#CharlesOngole

READING 1

Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63

The word of the LORD came to me:

Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.

Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:

By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan;

your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut;

you were neither washed with water nor anointed,

nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.

No one looked on you with pity or compassion

to do any of these things for you.

Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome,

the day you were born.

Then I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood.

I said to you: Live in your blood and grow like a plant in the field.

You grew and developed, you came to the age of puberty;

your breasts were formed, your hair had grown,

but you were still stark naked.

Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love.

So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness;

I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you;

you became mine, says the Lord GOD.

Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood,

and anointed you with oil.

I clothed you with an embroidered gown,

put sandals of fine leather on your feet;

I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear.

I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms,

a necklace about your neck, a ring in your nose,

pendants in your ears, and a glorious diadem upon your head.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver;

your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.

Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food.

You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.

You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfect as it was,

because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you,

says the Lord GOD.

But you were captivated by your own beauty,

you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,

and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,

whose own you became.

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,

and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,

that you may remember and be covered with confusion,

and that you may be utterly silenced for shame

when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.

Or:

Ezekiel 16:59-63

Thus says the LORD:

I will deal with you according to what you have done,

you who despised your oath, breaking a covenant.

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,

and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you.

Then you shall remember your conduct and be ashamed

when I take your sisters, those older and younger than you,

and give them to you as daughters,

even though I am not bound by my covenant with you.

For I will re-establish my covenant with you,

that you may know that I am the LORD,

that you may remember and be covered with confusion,

and that you may be utterly silenced for shame

when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

R. (1c) You have turned from your anger.

God indeed is my savior;

I am confident and unafraid.

My strength and my courage is the LORD,

and he has been my savior.

With joy you will draw water

at the fountain of salvation.

R. You have turned from your anger.

Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;

among the nations make known his deeds,

proclaim how exalted is his name.

R. You have turned from your anger.

Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;

let this be known throughout all the earth.

Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,

for great in your midst

is the Holy One of Israel!

R. You have turned from your anger.

ALLELUIA

See 1 Thessalonians 2:13

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Receive the word of God, not as the word of men,

but, as it truly is, the word of God.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 19:3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,

"Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?"

He said in reply, "Have you not read that from the beginning

the Creator made them male and female and said,

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?

So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate."

They said to him, "Then why did Moses command

that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?"

He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts

Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,

but from the beginning it was not so.

I say to you, whoever divorces his wife

(unless the marriage is unlawful)

and marries another commits adultery."

His disciples said to him,

"If that is the case of a man with his wife,

it is better not to marry."

He answered, "Not all can accept this word,

but only those to whom that is granted.

Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;

some, because they were made so by others;

some, because they have renounced marriage

for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.

Whoever can accept this ought to accept it."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

On this memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, I come before God with gratitude and humility. He is the God who sees the abandoned, lifts up the lowly, and clothes his people with dignity and grace. In Ezekiel, God reminds me that before I could offer Him anything, he was already loving me, already claiming me, already calling me to life.Lord, help me never to forget that every blessing I have is a gift from your hand.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe shows me what love can become when it is fully given to God. He loved with courage, even in suffering, and he did not hold back when another life was at stake.Lord, pray for me that I may love with that same freedom of heart. When I am tempted toward comfort, self-protection, or distraction, draw me back to the way of sacrifice, mercy, and trust.

As I remember my recent trip to the Dominican Republic and my service with ILAC, I thank God for the privilege of encountering his people in new and meaningful ways.Lord, open my eyes to see you in every person I meet, especially in those who are overlooked, burdened, or in need of hope. Let my presence be gentle, my service be sincere, and my heart remain attentive to the dignity you have placed in every human life. Teach me to recognize that mission and service is not only what I do, but how I love.

Your word also speaks to my marriage, Lord, especially as I look toward the thirty-fourth anniversary of marriage with my husband this month. Thank you for the gift of this covenant, for the grace that has carried us through joy and struggle, and for the quiet fidelity that has sustained us over the years. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that what you have joined together is holy, and that truth gives me peace. Keep teaching us how to love with patience, forgiveness, tenderness, and endurance.

Lord, make my life a living yes to your covenant. Let me remember your goodness, praise you with joy, serve others with compassion, and cherish the sacred bond of marriage as a sign of your faithful love. Through the intercession of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, help me to live each day with a heart that is grateful, generous, and surrendered to you. Amen.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe

(January 8, 1894 – August 14, 1941)

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s Story

“I don’t know what’s going to become of you!” How many parents have said that? Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s reaction was, “I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to me. She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red. She asked if I would like to have them—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom. I said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.” After that he was not the same.

He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lvív–then Poland, now Ukraine—near his birthplace, and at 16 became a novice. Though Maximilian later achieved doctorates in philosophy and theology, he was deeply interested in science, even drawing plans for rocket ships.

Ordained at 24, Maximilian Mary Kolbe saw religious indifference as the deadliest poison of the day. His mission was to combat it. He had already founded the Militia of the Immaculata, whose aim was to fight evil with the witness of the good life, prayer, work, and suffering. He dreamed of and then foundedKnight of the Immaculata,a religious magazine under Mary’s protection to preach the Good News to all nations.

For the work of publication he established a “City of the Immaculata”—Niepokalanow—which housed 700 of his Franciscan brothers. He later founded another one in Nagasaki, Japan. Both the Militia and the magazine ultimately reached the one-million mark in members and subscribers. His love of God was daily filtered through devotion to Mary.

In 1939, the Nazi panzers overran Poland with deadly speed. Niepokalanow was severely bombed. Kolbe and his friars were arrested, then released in less than three months, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In 1941, Maximilian Mary Kolbe was arrested again. The Nazis’ purpose was to liquidate the select ones, the leaders. The end came quickly, three months later in Auschwitz, after terrible beatings and humiliations.

A prisoner had escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would die. He relished walking along the ranks. “This one. That one.”

As they were being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from the line.

“I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.”

“Who are you?”

“A priest.”

No name, no mention of fame. Silence. The commandant, dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of history, kicked Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Fr. Kolbe to go with the nine. In the “block of death” they were ordered to strip naked, and their slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming—the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption, four were left alive.

The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with all the others. Maximilian Mary Kolbe was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.

REFLECTION

Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to God. And his beloved Immaculata was his inspiration. May we mirror his bravery and his unblemished love for God as we navigate our own faith journeys.

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe is a Patron Saint of:

Addicts

Recovery from drug addiction

**

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS 📚 COMMUNITY

READING 1

Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21

Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth!

a man of strife and contention to all the land!

I neither borrow nor lend,

yet all curse me.

When I found your words, I devoured them;

they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,

Because I bore your name,

O LORD, God of hosts.

I did not sit celebrating

in the circle of merrymakers;

Under the weight of your hand I sat alone

because you filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain continuous,

my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?

You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook,

whose waters do not abide!

Thus the LORD answered me:

If you repent, so that I restore you,

in my presence you shall stand;

If you bring forth the precious without the vile,

you shall be my mouthpiece.

Then it shall be they who turn to you,

and you shall not turn to them;

And I will make you toward this people

a solid wall of brass.

Though they fight against you,

they shall not prevail,

For I am with you,

to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.

I will free you from the hand of the wicked,

and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18

R. (17d) God is my refuge on the day of distress.

Rescue me from my enemies, O my God;

from my adversaries defend me.

Rescue me from evildoers;

from bloodthirsty men save me.

R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.

For behold, they lie in wait for my life;

mighty men come together against me,

Not for any offense or sin of mine, O LORD.

R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.

O my strength! for you I watch;

for you, O God, are my stronghold,

As for my God, may his mercy go before me;

may he show me the fall of my foes.

R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.

But I will sing of your strength

and revel at dawn in your mercy;

You have been my stronghold,

my refuge in the day of distress.

R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.

O my strength! your praise will I sing;

for you, O God, are my stronghold,

my merciful God!

R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.

ALLELUIA

John 8:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;

whoever follows me will have the light of life.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

John 11:19-27

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary

to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,

she went to meet him;

but Mary sat at home.

Martha said to Jesus,

“Lord, if you had been here,

my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,

God will give you.”

Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise.”

Martha said to him,

“I know he will rise,

in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus told her,

“I am the resurrection and the life;

whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,

and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.

I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,

the one who is coming into the world.”

or

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village

where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.

She had a sister named Mary

who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,

“Lord, do you not care

that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?

Tell her to help me.”

The Lord said to her in reply,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.

There is need of only one thing.

Mary has chosen the better part

and it will not be taken from her.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Imagine how Martha felt as she heard, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” Did Martha hear a rebuke, or that she was not living up to Jesus’ expectations? Did she wonder if Jesus loved her as much as He loved Mary?

Reflecting on this passage, I do not hear a rebuke, or that we are not good enough to be in Jesus’ presence, just the way we are. I hear a concerned friend expressing a desire for Martha’s (and our) good. “If you do not slow down, you could make yourself physically and emotionally sick. You do not need to take responsibility for everything. Anxiety and tension drain you of what is life-giving. It is important to restore your body, mind, and soul by resting with me.”

Jesus understands our reality, navigating the tension of an imperfect world while longing for peace and tranquility. He knows there are times when the challenges we face can become overwhelming, too big or too messy for us to resolve, and yet so frustrating that we lose sleep worrying. Jesus sympathizes with our daydreams of escaping to a place where there is no discord, unfairness, and endless “To Do” lists, believing such a utopia will leave us with plenty of time to sit at His feet.

