Friday, November 22, 2019
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Thursday, September 5, 2019
S. MOTHER THERESA OF CALCUTTA -- Sept 5
S. MOTHER THERESA OF CALCUTTA
“I present you the most powerful woman in the world.” It is October 26, 1985, when UN Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar introduces Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the United Nations General Assembly. Certainly, the little religious sister wrapped in her white sari with blue piping felt uncomfortable with that emphatic presentation, preferring to describe herself as a “pencil stub in God's hands”.
“Come, be my light”
Minute in body, giant in faith, Mother Teresa was born to an Albanian family in Skopje on August 26, 1910, and is given the name Agnes Gonxha. As a child, she is taught by her parents to live praising the Lord and helping the most needy. It is not surprising, therefore, that she should have chosen, at age 18, to become a missionary. Agnes left home in September, 1928, to enter the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dublin, where he received the name of Mary Teresa. The following year she would be in India, where she lived happily for nearly 20 years in a school of her congregation, teaching the wealthy young people in the area. On September 10, 1946, however, Mother Teresa received what she calls her “calling within a calling”. That day, Jesus revealed to her His pain at seeing indifference and contempt for the poor, and asked Teresa to be the face of His mercy: “Come, be my light. I can not go alone.”
Missionaries of Charity
After her first experience of leaving home, 20 years later she left her Institute to found the Missionaries of Charity, taking the name Mother Teresa and wearing the Indian Sari, beginning her new mission among the last of Calcutta, the outcast, those who are “unwanted, unloved, uneducated”. Some of her former students would soon join her, and in the space of a few years, the Congregation - recognized in 1950 by the Archbishop of Calcutta and in 1965 by Bl. Paul VI - spread to every part of the world where the poor need help and especially love. The Missionaries of Charity open homes in Africa and Latin America, but also in the Communist countries and even in the Soviet Union. Her figure rapidly became more and more popular worldwide, but, when asked about the secret of her success, she would respond with disarming simplicity: “I pray.” Bl. Paul VI held her and her Sisters in high esteem, and gave them his Papal automobile at the end of his trip to India. Mother Teresa also had a deeply fraternal relationship with Pope St. John Paul II. Particularly memorable was Pope St. John Paul II’s visit to the house in Calcutta, where Mother Teresa welcomed the dying. It was also Pope St. John Paul II who desired that there be a structure in the Vatican, the “Gift of Mary”, for the Missionaries of Charity.
In defense of life
Always ready to help the poor and needy, Mother Teresa was also strongly committed to the defense of nascent life. Her speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on October 17, 1979 was unforgettable. “The greatest destroyer of peace,” she said on that occasion, “is the cry of the innocent unborn child.For if a mother can murder her own child in her womb, what is left for you and for me to kill each other?”. Even in later years, despite illness and the “dark night of the soul” she experienced, Mother Teresa never spared herself, and continued tirelessly to respond to the needs of the needy. She died on September 5, 1997, in Calcutta. At that time, there were 4 thousand of her Sisters in the world, present in 610 mission houses spread out in 123 countries. She remains for us the sign that mercy has no boundaries and comes to all, without distinction, because, as Mother Theresa said, “Maybe I do not speak their language, but I can smile.”
Monday, September 2, 2019
Saint-Phoebe of Rome-Sept 2, Christian matron, and likely a widow.
Saint-Phoebe of Rome-Sept 2, Christian matron, and likely a widow. Deaconess at Cenchrese, Greece. Delivered Saint Paul the Apostle‘s Epistle to the church in Rome, Italy, and is praised by him in it. Saint John Chrysostom wrote a sermon singing her praises.
Monday, August 19, 2019
What nuns give up when they take their vows
What nuns give up when they take their vows..
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
http://www.sistersofmercy.org/become-a-sister/ask-a-sister/
Prescriptive texts denounce the frivolity and coquetry of secular clothing; its rejection becomes a technique for the denial of the body.
