Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 08-12-12, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 08-12-12 | Revised New American Bible

[Salvation]

August 12, 2012

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:4-8

Elijah went a day's journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
"This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Reading 2 Eph 4:30-5:2

Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

Gospel Jn 6:41-51

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,
"I am the bread that came down from heaven,"
and they said,
"Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
'I have come down from heaven?'"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
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."

[Salvation]

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

[Salvation]

Well I can certainly tell that the cataract removal surgery I had last week helps more with distance than with closeup.

Getting it fixed.

[Salvation]

Alleluia Ping!

 

If you aren’t on this ping list NOW and would like to be, 

please Freepmail me.

[Salvation]

Wow, that was fast. Thanks, mods.

[Salvation]

From: 1 Kings 19:4-8

Elijah flees to Horeb

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[4] But he himself [Elijah] went a days journey into the wilderness, and came
and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying. “It is
enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.” [5]
And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched
him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” [6] And he looked, and behold, there was
at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank,
and lay down again. [7] And the angel of the Lord came again a second time,
and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for
you.” [8] And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food
forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

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Commentary:

19:1-8. Elijah in some way repeats the experience of the chosen people as they
fled from Egypt pursued by the pharaoh. The food that the angel gives him has
been seen in Christian tradition as a figure of the Eucharist, given that ‘’by the
grace of this Sacrament men enjoy the greatest peace and tranquility of con-
science during the present life; and, when the hour of departing from this world
shall have arrived, like Elijah, who in the strength of the bread baked on the
hearth, walked to Horeb, the mount of God, they, too, invigorated by the streng-
thening influence of this (heavenly food), will ascend to unfading glory and bliss
(”Roman Catechism”, 2, 4, 54).

19:5. Angels appear often in the course of biblical history to protect individuals
(Lot, in Gen 19; Hagar and Ishmael in Gen 21:17-19; etc.); to guide the people
in the desert (cf. Ex 23:20-23); or to inform people of God’s plans (cf. Judg 6:11-
24; 13:1-25). Now, an angel comes to the prophet’s help.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

[Salvation]

From: Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Christian Virtues (Continuation)

---

[30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the
days of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
slander be put away from you, with all malice, [32] and be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Purity of Life

---

[1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to
God.

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Commentary:

30. The Holy Spirit, who is the bond of unity in Christ’s mystical body (cf. Eph
4:3-4), is “grieved” by anything which might cause disunity among the faithful.

The Holy Spirit dwells in the souls of believers from Baptism onwards, and his
presence is reinforced when they receive Confirmation and the other sacraments.
As the Council of Florence teaches, in Confirmation “we are given the Holy Spirit
to strengthen us, as happened to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, enab-
ling the Christian boldly to confess the name of Christ” (”Pro Armeniis, Dz-Sch”,
1319). St Ambrose, commenting on the effects of Confirmation, says that the
soul receives from the Holy Spirit “the spiritual seal, the Spirit of wisdom and un-
derstanding, the Spirit of counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and piety,
the Spirit of holy fear. God the Father has sealed you, Christ the Lord has streng-
thened you, the mark of the Spirit has been impressed on your heart” (”De Mys-
teries”, 7, 42). Since Confirmation is one of the three sacraments which imprints
a character on the soul, this seal remains forever.

When the time came for Israel’s redemption from slavery in Egypt, the blood of
the passover lamb, which had been smeared on the doors of the Israelites’ hou-
ses, acted as the mark which identified those to be saved. In a parallel way, the
seal of the Holy Spirit which is given at Baptism is the permanent sign engraved
on the souls of those who are called to salvation by dirge of the Redemption
worked by Christ.

“The Apostle is speaking here of the configuration in virtue of which an individual
is deputed to future glory, and this takes place through grace. Now grace is attri-
buted to the Holy Spirit inasmuch as it is from love that God freely imparts some-
thing to us, and this belongs to the meaning of grace. And it is the Holy Spirit
that is love” (”Summa Theologiae”, III, q. 63, a 3, ad 1).

32. Forgiveness is one of the virtues which characterize the “new nature”, for it
leads a person to treat his neighbor as Jesus taught: “If you are offering your gift
at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother”
(Mt 5:23-24). Our Lord has shown by his own example what really forgiving one’s
neighbor involves. Even in the midst of his suffering on the cross he asked his fa-
ther to forgive those who condemned him and those who nailed him to the wood
so violently and sadistically.

“Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the
very first moment. For the greatest injury or offense that you can suffer from them
is as nothing compared with what God has pardoned you” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 452).

1. A good child tries to please his parents and to follow their good example.
Christians are adopted children of God and therefore should be guided in their
behavior by the way God treats people (cf. Mt 6:12; etc.); we have in fact a very
accessible way to follow—that given us by Jesus.

If we wish our actions to be very pleasing to God our Father, we should learn
from his Son made man. However, it “is not enough to have a general idea of Je-
sus; we have to learn the details of his life and, through them, his attitudes. And,
especially, we must contemplate his life, to derive from it strength, light, sereni-
ty, peace.

“When you love someone, you want to know all about his life and character, so
as to become like him. That is why we have to meditate on the life of Jesus, from
his birth in a stable right up to his death and resurrection” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ
Is Passing By”, 107).

2. Christ gave himself up to death of his own free will, out of love for man. The
words “a fragrant offering and sacrifice”, recalling the sacrifices of the Old Law,
underline the sacrificial character of Christ’s death and emphasize that his obe-
dience was pleasing to God the Father.

Jesus Christ “came to show us the immense love of his heart, and he gave him-
self to us entirely,” St Alphonsus teaches, “submitting himself first to all the hard-
ships of this life, then to the scourging, the crowning with towns and all the pain
and ignominy of his passion; finally he ended his life forsaken by all on the infa-
mous wood of the cross” (”Shorter Sermons”, 37, 1, 1).

The founder of Opus Dei says in this connection: “Reflect on the example that
Christ gave us, from the crib in Bethlehem to his throne on Calvary. Think of his
self-denial and of all he went through — hunger, thirst, weariness; heat, tiredness,
ill-treatment, misunderstandings, tears [...]. But at the same time think of his joy
at being able to save all mankind. And now I would like you to engrave deeply on
your mind and on your heart—so that you can meditate on it often and draw your
own practical conclusions—the summary St Paul made for the Ephesians when
he invited them to follow resolutely in our Lord’s footsteps: [Eph 5:1-2 follows]”
(”Friends of God”, 128).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States

[Salvation]

From: John 6:44-51

The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)

---

(Jesus said to the Jews,) [44] “No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in
the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard
and learned from the Father comes to Me. [46] Not that any one has seen the
Father except Him who is from God; He has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I
say to you, he who believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread
which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. [51] I am
the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he
will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My
flesh.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

44-45. Seeking Jesus until one finds Him is a free gift which no one can obtain
through his own efforts, although everyone should try to be well disposed to re-
ceiving it. The Magisterium of the Church has recalled this teaching in Vatican
II: “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move
and assist him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the
heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it ea-
sy for all to accept and believe the truth” (”Dei Verbum”, 5).

When Jesus says, “They shall all be taught by God”, He is invoking Isaiah 54:
13 and Jeremiah 31:33ff, where the prophets refer to the future Covenant which
God will establish with His people when the Messiah comes, the Covenant
which will be sealed forever with the blood of the Messiah and which God will
write on their hearts (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The last sentence of verse 45 refers to God’s Revelation through the prophets
and especially through Jesus Christ.

46. Men can know God the Father only through Jesus Christ, because only He
has seen the Father, whom He has come to reveal to us. In his prologue St.
John already said: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bo-
som of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Later on Jesus will
say to Philip at the Last Supper: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father”
(John 14:9), for Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one goes to
the Father except through Him (cf. John 14:6).

In other words, in Christ God’s revelation to men reaches its climax: “For He
sent His Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men
and to tell them about the inner life of God (cf. John 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus
Christ, sent as ‘a man among men’, ‘utters the words of God’ (John 3:34), and
accomplishes the saving work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. John 5:36;
17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (cf. John 14:9)” (Vatican II, “Dei Ver-
bum”, 4).

48. With this solemn declaration, which He repeats because of His audience’s
doubts, (cf. John 6:35, 41, 48), Jesus begins the second part of His discourse,
in which He explicitly reveals the great mystery of the Blessed Eucharist.
Christ’s words have such a tremendous realism about them that they cannot be
interpreted in a figurative way: if Christ were not really present under the species
of bread and wine, this discourse would make absolutely no sense. But if His
real presence in the Eucharist is accepted on faith, then His meaning is quite
clear and we can see how infinite and tender His love for us is.