Is life about waiting for the time when we will cease to struggle or about embracing each day just as it is? Do we need to disengage from our families, ministry(s), jobs, and civic responsibilities to find peace? Is there a way to accept the really difficult situations we encounter and acknowledge that the different spheres of our lives involve both joy and struggles? Fortunately, we always have the Advocate (Holy Spirit), who accompanies us every day, and the teaching of St. Ignatius, which offers an affirming way to approach the complexities of human life.

In the Ignatian tradition, Jesus’ words to Martha are at the heart of the Principle and Foundation: we are created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and everything else in our lives exists to help us toward that end. When responsibilities, fears, or other distractions begin to pull us away from that purpose, Ignatius calls these disordered attachments—not “bad things,” but good things that have taken precedence over our relationship with God. Martha’s anxiety is not a failure to live up to Jesus’ expectations; it is the human experience of what happens when we overextend ourselves, or we become discouraged and feel hopeless as we witness the injustices of this world. Jesus’ gentle naming of her negative emotions is an invitation to seek interior freedom and ask for the grace to let go of what drains life. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Release your grip on your worries and concerns. You do not need to control outcomes. You have only one responsibility. That is, to hold everything lightly so there is room in your heart to trust me. Recall that everything in existence is already in my Father’s loving hands.”

When we notice anxiety rising, we can pause, breathe, and ask God for the grace to reorder our desires so that even in the midst of the chaos our focus is on the One Thing necessary. In this way, “sitting with Jesus” becomes less about retreating from life and more about redirecting our interior to the One who loves us unconditionally. Whether we are a Mary or a Martha, Jesus assures us the “best part” or our “life’s purpose” is our relationship with God, which cannot be taken from us.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

(c. 1st century)

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus’ story

Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. He came to their home simply as a welcomed guest, rather than as one celebrating the conversion of a sinner like Zacchaeus or one unceremoniously received by a suspicious Pharisee. The sisters felt free to call on Jesus at their brother’s death, even though a return to Judea at that time seemed to spell almost certain death.

Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death. “Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’” (John 11:25-27).

No doubt Martha was an active sort of person. On one occasion, she prepares the meal for Jesus and possibly his fellow guests and forthrightly states the obvious: All hands should pitch in to help with the dinner. The Lord recognizes that Martha is “worried about many things,” also noting that Mary, who has spent the preparation time at Jesus’ feet listening to his words “has chosen the better part.” John 12:1-8 describes Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet at Bethany, an act which he praised highly.

Immediately after we are told that the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus “because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.” Lazarus was the one of whom the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.” In their sight Jesus raised his friend from the dead.

Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters, and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.

It is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.

REFLECTION

In its 2021 decree on combining veneration of Mary and Lazarus with Martha, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments said, “In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death.”

Saint Martha is a Patron Saint of:

Cooks

Homemakers

Restaurant servers

Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are Patron Saints of:

Siblings

***

#Charles Ongole John

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS 📚 COMMUNITY

READING 1

Jeremiah 14:17-22

Let my eyes stream with tears

day and night, without rest,

Over the great destruction which overwhelms

the virgin daughter of my people,

over her incurable wound.

If I walk out into the field,

look! those slain by the sword;

If I enter the city,

look! those consumed by hunger.

Even the prophet and the priest

forage in a land they know not.

Have you cast Judah off completely?

Is Zion loathsome to you?

Why have you struck us a blow

that cannot be healed?

We wait for peace, to no avail;

for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.

We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,

the guilt of our fathers;

that we have sinned against you.

For your name's sake spurn us not,

disgrace not the throne of your glory;

remember your covenant with us, and break it not.

Among the nations' idols is there any that gives rain?

Or can the mere heavens send showers?

Is it not you alone, O LORD,

our God, to whom we look?

You alone have done all these things.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13

R. (9) For the glory of your

name, O Lord, deliver us.

Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;

may your compassion quickly come to us,

for we are brought very low.

R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

Help us, O God our savior,

because of the glory of your name;

Deliver us and pardon our sins

for your name's sake.

R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

Let the prisoners' sighing come before you;

with your great power free those doomed to death.

Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,

will give thanks to you forever;

through all generations we will declare your praise.

R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

ALLELUIA

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;

all who come to him will live for ever.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the Evil One,

and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels,

and they will collect out of his Kingdom

all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the Kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Today’s readings remind us of our utter and complete dependence upon the mercy and goodness of God. The prophet Jeremiah writes with tear-filled eyes, pouring out his heart to God and asking uncomfortable questions: Have we been cast away from you, God? Are we loathsome (because of our sins)? Are we beyond healing (or redemption)? These questions emerge from a heart overwhelmed by pain and fearful of rejection based on a sober assessment of their spiritual condition. But Jeremiah does not stop there. He continues with other questions, seemingly rhetorical, which confirm that neither idols nor even the “mere heavens” (i.e., the created world apart from God) could sustain them. Taken together, all these questions translate into a cry for mercy from one cognizant of his own needs and the needs of his people.

Matthew’s gospel contains a rare interpretation of a parable. When Jesus taught in parables, he typically required the listeners to ponder the stories on their own.  (See Mt. 13: 13-14, 34-35). Here, the parable of the weeds among the wheat seemingly shows the patience of the Master of the field, who did not want the workers to pull the weeds prematurely lest they uproot the good wheat, too. However, Jesus chose to emphasize the end of the growing process, when weeds are collected and burned and the harvest of good seed is gathered in. 

As a farmer, I understand the image of collecting and burning weeds to prevent their seed from being established. We do this with thistles and other noxious plants, which might otherwise gain a foothold among the grass, clover, and alfalfa we grow for our cattle. If weeds become too extensive, the field must be tilled and replanted in order to eradicate the weed population. But of course, this also eradicates the good plants along with them. Even modern chemistry is not foolproof on selecting weeds from desirable plants.

Weeds remind us of the curse that befell our ancestor Adam. They exemplify sin that corrupts and harms. Sin is so pervasive in our world; even within ourselves. As the hospital for sinners, even the church is not safe from these effects. Saint Augustine saw the church as containing weeds and wheat, too. His greatest concern for new converts was not the influence of the pagan world, but the influence of bad Christians! So we can all read this parable and Jesus’ explanation of the final judgment with a little uneasiness. We know that without the grace of God, none of us can produce a harvest worthy of being gathered in by the Master. Moreover, we are all liable to being choked out by weeds. God forbid that we might be weeds rather than good plants; recall that the weeds were sown by the enemy, not by the Master!

But there is more to this story. Fortunately, there is an end to history. We are not abandoned to an endless cycle of struggling with evil; that struggle (within and outside) continues only for a time. God is in control of the harvest and the fire. While part of me reacts sometimes like Jeremiah, fearful of rejection, I am also drawn with confidence to the mercy and love of God, who demonstrated His love for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Although Jesus is the sower, he is also the seed who died and brought forth new life in us, and through Him alone we are allowed to bear fruit. Like the Psalmist, we cry out for our redemption and look forward to giving thanks together, as one people, freed forever from the power of evil and curse of death by God’s great love

SAINT OF THE DAY

Blessed Stanley Rother

(March 27, 1935 – July 28, 1981)

Blessed Stanley Rother’s Story

On May 25, 1963, Stanley Francis Rother, a farmer’s son from Okarche, Oklahoma, was ordained for his home diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa. Having flunked out of the area seminary due to his difficulty with Latin, Fr. Rother finally accepted an invitation to attend Mount St. Mary Seminary in Maryland, where he finished his studies and was approved for ordination.

After serving in his local diocese for five years, Fr. Stanley Rother joined five priests, three religious sisters, and three laypersons to staff a Guatemalan mission in Santiago Atitlán serving the Tz’utujil people. The Oklahoma City diocese heard the call of Pope John XXIII to send missionaries to foreign lands, especially Central America. These twelve individuals felt the call, and with their bishop’s approval, left the comforts of the United States to live and work in Guatemala.

By 1975, Fr. Stanley Rother was alone at his parish in Santiago Atitlán, the others having returned home for various reasons. He served the Tz’utujil people for 13 years and won their hearts and souls. Ever the farmer, and always unpretentious and mild mannered, Fr. Rother experimented with various crops as well as fulfilling his heavy pastoral duties which included as many as five Masses in four different locations on a given Sunday and as many as 1,000 baptisms a year.

Guatemala’s civil war reached the highlands and Lake Atitlán by 1980. Government troops camped on the parish farm and Fr. Rother witnessed the assassination of a number of his parishioners, including the parish deacon.

Warned of imminent danger, Fr. Rother returned to the United States for three months early in 1981, to visit with his family and friends. Against the advice of his family and the local bishop, Fr. Stanley Rother returned to Atitlán to be with his people. He remembered a Sisters’ community who had fled the country and later tried to return but the people asked, “Where were you when we needed you?”

On the evening of July 28, three masked men entered the rectory and shot Fr. Rother to death. His beloved parishioners mourned him repeatedly crying, “They have killed our priest.”

Pope Francis declared Stanley Rother a martyr on December 2, 2016. He was beatified in Oklahoma City on September 23, 2017.

REFLECTION

The declaration of a blessed or saint is always a celebration of the Church as the people of God. To single out an individual for his or her holiness and service builds up the entire community of faith. But this is doubly true for the Church in the United States and in Oklahoma, as one of our own is both declared a martyr for the faith and enrolled in the ranks of those declared Blessed by the Church. May the dedication, faith, and service of Blessed Stanley Rother be a source of strength for all in this country.

