Dedication of the Church readings

Hebrews 8:1-6
The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer. If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.

John 10:1-6
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

Prayer of the Faithful, vol.I
OPENING PRAYER
Lord, our God,
make us worthy of your dawn that does not pass away,
of your light that never dims, and of your eternal kingdom
with the saints,
who have labored in your vineyard from morning until night.
To you be glory, now and for ever.
Amen.

Saint of the Day:
Saint Mariam Baouardy (St. Mariam of Jesus Crucified) -The Lily of Palestine
Mystic, Stigmatic and Victim Soul (1846-1878); Saint Mariam Baouardy is known in religion as St Mariam of Jesus Crucified, was born in Ibillin, located in the hill country of upper Galilee, Palestine. Her family originated in Damascus, Syria. They were Catholics of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Rite, descendants of the Archeparchy of Antioch, the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.
Her father, Giries (George) Baouardy, came from Horfesch, Palestine; her mother, Mariam Chahine, came from Tarshish, Palestine.

Meditation:
Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.

The central idea of the Eastern Fathers was that of theosis, the divinization of all creatures, the transfiguration of the world, the idea of the cosmos and not the idea of personal salvation…Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world…The Kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the world, the universal resurrection, a new heaven and a new earth.

Victory over fear is the first spiritual duty of man.

Every moral act of love, of mercy, and of sacrifice brings to pass the end of the world where hatred, cruelty, and selfishness reign supreme.

Every single human soul has more meaning and value than the whole of history.

There is a tragic clash between Truth and the world. Pure undistorted truth burns up the world.
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was a Russian religious and political philosopher. Died: March 24, 1948