."  God rewards those who help the needy from the heart.  Generosity enriches the giver.  We can't outmatch the generosity of God who gave us Jesus, the Spirit, and all we have.  What controls/rules my life?  May we be possessed by God's love (vs. 'mammon':  material wealth...).
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