**

#CharlesOngoleJohn

READING 1 

Jeremiah 3:14-17

Return, rebellious children, says the LORD,

for I am your Master;

I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,

and bring you to Zion.

I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart,

who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

When you multiply and become fruitful in the land,

says the LORD,

They will in those days no longer say,

“The ark of the covenant of the LORD!”

They will no longer think of it, or remember it, 

or miss it, or make another.

At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD’s throne;

there all nations will be gathered together

to honor the name of the LORD at Jerusalem,

and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13

R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

proclaim it on distant isles, and say:

He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,

he guards them as a shepherd his flock. 

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,

he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.

Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,

they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:

The grain, the wine, and the oil,

the sheep and the oxen.

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,

and young men and old as well.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

ALLELUIA  

Luke 8:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart

and yield a harvest through perseverance.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Hear the parable of the sower.

The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom

without understanding it,

and the Evil One comes and steals away

what was sown in his heart.

The seed sown on rocky ground

is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.

But he has no root and lasts only for a time.

When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,

he immediately falls away.

The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,

but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word

and it bears no fruit.

But the seed sown on rich soil

is the one who hears the word and understands it,

who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Jesus the Good Soil

St. Ignatius teaches that the purpose of life is “to praise, revere, and serve God.” I have often wondered what it truly means to praise God and to be at His service. From a human perspective, the answer can seem elusive. Rationally speaking, God does not need anything from us. He does not require our approval, our praise, or even our service.

Yet the remarkable character of God is revealed in the countless ways He reaches out to humanity, inviting us into a relationship with Him. Through our spiritual experiences, we often find ourselves drawn toward God. There is a thirst within every human heart that can be quenched only by the living water of eternity. This longing to respond to God exists in every person.

Is not the purpose of our lives to become what God desires us to be? To love as Jesus loved; to forgive as He forgives; to take up our crosses and overcome them as He conquered suffering on Calvary; to have hope and to share that hope with others, just as He did with the blind, the sick, and those in despair.

God has given us life as a seed meant to grow in Him. He is the good soil, continually inviting us to remain rooted in His love. Perhaps it is in striving to love as Jesus loved that we plant ourselves in him, the good soil.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Sharbel Makhlouf

(May 8, 1828 – December 24, 1898)

Saint Sharbel Makhlouf’s Story

Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra where he was born, his influence has spread widely.

Joseph Zaroun Maklouf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel Makhlouf in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853, and was ordained six years later.

Following the example of the fifth-century Saint Maron, Sharbel Makhlouf lived as a hermit from 1875, until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.

He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified Sharbel in 1965, and canonized him 12 years later.

REFLECTION

John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs—East and West—and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel Makhlouf helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God’s grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response.

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity,

READING 1 

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13

This word of the LORD came to me:

Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!

I remember the devotion of your youth,

how you loved me as a bride,

Following me in the desert,

in a land unsown.

Sacred to the LORD was Israel,

the first fruits of his harvest;

Should any presume to partake of them,

evil would befall them, says the LORD.

When I brought you into the garden land 

to eat its goodly fruits,

You entered and defiled my land,

you made my heritage loathsome.

The priests asked not,

“Where is the LORD?”

Those who dealt with the law knew me not:

the shepherds rebelled against me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal,

and went after useless idols.

Be amazed at this, O heavens,

and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.

Two evils have my people done:

they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;

They have dug themselves cisterns,

broken cisterns, that hold no water.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11

R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;

your faithfulness, to the clouds.

Your justice is like the mountains of God;

your judgments, like the mighty deep.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

How precious is your mercy, O God!

The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;

from your delightful stream you give them to drink.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

For with you is the fountain of life,

and in your light we see light.

Keep up your mercy toward your friends,

your just defense of the upright of heart.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

ALLELUIA  

Matthew 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;

you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

GOSPEL  

Matthew 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said,

“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”

He said to them in reply,

“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven

has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;

from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because

they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.

Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,

you shall indeed look but never see.

Gross is the heart of this people,

they will hardly hear with their ears,

they have closed their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted

and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,

and your ears, because they hear.

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people

longed to see what you see but did not see it,

and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

For as long as I can remember, I’ve said that I’m a “New Testament Christian.”  That is not to say that I reject the teachings of the Old Testament; it is just less accessible to me.  It is a naïve and simplistic view to lable it as “fire and brimstone”, and the New Testament as “grace”, but that simplistic description reveals the reason for my statement.  Today’s two readings bear this out: in the former, fire and smoke engulf Mount Sinai while God’s people tremble, awaiting God’s word from Moses; in the second, Jesus affirms for his diciples that they’ve been blessed with the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Jesus admits that he speaks in Parables to the people, as they are unable to “see or hear” the mysteries that the disciples have absorbed.  Much of the passage relies on Isaiah’s prophesy that the people can look but not truly see, and hear but not truly understand, and as such  have “gross” hearts.  Reading that passage, I wonder if anyone else shares my suspicion that I fall into this group?  There is so much that I don’t truly comprehend from Christ’s teaching, so much of God’s word that is difficult to absorb.  Am I the person who doesn’t truly see, understand, and love God with my whole heart?  Am I among those who will have everything taken away?  Jesus told the disciples that many prophets and faithful people had fallen short in their attempts to do so - who am I to hope that I’m better than they?

Ahhh, but I’m a New Testament Christian, eager to believe in God’s Grace.  So I’ll cling to the closing phrase from Isaiah’s prophesy:

“lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted

and I heal them.”

My prayer today is to ask that God continue, always, to open wide my heart, my eyes, and my ears, that I may be truly converted and healed.  That I may one day know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And as importantly for this Christian, that I would live them out in my daily life on earth, sharing light and love with all people.  Amen. 

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Bridget of Sweden

(c. 1303 – July 23, 1373)

Saint Bridget of Sweden’s Story

From age 7 on, Bridget had visions of Christ crucified. Her visions formed the basis for her activity—always with the emphasis on charity rather than spiritual favors.

She lived her married life in the court of the Swedish king Magnus II. Mother of eight children—the second eldest was Saint Catherine of Sweden—Bridget lived the strict life of a penitent after her husband’s death.

Bridget of Sweden constantly strove to exert her good influence over Magnus; while never fully reforming, he did give her land and buildings to found a monastery for men and women. This group eventually expanded into an Order known as the Bridgetines. In 1350, a year of jubilee, Bridget braved a plague-stricken Europe to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Although she never returned to Sweden, her years in Rome were far from happy, being hounded by debts and by opposition to her work against Church abuses.

A final pilgrimage to the Holy Land, marred by shipwreck and the death of her son, Charles, eventually led to her death in 1373. In 1999, Bridget of Sweden, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, were named co-patronesses of Europe.

REFLECTION

Bridget’s visions, rather than isolating her from the affairs of the world, involved her in many contemporary issues, whether they be royal policy or the years that the legitimate Bishop of Rome lived in Avignon, France. She saw no contradiction between mystical experience and secular activity, and her life is a testimony to the possibility of a holy life in the marketplace.

Saint Bridget of Sweden is a Patron Saint of:

Europe

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity,

READING 1 

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13

This word of the LORD came to me:

Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!

I remember the devotion of your youth,

how you loved me as a bride,

Following me in the desert,

in a land unsown.

Sacred to the LORD was Israel,

the first fruits of his harvest;

Should any presume to partake of them,

evil would befall them, says the LORD.

When I brought you into the garden land 

to eat its goodly fruits,

You entered and defiled my land,

you made my heritage loathsome.

The priests asked not,

“Where is the LORD?”

Those who dealt with the law knew me not:

the shepherds rebelled against me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal,

and went after useless idols.

Be amazed at this, O heavens,

and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.

Two evils have my people done:

they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;

They have dug themselves cisterns,

broken cisterns, that hold no water.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11

R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;

your faithfulness, to the clouds.

Your justice is like the mountains of God;

your judgments, like the mighty deep.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

How precious is your mercy, O God!

The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;

from your delightful stream you give them to drink.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

For with you is the fountain of life,

and in your light we see light.

Keep up your mercy toward your friends,

your just defense of the upright of heart.

R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.

ALLELUIA  

Matthew 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;

you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

GOSPEL  

Matthew 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said,

“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”

He said to them in reply,

“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven

has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;

from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because

they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.

Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,

you shall indeed look but never see.

Gross is the heart of this people,

they will hardly hear with their ears,

they have closed their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted

and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,

and your ears, because they hear.

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people

longed to see what you see but did not see it,

and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

For as long as I can remember, I’ve said that I’m a “New Testament Christian.”  That is not to say that I reject the teachings of the Old Testament; it is just less accessible to me.  It is a naïve and simplistic view to lable it as “fire and brimstone”, and the New Testament as “grace”, but that simplistic description reveals the reason for my statement.  Today’s two readings bear this out: in the former, fire and smoke engulf Mount Sinai while God’s people tremble, awaiting God’s word from Moses; in the second, Jesus affirms for his diciples that they’ve been blessed with the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Jesus admits that he speaks in Parables to the people, as they are unable to “see or hear” the mysteries that the disciples have absorbed.  Much of the passage relies on Isaiah’s prophesy that the people can look but not truly see, and hear but not truly understand, and as such  have “gross” hearts.  Reading that passage, I wonder if anyone else shares my suspicion that I fall into this group?  There is so much that I don’t truly comprehend from Christ’s teaching, so much of God’s word that is difficult to absorb.  Am I the person who doesn’t truly see, understand, and love God with my whole heart?  Am I among those who will have everything taken away?  Jesus told the disciples that many prophets and faithful people had fallen short in their attempts to do so - who am I to hope that I’m better than they?