This is so great a mystery that it has always acted as a touchstone for Christian
faith: it is proclaimed as “the mystery of our faith” immediately after the Conse-
cration of the Mass. Some of our Lord’s hearers were scandalized by what He
said on this occasion (cf. verses 60-66). Down through history people have tried
to dilute the obvious meaning of our Lord’s words. In our own day the Magiste-
rium of the Church has explained this teaching in these words” “When Transub-
stantiation has taken place, there is no doubt that the appearance of the bread
and the appearance of the wine take on a new expressiveness and a new pur-
pose since they are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the
sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new
expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new
‘reality’ which we are right to call “ontological”. For beneath these appearances
there is no longer what was there before but something quite different [...] since
on the conversion of the bread and wine’s substance, or nature, into the body
and blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and the wine but the appearan-
ces alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bo-
dily present too, in His physical ‘reality’, although not in the manner in which
bodies are present in place.

For this reason the Fathers have had to issue frequent warnings to the faithful,
when they consider this august Sacrament, not to be satisfied with the senses
which announce the properties of bread and wine. They should rather assent to
the words of Christ: these are of such power that they change, transform, ‘trans-
element’ the bread and the wine into His body and blood. The reason for this,
as the same Fathers say more than once, is that the power which performs this
action is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out
of nothing at the beginning of time” (Paul VI, “Mysterium Fidei”).

49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread — Christ Himself
— which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion
is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: “the bread which I
shall give for the life of the world is My flesh”. These words promise the manifes-
tation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: “This is My body which is for you” (1
Corinthians 11:24). The words “for the life of the world” and “for you” refer to the
redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the
Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal
offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf.
Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacri-
fice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the
Feast of Corpus Christi: “O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His suf-
ferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a
pledge of the glory that is to be ours” (”Magnificat Antiphon”, Evening Prayer II).

********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

[Salvation]

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd

Mass Readings

---

First reading	1 Kings 19:4-8 ©

Elijah went into the wilderness, a day’s journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. ‘O Lord,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down and went to sleep. But an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

---

Psalm	Psalm 33:2-9 ©

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times,

  his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.

  The humble shall hear and be glad.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me.

  Together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;

  from all my terrors he set me free.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant;

  let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called, the Lord heard him

  and rescued him from all his distress.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

The angel of the Lord is encamped

  around those who revere him, to rescue them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

  He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

---

Second reading	Ephesians 4:30-5:2 ©

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.

  Try, then, to imitate God as children of his that he loves and follow Christ loving as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.

---

Gospel Acclamation	Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

Or	Jn6:51

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,

says the Lord.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.

Alleluia!

---

Gospel	John 6:41-51 ©

The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.

‘No one can come to me

unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,

and I will raise him up at the last day.

It is written in the prophets:

They will all be taught by God,

and to hear the teaching of the Father,

and learn from it,

is to come to me.

Not that anybody has seen the Father,

except the one who comes from God:

he has seen the Father.

I tell you most solemnly,

everybody who believes has eternal life.

‘I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the desert

and they are dead;

but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,

so that a man may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;

and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,

for the life of the world.’

[Salvation]

			PRAYERS AFTER HOLY MASS AND COMMUNION Leonine Prayers Complete Prayer to St. Michael Prayer Before the Crucifix Anima Christi Prayer Prayer for Vocations Leonine Prayers Following are the Prayers after Low Mass which were prescribed by Pope Leo XIII who composed the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, and were reinforced by Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII to pray for the conversion of Russia. These prayers were in effect until after Vatican II. A decade later Paul VI said, "satan has entered the sanctuary." Could the elimination of these powerful prayers with a ten year indulgence have played a huge part in allowing the devil such easy access? The answer is obvious. Below the normal Leonine Prayers is the longer version of the Prayer to St. Michael, composed by His Excellency Pope Leo XIII to defend against The Great Apostasy.

Latin Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructis ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen. (Said 3 times)     Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae. Ad te suspiramus gementes et fientes in hac lacrymarum valle. Eia ergo, Advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis, post hoc exilium, ostende. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.     Oremus. Deus, refugium nostrum et virtus, populum ad te clamantem propitius respice; et intercedente gloriosa, et immaculata Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beato Joseph, ejus Sponso, ac beatis Apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, et omnibus Sanctis, quas pro conversione peccatorum, pro libertate et exaltatione sanctae Matris Ecclesiae, preces effundimus, misericors et benignus exaudi. Per eundum Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio; contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae Caelestis, satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen. Cor Jesu sacratissimum. Miserere nobis. Cor Jesu sacratissimum. Miserere nobis. Cor Jesu sacratissimum. Miserere nobis.			Vernacular    Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. (Said 3 times)    Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee to we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mouring and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.    Let us pray. O God, our refuge and our strength, look down with mercy upon the people who cry to Thee; and by the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her spouse, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of the Holy Mother the Church. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.    Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us.

---

Complete Prayer to Saint Michael

The following is the longer version of the vital prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 after his startling vision as to the future of the Church. This prayer was dedicated for the Feast of St. Michael 1448 years from the date of the election of the first Leo - Pope Saint Leo the Great. Everyone is familiar with the first prayer below which was mandated by His Holiness as part of the Leonine Prayers after Low Mass. After Vatican II, in legion with the devil Giovanni Montini outlawed this necessary prayer and then one wonders how "the smoke of satan" got into the sanctuary? The conciliarists wanted to make sure the words in bold below would never see the light of day again for in it Leo foretold what would happen: The shepherd would be struck, the sheep scattered. Below are both the short and longer versions of this poignant prayer which should never be forgotten.

    Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray, and do thou, O heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
R: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
V: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
R: As we have hoped in Thee.
V: O Lord hear my prayer.
R: And let my cry come unto Thee.

V: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. Amen.

---

Prayer Before the Crucifix

   Look down upon me, O good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; the while I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me, calling to mind the words which David Thy prophet said of Thee, my good Jesus: "They have pierced My hands and My feet; they have numbered all My bones."

Indulgence of ten years; a plenary indulgence if recited after devout reception of Holy Communion, Raccolta 201)

---

Anima Christi - Soul of Christ

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds, hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
In the hour of my death, call me.
And bid me come to Thee, that with
Thy saints I may praise Thee for ever and ever. Amen.

Indulgence of 300 days; if recited after devout reception of Holy Communion, seven years Raccolta 131)

---

Prayer for Vocations

   O Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst take to Thyself a body and soul like ours, to teach us the glory of self-sacrifice and service, mercifully deign to instill in other hearts the desire to dedicate their lives to Thee. Give us PRIESTS to stand before Thine Altar and to preach the words of Thy Gospel; BROTHERS to assist the priests and to reproduce in themselves Thy humility; SISTERS to teach the young and nurse the sick and to minister Thy charity to all; LAY PEOPLE to imitate Thee in their homes and families. Amen.

[Salvation]

Prayers for The Religion Forum (Ecumenical)

[Salvation]

Continue to Pray for Pope Benedict [Ecumenical]

[Salvation]

 

Jesus, High Priest

 

We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.

Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.

Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.

Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.

Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests

This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.

The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.

The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.

Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem.  He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.

St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.

[Salvation]

Pray a Rosary each day for our nation.

1.  Sign of the Cross:  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

2.  The Apostles Creed:  I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

3.  The Lord's Prayer:  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. Amen.

4. (3) Hail Mary:  HAIL Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen. (Three times)

5. Glory Be:  GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Fatima Prayer: Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.

Announce each mystery, then say 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be and 1 Fatima prayer.  Repeat the process with each mystery.

End with the Hail Holy Queen:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final step -- The Sign of the Cross

 

The Mysteries of the Rosary

By tradition, Catholics meditate on these Mysteries during prayers of the Rosary.
The biblical references follow each of the Mysteries below.

The Glorious Mysteries
(Wednesdays and Sundays)
1.The Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-8, Mark 16:1-18, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29) [Spiritual fruit - Faith]
2. The Ascension (Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-11) [Spiritual fruit - Christian Hope]
3. The Descent of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:1-13) [Spiritual fruit - Gifts of the Holy Spirit]
4. The Assumption [Spiritual fruit - To Jesus through Mary]
5. The Coronation [Spiritual fruit - Grace of Final Perseverance]

[Salvation]

~ PRAYER ~

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle
 Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we  humbly pray,
 and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
 by the power of God,
 Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
 Amen
+

[Salvation]

A Prayer for our Free Nation Under God
God Save Our Country web site (prayer warriors)
Prayer Chain Request for the United States of America
Pray for Nancy Pelosi
Prayer and fasting will help defeat health care reform (Freeper Prayer Thread)
Prayer Campaign Started to Convert Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians to Pro-Life
[Catholic Caucus] One Million Rosaries
Non-stop Rosary vigil to defeat ObamaCare

From an Obama bumper sticker on a car:

"Pray for Obama.  Psalm 109:8"

   

PLEASE JOIN US -

Evening Prayer
Someone has said that if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless.
Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?  