Entering the convent, a young woman leaves her old clothes at the door along with the name that at her baptism had brought her into the larger Christian family:
Giving up one's name and giving up one's clothes belong to a single tradition of renouncing the world, but monastic approaches to these practices are complex. Vatican II's insistence that neither renunciation was necessary generated a great deal of controversy. The possibility of returning to one's family name and of wearing ordinary clothes radically called into question a long tradition of religious life. In the course of my interviews, some nuns expressed joy at being able to drop religious names and nuns' habits, both of which they associated with rule-bound formality rather than spiritual value. Others, however, perceived the abandonment of a religious name as a denial of the religious life. Even if they were perfectly willing to give up their habit for ordinary street clothes, they nonetheless understood their name in religion as invested with a certain sanctity. Clothing might be irrelevant to the essence of the religious life, but the name represented the nun's vows and was thus crucial to her engagement in the religious life. For some, the religious name was a marker of the social status they gained by entering the convent; the name gave them dignity in their own eyes and those of others. These multiple positions vis a vis religious names and dress suggest the complexity of the transformation of personal identity undergone by women in the name of a transcendent ideal.
Translated by Carol E. Harrison
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wsfh/0642292.0033.028/--taking-the-veil-clothing-and-the-transformation-of-identity?rgn=main;view=fulltext
The groundbreaking Lifetime® series “The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns” follows five young women considering the life-changing decision of taking religious vows to become Catholic nuns. For the first time ever, cameras were allowed into three convents where the women live and work together alongside nuns during the discernment phase, the process wherein they decide if they want to formally continue on their holy path. In observance of the sacred vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, they leave behind everything they have come to love—boyfriends, family members and all worldly possessions—to see if they have what it takes to become servants of the church and brides of Christ. See them test their devotion when “The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns” premieres Tuesday, November 25, at 10PM ET/PT.
http://www.dove.org/review/10763-the-sisterhood-becoming-nuns/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4257314/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/07/lifetimes-the-sisterhood_n_6263184.html
The Sisterhood Becoming Nuns 2014 Season 1 Episode 2
https://youtu.be/aiKtq3Jf0xQ
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
http://www.sistersofmercy.org/become-a-sister/ask-a-sister/
The name in religion, however, is not a tool for hiding the nun behind a borrowed name, analogous to the veil that used to cover most of her face.
Rather, it is a go-between, even a stage name for the performance of religious devotion enacted in a theatre hidden behind the convent walls.
Nuns themselves testify to the importance of receiving a new name. According to Josette, "You change your name along with your clothing; they go together. You leave behind your old clothes and your baptismal name!
The new habit has to go with the new name and it's dramatic, a major break with your previous life."[34]
For Sister Madeleine, who works with poor and dispossessed families in Toulouse, "the important thing is the call that you can't ignore. I chose the name Madeleine because I felt a special empathy for the patron saint of sinners, but that's not really what's important. I had a life before, I liked boys, but you have to choose, give up things, and it's not easy."[35]
Long after taking the veil, women recall intensely their renaming, and they offer emotional accounts of their transformation.
They remember entering the religious life as about making choices, about the conscious renunciation of what previously defined their lives in response to an interior voice.
Describing the new name as a "pseudonym" seems inadequate to capture their experience.
Early modern texts similarly bind leaving behind family, ordinary clothes, and name into an indivisible ensemble: "Leave behind vain ornaments with a holy scorn, because you want nothing more to do with the vanity of the world; drop them all in obedience to the baptismal vow that you took to renounce the world and its vanity and that you have perhaps not yet fulfilled."[36]
Entering the convent, a young woman leaves her old clothes at the door along with the name that at her baptism had brought her into the larger Christian family:
The records of veilings and professions kept by the Sisters of Notre Dame in Carentan, a post-Tridentine teaching order, reveal trends in eighteenth-century religious naming practices.[43]
Fifty-one novices took the veil between 1737 and 1783. Of these, thirteen incorporated a masculine name into their religious name, perhaps out of respect for the dictates of the Council of Trent, which condemned the feminization of the names of male exemplars of piety.[44]
The most common female names suggest that the novices regularly drew on the era's most common devotional literature in their choice of name.[45]
Christological devotion was a dominant influence, with the overwhelming majority of new names combining a saint's name with a reference to Jesus or to the holy sacrament.[46]
The cults of Mary and the angels appear in second place, with eight and seven appearances respectively. Saint Joseph and Pierre Fourrier, one of the order's founders, both appeared once.
There were no references to particular dogmas of the Church, but the early fathers and episodes in the life of Christ both showed up occasionally.
This practice of double naming placed the nun under the protection of a specific saint while also linking her to a transcendent form of spirituality, and it suggests a clear process of identity-formation well beyond the simple change of civil status.
To be called "Sister Adélaïde de Jésus" or "Colombe du Saint-Sacrement" places the individual within a sacred genealogy that distinguishes her from both ordinary lay people and other religious.
