Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 06-26-04, Optional, St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer

USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 06-26-04 | New American Bible

[Salvation]

June 26, 2004
Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Psalm: Saturday 28 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel

Reading I
Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

The Lord has consumed without pity
all the dwellings of Jacob;
He has torn down in his anger
the fortresses of daughter Judah;
He has brought to the ground in dishonor
her king and her princes.

On the ground in silence sit
the old men of daughter Zion;
They strew dust on their heads
and gird themselves with sackcloth;
The maidens of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.

Worn out from weeping are my eyes,
within me all is in ferment;
My gall is poured out on the ground
because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,
As child and infant faint away
in the open spaces of the town.

In vain they ask their mothers,
"Where is the grain?"
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
And breathe their last
in their mothers' arms.

To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I show you for your comfort,
virgin daughter Zion?
For great as the sea is your downfall;
who can heal you?

Your prophets had for you
false and specious visions;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
to avert your fate;
They beheld for you in vision
false and misleading portents.

Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.

Rise up, shrill in the night,
at the beginning of every watch;
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your little ones
Who faint from hunger
at the corner of every street.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21

R (19b) Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your flock which you built up of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,
Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.
R Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;
toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;
they have set up their tokens of victory.
They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.
R Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.
R Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Look to your covenant,
for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.
May the humble not retire in confusion;
may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.
R Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Gospel
Mt 8:5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,' and he goes;
and to another, ‘Come here,' and he comes;
and to my slave, ‘Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
And Jesus said to the centurion,
"You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you."
And at that very hour his servant was healed.

Jesus entered the house of Peter,
and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand, the fever left her,
and she rose and waited on him.

When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:

He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.

[Salvation]

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

[Salvation]

Alleluia Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Alleluia Ping List.

[Salvation]

St Josemaria Escriva: Biography[Founder of OPUS DEI]

[Salvation]

FEAST OF THE DAY

Josemaria Escriva was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9,
1902. His parents, Jose and Dolores, gave their children a profound
Christian education. In 1915 Josemaria's family moved to Logrono,
and it was here that Josemaria first began to seriously discern his
vocation. He first began to examine a vocation to religious life when
he came across a set of bare footprints left by a monk walking
through the snow. He felt called to the priesthood and began studies
in Logrono and later in Saragossa to accomplish this.

In 1924, Josemaria's father died and he had to help support the
family. Josemaria was ordained in 1925 and soon after began to
pursue a doctorate in law. He paid for his schooling and helped
support his family by giving classes at the University of Madrid.
During this time he also realized that God was calling him to found a
new religious order. Eventually, this call resulted in the formation of
Opus Dei.

In 1946 Blessed Josemaria took up residence in Rome. There he
obtained a doctorate in Theology from the Lateran University and
was named consultor to two Vatican Congregations, as well as
honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, and prelate
of honor by Pope Pius XII. Josemaria used his position to help
spread and encourage the growth of his order around the world.
Josemaria died on June 26, 1975 and was beatified on May 17,
1992.


QUOTE OF THE DAY

With supernatural intuition, Blessed Josemaria untiringly preached
the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to
become holy in the realities of everyday life. Hence work too is a
means of personal holiness and apostolate, when it is done in union
with Jesus Christ. -Pope John Paul II at the beatification of
Josemaria Escriva


TODAY IN HISTORY

684 Pope St. Benedict II begins his reign
1178 Death of St. Anselm


TODAY'S TIDBIT

The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, also known as Opus
Dei, was founded by Josemaria Escriva in 1928. This order was
founded to spread the message that all the baptized are called to
seek holiness and to make the Gospel known.


INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray that all people may strive for greater holiness in their
everyday lives.

[Salvation]

American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

June 26

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer

(1902-1975)

An estimated 300,000 people filled St. Peter's Square on October 6, 2002, for the canonization of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. His canonization came only 27 years after his death, one of the shortest waiting periods in Church history.

Opus Dei, which means Work of God, emphasizes that men and women can become holy by performing their daily duties with a Christian spirit. In his homily, Pope John Paul II emphasized the importance of every believer following God's will, as had the newly sainted founder of Opus Dei. “The Lord has a plan for each one of us. Saints cannot even conceive of themselves outside of God's plan: They live only to fulfill it.”

Born in Barbastro, Spain, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer sensed early in life that he had a vocation to the priesthood. Following his ordination in 1925, he briefly ministered in a rural parish. He moved to Madrid, where he obtained a doctorate in law. At the same time Father Escriva was beginning to envision a movement that would offer ordinary people help in seeking holiness through their everyday activities. It was officially founded in 1928.

As Opus Dei grew, Father Escriva continued his studies and his priestly work among the poor and sick. During the Civil War in Spain he had to exercise his ministry secretly and move from place to place. Only after the war did he return to Madrid and complete his doctoral studies. He later moved to Rome and obtained a doctorate in theology. Pope Pius XII named him an honorary prelate and a consultor to two Vatican congregations. All the while, Opus Dei grew in size and influence.