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.    Please forward this to your praying friends.

[Salvation]

August Devotion -- The Immaculate Heart [of Mary]

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.

This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses given to her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.

On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.

INVOCATIONS

O heart most pure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

ACT OF CONSECRATION
Queen of the most holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.

Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquillity of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality; arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.

Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God .and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace. — Pope Pius XII

IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother; heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let Holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially) at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against u its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment; that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. An,; then most tender virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, in eternity and forever. Amen. ....Only the Heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way ----From the Catechism. P:1439 From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power. Amen. - - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps.-- >From the Catechism. P: 2669 The Salutation to the Heart of Jesus and Mary   An Offering of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Novena Prayer to Sacred Heart  of Jesus Prayer to the Wounded Heart of Jesus   Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart   Meditation & Novena Prayer on the Sacred Heart Beads to the Sacred Heart		Novena Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   The Daily Offering to the  Immaculate Heart of Mary   Exaltation of the Immaculate  Heart of Mary   Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

The Holy Heart of Mary Is, After the Heart of Jesus, the Most Exalted Throne of Divine Love
Let us recollect that God has given us the feast of the most pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin so that we may render on that day all the respect, honor and praise that we possibly can. To enkindle this spirit within us let us consider our motivating obligations.

The first is that we ought to love and honor whatever God loves and honors, and that by which He is loved and glorified. Now, after the adorable Heart of Jesus there has never been either in heaven or on earth, nor ever will be, a heart which has been so loved and honored by God, or which has given Him so much glory as that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Never has there been, nor will there ever be a more exalted throne of divine love. In that Heart divine love possesses its fullest empire, for it ever reigns without hindrance or interruption, and with it reign likewise all the laws of God, all the Gospel maxims and every Christian virtue.

This incomparable Heart of the Mother of our Redeemer is a glorious heaven, a Paradise of delights for the Most Holy Trinity. According to St. Paul, the hearts of the faithful are the dwelling place of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost take up Their abode in the hearts of those who love God. Who, therefore, can doubt that the Most Holy Trinity has always made His home and established the reign of His glory in an admirable and ineffable manner in the virginal Heart of her who is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, who herself loves God more than all other creatures together?

How much then are we not obliged to love this exalted and most lovable Heart?

— St. John Eudes

Today: Immaculate Heart of Mary [DEVOTIONAL]

The Immaculate Heart of Mary [Devotional] Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Saturdays and the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Brown Scapular (Catholic Caucus)
The History of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Catholic Caucus)
Homilies preached by Father Robert Altier on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Marian Associations Unite to Celebrate Immaculate Heart
Solemnity Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, AUGUST 22ND
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

August Devotion -- The Immaculate Heart [of Mary]

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.

This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses given to her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.

On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.

INVOCATIONS

O heart most pure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

ACT OF CONSECRATION
Queen of the most holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.

Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquillity of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality; arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.

Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God .and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace. — Pope Pius XII

IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother; heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let Holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially) at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against u its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment; that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. An,; then most tender virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, in eternity and forever. Amen. ....Only the Heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way ----From the Catechism. P:1439 From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power. Amen. - - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps.-- >From the Catechism. P: 2669 The Salutation to the Heart of Jesus and Mary   An Offering of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Novena Prayer to Sacred Heart  of Jesus Prayer to the Wounded Heart of Jesus   Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart   Meditation & Novena Prayer on the Sacred Heart Beads to the Sacred Heart		Novena Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   The Daily Offering to the  Immaculate Heart of Mary   Exaltation of the Immaculate  Heart of Mary   Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

The Holy Heart of Mary Is, After the Heart of Jesus, the Most Exalted Throne of Divine Love
Let us recollect that God has given us the feast of the most pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin so that we may render on that day all the respect, honor and praise that we possibly can. To enkindle this spirit within us let us consider our motivating obligations.

The first is that we ought to love and honor whatever God loves and honors, and that by which He is loved and glorified. Now, after the adorable Heart of Jesus there has never been either in heaven or on earth, nor ever will be, a heart which has been so loved and honored by God, or which has given Him so much glory as that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Never has there been, nor will there ever be a more exalted throne of divine love. In that Heart divine love possesses its fullest empire, for it ever reigns without hindrance or interruption, and with it reign likewise all the laws of God, all the Gospel maxims and every Christian virtue.

This incomparable Heart of the Mother of our Redeemer is a glorious heaven, a Paradise of delights for the Most Holy Trinity. According to St. Paul, the hearts of the faithful are the dwelling place of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost take up Their abode in the hearts of those who love God. Who, therefore, can doubt that the Most Holy Trinity has always made His home and established the reign of His glory in an admirable and ineffable manner in the virginal Heart of her who is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, who herself loves God more than all other creatures together?

How much then are we not obliged to love this exalted and most lovable Heart?

— St. John Eudes

[Salvation]

August 2012

Pope's intentions

General Intention: That prisoners may be treated with justice and respect for their human dignity

Missionary Intention: Youth Witness to Christ. That young people, called to follow Christ, may be willing to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

[Salvation]

Arlington Catholic Herald

‘I am the bread of life’

Fr. Jerome Magat

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Jesus’ hearers cannot believe the seemingly unbelievable. When Jesus makes the radical claim, “I am the living bread come down from heaven,” He is not only asking the Jews to accept His assertion that He can give His body as flesh to eat under the appearance of bread — Jesus is asking the Jews to believe in something even more fundamental — that He is the Son of God. That is why the Jews murmur among themselves that Jesus is nothing more than the son of Joseph, another man just like them. For Jesus to claim that He has come down from heaven is too unbelievable. If the Jews can believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then they might accept that He is the living bread come down from heaven. We learn that they cannot accept either claim.

What lies at the heart of Our Lord’s teaching, which forms the foundation of our belief in the Eucharist, is His humble and self-effacing love. In making the claim that He is the bread of life, He shows us the depth of His love. As if it were not enough that He condescended to take our human nature upon Himself in all things but sin, He went even further by dying at Calvary for our redemption. And as if that were not enough, He went even further by choosing to remain with us always, until the end of time, in sacramental form in the Eucharist. We must ask, “Is this too incredible for us to believe? Is the transubstantiation of ordinary bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ too much for us to accept?” Even though the appearances of bread and wine remain, we know that nothing of bread and nothing of wine is present in the Eucharist. Perhaps we can consider this doctrine in this way: If Jesus Christ is both true God and true man — and we know that God created the entire universe by His mere word, then what is to stop us from believing that the Son of God could transform ordinary bread and wine into His own body and blood by His word? It is more difficult to create something out of nothing (as in the case of creation) than it is to change pre-existing matter (bread and wine) into the Eucharist.

The claim, “I am the bread of life” would cost Jesus some credibility and certainly some popularity. At the end of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, many of the disciples would abandon Our Lord. The claim costs all of us as well — at least for those of us who live according to the “Amen” we say when we receive holy Communion. When a communicant says, “Amen” to the words “The body of Christ” when they receive the Eucharist at Mass, they are saying “Amen” to several things, whether they know it or not. First, they are saying “Amen” to the reality of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Next, they are saying “Amen” to the priesthood, which confects the Eucharist and the authority of the bishops and the pope who govern and ordain men into the priesthood. Finally, they are saying “Amen” to all that the church proposes as being true and definitively taught as worthy of our belief. So, in order to make a genuine Communion, a person receiving the Eucharist must be in full communion with the church — that is, they accept all of what the church teaches. To believe in anything less, makes that person’s “Amen” a disingenuous statement. Only a true “Amen” links us to Jesus and nourishes us into everlasting life.

Let us pray that we continue to grow in our belief of the seemingly unbelievable and teach others to love our blessed Lord, who through the Eucharist, pledges to remain with us until the end of time. May our “Amen” be genuine, rooted in eucharistic faith.

Fr. Magat is parochial vicar of St. William of York Parish in Stafford.

[Salvation]

The Work of God

 

Year B

 -  19th Sunday in ordinary time

I am the bread of life

Juan 6:41-51

41 The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can he say, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that has heard of the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
46 Not that any man has seen the Father; but he who is of God, he has seen the Father.
47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.
50 This is the bread, which comes down from heaven; that if any man eats of it, he may not die.
51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

It is a great difficulty for humanity to believe in a person claiming to be sent by God the Almighty, for this reason all the prophets fell into the hands of their enemies, since very few people were able to give welcome to their teachings and receive the gift that God had sent them.