It would be interesting to know more about how religious naming reflected the social origins and educational levels of the individuals concerned; the small sample in the Carentan records offers some hints but provides an inadequate basis for generalization.
Clearly, the choice of a name in religion varies both by religious order and across time.[47] In the nineteenth century, particularly in contemplative orders, the convent hierarchy, usually the mother superior, generally chose names for postulants.
At the other extreme were houses that allow novices free choice of a name, although the convent authorities did seek to discourage overly mystical or imaginative names.[48]
This freedom to choose a name is the most common practice in religious houses today. Midway between the two possibilities was a name negotiated between the novice, the mistress of novices and/or the mother superior. Many houses maintained a tradition of having the postulant propose a list from which her superiors made the final choice.[49]
Whether imposed, negotiated, or freely chosen, the new name becomes a fully integrated element of the nun's identity, a process that demands our attention.
Rejecting the nineteenth-century notion of taking the veil as a "cowardly retreat" for women incapable of facing the world, J. P. Peterson suggests that we consider their act as "a strong, although unusual, affirmation of the self.
It is like a rejection (even a revolt against) a humiliating status, although it takes the form of a radical annihilation of self, an absolute humility, but this time in the name of God alone."[50]
If we follow Peterson's suggestion in our analysis of naming, then the name in religion features as both the symbol and tool of that affirmation.
The new name serves not only to identify a specific nun, but to place her both within her new community and with regard to the world that she has left behind.
There are many nineteenth-century examples of women who founded religious orders and whose name in religion served them as a sort of standard in their combat for a spiritual ideal. Far from being a peaceful retreat, the convent served these women as a site for the full expression of self.[51]
Some contemporary interviews confirm this reading. Among my interview subjects, some seem to consider their name in religion as conferring a certain social status, although they were not entirely comfortable with this idea.
Daughters of modest rural families, they had often experienced their entry into the convent as upward mobility, and their new name was part of this social achievement.
Françoise-Thérèse explained in detail the spiritual reasons for her choice of name, including her decision not to return to her baptismal name after Vatican II: "Eliette wasn't a religious name; it was just for family."[52]
Family life and the religious life were two different worlds, and names kept them separate.
Records reveal that different orders understood the social significance of naming differently; some carefully followed established rules, while others made more grandiose choices that might draw attention to their recruits' elevated social status.
We know very little about what the secular world, notably political authorities, made of religious names.
Even though no text in canon law specifically describes name changing, the French monarchy did regulate the practice beginning in 1736.
Royal edict required all monastic orders to keep records of all entries and professions and to turn over one copy to the bailliage clerk every five years.[53]
Religious houses were to record birth names; the edict said nothing of religious names, although some houses listed the latter more prominently than the former.
Occasionally, political authorities, even under the Old Regime, objected to the use of religious names on the grounds that they tended to exempt part of the population from the law.
At the time of the foundation of Saint-Cyr, Louis XIV required the new order to reject officially any use of religious names.[54]
The Republic has also occasionally confronted religious orders over the question of names, since name-changing could be used for both minor and more serious deception.
Finally, it is worth considering that the interplay between naming and identity does not take place exclusively in the written record.
[55]
What role did names play in religious life within the convent?
We do know something about what nuns called one another.
Sometimes rules prescribed naming practices, forbidding, for instance, using "any other name that the one that the order selects."[56]
At Saint-Geniez "the sisters always speak French, refer to one another formally (ne se tutoient point), and do not use any name other than their office or their name in religion."[57] Some sisters in positions of authority or assigned to specific tasks were most commonly referred to by their title or office, a practice that emphasized a place in a hierarchy rather than an individual identity.
Use of personal names, in contrast, whether the original name or the religious name, called attention to individuality.
Obituary notices composed by religious communities for their members are also quite revealing about the significance of names.
The Visitandine archives contain many examples of these Abrégés de vie et vertus, usually written by a mother superior to narrate the religious life of the deceased.