Ahhh, but I’m a New Testament Christian, eager to believe in God’s Grace.  So I’ll cling to the closing phrase from Isaiah’s prophesy:

“lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted

and I heal them.”

My prayer today is to ask that God continue, always, to open wide my heart, my eyes, and my ears, that I may be truly converted and healed.  That I may one day know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And as importantly for this Christian, that I would live them out in my daily life on earth, sharing light and love with all people.  Amen. 

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Bridget of Sweden

(c. 1303 – July 23, 1373)

Saint Bridget of Sweden’s Story

From age 7 on, Bridget had visions of Christ crucified. Her visions formed the basis for her activity—always with the emphasis on charity rather than spiritual favors.

She lived her married life in the court of the Swedish king Magnus II. Mother of eight children—the second eldest was Saint Catherine of Sweden—Bridget lived the strict life of a penitent after her husband’s death.

Bridget of Sweden constantly strove to exert her good influence over Magnus; while never fully reforming, he did give her land and buildings to found a monastery for men and women. This group eventually expanded into an Order known as the Bridgetines. In 1350, a year of jubilee, Bridget braved a plague-stricken Europe to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Although she never returned to Sweden, her years in Rome were far from happy, being hounded by debts and by opposition to her work against Church abuses.

A final pilgrimage to the Holy Land, marred by shipwreck and the death of her son, Charles, eventually led to her death in 1373. In 1999, Bridget of Sweden, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, were named co-patronesses of Europe.

REFLECTION

Bridget’s visions, rather than isolating her from the affairs of the world, involved her in many contemporary issues, whether they be royal policy or the years that the legitimate Bishop of Rome lived in Avignon, France. She saw no contradiction between mystical experience and secular activity, and her life is a testimony to the possibility of a holy life in the marketplace.

Saint Bridget of Sweden is a Patron Saint of:

Europe

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity,

READING 1

2 Chronicles 24:17-25

After the death of Jehoiada,

the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash,

and the king then listened to them.

They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers,

and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols;

and because of this crime of theirs,

wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD,

the people would not listen to their warnings.

Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah,

son of Jehoiada the priest.

He took his stand above the people and said to them:

"God says, 'Why are you transgressing the LORD's commands,

so that you cannot prosper?

Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"

But they conspired against him,

and at the king's order they stoned him to death

in the court of the LORD's temple.

Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him

by Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, and slew his son.

And as Zechariah was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge."

At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash.

They invaded Judah and Jerusalem,

did away with all the princes of the people,

and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

Though the Aramean force came with few men,

the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power,

because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers.

So punishment was meted out to Joash.

After the Arameans had departed from him,

leaving him in grievous suffering,

his servants conspired against him

because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest.

He was buried in the City of David,

but not in the tombs of the kings.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34

R. (29a) For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David my servant:

Forever will I confirm your posterity

and establish your throne for all generations."

R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,

and my covenant with him stands firm.

I will make his posterity endure forever

and his throne as the days of heaven."

R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"If his sons forsake my law

and walk not according to my ordinances,

If they violate my statutes

and keep not my commands."

R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"I will punish their crime with a rod

and their guilt with stripes.

Yet my mercy I will not take from him,

nor will I belie my faithfulness."

R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

ALLELUIA

2 Corinthians 8:9

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich,

so that by his poverty you might become rich.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples:

"No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or drink,

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky;

they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes?

Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.

They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor

was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field,

which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,

will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'

or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'

All these things the pagans seek.

Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

I come from a long line of worriers. Worriers and stew-ers – people who would catastrophize about events and plans. Usually, the dire imaginings were just imaginings, and things worked out, as things often do. The Negative Nellies I knew always rationalized the negative outlook by announcing that if things would, be some chance go right, they would be happy to be proven wrong. I confess that I too find it hard not to worry. My outlook is mostly positive, but my imagination can run away with the what-ifs. We all wish for a little more control over the events and people in our lives. We don’t have that control and worrying will not change any outcome. 

In today’s gospel, Jesus asks some great questions. “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” And especially this one: “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?”

Jesus does not mean to make light of our concerns. People’s lives can be difficult and faced with heavy decisions and problems. It’s easy to get caught up in the spiral of worry. What are we missing if we are always worrying about what might happen? The gospel ends with the admonition that God knows we need food and clothing. We should start with God in the here and now. This doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. Jesus says: “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.”

My prayer: To do what I can to make the world a better place. To work hard for the dignity of all in my own way. To take a deep breath and trust in God. To pray for those who are facing hardships, difficult decisions or life events beyond their control. I pray to be present, really present in the here and now and to trust that God loves me. 

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Paulinus of Nola

(354 – June 22, 431)

Saint Paulinus of Nola’s Story

Anyone who is praised in the letters of six or seven saints undoubtedly must be of extraordinary character. Such a person was Paulinus of Nola, correspondent and friend of Saints Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory and Ambrose.

Born near Bordeaux, he was the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, who had extensive property in both Gaul and Italy. Saint Paulinus of Nola became a distinguished lawyer, holding several public offices in the Roman Empire. With his Spanish wife, Therasia, he retired at an early age to a life of cultured leisure.

The two were baptized by the saintly bishop of Bordeaux and moved to Therasia’s estate in Spain. After many childless years, they had a son who died a week after birth. This occasioned their beginning a life of great austerity and charity, giving away most of their Spanish property. Possibly as a result of this great example, Paulinus was rather unexpectedly ordained a priest at Christmas by the bishop of Barcelona.

He and his wife then moved to Nola, near Naples. He had a great love for Saint Felix of Nola, and spent much effort in promoting devotion to this saint. Saint Paulinus of Nola gave away most of his remaining property—to the consternation of his relatives—and continued his work for the poor. Supporting a host of debtors, the homeless and other needy people, he lived a monastic life in another part of his home. By popular demand he was made bishop of Nola and guided that diocese for 21 years.

Saint Paulinus of Nola’s last years were saddened by the invasion of the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian wedding song. His liturgical feast is celebrated on June 22.

REFLECTION

Many of us are tempted to “retire” early in life, after an initial burst of energy. Devotion to Christ and his work is waiting to be done all around us. Paulinus’ life had scarcely begun when he thought it was over, as he took his ease on that estate in Spain. “Man proposes, but God disposes.”

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity ,

READING 1 

Sirach 48:1-14

Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah

whose words were as a flaming furnace.

Their staff of bread he shattered,

in his zeal he reduced them to straits;

By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens

and three times brought down fire.

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

Whose glory is equal to yours?

You brought a dead man back to life

from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.

You sent kings down to destruction,

and easily broke their power into pieces.

You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.

You heard threats at Sinai,

at Horeb avenging judgments.

You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,

and a prophet as your successor.

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,

in a chariot with fiery horses.

You were destined, it is written, in time to come

to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,

To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,

and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed is he who shall have seen you 

And who falls asleep in your friendship.

For we live only in our life,

but after death our name will not be such.

O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!

Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,

wrought many marvels by his mere word.

During his lifetime he feared no one,

nor was any man able to intimidate his will.

Nothing was beyond his power;

beneath him flesh was brought back into life.

In life he performed wonders,

and after death, marvelous deeds.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7

R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;

let the many isles be glad.

Clouds and darkness are round about him,

justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne. 

R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes round about.

His lightnings illumine the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,

before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his justice,

and all peoples see his glory.

R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

All who worship graven things are put to shame,

who glory in the things of nought;

all gods are prostrate before him.

R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

ALLELUIA

Romans 8:15bc

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

You have received a spirit of adoption as sons

through which we cry: Abba! Father!

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL  

Matthew 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,

who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

‘Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.’

“If you forgive others their transgressions,

your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others,

neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Today’s gospel is simple, but impactful.  

Jesus teaches that “In praying, do not babble like the pagans,

who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Jesus reminds us that God knows our needs. Prayer should come from the heart. It should reflect a genuine relationship with God.

As I reflect on today’s gospel, I think about how I learned to pray.  I was blessed with wonderful, faith-filled parents.  From the time I was very little, I recall seeing my parents kneeling at their bedside saying morning prayers.  As they tucked me and my siblings in bed each night, they prayed with us… a very simple, “ Jesus bless…”  followed by a litany of family, friends, and occasionally a pet.  I carried on the same tradition with my children.  After having a week with our Grandson, I prayed the same way with him. He is 17 months old, so I listed the litany of those to pray for. I look forward to hearing who he wants to pray for as he learns to talk.

One’s faith life can be personal and I believe making it more complicated than it needs to be is a barrier encountered by far too many people who truly try to improve their faith practices or prayer life.  

Today’s gospel reminds us how simple prayer can be.  It also reminds us of the importance of a relationship with God and finally, the great value of forgiveness.

Consider praying as Jesus instructed and as St. Thérèse describes. 