In my case, I was born of the Virgin Mary in a conception not done with human seed but with the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, my mother was chosen to participate in this event because of her unique purity and the privilege of having been borne exempt from original sin. My human existence was part of the eternal existence that I share as God with my Father and the Holy Spirit, who is in us; my mission on earth was that of teaching, forgiving and redeeming the humanity, that had rebelliously rejected the gifts of God manifested through the prophets. I brought perfection and fulfillment to their teachings because I am the same Word of God.

By the Will of my Father, I assumed human nature, humiliating myself to the lowliness of humanity in order to pay for all the sins committed by the human race. The only way to accomplish redemption was by offering myself in sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for all sins. For this, every one would have to follow my teachings, since I was not going to be on this earth permanently in my bodily state. I have come to invite you all to ascend to my Heavenly Kingdom; I have provided the means through my mystical body, the Church.

Flesh and blood cannot enter Heaven and the body has to die as a consequence of sin, this was established in Paradise after the original sin. I came from Heaven and even though I could have ascended in my physical body, since there was no sin in me, I chose to sacrifice my human nature, shedding my blood on the cross to justify Divine Justice and to open the way to Heaven. With my death and my resurrection, I liberated humanity from death and I assured them of the resurrection, I overcame Satan, the tempter that leads to death and I established the new creation of the children of God, in which all have to eat of my flesh and drink of my blood to be purified from sin and to deserve eternal life.

For this reason I said that the bread that I was going to give them would be my own flesh which would give them life, I made this very clear, “I am the living bread that has come down from Heaven”, so that He who eats of my flesh and drinks my blood may have eternal life. He who is baptized and believes will be saved; he who rejects me is rejecting his own salvation. He who rejects the priest anointed by my apostles is rejecting me and despising the living bread that I offer through him.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

[Salvation]

Archdiocese of Washington

Faith or Famished. A Meditation on the Gospel for the 19th Sunday of the Year

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

The Gospel today amounts to a summons to faith by Jesus. In particular he is summoning us faith in himself, and the truth he proclaims about his presence in the Holy Eucharist. Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus declaring that he was the bread that has come down from heaven. Today’s Gospel opens with his Jewish listeners grumbling that he  claims to have come from heaven. Throughout the gospel Jesus stands firm on his call to faith and teaches them on the necessity of faith, it origins and its fruits. Lets learn of what the Lord teaches us in four stages.

I. The Focus of faith. The gospel opens with the grumbling of the crowds since Jesus claims to have come from heaven – The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven, ” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?“

Their lack of faith is a scandal and also shifts our focus to the need for faith, and also how difficult it is to have faith. Both the scandal and difficulty are illustrated in the background to the crowd’s lack of faith.

First, recall that Jesus had just fed over 20,000 of them with five loaves and two fishes, and there were still 12 baskets full of leftovers. It was this very miracle that had made many of them follow him, when he went to the other side of the lake. All the miracles Jesus worked were meant to summon people to faith and provide evidence for the truth of his his words. Jesus said elsewhere,  …for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me (John 5:36).

Thus their lack of faith, their grumbling and murmuring was scandalous. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes was not the only miracle he had work till now or would work. Recall that he had:

Changed water into wine, healed lepers, healed the centurion’s servant, cast out numerous demons, healed a the lame, healed the woman with a hemorrhage, raised Jairus’ daughter, cast out blindness in numerous individuals, one of them blind since birth, cured the man with a withered hand, Walked on the water, Calmed storms at sea, Fed 4000, Fed 5000, healing of the deaf and mute, Caused miraculous catches of fish, Raised the widow’s son, Raised Lazarus

So the question is What are they (we) going to focus on? What Jesus does, or where he’s from? It seems clear they are more focused on his human origins, where he from and who is human kin are.

Many today as well seem more focused on the human dimensions of the Church, or the foibles of believers, or even on their own struggles. Yet how many today really put their focus on what God is doing, on the many daily miracles of simple existence, and of the many ways even defeats often become victories?

So whats your focus? On mere human things? But what if the focus is on God, and that God is worthy? Is faith your focus? We can see why Jesus focuses on faith, because, frankly, we are a hard case and our faith needs to grow.

II. The Font Faith – Noting their lack of faith, Jesus rebukes them in these words: “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.

Jesus here teaches two things, that our faith in him comes from the Father, and also, that we are a hard case.

First Jesus teaches that his Father is the source of our faith in Him. Scripture elsewhere teaches this truth

1. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. (Eph 2:8)

2. This is my beloved son, listen to him. (Matt 3:17)

3. But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. (John 5:36)

4. I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me. (John 8:18)

Here then is the central work of the Father, to save us by drawing us to faith in his Son, when He sent to redeem the word.

But Jesus also teaches that this work of God generally involves considerable resistance on our part. And this fact is evident in the word Jesus uses, namely, that the Father must “draw” us to the Son. the Greek word here is ἑλκύσῃ (helkuse) – means to drag, draw, pull, or persuade, and it always implies some kind of resistance from what is drawn, or dragged. For example is it also the word used in John 21:6 for drawing a heavy laden net to shore.

Thus Jesus points to their (our) stubbornness in coming to faith. We are stubborn, and stiff necked, so the Father has to exert effort to draw, yes even drag us to Jesus.

Yes we’re a hard case and we have to be “drug.”  Some one once said,

I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher. Or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me. I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profane four letter word. I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds and to do my chores. I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline or chop some fire wood. And if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the wood shed. Those drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin, and if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America might be a better place today.

III. The Functioning and Fruit of Faith - Jesus goes on to teach of both how faith functions and what its fruit is: Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

First, as regards the functioning of faith, the Greek text is more clear than our English translation. The Greek word here for “believes” is πιστεύων (pisteuon), a present, active, participle. This construction signifies an on-going action, and is better translated as “He who goes on believing…” or “He who is believing….”

The danger is that we reduce faith to an event, or to an act. Thus some say, they answered an altar call, others point to their baptism. Good. But what is going on today? What is prescribed here by the Lord is lasting, ongoing faith. It is a lasting faith since faith is more than an event. It is an on-going reality. It is more than something you have,  it is something you do, daily. It involves leaning, and trusting in God. It is a basing of our whole life on his Word,  the daily obedience of faith.

Scripture says elsewhere of this on-going necessity for faith:

(1) But you must hold fast to faith, be firmly grounded and steadfast in it. Unshaken in the hope promised you by the gospel you have heard. (Col 1:21ff)
(2) Brethren I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very moment provided you hold fast to it as I preached it to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:1)
(3) He who perseveres to the end will be saved. (Matt 24:13)

Jesus, having taught of the on-going quality of faith also speaks of its fruit which is “eternal life.” Here too we have to move beyond reductionist notions of what is meant by eternal life.

The Christian use of the word “eternal” does refer only to the length of life, but the fullness or quality of it. The Greek word here that is translated “eternal” is αἰώνιος (aionios – where we get the English word Aeon). And aiṓnios, according the Greek lexicon of Scripture does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age.

Note too that the Greek word translated here as “has” is ἔχει (echei) and is a present, indicative, active. Thus it does not refer to something only that we will have, but something we now have. So believers live in “eternal life” right now, experiencing this quality of God’s life now, as a present possession. It is true, we do not enjoy it fully, as we will in heaven, but we do have it now, and it is growing within us.

Thus, Jesus teaches that the one believing, enjoys the fullness of life in him, even now, and in a growing way, day by day. One day too, we will enjoy the fullness of life, to the top, in heaven.

Here then is Jesus teaching on the functioning of faith (its on-going quality) and the fruit of faith (eternal life, i.e. the fulness of life).

IV. The Food of Faith – Having set forth the necessity of faith, Jesus now prepares to turn the heat a bit, and test their faith. Not only has he come from heaven, but he is Bread they must eat. And the bread is his flesh. He says to them -  Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died but this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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.”

Now this final verse points to next week’s Gospel when this will be developed more fully and graphically. But in effect, having warned them of the necessity of faith, Jesus now points to one of his most essential teachings, the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

Without faith, they (we) cannot grasp this teaching or accept it. And, as we shall see next week, most of them turned away from Him and would no longer follow him, because they could not accept what he was saying, they did not have the faith to trust him in this matter. They scoff and leave him. We will say more on this next week as John 6 continues to unfold for us.