Their length and detail generally vary according to the deceased nun's social rank or the functions she fulfilled within the community: commemorations of sisters (soeurs de choeur) from good families tended to be long and to present their subjects as spiritual exemplars, while the lives of the less elevated soeurs domestiques could be summarized briefly, with the emphasis on their "willing submission."[58]
EDIT ON FROM HERE
Titles and names also feature in convent sisters' relationships with the outside world.[59] Nuns' correspondence – both letters that they wrote and those that they received – is important evidence of how names worked in religious life. In 1690 one M Decomps, a jurist from Bordeaux, addressed a letter to the leaders of the Carmelite Tertiary convent in Toulouse: "Mesdames de St Jehan Mother Superior and de St Jehan-Baptiste, vicar of the convent of the tertiary sisters of Toulouse." Decomps was the convent's legal representative, charged with representing their interests in the world, yet his official report used religious names even though legal acts required family names. In this case, monastic practice trumped public practice. Sometimes official correspondence combined both forms of address.[60] All these practices reveal the largely unregulated complexity of the lives of women with a double identity.
In general, these nuns do not seem to have been conscious of this double identity; some denied that it existed, others that it was in any way complex. The de-individualization that takes place as a woman passes through the novitiate to her final vows goes well beyond the loss of a family name. The novitiate is a time of reflection on self-renunciation. The novice learns to become part of a community by giving up what makes her an individual, neither thinking nor acting for herself but as a small piece of a greater whole. Her name is the least of what the future nun abandons at the convent gate; she leaves behind her very being, an obligation that explains why many novices experience this as a time of suffering. Refusing the option of leaving before taking vows – which is not painless either – some of my interview subjects who found community life difficult created for themselves a more or less solitary mission outside the convent walls: Madeleine as a prison visitor, for instance, or Marie-Lucien as a village nurse. Others found a way to live in community, either by disappearing into it or by dominating it, but always in the name of God.Giving up one's name and giving up one's clothes belong to a single tradition of renouncing the world, but monastic approaches to these practices are complex. Vatican II's insistence that neither renunciation was necessary generated a great deal of controversy. The possibility of returning to one's family name and of wearing ordinary clothes radically called into question a long tradition of religious life. In the course of my interviews, some nuns expressed joy at being able to drop religious names and nuns' habits, both of which they associated with rule-bound formality rather than spiritual value. Others, however, perceived the abandonment of a religious name as a denial of the religious life. Even if they were perfectly willing to give up their habit for ordinary street clothes, they nonetheless understood their name in religion as invested with a certain sanctity. Clothing might be irrelevant to the essence of the religious life, but the name represented the nun's vows and was thus crucial to her engagement in the religious life. For some, the religious name was a marker of the social status they gained by entering the convent; the name gave them dignity in their own eyes and those of others. These multiple positions vis a vis religious names and dress suggest the complexity of the transformation of personal identity undergone by women in the name of a transcendent ideal.
Translated by Carol E. Harrison
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wsfh/0642292.0033.028/--taking-the-veil-clothing-and-the-transformation-of-identity?rgn=main;view=fulltext
The groundbreaking Lifetime® series “The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns” follows five young women considering the life-changing decision of taking religious vows to become Catholic nuns. For the first time ever, cameras were allowed into three convents where the women live and work together alongside nuns during the discernment phase, the process wherein they decide if they want to formally continue on their holy path. In observance of the sacred vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, they leave behind everything they have come to love—boyfriends, family members and all worldly possessions—to see if they have what it takes to become servants of the church and brides of Christ. See them test their devotion when “The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns” premieres Tuesday, November 25, at 10PM ET/PT.
http://www.dove.org/review/10763-the-sisterhood-becoming-nuns/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4257314/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/07/lifetimes-the-sisterhood_n_6263184.html
The Sisterhood Becoming Nuns 2014 Season 1 Episode 2
https://youtu.be/aiKtq3Jf0xQ
Sunday, August 18, 2019
A Vocation to the Single Life
A Vocation to the Single Life: What is vocation? The word “vocation” often intimidates, frightens, or even repels if considered as just a “religious calling.” Vocation, which comes from either the Latin verb vocare (to call) or the noun vox (voice), is God’s unique invitation to individuals to freely respond to the way of the Gospel. This responding is a life-long …
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent to the apostles.
According to John 20:11–18, Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus's body had been. Then the risen Jesus approached her. She at first mistook him for the gardener, but, after she heard him say her name, she recognized him and cried out "Rabbouni!" (which is Aramaic for "teacher"). She tried to touch him, but he told her, "Don't touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my father.” Jesus then sent her to tell the other apostles the good news of his resurrection.The Gospel of John therefore portrays Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent to the apostles.