“I pray like little children who do not know how to read. I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences and He always understands me.”           St. Thérèse of Lisieux

SAINT OF THE DAY

Venerable Matt Talbot

(May 2, 1856 – June 7, 1925)

Venerable Matt Talbot’s Story

Matt Talbot can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism. He was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic.

One day he decided to take “the pledge” for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.

Most of his life Matt Talbot worked as a builder’s laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions.

After 1923, Matt’s health failed, and he was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later, Pope Paul VI gave Matt Talbot the title venerable. His liturgical feast is celebrated on June 19.

REFLECTION

In looking at the life of Matt Talbot, we may easily focus on the later years when he had stopped drinking for some time and was leading a penitential life. Only alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate how difficult the earliest years of sobriety were for Matt.

He had to take one day at a time. So do the rest of us.

Venerable Matt Talbot is the Patron Saint of:

Alcoholics

Recovery from Substance Abuse and Addictions

Sobriety

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity ,

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They'll soar on wings like eagles; they'll run and not grow weary, they'll walk and not be faint". Isaiah 40:31

Loving Father, as the sun rises, I thank you for the gift of life and blessings you bestow upon me. Help me to glorify you this day.

Lord Jesus, be my companion this day; to teach how you love and serve as you do. Grant me patience, kindness and a forgiving heart.

I pray for Holy Spirit peace and joy. For inspired thoughts and actions. May I follow your lead in all things this day.

Mary, Mother of Divine grace, pray for me and grant that I may trust in God's plan for my life.

Through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

**

#CharlesOngoleJohn

Uganda

READING 1

1 Kings 19:19-21

Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,

as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;

he was following the twelfth.

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,

"Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,

and I will follow you."

Elijah answered, "Go back! 

Have I done anything to you?"

Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;

he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,

and gave it to his people to eat.

Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10

R. (see 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;

I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."

O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,

you it is who hold fast my lot.

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

I bless the LORD who counsels me;

even in the night my heart exhorts me.

I set the LORD ever before me;

with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,

my body, too, abides in confidence;

Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,

nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

ALLELUIA

Psalm 119:36a, 29b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;

and favor me with your law.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 5:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:

"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,

Do not take a false oath,

but make good to the Lord all that you vow.

But I say to you, do not swear at all;

not by heaven, for it is God's throne;

nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;

nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Do not swear by your head,

for you cannot make a single hair white or black.

Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'

Anything more is from the Evil One."

■ Readings for the Memorial of The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

READING 1 

1 Kings 19:19-21

Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,

as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;

he was following the twelfth.

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,

"Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,

and I will follow you."

Elijah answered, "Go back!

Have I done anything to you?"

Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;

he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,

and gave it to his people to eat.

Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  

Psalm 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10

R. (see 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;

I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."

O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,

you it is who hold fast my lot.

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

I bless the LORD who counsels me;

even in the night my heart exhorts me.

I set the LORD ever before me;

with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,

my body, too, abides in confidence;

Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,

nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.

R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

ALLELUIA

See Luke 2:19

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God

and pondered it in her heart.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Luke 2:41-51

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,

and when he was twelve years old,

they went up according to festival custom.

After they had completed its days, as they were returning,

the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,

but his parents did not know it.

Thinking that he was in the caravan,

they journeyed for a day

and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,

but not finding him,

they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the temple,

sitting in the midst of the teachers,

listening to them and asking them questions,

and all who heard him were astounded

at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him,

they were astonished,

and his mother said to him,

"Son, why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."

And he said to them,

"Why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

But they did not understand what he said to them.

He went down with them and came to Nazareth,

and was obedient to them;

and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Our first reading today introduces Elisha, a great prophet and miracle worker of the Old Testament, being called by Elijah, another great prophet and miracle worker. Elisha is hard at work in the field when Elijah offers him a new position as Elijah’s attendant. (Think “personal assistant” or “trusted aide.”) Elisha immediately stops what he is doing and, after saying goodbye to his parents in somewhat dramatic fashion, joins Elijah in doing God’s work.

Elisha’s response reminds me of disciples who were called by Jesus: Simon, Andrew, James and John abandoned boats and nets to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22); Matthew walked away from his tax collector’s booth (Matthew 9:9). A common thread in these (and many other stories from Scripture) is of God interrupting someone who is busy – sometimes with a major life change, sometimes with an opportunity to serve or show love. Remember the example Jesus gives of the loving neighbor, the Good Samaritan who interrupts his business trip to care for the suffering person at the side of the road?

Many of us lead busy lives, with daily calendars filled with work responsibilities, family commitments, leisure activities, even church obligations. We resist anything that distracts us from what we have before us or that takes away from what we consider important. I am reminded that, as a child, I too often responded childishly when my mother or father asked me to do something. “I’m busy!” “Not now. I’m already doing something.” “Can’t someone else do it?” “Can it wait until my show is over?” Is our response equally childish when our Heavenly Father wants us to do something?

Our Heavenly Father will call us, in different ways, often at inopportune times. Listen for God’s voice. Heed the Spirit’s promptings to serve, to minister, to love.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Anthony of Padua

(1195 – June 13, 1231)

Saint Anthony of Padua’s Story

The gospel call to leave everything and follow Christ was the rule of Saint Anthony of Padua’s life. Over and over again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more completely.

His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon, giving up a future of wealth and power to be a servant of God. Later when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News.

So, Saint Anthony of Padua entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.

The call of God came again at an ordination where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity, and obedience had prepared Saint Anthony of Padua to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.

Recognized as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Saint Anthony of Padua became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology to convert and reassure those who had been misled by their denial of Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments.

After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231 Saint Anthony of Padua withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death.

On June 13, he became very ill and asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last sacraments. Saint Anthony of Padua was canonized less than a year later and named a Doctor of the Church in 1946.

REFLECTION

Saint Anthony of Padua should be the patron of those who find their lives completely uprooted and set in a new and unexpected direction. Like all saints, he is a perfect example of turning one’s life completely over to Christ. God did with Anthony as God pleased—and what God pleased was a life of spiritual power and brilliance that still attracts admiration today. He whom popular devotion has nominated as finder of lost objects found himself by losing himself totally to the providence of God.

May Saint Anthony’s holy life help us see with renewed faith God’s forgiveness and unconditional love for each of us! If we as believers understood as clearly as Anthony the depth of God’s love for each of us, surely our love for Christ would grow stronger.

Saint Anthony of Padua is the Patron Saint of:

Lost items

Poor

Travelers

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity ,

READING 1

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Moses said to the people:

"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;

he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth

to be a people peculiarly his own.

It was not because you are the largest of all nations

that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,

for you are really the smallest of all nations.

It was because the LORD loved you

and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,

that he brought you out with his strong hand

from the place of slavery,

and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,

the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant

down to the thousandth generation

toward those who love him and keep his commandments,

but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;

he does not dally with such a one,

but makes them personally pay for it.

You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,

the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10

R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

all my being, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

He pardons all your iniquities,

heals all your ills.

He redeems your life from destruction,

crowns you with kindness and compassion.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,

slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

READING 2

1 John 4:7-16

Beloved, let us love one another,

because love is of God;

everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

In this way the love of God was revealed to us:

God sent his only Son into the world

so that we might have life through him.

In this is love:

not that we have loved God, but that he loved us

and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us,

we also must love one another.

No one has ever seen God.

Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,

and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,

that he has given us of his Spirit.

Moreover, we have seen and testify

that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,

God remains in him and he in God.

We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love

remains in God and God in him.

ALLELUIA

Matthew 11:29ab

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;

and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

for although you have hidden these things

from the wise and the learned

you have revealed them to little ones.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 

No one knows the Son except the Father,

and no one knows the Father except the Son

and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

 And I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am meek and humble of heart; 

And you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” - (Matthew 11)

When I grew up, there was an image of the Sacred Heart on the wall in our home, a gift from a beloved Jesuit friend of my family. That same image is on the wall in my room here, as I write this reflection.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about the unconditional love Jesus has for us. The challenge comes when we struggle to let ourselves experience love. There are lots of reasons for that. Often, it’s because we have experienced rejection or hurt, and those wounds cause us to defend ourselves against being hurt again. Sometimes we just don’t feel good about ourselves, for a whole variety of reasons. If someone gives us a compliment, sometimes our first instinct can be to say to ourselves, “They don’t really know me.”

That’s why the first part of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius is so liberating. In that early part of the retreat, we discover that we are loved, sinners. We discover love without condition. We experience tender mercy. We’re not loved when we get our act together. Even when we struggle, even when we wander, we are loved passionately. This is the breakthrough, the grace, that each of us can ask for on this feast – to know how deeply we are loved and to receive it.

We respond to this kind of love with devotion, i.e., with gratitude, commitment, loyalty, and imitation. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to be committed to loving others the way we have experienced love. In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos [He loves us], on the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis wrote:

The Second Vatican Council points out that “the ferment of the Gospel has aroused and continues to arouse in human hearts an unquenchable thirst for human dignity”. [24] Yet to live in accordance with this dignity, it is not enough to know the Gospel or to carry out mechanically its demands. We need the help of God’s love. Let us turn, then, to the heart of Christ, that core of his being, which is a blazing furnace of divine and human love and the most sublime fulfilment to which humanity can aspire. There, in that heart, we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn how to love. #30

In the presence of the heart of Christ, I once more ask the Lord to have mercy on this suffering world in which he chose to dwell as one of us. May he pour out the treasures of his light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart. #31

Let us pray.