But for now, let the Lord ask you, “Do you have faith to believe what I teach you on this?” Perhaps we can say with the Centurion, “I do believe, help my unbelief” or with the Apostles who said, “Increase our faith!” Or we can say with St. Thomas Aquinas:

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, (sight, touch and taste, in thee fail)

Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. (But only the hearing is safely believed)

Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; (I believe whatever the Son of God says)

Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius. (Nothing is more true than this word of truth).

But in the end we either have faith or will be famished. Either we will have the faith to approach the Lord’s table, or we will go unfed. Jesus says later, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you have no life in you (Jn 6:53). In other words, we starve spiritually without the faith that brings us to God’s table.

Behold how few come to the Lord’s table in these days, these days which so lack faith. Only 27% of American Catholics go to Mass anymore. If one has faith in the Eucharist, how can we stay away? We cannot. To the degree that we believe, will will never miss a Sunday. And our devotion to he Lord will grow daily. And our experience of the fullness of life (eternal life) will grow.

It’s either faith or famished. Do you believe?

[Salvation]

Sunday Gospel Reflections

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: 1Kings 19:4-8 II: Ephesians 4:30-5:2

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Gospel
John 6:41-51

⁴¹ The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
⁴² They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
⁴³ Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.
⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
⁴⁶ Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father.
⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
⁴⁸ I am the bread of life.
⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.
⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

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Interesting Details

• (vv. 41-42) The Jews murmured at Jesus because they could not accept Jesus' claim to be from heaven. They knew well about his father and mother (Luke 4:22); they thought Joseph was his real father. With their stubborness and self-importance, they could not see anything from Jesus except a humble hometown man.
• (vv. 43- 44) "Stop murmuring," Jesus responded to the Jews, he then led them to a higher level, the eternal life level. In order to have eternal life in Heaven one has to believe in Jesus and accept Him as their Lord and Savior, but no one can believe in Jesus without God's help "no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
• (v. 45) Jesus reminds them about the Old Testament "everyone shall be taught by God" (Isa. 54:13, Jer. 31:34). Jesus also emphasizes not just hearing, but also learning.
• (vv. 46-47) Jesus insisted on the point "He came from God and lives among us." Whoever believes in Him as the Son of God will have eternal life.
• (vv. 50-51) The manna in the wilderness was a physical bread only. The bread of Jesus is the spiritual bread which is the bread of the Wisdom and the Word of the Lord. This bread is a nourishment for all believers.

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One Main Point

The living bread in the Eucharist is Jesus' flesh, whoever eats this bread shall have eternal life.

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Reflections

1. If you were one of the Jews and you knew well about Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, what would be your reactions when you heard: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven?"
2. Recall your first Holy Communion, how did you feel when you received the Eucharist for the first time? Later on, do you still have the same feeling each time you receive the blessed Sacrament?
3. Why do we believe the Eucharist is really Jesus' flesh?

[Salvation]

Sunday, August 12, 2012
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel:

1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalm 34:2-9 Ephesians 4:30 -- 5:2 John 6:41-51 Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest. -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Salvation]

The Angelus 

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary: 
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word. 

Hail Mary . . . 

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. 

Hail Mary . . . 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. 

Let us pray: 

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen. 

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Invitatory for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Lord, open my lips.
– And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Ant. Come, let us sing to the Lord and shout with joy to the rock who saves us, alleluia.

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing to the Lord
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

Ant.

The Lord is God, the mighty God,
the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the highest mountains as well
He made the sea; it belongs to him,
the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

Ant.

Come, then, let us bow down and worship,
bending the knee before the Lord, our maker,
For he is our God and we are his people,
the flock he shepherds.

Ant.

Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness,
when at Meriba and Massah they challenged me and provoked me,
Although they had seen all of my works.

Ant.

Forty years I endured that generation.
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”

Ant.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Come, let us sing to the Lord and shout with joy to the rock who saves us, alleluia.

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Office of Readings for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 615
Proper of Seasons: 88
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 942

Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings.

Office of Readings for Sunday in Ordinary Time

God, come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

HYMN

King of glory, King of peace,
I will love Thee;
And that love may never cease,
I will move Thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
Thou hast heard me;
Thou didst note my working breast,
Thou hast spared me.

Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing Thee,
And the cream of all my heart
I will bring Thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
Thou alone didst clear me;
And alone, when they replied,
Thou didst hear me.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise Thee;
In my heart, though not in Heaven,
I can raise Thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
To enroll Thee:
E’en eternity’s too short
To extol Thee.

King Of Glory, King Of Peace by The Jubilate Singers; Words: George Herbert, 1633; Music: Gwalchmai, General Seminary, Salve cordis gaudium, Jesu, meines Herzens Freud’; Meter: 74 74 D
“King Of Glory, King Of Peace” performed by The Jubilate Singers is available from Amazon.com.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Psalm 145
Praise of God’s majesty
Lord, you are the Just One, who was and who is (Revelation 16:5).

I

I will give you glory, O God my King,
I will bless your name forever.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

I will bless you day after day
and praise your name forever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendor and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

They will speak of your terrible deeds,
recount your greatness and might.
They will recall your abundant goodness;
age to age shall ring out your justice.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Ant. 2 Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

II

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God,

to make known to men your mighty deeds
and the glorious splendor of your reign.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule lasts from age to age.

Ant. Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

Ant. 3 The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

III

The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall
and raises all who are bowed down.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

The eyes of all creatures look to you
and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand,
grant the desires of all who live.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

He grants the desires of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him;
but the wicked he will utterly destroy.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

Let me speak the praise of the Lord,
let all mankind bless his holy name
for ever, for ages unending.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Lord, be near to all who call upon you in truth and increase the dedication of those who revere you. Hear their prayers and save them, that they may always love you and praise your holy name.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

Listen to my words.
– Give ear to my precepts.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Hosea
11:1-11
God is always merciful

Thus says the Lord:
When Israel was a child I loved him,
out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;
I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;
I fostered them like one
who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,
they did not know that I was their healer.

He shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be his king;
The sword shall begin with his cities
and end by consuming his solitudes.
Because they refused to repent,
their own counsels shall devour them.
His people are in suspense about returning to him;
and God, though in unison they cry out to him,
shall not raise them up.

How could I give you up, O Ephraim,
or deliver you up, O Israel?
How could I treat you as Admah,
or make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.

They shall follow the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
When he roars,
his sons shall come frightened from the west,
Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like sparrows,
from the land of Assyria, like doves;
And I will resettle them in their homes,
says the Lord.

RESPONSORY Hosea 11:8, 9; Jeremiah 31:3

My heart recoils within me; my whole being trembles with compassion.
– I will not give vent to my fierce anger, for I am God, not man.

I loved you with an everlasting love; in mercy I drew you to myself.
– I will not give vent to my fierce anger, for I am God, not man.

Second reading
From a dialogue On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin
The bonds of love

My sweet Lord, look with mercy upon your people and especially upon the mystical body of your Church. Greater glory is given to your name for pardoning a multitude of your creatures than if I alone were pardoned for my great sins against your majesty. It would be no consolation for me to enjoy your life if your holy people stood in death. For I see that sin darkens the life of your bride the Church—my sin and the sins of others.

It is a special grace I ask for, this pardon for the creatures you have made in your image and likeness. When you created man, you were moved by love to make him in your own image. Surely only love could so dignify your creatures. But I know very well that man lost the dignity you gave him; he deserved to lose it, since he had committed sin. Moved by love and wishing to reconcile the human race to yourself, you gave us your only-begotten Son. He became our mediator and our justice by taking on all our injustice and sin out of obedience to your will, eternal Father, just as you willed that he take on our human nature. What an immeasurably profound love! Your Son went down from the heights of his divinity to the depths of our humanity. Can anyone’s heart remain closed and hardened after this?

We image your divinity, but you image our humanity in that union of the two which you have worked in a man. You have veiled the Godhead in a cloud, in the clay of our humanity. Only your love could so dignify the flesh of Adam. And so by reason of this immeasurable love I beg, with all the strength of my soul, that you freely extend your mercy to all your lowly creatures.

RESPONSORY Psalm 101:1-2

I will sing of kindness and justice; I will sing to you, O Lord.
– I will persevere in the way that is blameless.

When will you come to me? I will walk with purity of heart within my house.
– I will persevere in the way that is blameless.

TE DEUM

You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the King of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
– Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.
– We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
– Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy,
– for we have put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:
– And we shall never hope in vain.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

ACCLAMATION (only added when praying in community)

Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Morning Prayer for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 621
Proper of Seasons: 91
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 945

Christian Prayer (single volume)
Ordinary: 689
Proper of the Seasons: 623
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 845

Morning Prayer for Sunday in Ordinary Time

God, come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

HYMN

On this day, the first of days,
God the Father’s Name we praise;
Who, creation’s Lord and Spring
Did the world from darkness bring.