Friday, August 2, 2019
Monday, July 8, 2019
Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Significance of Newman's Canonization
Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Significance of Newman's Canonization: As I noted yesterday Matt Swaim or Anna Mitchell and I will continue our Santo Subito series on the Son Rise Morning Show today about ...
"I had no difficulty in believing [them], as soon as I believed that the Catholic Roman Church was the oracle of God, and that she had declared this doctrine to be part of the original revelation.
That's a statement so clear that "cradle" Catholics, baptized and initiated throughout their childhoods should meditate upon it. Do I believe that the "Catholic Roman Church" is the oracle of God, teaching His revelation? As a late great friend of mine commented in another context, if I believe that I receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ at Mass in the Catholic Church, how can I dissent from other Church teaching, like against abortion, contraception, and euthanasia? Once I believe she is the sure guide and teacher of God's revelation, I believe her and accept her authority, based upon the Word God, the Holy Bible and the Apostolic Tradition. Newman's faith is a great model to follow in a skeptical and unbelieving world for those who came to the Catholic Church from other faith communities, those who converted, and those who grew up Catholic.
Newman studied and read himself into the Catholic Roman Church mainly through reading the Fathers of the Church and then seeing their teaching handed on through the ages until his own day. As Father Ian Ker says in his Newman on Vatican II, he was a historical theologian. Newman is one of the great guides to Church History. He acknowledges all the failures and failings of the members of the Church at the same time he has great faith and confidence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church, keeping her from error in teaching on morals and doctrine.
Another great significance to Newman's canonization is the role of Mother Mary Angelica's EWTN: both miracles obtained by his intercession were requested by Catholics in the United States of America who had come to know Newman because of programming on EWTN!
"Hope in God--Creator":
1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.
2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.
3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.
"I had no difficulty in believing [them], as soon as I believed that the Catholic Roman Church was the oracle of God, and that she had declared this doctrine to be part of the original revelation.
That's a statement so clear that "cradle" Catholics, baptized and initiated throughout their childhoods should meditate upon it. Do I believe that the "Catholic Roman Church" is the oracle of God, teaching His revelation? As a late great friend of mine commented in another context, if I believe that I receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ at Mass in the Catholic Church, how can I dissent from other Church teaching, like against abortion, contraception, and euthanasia? Once I believe she is the sure guide and teacher of God's revelation, I believe her and accept her authority, based upon the Word God, the Holy Bible and the Apostolic Tradition. Newman's faith is a great model to follow in a skeptical and unbelieving world for those who came to the Catholic Church from other faith communities, those who converted, and those who grew up Catholic.
Newman studied and read himself into the Catholic Roman Church mainly through reading the Fathers of the Church and then seeing their teaching handed on through the ages until his own day. As Father Ian Ker says in his Newman on Vatican II, he was a historical theologian. Newman is one of the great guides to Church History. He acknowledges all the failures and failings of the members of the Church at the same time he has great faith and confidence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church, keeping her from error in teaching on morals and doctrine.
Another great significance to Newman's canonization is the role of Mother Mary Angelica's EWTN: both miracles obtained by his intercession were requested by Catholics in the United States of America who had come to know Newman because of programming on EWTN!
"Hope in God--Creator":
1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.
2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.
3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Reading 07-06-2019 Follow Christ
First Reading
A Reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 66:10-14C
Thus says the LORD:
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.
As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,
and fondled in her lap;
as a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.
As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,
and fondled in her lap;
as a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.
When you see this, your heart shall rejoice
and your bodies flourish like the grass;
the LORD's power shall be known to his servants.
and your bodies flourish like the grass;
the LORD's power shall be known to his servants.
Second Reading
Reading Paul's Letter The Letter to the Galatians 6:14-18
Brothers and sisters:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.
Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule
and to the Israel of God.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.
Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule
and to the Israel of God.
From now on, let no one make troubles for me;
for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.
for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,
brothers and sisters. Amen.
brothers and sisters. Amen.
Gospel of the day
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
'The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.'
Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
'The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.'
Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."
The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said,
"Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name."
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.
Behold, I have given you the power to 'tread upon serpents' and scorpions
and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
"Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name."
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.