Loving Jesus, soften and heal our hearts. Renew our sense of your deep, merciful love for us. Yoke us to yourself, so that we can see as you see and learn from your meek and humble heart. Free us to love, to comfort, to heal, to reconcile and to find ways to live together lovingly in our families, our communities, treasuring human dignity and the common good. We ask this with growing desire for intimacy with you, now and forever.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Blessed Jolenta of Poland

(c. 1235 – June 11, 1298)

Blessed Jolenta of Poland’s Story

Blessed Jolenta was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde, was married to the Duke of Poland. Jolenta was sent to Poland where her sister was to supervise her education. Eventually married to Boleslaus, the Duke of Greater Poland, Jolenta was able to use her material means to assist the poor, the sick, widows, and orphans. Her husband joined her in building hospitals, convents, and churches so that he was surnamed “the Pious.”

Upon the death of her husband and the marriage of two of her daughters, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. War forced Jolenta to move to another convent where despite her reluctance, she was made abbess.

So well did Jolenta serve her Franciscan sisters by word and example, that her fame and good works continued to spread beyond the walls of the cloister. Her favorite devotion was the Passion of Christ. Indeed, Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her coming death. Many miracles, down to our own day, are said to have occurred at her grave.

REFLECTION

Blessed Jolenta’s story begins like a fairy tale. But fairy tales seldom include the death of the prince and never end with the princess living out her days in a convent. Nonetheless, Jolenta’s story has a happy ending. Her life of charity toward the poor and devotion to her Franciscan sisters indeed brought her to a “happily ever after.” Our lives may be short on fairy tale elements, but our generosity and our willingness to serve well the people we live with lead us toward an ending happier than we can imagine.

**

#dailyscripturereadingscommunity ,

READING 1

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Moses said to the people:

"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;

he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth

to be a people peculiarly his own.

It was not because you are the largest of all nations

that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,

for you are really the smallest of all nations.

It was because the LORD loved you

and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,

that he brought you out with his strong hand

from the place of slavery,

and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,

the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant

down to the thousandth generation

toward those who love him and keep his commandments,

but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;

he does not dally with such a one,

but makes them personally pay for it.

You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,

the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10

R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

all my being, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

He pardons all your iniquities,

heals all your ills.

He redeems your life from destruction,

crowns you with kindness and compassion.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,

slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

READING 2

1 John 4:7-16

Beloved, let us love one another,

because love is of God;

everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

In this way the love of God was revealed to us:

God sent his only Son into the world

so that we might have life through him.

In this is love:

not that we have loved God, but that he loved us

and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us,

we also must love one another.

No one has ever seen God.

Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,

and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,

that he has given us of his Spirit.

Moreover, we have seen and testify

that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,

God remains in him and he in God.

We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love

remains in God and God in him.

ALLELUIA

Matthew 11:29ab

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;

and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

for although you have hidden these things

from the wise and the learned

you have revealed them to little ones.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 

No one knows the Son except the Father,

and no one knows the Father except the Son

and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

 And I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am meek and humble of heart; 

And you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” - (Matthew 11)

When I grew up, there was an image of the Sacred Heart on the wall in our home, a gift from a beloved Jesuit friend of my family. That same image is on the wall in my room here, as I write this reflection.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about the unconditional love Jesus has for us. The challenge comes when we struggle to let ourselves experience love. There are lots of reasons for that. Often, it’s because we have experienced rejection or hurt, and those wounds cause us to defend ourselves against being hurt again. Sometimes we just don’t feel good about ourselves, for a whole variety of reasons. If someone gives us a compliment, sometimes our first instinct can be to say to ourselves, “They don’t really know me.”

That’s why the first part of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius is so liberating. In that early part of the retreat, we discover that we are loved, sinners. We discover love without condition. We experience tender mercy. We’re not loved when we get our act together. Even when we struggle, even when we wander, we are loved passionately. This is the breakthrough, the grace, that each of us can ask for on this feast – to know how deeply we are loved and to receive it.

We respond to this kind of love with devotion, i.e., with gratitude, commitment, loyalty, and imitation. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to be committed to loving others the way we have experienced love. In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos [He loves us], on the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis wrote:

The Second Vatican Council points out that “the ferment of the Gospel has aroused and continues to arouse in human hearts an unquenchable thirst for human dignity”. [24] Yet to live in accordance with this dignity, it is not enough to know the Gospel or to carry out mechanically its demands. We need the help of God’s love. Let us turn, then, to the heart of Christ, that core of his being, which is a blazing furnace of divine and human love and the most sublime fulfilment to which humanity can aspire. There, in that heart, we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn how to love. #30

In the presence of the heart of Christ, I once more ask the Lord to have mercy on this suffering world in which he chose to dwell as one of us. May he pour out the treasures of his light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart. #31

Let us pray.

Loving Jesus, soften and heal our hearts. Renew our sense of your deep, merciful love for us. Yoke us to yourself, so that we can see as you see and learn from your meek and humble heart. Free us to love, to comfort, to heal, to reconcile and to find ways to live together lovingly in our families, our communities, treasuring human dignity and the common good. We ask this with growing desire for intimacy with you, now and forever.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Blessed Jolenta of Poland

(c. 1235 – June 11, 1298)

Blessed Jolenta of Poland’s Story

Blessed Jolenta was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde, was married to the Duke of Poland. Jolenta was sent to Poland where her sister was to supervise her education. Eventually married to Boleslaus, the Duke of Greater Poland, Jolenta was able to use her material means to assist the poor, the sick, widows, and orphans. Her husband joined her in building hospitals, convents, and churches so that he was surnamed “the Pious.”

Upon the death of her husband and the marriage of two of her daughters, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. War forced Jolenta to move to another convent where despite her reluctance, she was made abbess.

So well did Jolenta serve her Franciscan sisters by word and example, that her fame and good works continued to spread beyond the walls of the cloister. Her favorite devotion was the Passion of Christ. Indeed, Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her coming death. Many miracles, down to our own day, are said to have occurred at her grave.

REFLECTION

Blessed Jolenta’s story begins like a fairy tale. But fairy tales seldom include the death of the prince and never end with the princess living out her days in a convent. Nonetheless, Jolenta’s story has a happy ending. Her life of charity toward the poor and devotion to her Franciscan sisters indeed brought her to a “happily ever after.” Our lives may be short on fairy tale elements, but our generosity and our willingness to serve well the people we live with lead us toward an ending happier than we can imagine.

**

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READING 1

1 Kings 18:20-39

Ahab sent to all the children of Israel

and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.

Elijah appealed to all the people and said,

"How long will you straddle the issue?

If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him."

The people, however, did not answer him.

So Elijah said to the people,

"I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD,

and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

Give us two young bulls.

Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood,

but start no fire.

I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood,

but shall start no fire.

You shall call on your gods, and I will call on the LORD.

The God who answers with fire is God."

All the people answered, "Agreed!"

Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal,

"Choose one young bull and prepare it first,

for there are more of you.

Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire."

Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it

and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying,

"Answer us, Baal!"

But there was no sound, and no one answering.

And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.

When it was noon, Elijah taunted them:

"Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating,

or may have retired, or may be on a journey.

Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened."

They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears,

as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.

Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state

until the time for offering sacrifice.

But there was not a sound;

no one answered, and no one was listening.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me."

When the people had done so, he repaired the altar of the LORD

that had been destroyed.

He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob,

to whom the LORD had said, "Your name shall be Israel."

He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones,

and made a trench around the altar

large enough for two measures of grain.

When he had arranged the wood,

he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.

"Fill four jars with water," he said,

"and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood."

"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.

"Do it a third time," he said,

and they did it a third time.

The water flowed around the altar,

and the trench was filled with the water.

At the time for offering sacrifice,

the prophet Elijah came forward and said,

"LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

let it be known this day that you are God in Israel

and that I am your servant

and have done all these things by your command.

Answer me, LORD!

Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God

and that you have brought them back to their senses."

The LORD's fire came down

and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust,

and it lapped up the water in the trench.

Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said,

"The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab and 8, 11

R. (1b) Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;

I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

They multiply their sorrows

who court other gods.

Blood libations to them I will not pour out,

nor will I take their names upon my lips.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

O LORD, my allotted portion and cup,

you it is who hold fast my lot.

I set the LORD ever before me;

with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

You will show me the path to life,

fullness of joys in your presence,

the delights at your right hand forever.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

ALLELUIA

Psalm 25:4b, 5a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Teach me your paths, my God,

and guide me in your truth.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,

not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter

will pass from the law,

until all things have taken place.

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments

and teaches others to do so

will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

Every great once in a while the Liturgy of the Word for Sundays and weekday Masses present no easily accessible or understandable message.  Today, this Wednesday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time, is one of those days – at least for me it is.  There was no lightning bolt moment of divine revelation that immediately sparked an ‘aha!’  So, I had to really sit and reflectively pray with the reading from First Kings and Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew.  I took it to prayer throughout this week, and I would like to focus on three things: choice, commitment, and collaboration (co-laboring) with God.

First, we have a choice.  As in life, God’s gift of free will, enters a surprising majority of how we choose to live our life in the experiences we have in life, and in and with our encounters with others.  Discerning the good choice—the one that leads to greater life and peace, a choice that will make the fire of love consume our hearts with goodness—is always contrasted in life by choices that lead us to diminishment, despair, and ultimately a life that lays dead on the cold hard marble altar of life.  We stand then with the people listening to Elijah today in the book of Kings.  Do you choose the 450 gods of Baal or the One true God?  Do we choose the God who answers with a fire as God? Or is our choice to stand with god(s) whose power is impotent and who answer no one, and listen to no one?