On this day the eternal Son
Over death His triumph won;
On this day the Spirit came
With His gifts of living flame.

O that fervent love today
May in every heart have sway,
Teaching us to praise aright
God, the Source of life and light.

Father, who didst fashion me
Image of Thyself to be,
Fill me with Thy love divine,
Let my every thought be Thine.

Holy Jesus, may I be
Dead and buried here with Thee;
And, by love inflamed, arise
Unto Thee a sacrifice.

Thou, who dost all gifts impart,
Shine, sweet Spirit, in my heart;
Best of gifts Thyself bestow;
Make me burn Thy love to know.

God, the blessed Three in One,
Dwell within my heart alone;
Thou dost give Thyself to me;
May I give myself to Thee.

The audio lyrics are not an exact match. We welcome members of our community to contribute the matching lyrics.
“On this day, the first of days” by Keble College Choir; Words: From the Breviary of the Diocese of LeMans, 1748; translated by Henry W. Baker in 1861.; Music by Johann A. Freylinghausen (1704).

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

Psalm 93
Splendor of God the Creator
The Lord our mighty God now reigns supreme; let us rejoice and be glad and give him praise (Revelation 19:6-7).

The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed;
the Lord has robed himself with might,
he has girded himself with power.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

The world you made firm, not to be moved;
your throne has stood firm from of old.
From all eternity, O Lord, you are.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

The waters have lifted up, O Lord,
the waters have lifted up their voice,
the waters have lifted up their thunder.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

Greater than the roar of mighty waters
more glorious than the surgings of the sea,
the Lord is glorious on high.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

Truly your decrees are to be trusted.
Holiness is fitting to your house,
O Lord, until the end of time.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

All power and all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to you, Lord Jesus; you rule with decrees that are firm and trustworthy. Be with us always so that we may make disciples whose holiness will be worthy of your house.

Ant. Glorious is the Lord on high, alleluia.

Ant. 2 To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

Canticle Daniel 3:57-88, 56
Let all creatures praise the Lord
All you servants of the Lord, sing praise to him (Revelation 19:5).

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord.
You heavens, bless the Lord,
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord.
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.

Ant. To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord.
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord.
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord.
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord.
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord.
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.

Ant. To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

Let the earth bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord.
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the Lord.
Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord.
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.
You sons of men, bless the Lord.

Ant. To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

O Israel, bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord.
Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Ant. To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Let us praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven.
Praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all for ever.

Ant. To you, Lord, be highest glory and praise for ever, alleluia.

Ant. 3 Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Psalm 148
Praise to the Lord, the Creator
Praise and honor, glory and power for ever to him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb (Revelation 5:13).

Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, shining stars.
Praise him, highest heavens
and the waters above the heavens.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Let them praise the name of the Lord.
He commanded: they were made.
He fixed them for ever,
gave a law which shall not pass away.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
sea creatures and all oceans,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy winds that obey his word;

all mountains and hills,
all fruit trees and cedars,
beasts, wild and tame,
reptiles and birds on the wing;

all earth’s kings and peoples,
earth’s princes and rulers,
young men and maidens,
the old men together with children.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Let them praise the name of the Lord
for he alone is exalted.
The splendor of his name
reaches beyond heaven and earth.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

He exalts the strength of his people.
He is the praise of all his saints,
of the sons of Israel,
of the people to whom he comes close.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Lord, extolled in the heights by angelic powers, you are also praised by all earth’s creatures, each in its own way. With all the splendor of heavenly worship, you still delight in such tokens of love as earth can offer. May heaven and earth together acclaim you as King; may the praise that is sung in heaven resound in the heart of every creature on earth.

Ant. Praise the Lord from the heavens, alleluia.

READING Ezekiel 37:12b-14

Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell)
A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

RESPONSORY

Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.
– Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

You are seated at the right hand of the Father,
– have mercy on us.

Glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
– Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Ant. Amen, amen I say to you: Whoever believes in me will live for ever, alleluia.

Luke 1:68-79
The Messiah and his forerunner

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Amen, amen I say to you: Whoever believes in me will live for ever, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

Father, you sent the Holy Spirit to enlighten the hearts of men; hear us as we pray:
– Enlighten your people, Lord.

Blessed are you, O God, our light,
you have given us a new day resplendent with your glory.
– Enlighten your people, Lord.

You enlightened the world through the resurrection of your Son,
through your Church shed this light on all men.
– Enlighten your people, Lord.

You gave the disciples of your only-begotten Son the Spirit’s gift of understanding,
through the same Spirit keep the Church faithful to you.
– Enlighten your people, Lord.

Light of nations, remember those who remain in darkness,
open their eyes and let them recognize you, the only true God.
– Enlighten your people, Lord.

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.

Concluding Prayer

Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

DISMISSAL

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
– Amen.

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Midday Prayer for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 623
Proper of Seasons: 92
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 952 (Midday)

Midday Prayer for Sunday in Ordinary Time using the Current Psalmody

God, come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

HYMN

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul! my Savior God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul! my Savior God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

”How Great Thou Art” by Melinda Kirigin-Voss; Originally this was a Swedish folk melody, “O Store Gud” by Carl Boberg (1859-1940) and was translated by Stuart K. Hine in 1899.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my cry, alleluia.

Psalm 118
Song of joy for salvation
This Jesus is the stone which, rejected by you builders, has become the chief stone supporting all the rest (Acts 4:11).

I

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love endures for ever.

Let the sons of Israel say:
“His love endures for ever.”
Let the sons of Aaron say:
“His love endures for ever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures for ever.”

I called to the Lord in my distress;
he answered and freed me.
The Lord is at my side; I do not fear.
What can man do against me?
The Lord is at my side as my helper:
I shall look down on my foes.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in men:
it is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my cry, alleluia.

Ant. 2 The Lord’s right hand has raised me up, alleluia.

II

The nations all encompassed me;
in the Lord’s name I crushed them.
They compassed me, compassed me about;
in the Lord’s name I crushed them.
They compassed me about like bees;
they blazed like a fire among thorns.
In the Lord’s name I crushed them.

I was hard-pressed and was falling
but the Lord came to help me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he is my savior.
There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the just.

The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;
his right hand raised me up.
The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;
I shall not die, I shall live
and recount his deeds.
I was punished, I was punished by the Lord,
but not doomed to die.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. The Lord’s right hand has raised me up, alleluia.

Ant. 3 The Lord our God has let his light shine upon us, alleluia.

III

Open to me the gates of holiness:
I will enter and give thanks.
This is the Lord’s own gate
where the just may enter.
I will thank you for you have answered
and you are my savior.

The stone which the builders rejected
has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes.
This day was made by the Lord;
we rejoice and are glad.

O Lord, grant us salvation;
O Lord, grant success.
Blessed in the name of the Lord
is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
the Lord God is our light.

Go forward in procession with branches
even to the altar.
You are my God, I thank you.
My God, I praise you.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Lord God, you have given us the great day of rejoicing: Jesus Christ, the stone rejected by the builders, has become the cornerstone of the Church, our spiritual home. Shed upon your Church the rays of your glory, that it may be seen as the gate of salvation open to all nations. Let cries of joy and exultation ring out from its tents to celebrate the wonder of Christ’s resurrection.

Ant. The Lord our God has let his light shine upon us, alleluia.

READING Romans 8:22-23

We know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now. Not only that, but we ourselves, although we have the Spirit as first fruits, groan inwardly while we await the redemption of our bodies.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell)
A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

Bless the Lord, my soul.
– He has rescued your life from destruction.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

ACCLAMATION (only added when praying in community)

Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Evening Prayer for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 632
Proper of Seasons: 92
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 956

Christian Prayer:
Ordinary: 694
Proper of Seasons: 624
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 861

Evening Prayer II for Sunday in Ordinary Time

God, come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

HYMN

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” by Sheffield Cathedral Choir; Words: Isaac Watts, 1719. Music: William Croft, 1708

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

Psalm 110
The Messiah, king and priest
Christ’s reign will last until all his enemies are made subject to him (1 Corinthians 15:25).

The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
“Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.”

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

The Lord will wield from Zion
your scepter of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.
“You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.”

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

The Master standing at your right hand
will shatter kings in the day of his great wrath.

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

He shall drink from the stream by the wayside
and therefore he shall lift up his head.

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Father, we ask you to give us victory and peace. In Jesus Christ, our Lord and King, we are already seated at your right hand. We look forward to praising you in the fellowship of all your saints in our heavenly homeland.

