A Daily Guide to Living in Beatitude Menu Button

Thursday

< April 23, 2020 >

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.5

Daily Devotional:
The Holy Eucharist/Priesthood
Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Counsel—the gift that assists decision making and helps to guard against rashness; as an interior guide, it assists one to counsel others and to extend compassion to them.
Proclamation of Faith:
“I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
The Blessed Mother:
In imitation of the Blessed Mother after the passion, may we refrain from judging others. Mary’s example was an encouragement to the apostles.
Jesus:
In imitation of Jesus, may we treat all those we encounter with kindness.
Glorious Characteristic:
Quality—our bodies will be youthful and will retain our original gender. (Practice seeing all as a child of God.) (Rev 1:12-18)
Spiritual Work of Mercy:
Counsel the doubtful.
Corporal Work of Mercy:
Bury the dead.
Sacrament:
Holy Orders
Commandments:
  1. You shall not steal.
Thought for the Day:
Padre Pio: “Pray, hope and don’t worry.”

Today’s Reading

Feast Day of St. George

Saint George is the object of a vast amount of imagination. There is every reason to believe that he was a real martyr who suffered at Lydda in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. The Church adheres to his memory, but not to the legends surrounding his life. That he was willing to pay the supreme price to follow Christ is what the Church believes. And it is enough.
The story of George’s slaying the dragon, rescuing the king’s daughter, and converting Libya is a 12th-century Italian fable. George was a favorite patron saint of crusaders, as well as of Eastern soldiers in earlier times. He is a patron saint of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Catalonia, Genoa, and Venice.

Reflection

Human nature seems to crave more than cold historical data. Americans have Washington and Lincoln, but we somehow need Paul Bunyan, too. The life of Saint Francis of Assisi is inspiring enough, but for centuries the Italians have found his spirit in the legends of the Fioretti, too. Santa Claus is the popular extension of the spirit of Saint Nicholas. The legends about Saint George are part of this yearning. Both fact and legend are human ways of illumining the mysterious truth about the One who alone is holy.

St. George, pray for us.

Franciscan Media https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-george/

About Us

Mission

We could find no better way to describe the purpose of Daily Beatitude than the Prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1:

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

Content

We are called to live in beatitude. This contemplation is one designed to help us incorporate the beatitudes into our day. This work is not one of absolutes. It is just one way to incorporate the countenance of Jesus into each day. It is not the only way. View our rationale.

Each day a different beatitude is presented with several points of focus that provide meditation. An additional reading is included daily related to the beatitude or one of the points of focus. All readings are archived for your convenience.

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