Second, we have commitment.   Elijah is very clear about this when he challenges us by asking, ‘How long will we straddle the issue?’  Jesus demands commitment from the disciples (us) and from those he is teaching.  He advocates for always choosing to be the greatest not the least.  He, in words that don’t mince what he is demanding, asks his listeners (us), to choose to be a part of, to commit ourselves to God’s fulfillment and the coming to fruition and completion of God’s plan.  Any other choice will be not the greatest commitment we can make, but the least.

Finally, we have the invitation—some would even say a ‘call’—to collaborate, co-labor, co-create with God.  Jesus, seems to be egging on his listeners back then, as well as us today, to make a stance.  This fulfillment is not a passive event. It demands active participation. Jesus, not mincing words in his talk to the disciples and his talk with us, asks: are you a breaker of God’s commandments or are you a keeper and instructor of them, making God’s commandments of love of God, self, and neighbor (in relational reciprocity) come to have greater life in yourself, in those we call our neighbors, in the ultimate salvation of this world? 

In the end then, the choice is ours always, but the needed commitment to work for the building of God’s plan of salvation requires our collaboration.  Will you come sow the good seed of God’s love, water it, and help it to grow, or will your action destroy the possibility of divine love coming to have ever greater life?  Will you help me Jesus asks, to fulfill God’s plan for your own, and the world’s growth (or groaning) to fulfillment?  In the end then, this fulfillment is not a passive event. It demands active participation.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint Joachima

(1783-1854)

Saint Joachima’s Story

Born into an aristocratic family in Barcelona, Spain, Saint Joachima was 12 when she expressed a desire to become a Carmelite nun. But her life took an altogether different turn at 16 with her marriage to a young lawyer, Theodore de Mas. Both deeply devout, they became Secular Franciscans. During their 17 years of married life they raised eight children.

The normalcy of their family life was interrupted when Napoleon invaded Spain. Saint Joachima had to flee with the children; Theodore remained behind and died. Though Joachima re-experienced a desire to enter a religious community, she attended to her duties as a mother. At the same time, the young widow led a life of austerity and chose to wear the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis as her ordinary dress. She spent much time in prayer and visiting the sick.

Four years later, with some of her children now married and younger ones under their care, Joachima confessed her desire to a priest to join a religious order. With his encouragement, she established the Carmelite Sisters of Charity. In the midst of the fratricidal wars occurring at the time, Joachima was briefly imprisoned and later exiled to France for several years.

Sickness ultimately compelled her to resign as superior of her order. Over the next four years she slowly succumbed to paralysis, which caused her to die by inches. At her death in 1854 at the age of 71, Joachima was known and admired for her high degree of prayer, deep trust in God, and selfless charity. Saint Joachima was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940, and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1959. Her liturgical feast is celebrated on August 28.

REFLECTION

Saint Joachima understands loss. She lost the home where her children grew up, her husband, and finally her health. As the power to move and care for her own needs slowly ebbed away, this woman who had all her life cared for others became wholly dependent; she required help with life’s simplest tasks. When our own lives go spinning out of control, when illness and bereavement and financial hardship strike, all we can do is cling to the belief that sustained Joachima: God watches over us always.

**

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READING 1

1 Kings 17:1-6

Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab:

“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve,

during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.”

The LORD then said to Elijah:

“Leave here, go east

and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.

You shall drink of the stream,

and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.”

So he left and did as the LORD had commanded.

He went and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.

Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning,

and bread and meat in the evening,

and he drank from the stream.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 121:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (see 2) Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;

whence shall help come to me?

My help is from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

May he not suffer your foot to slip;

may he slumber not who guards you:

Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,

the guardian of Israel.

R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;

he is beside you at your right hand.

The sun shall not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The LORD will guard you from all evil;

he will guard your life.

The LORD will guard your coming and your going,

both now and forever.

R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

ALLELUIA

Matthew 5:12a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad;

for your reward will be great in heaven.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,

and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 

He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you

and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward will be great in heaven.

Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

The Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew draw me to St. Ignatius’ meditation on the Two Standards. In this meditation, we are to choose the standard we want to follow. Under the standard of Satan are the temptations of comfort, wealth, recognition, and power. Along with this comes the constant pressure to seek approval, security, and status for ourselves. While under the standard of Christ, we find an invitation to true freedom: freedom from attachment to worldly expectations and freedom to live in humble service, mercy, justice, and love. Christ presents a way of life that stands in direct contrast to the values commonly held in the world.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus offers us eternal joy rather than temporary worldly approval. He reverses worldly values and reveals what true blessedness looks like. The poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and those who hunger for righteousness are called blessed because their hearts are oriented toward God.

This Gospel becomes a call to discernment and self-knowledge. His words challenge us to examine where we place trust and what truly governs our daily choices. It asks us to honestly confront the temptations that draw us away from the service of faith and the pursuit of justice toward selfishness. We should ask ourselves: In what ways do I place my own comfort or success before the needs of others? How often do I imitate the priorities of the world rather than recognize God’s goodness already present around me? The Beatitudes invite us to seek Ignatian indifference, not rejecting worldly goods entirely, but refusing to let them control our hearts or determine our worth.

Christ’s standard is not easy because it calls for humility, sacrifice, and trust. Yet it is also the path to authentic freedom and lasting peace. Jesus reminds us that suffering for righteousness is not failure, but participation in the Kingdom of God. His final words offer both consolation and hope: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” In those words, Christ invites us to live not for the praise of this world, but for the deeper joy that comes from faithfully following Him.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Saint William of York

(c. 1090 – June 8, 1154)

Saint William of York’s Story

A disputed election as archbishop of York and a mysterious death. Those are the headlines from the tragic life of today’s saint.

Born into a powerful family in 12th-century England, William of York seemed destined for great things. His uncle was next in line for the English throne—though a nasty dynastic struggle complicated things. William himself faced an internal Church feud.

Despite these roadblocks, he was nominated as archbishop of York in 1140. Local clergymen were less enthusiastic, however, and the archbishop of Canterbury refused to consecrate William. Three years later a neighboring bishop performed the consecration, but it lacked the approval of Pope Innocent II, whose successors likewise withheld approval. William was deposed, and a new election was ordered.

It was not until 1154—14 years after he was first nominated—that William of York became archbishop of York. When he entered the city that spring after years of exile, he received an enthusiastic welcome. Within two months he was dead, probably from poisoning. His administrative assistant was a suspect, though no formal ruling was ever made.

Despite all that happened to him, William of York did not show resentment toward his opponents. Following his death, many miracles were attributed to him. He was canonized 73 years later.

REFLECTION

“Good things come to those who wait” might be the catch phrase for today’s saint. We don’t always get what we want when we want it. Sometimes we have to wait patiently, trusting that if it is for our good, God will bless us.

**

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READING 1

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a

Moses said to the people:

"Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,

has directed all your journeying in the desert,

so as to test you by affliction

and find out whether or not it was your intention

to keep his commandments.

He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,

and then fed you with manna,

a food unknown to you and your fathers,

in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live,

but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.

"Do not forget the LORD, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

that place of slavery;

who guided you through the vast and terrible desert

with its saraph serpents and scorpions,

its parched and waterless ground;

who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock

and fed you in the desert with manna,

a food unknown to your fathers."

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

R. (12) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;

praise your God, O Zion.

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;

he has blessed your children within you.

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R. Alleluia.

He has granted peace in your borders;

with the best of wheat he fills you.

He sends forth his command to the earth;

swiftly runs his word!

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R. Alleluia.

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,

his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

He has not done thus for any other nation;

his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R. Alleluia.

READING 2

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Brothers and sisters:

The cup of blessing that we bless,

is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break,

is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Because the loaf of bread is one,

we, though many, are one body,

for we all partake of the one loaf.

SEQUENCE — LAUDA SION

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,

Laud with hymns of exultation,

Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,

He is more than you bestow.

Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving

Is the quick'ning and the living

Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,

As we know, by faith unshaken,

Where the Twelve at supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting,

Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,

From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,

When the institution olden

Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law's new oblation,

By the new king's revelation,

Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,

Truth away the shadow chases,

Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,

Christ ordained to be repeated,

His memorial ne'er to cease:

And his rule for guidance taking,

Bread and wine we hallow, making

Thus our sacrifice of peace.

This the truth each Christian learns,

Bread into his flesh he turns,

To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail'd, nor thought conceives,

But a dauntless faith believes,

Resting on a pow'r divine.

Here beneath these signs are hidden

Priceless things to sense forbidden;

Signs, not things are all we see:

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,

Yet in either wondrous token

Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,

Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;

Christ is whole to all that taste:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,

One, as thousands of believers,

Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,

Of what divers dooms preparing,

Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,

See how like participation

Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,

Doubt not, but believe 'tis spoken,

That each sever'd outward token

doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,

Breaking but the sign betides

Jesus still the same abides,

still unbroken does remain.

The shorter form of the sequence begins here.

Lo! the angel's food is given

To the pilgrim who has striven;

see the children's bread from heaven,

which on dogs may not be spent.

Truth the ancient types fulfilling,

Isaac bound, a victim willing,

Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,

manna to the fathers sent.

Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,

Jesu, of your love befriend us,

You refresh us, you defend us,

Your eternal goodness send us

In the land of life to see.

You who all things can and know,

Who on earth such food bestow,

Grant us with your saints, though lowest,

Where the heav'nly feast you show,

Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.

ALLELUIA

John 6:51

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

and the bread that I will give

is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food,

and my blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me

will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever."

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

I will never forget the last time I missed Sunday Mass. I was eleven years old and my dad, brother, and myself joined some family and friends on a hiking weekend on Pike’s Peak. It was a fun-filled trek, but due to bad weather and slow children, we got down the mountain later than we expected on Sunday. We had picked out a Church for Mass in advance, but by the time we got there we had missed their last service. In the days before smart phones, we struggled to find other options. I remember us pulling into a Church and just pulling on the locked doors, hoping we could get lucky. By Sunday evening we had given up and started the long drive home.

When we eventually pulled back into Wichita, my dad parked the car in the garage, took a deep breath, and said to my brother and I: I know you boys loved that trip, and so did I. But we won’t ever go on it again, because I won’t ever put you in a situation to miss Mass ever again. My brother and I were annoyed. We didn’t do anything wrong; we truly tried our best. Why the big deal?

In the years that followed, I learned to truly value that experience. I’m glad my dad was so serious about Sunday Mass. I’m grateful that it was a non-negotiable, and that everything else came second to the Lord. I haven’t missed Mass since that day 24 years ago.

This weekend, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. It should be celebrated with great pomp and circumstance, as it is the reminder of the Source and Summit of our Faith! Holy Mass, Adoration, the reception of Holy Communion, are all highways of grace and mercy pouring into our hearts. Our lives are enriched and strengthened by this Bread of Angels, granted to us by our merciful God. Of course, receiving Holy Communion, sitting in Adoration, and attending Sunday Mass are helpful… but does it really matter if I skip it?

The real question is… what is more important? Sure, we have busy schedules, family functions, sporting events, and fun vacations. Those are all worthy and important. But if Jesus Christ truly died on a Cross, rose from the dead, and gave me His Body and Blood to eat and drink, is there anything more important? If the Mass really is the re-presentation of Calvary, what could be a priority over that? And if it is true that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you, then is there really any reason I would avoid it?

The longer I have been a priest, the more sympathetic I have become to the busy schedules of family life. The complexities of modern life are real and exhausting. But I also have become more grateful for my dad’s line in the sand. Things are fun, and life is busy, but if what I purport to believe about the Eucharist is real, it must take pride of place. When I don’t make the most important thing the most important thing, everything else crashes. We’ve seen that with our young people and families… divided, disordered, wounded lives, because we’ve refused to give anything up for Jesus.

A priest once told me, you can’t control most things in your life, but you can almost always control if you get to Mass on Sunday. If Jesus has really made me promises about who He is and what the Eucharist is, why wouldn’t I put everything second to that. Control what we can control and come to Mass each Sunday. Even though I was annoyed at the time, I’m grateful that my dad knew his priorities. Do we know ours?

**

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READING 1 

2 Timothy 4:1-8

Beloved:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,

who will judge the living and the dead,

and by his appearing and his kingly power:

proclaim the word;

be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;

convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine

but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity,

will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth

and will be diverted to myths.

But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances;

put up with hardship;

perform the work of an evangelist;

fulfill your ministry.For I am already being poured out like a libation,

and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have competed well;

I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.

From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,

which the Lord, the just judge,

will award to me on that day, and not only to me,

but to all who have longed for his appearance.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 71:8-9, 14-15AB, 16-17, 22

R. (see 15ab)  I will sing of your salvation.

My mouth shall be filled with your praise,

with your glory day by day.

Cast me not off in my old age;

as my strength fails, forsake me not.

R. I will sing of your salvation.

But I will always hope

and praise you ever more and more.

My mouth shall declare your justice,

day by day your salvation. 

R. I will sing of your salvation.

I will treat of the mighty works of the Lord;

O God, I will tell of your singular justice.

O God, you have taught me from my youth,

and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

R. I will sing of your salvation.

So will I give you thanks with music on the lyre,

for your faithfulness, O my God!

I will sing your praises with the harp,

O Holy One of Israel!

R. I will sing of your salvation.

ALLELUIA  

Matthew 5:3

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are the poor in spirit;

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Mark 12:38-44

In the course of his teaching Jesus said,

“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes

and accept greetings in the marketplaces,

seats of honor in synagogues,

and places of honor at banquets.

They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext,

recite lengthy prayers.

They will receive a very severe condemnation.”He sat down opposite the treasury

and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.

Many rich people put in large sums.

A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 

Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,

“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more

than all the other contributors to the treasury.

For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,

but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,

her whole livelihood.”

FOCUS AND LITURGY OF THE WORD

What does it truly mean to serve the Lord with a humble heart and soul? Today’s Gospel and first reading placed that question heavily on my heart. Do I seek validation for my time spent in service? Are my monetary contributions appropriately sized? If I truly take the time to be honest with myself, is my motivation pure? It can be scary to address those questions head on because human nature craves attention. We want to be seen for what we do, but Jesus clearly warns us to beware of those who give performatively. In my rumination I mulled over the difference between something done in service versus as a transaction. In service we do something selflessly. We receive no earthly benefit by giving of ourselves, though we may receive blessings from our generous Lord. Conversely, if we give out of desire to get something in return this is no longer service but a transaction. We turn a one-way interaction into something that goes two ways. For example, I may give because I want people to know about it and I think that will afford me an increase in social standing. It takes humility to truly serve because we have to give up control, suppress our human desires, and instead listen to where the Lord needs us. Today we are called to give humbly and proportionately-- each person must decide what that means for themselves. I pray that we all have the courage to be honest while we evaluate this question. If we find ourselves lacking, let us not be ashamed but grateful for this clarity and excited for the opportunity it presents us.

Not only are we reminded to be humble when serving the Lord with our time and treasure, but we are called to follow the Lord’s teachings. Seems simple enough, right? We all know we are supposed to listen to what the Lord said to do/not do. But again, what does this mean in practice? Are we able to follow the teachings when it is the unpopular thing to do? Can we miss the social event to attend mass on Sunday? Do we defend our faith when someone ridicules it or do we stay silent? Do we keep healthy boundaries or do we cave to society and pleasure? Now, I’m endangering myself again because I keep asking big questions and how can I find all the answers? Am I capable of measuring up to this standard I am envisioning? Although, for each question we ask ourselves we have a decision to make. Sometimes, the vast number of decisions we are presented with as humans can feel paralyzing, but I think part of that fear comes from the unknown. We don’t know what may come of our choices, and we are nervous that it may hurt us. Modern Christians especially may feel like following Christ isolates them from society, but we have to remember that we are called to walk the narrow way. 2 Timothy urges us to remain confident and focused on our mission, emphasizing that it will be difficult. But there is also hope in the knowledge that we know what will come of choices of this nature. Every time we choose the path of our Lord, we become closer with Him on our journey to everlasting life.

Each day I am able to choose the Lord in a thousand tiny ways. I can decide to give of my time today, I can choose to show up for mass. How will you choose the Lord today?

SAINT OF THE DAY

SAINT NORBERT

(c. 1080 – June 6, 1134)

Saint Norbert’s Story

In the 12th century in the French region of Premontre, Saint Norbert founded a religious Order known as the Praemonstratensians or the Norbertines. His founding of the Order was a monumental tasks: combating rampant heresies—particularly regarding the Blessed Sacrament, revitalizing many of the faithful who had grown indifferent and dissolute, plus effecting peace and reconciliation among enemies.

Saint Norbert entertained no pretensions about his own ability to accomplish this multiple task. Even with the aid of a goodly number of men who joined his Order, he realized that nothing could be effectively done without God’s power. Finding this help especially in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, he and his Norbertines praised God for success in converting heretics, reconciling numerous enemies, and rebuilding faith in indifferent believers. Many of them lived in central houses during the week and served in parishes on weekends.

Reluctantly, Saint Norbert became archbishop of Magdeburg in central Germany, a territory half pagan and half Christian. In this position he zealously and courageously continued his work for the Church until his death on June 6, 1134.

REFLECTION

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people. The same is true in regard to the Church. The indifference of vast numbers of nominal faithful to ecclesiastical authority and essential doctrines of the faith weakens the Church’s witness. Unswerving loyalty to the Church and fervent devotion to the Eucharist, as practiced by Saint Norbert, will continue immeasurably toward maintaining the people of God in accord with the heart of Christ.

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#dailyscripturereadingscommunity ,

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Ps 118:24

Father in Heaven, as I open my eyes to this new day, am profoundly thankful to you for the gift of life, breath and opportunity to live one more day.

May I recognise my blessings and be thankful to you this entire day. From the warmth of the sun, the rain that brings me food from the earth, to the love of family and friends, I glory in your creational hand. I also give you thanks for the heavy crosses, including sin, that I bear knowing your merciful hand sustains me and that my will is to follow your Will. May my heart overflow with appreciation and my actions; especially of penitence and forgiveness, reflect your abundant mercy and love.

Holy Spirit, enlighten and strengthen me. Lead me into your Truth and grant me grace to live my faith with courage and joy.

Mary, my Mother, pray for me and help me to live in peace and harmony with my neighbour today.

I ask this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

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#CharlesOngoleJohn