“Keep close to the Catholic Church at all times, for the Church alone can give you true peace, since she alone possesses Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, in the Blessed Sacrament.”
“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.”
“The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self: there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.”
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us!
Yom Kippur begins at sundown today.
Prayers for our Jewish brothers and sisters for their conversion to Adonai and the forgiveness of sin.
Today’s liturgical memorial highlights an important aspect of putting oneself under God’s authority and how everything is not as expected. Most people believe that they should be assigned roles in the community of faith (or any other community for that matter) based on experience and training. Sound sensible? Well, not according Jesus. What we see in Jesus certain ministerial arrangements of the Twelve Apostles and their talents we not as expected. Saint Matthew’s experience of managing money (he was a former tax collector) was not used. Jesus appointed Judas, not Saint Matthew, to be in charge of the money. How often this happens in the ministry of the Church! Bishops and religious superiors often ask their subjects to things that they may not have been trained for, or even have the desire to do. Clearly this is a helpful lesson to all tempted to be troubled over how they aren’t used as they should be (humanly speaking)!
What does the feast of Saint Matthew mean for the Church? This feast of Matthew indicates that if we say we place our lives into the hands of God, then we need to expect the unexpected and trust that Someone greater than ourselves may have a deeper insight into our humanity than we have for ourselves. Christ is the Divine Being who knows us better than we know ourselves! Think of Psalm 139. How freeing it can be if we allow the Lord to take the lead and truly guide our hearts and minds and hands for His greater glory and not our own! I think it is a beautiful experience to allow God’s grace to open a new vista of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord who comes to offer new life (a new ministry?) through another person so that the default answer to a question of Christian life is positive rather than the typical negative. Saint Matthew’s experience in the very early community of faith is very instructive for us who believe that we are our own measures. Can you imagine abundance? Can you imagine doing something new and exciting that you’ve never thought of before now?
Friday is a day to recall the Signum Crucis –the sign of the Cross. I am aware that some are not comfortable with crossing one’s self in public for being self-conscious. It is, however, good public witness! We ought not be ashamed of making the sign of the Cross! To be ashamed of the sign of His Cross is to be ashamed of Him!
“Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ; but though another hide it, do thou openly seal it upon thy forehead, that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far away. Make then this sign at eating and drinking, at sitting, at lying down, at rising up, at speaking, at walking: in a word, at every act.” – St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem A.D. 386
The Holy Father will be in the USA next week and one of the significant parts of the pilgrimage in Washington will be the canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra (1713-1784 ). Serra is our latest saint in the Church, and in the USA yet he is little-known. The Academy of American Franciscan history has prepared a video to introduce the life and work of this Franciscan friar.
Watch at: https://vimeo.com/139092716.
I saw this post on FB today and thought about the various ways in which the Church “houses” the Eucharistic species of the Lord. To say that there is but one way to think liturgically and theologically is limited.
What you is an “Eucharistic Box or Reliquary,” made of silver, traces of niello in the early 5th century in Kurin, Syria.
“The celebration of the Divine Liturgy is one of the most important ceremonies in the Christian Church. This reliquary is part of a silver service, that is one of only four to survive from the first “golden age” of Byzantium (6th century). This silver service was found in Syria in 1910, in the village of Kurin. The Greek form of its name, Kaper Koraon, is inscribed on several pieces in the treasure, including a chalice, which reads: “…treasure of the Church of St. Sergios of the village of Kaper Koraon.” Almost all of the vessels record the names of donors who gave pieces from their private dinner services in fulfillment of a vow, to gain divine blessing, or in prayer for salvation.”
On this liturgical memorial of Our Lady, perhaps it is a good time to introduce the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) of Mary. This method of praying the rosary follows events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary that are a popular devotion. Meditated prayerfully on are:
1. The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35) or the Circumcision of Jesus
2. The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
3. The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43–45)
4. Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary.
5. Jesus dies on the cross. (John 19:25)
6. The piercing of the side of Jesus, and Mary’s receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57–59)
7. The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (John 19:40–42)
From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot:
The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.
Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus—who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours—gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.
Or were those words, Woman, behold your Son, not more than a word to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of iron and stone though they are!
Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.
Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that he would not die?” Undoubtedly. “Did she not expect him to rise again at once?” Surely. “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary’s Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.
RESPONSORY
When they came to a place called Calvary, they crucified Jesus there.
– His mother stood beside the cross.
A sword of sorrows pierced her blameless heart.
– His mother stood beside the cross.
O God, who willed
that, when your Son was lifted high on the Cross,
his Mother should stand close by and share his suffering,
grant that your Church,
participating with the Virgin Mary in the Passion of Christ,
may merit a share in his Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.
O Cross our one reliance hail!
So may thy power with us avail
To give new virtue to the Saint,
And pardon to the penitent.
Beginning today you can take the new papal train from the Vatican City State to the Pontifical Villas at Castel Gandolfo just south of Rome.
The service is offered by the Vatican Museums and available only on Saturdays for 40 euros per round trip.
A “Full Day in the Vatican” is Vatican train service bringing guests to places not frequently seen until now; the Vatican Museums organize the excursion and offer audio-guides in Italian, English, and Spanish. Check with the Vatican Museum.