Behold, I have given you the power to 'tread upon serpents' and scorpions
and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
Words of the Holy Father
The true preacher is the one who knows he is weak, who knows that he cannot defend himself. ‘You are going out like a lamb among wolves’ – ‘But Lord, why would they eat me?’ – ‘You are going! This is the journey.’ And I think it was Chrysostom who has a very profound reflection, when he says: ‘But if you do not go like sheep, but you go like a wolf among wolves, the Lord, will not defend you: you’ll have to fend for yourself.’ When the preacher believes he is too intelligent. ‘Ah, I can get along with these people’ – just so, it will end badly. Or you will bargain away the Word of God: to the powerful, to the proud. (Santa Marta, 14 February 2017)
Monday, July 1, 2019
Folow Christ July 1
Genesis (18:16-33)
Gospel of the day
A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Matthew 8:18-22
When Jesus saw a crowd around him,
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”
Sunday, June 30, 2019
I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, JUne 30 2019
Book of Kings
1 KGS 19:16B, 19-21
Saint Paul's letter to Galatians
GAL 5:1, 13-18
1 KGS 19:16B, 19-21
Saint Paul's letter to Galatians
GAL 5:1, 13-18
From the Gospel according to Luke
LK 9:51-62
LK 9:51-62
When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
Pope Francis on Three ‘Personages’ of Vocation
Vatican Media Screenshot
Pope Francis on Three ‘Personages’ of Vocation
‘To follow Jesus, the Church is itinerant, she acts immediately, in a hurry and resolute.’
The decision to follow Jesus must be prompt and decisive – and you better be prepared to leave behind the comforts of home. This is a message not only for the individual but for the entire Church.
That was the theme of Pope Francis June 30, 2019, before praying the noonday Angelus with a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square. The crowd braved a record European heat wave, sprouting umbrellas to shield against the sun pouring down from a bright blue sky.
The Pope spoke on the day’s Gospel (Luke 9:51-62) where the apostle begins the story of Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem and recalls three would-be disciples and the Lord’s response to them.
“The first personage promises Him: “I will follow you wherever you go” (v. 57). He is generous!” the Holy Father said. “However, Jesus answers that, unlike the foxes that have holes, and the birds that have nests, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (v. 58) — Jesus’ absolute poverty.”
With that response, the Pope explained, Jesus recognizes the person’s willingness but reminds him that it will be a difficult path ahead. After all, Jesus has given up everything to follow his vocation.
The second personage, Francis continued, wants to follow Jesus but asks first to bury his deceased father. The Pope admits this is something reasonable but Jesus has a different response: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (v. 60).
“With these words, willingly provocative, He intends to affirm the primacy of the following and of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, even over the most important realities, such as the family,” the Pope said. “The urgency to communicate the Gospel, which breaks the chain of death and inaugurates eternal life, doesn’t admit delays but calls for promptness and availability. Therefore, the Church is itinerant, and here the Church is resolute; she acts in a hurry, at the moment, without waiting.”
Finally, the Pope addressed the situation of a third personage. He also wanted to follow Jesus but asked first to say goodbye to his parents. Again, this was a reasonable request but Jesus’ response was firm: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (v. 62).
“To follow Jesus, the Church is itinerant, she acts immediately, in a hurry and resolute,” Francis insisted. “The value of these conditions set by Jesus — itinerancy, promptness, and decision — doesn’t lie in a series of ‘no’s’ said to good and important things of life. Rather, the accent is put on the main objective: to become a disciple of Christ!”
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Sts. Nereus & Achilleus, Roman Catholic Martyrs Feast May 12
St. Flavia Domitilla, Roman Catholic Martyr with Euphrosyna and Theodora. She was related to Emperors Domitian and Titus and was a great-niece of St. Flavius Clemens. She was martyred with her two foster sisters. May 12
Saturday, May 4, 2019
St. Florian, was an officer of the Roman army, and Martyr May 4
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Pope Francis Expresses Sympathy for Sri Lanka Bombing Victims - ZENIT - English
Pope Francis Expresses Sympathy for Sri Lanka Bombing Victims - ZENIT - English: Hundreds Killed and Injured in Easter Sunday Attacks
Saturday, April 6, 2019
St William of Aebelholt-April 6
William was a canon in Paris, when in 1171 he was invited by the bishop of Roskilde to take care of the reform of the abbey of Eskilso in Ise Fjord, Zealand.
He then founded the abbey of Aebelholt on the same island. William was later sent to Rome to speak to the Pope on behalf of Ingleburga, sister of the Danish king, who had been repudiated by her husband, King Philip Augustus of France.
He died in 1203 and was canonised in 1224.
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/saint/102
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