Ant. The Lord said to my Master: Sit at my right hand, alleluia.

Ant. 2 Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

Psalm 111
God’s marvelous works
We are lost in wonder at all that you have done for us, our Lord and mighty God (Revelation 15:3).

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord;
to be pondered by all who love them.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

Majestic and glorious his work,
his justice stands firm for ever.
He makes us remember his wonders.
The Lord is compassion and love.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

He gives food to those who fear him;
keeps his covenant ever in mind.
He has shown his might to his people
by giving them the lands of the nations.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

His works are justice and truth:
his precepts are all of them sure,
standing firm for ever and ever:
they are made in uprightness and truth.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

He has sent deliverance to his people
and established his covenant for ever.
Holy his name, to be feared.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

To fear the Lord is the first stage of wisdom;
all who do so prove themselves wise.
His praise shall last for ever!

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Merciful and gentle Lord, you are the crowning glory of all the saints. Give us, your children, the gift of obedience which is the beginning of wisdom, so that we may do what you command and be filled with your mercy.

Ant. Our compassionate Lord has left us a memorial of his wonderful work, alleluia.

Ant. 3 All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

Canticle – See Revelation 19:1-7
The wedding of the Lamb

Alleluia.
Salvation, glory, and power to our God:
– Alleluia.
his judgments are honest and true.
– Alleluia. Alleluia.

Ant. All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

Alleluia.
Sing praise to our God, all you his servants,
– Alleluia.
all who worship him reverently, great and small.
– Alleluia. Alleluia.

Ant. All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

Alleluia.
The Lord our all-powerful God is King,
– Alleluia.
let us rejoice, sing praise, and give him glory.
– Alleluia. Alleluia.

Ant. All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

Alleluia.
The wedding feast of the Lamb has begun,
– Alleluia.
and his bride is prepared to welcome him.
– Alleluia. Alleluia.

Ant. All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. All power is yours, Lord God, our mighty King, alleluia.

READING 1 Peter 1:3-5

Praised be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
he who in his great mercy
gave us new birth;
a birth unto hope which draws its life
from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;
a birth to an imperishable inheritance,
incapable of fading or defilement,
which is kept in heaven for you
who are guarded with God’s power through faith;
a birth to a salvation which stands ready
to be revealed in the last days.

There is cause for rejoicing here. You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead to praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

RESPONSORY

The whole creation proclaims the greatness of your glory.
– The whole creation proclaims the greatness of your glory.

Eternal ages praise
– the greatness of your glory.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
– The whole creation proclaims the greatness of your glory.

CANTICLE OF MARY

Ant. Where your treasure is, there is your heart, says the Lord.

Luke 1:46-55
The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Where your treasure is, there is your heart, says the Lord.

INTERCESSIONS

The world was created by the Word of God, re-created by his redemption, and it is continually renewed by his love. Rejoicing in him we call out:
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

We give thanks to God whose power is revealed in nature,
and whose providence is revealed in history.
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

Through your Son, the herald of reconciliation, the victor of the cross,
free us from empty fear and hopelessness.
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

May all those who love and pursue justice,
work together without deceit to build a world of true peace.
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

Be with the oppressed, free the captives, console the sorrowing, feed the hungry, strengthen the weak,
in all people reveal the victory of your cross.
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

After your Son’s death and burial you raised him up again in glory,
grant that the faithful departed may live with him.
– Renew the wonders of your love, Lord.

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.

Concluding Prayer

Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
–Amen.

DISMISSAL

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
– Amen.

[markomalley]

Aug 12, Night Prayer for Sunday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours:
Vol I, Page 1172
Vol II, Page 1628
Vol III, Page 1272
Vol IV, Page 1236

Christian Prayer:
Page 1037

Night Prayer after Evening Prayer II on Sundays and Solemnities

God, come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

Examination of conscience:

We are called to have a clear conscience toward God and toward men, in our hearts and in our minds, in our actions and inactions. To do so, it is vital that we examine our conscience daily and to ask for God’s mercy as we fall short and to ask for His strength to do better.

Kýrie, eléison
– Kýrie, eléison

Christé, eléison
– Christé, eléison

Kýrie, eléison
– Kýrie, eléison

HYMN

O radiant Light, O Son divine
Of God the Father’s deathless face
O image of the light sublime
That fills the heavenly dwelling-place

Lord Jesus Christ, as daylight fades
As shine the lights of eventide
We praise the Father with the Son
The spirit blest and with them one.

O Son of God, the source of life
Praise is your due by night and day
Unsullied lips must raise the strain
Of your proclaimed and splendid name.

O Radiant Light by Choir of The Cathedral of the Madeleine & The Madeleine Choir School; Lyrics copyright 1973, Fides Publishers, Inc. Notre Dame, Indiana from “Morning Praise and Evensong”. Used by permission of the publisher for non-profit or devotional purposes.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Night holds no terrors for me sleeping under God’s wings.

Psalm 91
Safe in God’s sheltering care
I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19).

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to the Lord: “My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!”

It is he who will free you from the snare
of the fowler who seeks to destroy you;
he will conceal you with his pinions
and under his wings you will find refuge.

You will not fear the terror of the night
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the plague that prowls in the darkness
nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.

A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand fall at your right,
you, it will never approach;
his faithfulness is buckler and shield.

Your eyes have only to look
to see how the wicked are repaid,
you who have said: “Lord, my refuge!”
and have made the Most High your dwelling.

Upon you no evil shall fall,
no plague approach where you dwell.
For you has he commanded his angels,
to keep you in all your ways.

They shall bear you upon their hands
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
On the lion and the viper you will tread
and trample the young lion and the dragon.

Since he clings to me in love, I will free him;
protect him for he knows my name.
When he calls I shall answer: “I am with you,”
I will save him in distress and give him glory.

With length of life I will content him;
I shall let him see my saving power.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Night holds no terrors for me sleeping under God’s wings.

READING Revelation 22:4-5

They shall see the Lord face to face and bear his name on their foreheads. The night shall be no more. They will need no light from lamps or the sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever.

RESPONSORY

Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.
– I commend my spirit.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

GOSPEL CANTICLE

Ant. Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.

Luke 2:29-32
Christ is the light of the nations and the glory of Israel

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:

my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:

a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.

Concluding Prayer

Lord,
we have celebrated today
the mystery of the rising of Christ to new life.
May we now rest in your peace,
safe from all that could harm us,
and rise again refreshed and joyful,
to praise you throughout another day.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
– Amen.

Blessing

May the all-powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death.
– Amen.

Antiphon or song in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[markomalley]

WDTPRS 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: sheer audacity

This coming Sunday’s Collect (or “Opening Prayer” as it has been called) was not in previous editions Missale Romanum before the 1970 Novus Ordo. It has roots in the 9th century Sacramentary of Bergamo and thus is ancient text.

Note that for the 2002 Missale Romanum there was a variation from the 1970MR.  In the 2002MR the ablative absolute clause “docente Spiritu Sancto” was inserted.

COLLECT – (2002MR):
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
quem [docente Spiritu Sancto - not in the 1970MR]
paterno nomine invocare praesumimus,
perfice in cordibus nostris spiritum adoptionis filiorum,
ut promissam hereditatem ingredi mereamur.

Paternus, a, um is an adjective, “fatherly”. Literally, a paternum nomen would be “Fatherly name”. In English we need to break that down a little, just as we do with the Latin for “Sunday”: dies dominica or “lordly Day” in place of what we say “the day of the Lord”. In English a paternum nomen is “the name of Father”. Latin uses adjectives and adverbs for more purposes than we do. Our trusted old friend Lewis & Short Dictionary informs us that invoco means “to call upon, invoke” especially as a witness or as aid. So, there is an element of urgency and humility in the word. Praesumo gives us the English word and concept of “presumption”. At its root it means, “to take before, take first or beforehand.” The adverb and adjective prae, the prefix element of prae-sumo, is “before, in front of, in advance of”. In a less physical sense it can mean “anticipate”, in the sense of “to imagine or picture to one’s self beforehand” or in a moral nuance “to presume, take for granted”. It is even, more interestingly, “to undertake, venture, dare” together with “to trust, be confident”.

LITERAL WDTPRS TRANSLATION:
Almighty eternal God,
whom, [the Holy Spirit teaching, added in the 2002MR]
we presume to invoke by the name of Father,
perfect in our hearts the spirit of the adoption of children,
so that we may merit to enter into the inheritance promised.

Notice that I translate filii as “children” rather than as just “sons”, according to the literal meaning. Latin masculine plurals, depending on the context, can also include females even though the form of the word is masculine.