When Msgr. Escriva died in 1975, Opus Dei could be found in dozens of places around the globe. Today its membership includes approximately 83,000 laypersons and 1,800 priests in 60 countries. It is a “personal prelature,” a special jurisdictional entity within the Church.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Meditation
Matthew 8:5-17



Faith. How important this is to Jesus! It’s so important that in today’s Gospel he points to the great faith of the centurion as a model of what it means to place our trust and confidence in nothing more than Jesus’ word. With this kind of faith, wonders and miracles can happen! Throughout the gospels, it seems that Jesus always responds positively to the kind of faith that exhibits this absolute trust and confidence.

How can we become more daring in our faith? First, we can simply ask the Lord to increase our faith. Faith is a gift—something that the Lord seems ready and willing to give us or to increase in us. Second, we can do our best to associate with others who seem to have a strong and healthy faith. Faith is contagious, after all. If we are in contact with people who lovingly and trustingly put their faith in the Lord, we will be more likely to see our own faith increase.

Another thing that we can do to make our faith more daring is to begin to use it in that way! It’s like exercise: The more we use our muscles, the stronger we become. Try to exercise your faith in greater ways. For example, rather than pray about smaller events in your life—which, of course, is good and should never be forgotten—you might begin to focus on larger issues, even on a national or global scale. Remember what Jesus told his disciples (and us): “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus has the authority and power to do anything, anywhere in the universe.

Finally, we can become more daring in our faith by coming to know Jesus better through reading Scripture and prayer. The better we know Jesus, the more we will be convinced that he is loving, wise, merciful, and compassionate. We will trust that he will always do the best thing in every situation. Like the beloved disciple at the Last Supper, we can come to rest on his breast and trustingly ask him for anything.

“Lord Jesus, I love you. Increase my faith so that I may more boldly and confidently come to you for any situation in my life—or anything in the entire world!”

[Salvation]

**He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.**

Do we allow Jesus to do this? Do we pray in this manner?

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

All Issues > Volume 20, Number 4

<< Saturday, June 26, 2004 >>

Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

Psalm 74

Matthew 8:5-17

View Readings

FIRE EXTINGUISHER

“They did not lay bare your guilt, to avert your fate.” —Lamentations 2:14

Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem as a dwelling place for the Lord. God was pleased and came to dwell in the Temple. “The Lord’s glory filled the house of God” (2 Chr 5:14). During the next three-hundred years, Jerusalem was miraculously spared from attack on several occasions (e.g. 2 Kgs 19:35).

Eventually they grew complacent and neglected the Lord’s commands, falling into lifestyles of sin and injustice. Many “prophets” of the time fueled this lax attitude with “false and specious visions” and “misleading portents” (Lam 2:14). They falsely predicted divine protection and security rather than judgment and accountability for sin. Finally, in 587 B.C., the unthinkable occurred. Babylon besieged Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and the Lord did not intervene (2 Chr 36:19). The inhabitants of Jerusalem were killed or exiled. The temple was gone, and so, seemingly, was the Lord. All was unexpectedly lost (see Prv 29:1).

We want to hear about hope and security, but we need to hear about our guilt (Lam 2:14). We must never grow weary of hearing about our propensity to sin and to backslide. “The things that happened to” the people of Jerusalem “serve as an example...as a warning to us” (1 Cor 10:11). Therefore, “let anyone who thinks he is standing upright watch out lest he fall!” (1 Cor 10:12) The sins of complacency and presumption lead straight to the shock of hell. Repent! Live in the fear of the Lord (Prv 9:10).

Prayer: Jesus, may You find faith in me (Mt 8:10), not smugness.

Promise: “To the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go home. It shall be done because you trusted.’ ” —Matthew 8:13

Praise: It was the consistent, frequent homilies given by a priest who did not compromise the truth that helped Vera refrain from worldly ways and lukewarmness about Jesus.

[annalex]

Mt 8:5-17
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
5	And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,	cum autem introisset Capharnaum accessit ad eum centurio rogans eum
6	And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented.	et dicens Domine puer meus iacet in domo paralyticus et male torquetur
7	And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him.	et ait illi Iesus ego veniam et curabo eum
8	And the centurion, making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.	et respondens centurio ait Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur puer meus
9	For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.	nam et ego homo sum sub potestate habens sub me milites et dico huic vade et vadit et alio veni et venit et servo meo fac hoc et facit
10	And Jesus hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him. Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel.	audiens autem Iesus miratus est et sequentibus se dixit amen dico vobis non inveni tantam fidem in Israhel
11	And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven:	dico autem vobis quod multi ab oriente et occidente venient et recumbent cum Abraham et Isaac et Iacob in regno caelorum
12	But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.	filii autem regni eicientur in tenebras exteriores ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium
13	And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.	et dixit Iesus centurioni vade et sicut credidisti fiat tibi et sanatus est puer in hora illa
14	And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying, and sick of a fever;	et cum venisset Iesus in domum Petri vidit socrum eius iacentem et febricitantem
15	And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.	et tetigit manum eius et dimisit eam febris et surrexit et ministrabat eis
16	And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word: and all that were sick he healed:	vespere autem facto obtulerunt ei multos daemonia habentes et eiciebat spiritus verbo et omnes male habentes curavit
17	That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaias, saying: He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.	ut adimpleretur quod dictum est per Esaiam prophetam dicentem ipse infirmitates nostras accepit et aegrotationes portavit