LAME-DUCK ICEL (1973):
Almighty and ever-living God,
you Spirit made us your children,
confident to call you Father.
Increase your Spirit within us
and bring us to our promised inheritance.

Take careful note that the language of adoption has been expunged. Does this change the impact of the prayer? Does it present a different view of the Christian life than that presented in the Latin Collect?

An important element of our Collect comes from Paul: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. We can invoke God the Father with confidence, not fear, when we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15… and “Abba” does not mean “daddy”).

NEW CORRECTED TRANSLATION (2011):
Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.

During the Holy Mass, through the words, actions and intentions of the ordained priest, as a Church we presume with trusting audacity to consecrate bread and wine and change them substantially to the Body and Body of the Second Person of the Trinity.

We do this because Jesus commanded us to do so, but it is a harrowing and consoling undertaking all the same.

We are laying hands upon truly sacred things, the most sacred things there can be: Christ’s Body, Blood, soul and divinity.

What could be more presumptuous?

Two sections of the great Corpus Christi sequence by St. Thomas Aquinas (+1274) remind us of what is at stake when we approach the Blessed Sacrament for Communion (not my translation):

“Here beneath these signs are hidden
priceless things, to sense forbidden;
signs, not things, are all we see.
Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine,
yet is Christ in either sign,
all entire confessed to be.
… Both the wicked and the good
eat of this celestial Food:
but with ends how opposite!
With this most substantial Bread,
unto life or death they’re fed,
in a difference infinite.”

That last part bears repeating: “Mors est malis, vita bonis: / vide paris sumptionis / quam sit dispar exitus.”

Eternal death for the wicked if they receive Communion improperly. Eternal life for the good if they receive well. See how dissimilar the different outcomes from the same act of Holy Communion can be?

This is good to ponder during Mass and the lead up to Mass:  Am I properly disposed to receive what Christ and the Church have promised are truly His Body and Blood? Do I dare receive? When was my last good confession?

Immediately after the Eucharistic Prayer but before our intrepid reception of Communion, we dare to pray with the words that the same Son taught us.

In introducing the Lord’s Prayer the priest says in Latin, “Having been instructed/urged by saving commands and formed by divine institution, we dare/presume (audemus) to say, ‘Our Father…’”. Audeo is “to venture, to dare”, and in this it is a synonym of praesumo. Jesus taught us to see God as Father in a way that no ever one had before. Christ revolutionized our prayer. In our lowliness we now dare to raise our eyes and venture to speak to God in a new way. We come to Him as children of a new “sonship”.

We learned from our examination of the Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter that adoptio is “adoption” in the sense of “to take as one’s child”. We find the phrase in Paul: adoptionem filiorum Dei or “adoption of the sons of God” in the Latin Vulgate of Jerome (cf. Romans 8:23; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5).

We do not approach God as fearful slaves. We are now also able to receive Communion with reverent confidence provided we have prepared well. God has done His part.

God will come to us not as a stranger God, but as a Father God. What God does for us is not cold or impersonal. It is an act of love. Even in commanding us, God the Son did not mean to terrify us into paralysis. This, however, was the result for some who, when hearing Christ’s teaching about His flesh, left Him because what they heard was too hard (cf. John 6). We need not be terrified… overwhelmed with awe, certainly, but not by terror.

Warned, urged, instructed by a divine Person who taught us with divine precepts, let’s get straight who our Father is and who we are because of who He is.

We are children of a loving Father. He comes looking for us to draw us unto Him because of His fatherly heart. The Holy Father Pope John Paul II wrote for the Church’s preparation for the Millennium Jubilee:

“If God goes in search of man, created in his own image and likeness, he does so because he loves him eternally in the Word, and wishes to raise him in Christ to the dignity of an adoptive son” (Tertio millennio adveniente 6).

As God’s adopted children we have dignity. The adoption brought by the Spirit is not some second rate relationship with God or mere juridical slight of hand. It is the fulfillment of an eternal love and longing. This is a primary and foundational dimension of everything we are as Catholic Christians. It is perhaps for this reason that that the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks so clearly to this point, in the first paragraph.

The adoption we speak about in this Collect is something far more profound than a juridical act by which one who is truly not of the same blood and bone is therefore considered, legally, to be so. Some Protestants see our return to righteousness in God’s sight, that is, justification through baptism, in these terms: a sort of legal sleight of hand whereby we remain in reality guilty and corrupt, but our disgusting sinful nature is ignored by the Father because the merits of Christ are interposed between His eyes and our debased nature.

However, we know by divine revelation and the continuing teaching of the Christian Church that by baptism more than a legal fiction takes place.

We are more than justified, we are sanctified.

Something of God’s divine grace is given to us, infused into our being so that we truly become sons and daughters of Almighty God, transformed radically from within, as members of Christ’s own Mystical Person. Thus, we too share Christ’s sonship. It is almost as if God infused His own Holiness DNA into us to make us His own in a sense far beyond any legal adoption could accomplish.  This transformation alters who we are without removing our individuality or dignity as persons. We are His and unified as One in Christ, and yet we remain ourselves. We are integrated into a new structure of Communion, indeed a new family.

By our discordant actions we can make this earthly dimension of our supernatural family, our Church, dysfunctional.

What a mystery it is that God, who lavishes upon us the mighty transforming graces we all have known and profess to love, leaves also in our hands the freedom to spurn Him and trivialize His gifts. This freedom, itself a gift, could only be a Father’s gift to beloved children.

[Salvation]

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious
Optional Memorial
August 12th
[optional Memorial transferred from December 12th
in the diocese of the United States]

unknown artist

History:
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal was born at Dijon, France, January 28, 1572.

In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, and lived in the feudal castle of Bourbilly. She restored order in the household, which was on the brink of ruin, and brought back prosperity. During her husband's absence at the court, or with the army, when reproachd for her extremely sober manner of dressing, her reply was: "The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from here". She found more than once that God blessed with miracles the care she gave the suffering members of Christ. St. Francis de Sales's eulogy of her characterizes her life at Bourbilly and everywhere else: "In Madame de Chantal I have found the perfect woman, whom Solomon had difficulty in finding in Jerusalem". Baron de Chantal was accidently killed by a harquebus while out shooting in 1601. Left a widow at twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity. In all her prayers she besought God to send her a guide.

During Lent, 1604, she visited her father at Dijon, where St. Francis de Sales was preaching at the Sainte Chapelle. He became her spiritual director.

She founded the Congregation of the Visitation which was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, June 6, 1610. Its aim was to receive, with a view to their spiritual advancement, young girls and even widows who had not the desire or strength to subject themselves to the austere ascetical practices in force in all the religious orders at that time. St. Francis de Sales was especially desirous of seeing the realization of his cherished method of attaining perfection, which consisted in always keeping one's will united to the Divine will, in taking so to speak one's soul, heart, and longings into one's hands and giving them into God's keeping, and in seeking always to do what is pleasing to Him. "I do always the things that please him" (John 8:29). The two holy founders saw their undertaking prosper. At the time of the death of St. Francis de Sales in 1622, the order already counted thirteen houses; there were eighty-six when St. Jane Frances died (December 13, 1641) and 164 when she was canonized.

The remainder of the saint's life was spent under the protection of the cloister in the practice of the most admirable virtues. If a gentle kindness, vivified and strengthened by a complete spirit of renunciation, predominates in St. Francis de Sales, it is firmness and great vigor which prevails in St. Jane Frances; she did not like to see her daughters giving way to human weakness. Her trials were continuous and borne bravely, and yet she was exceedingly sensitive.

Her reputation for sanctity was widespread. Queens, princes, and princesses flocked to the reception-room of the Visitation. Wherever she went to establish foundations, the people gave her ovations. "These people", she would say confused, "do not know me; they are mistaken". Her body is venerated with that of St. Francis de Sales in the church of the Visitation at Annecy. She was beatified in 1751, canonized in 1767.

(Principal source - Catholic Encyclopedia - 1913 edition )

Collect:
O God, who made Saint Jane Frances de Chantel
radiant with outstanding merits in different walks of life,
grant us, through her intercession,
that, walking faithfully in our vocation,
we mayconstantly be examples of shining light.
Through our Lord Jesus Chrust, your Son
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen

First Reading: Proverbs 31: 10-13,19-20,30-31
A good wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.

She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Gospel: Mark 3:31-35
Jesus' mother and brethren came; and standing outside they sent to Him and called Him. And a crowd was sitting about Him; and they said to Him, "Your mother and your brethren are outside, asking for you." And He replied, "Who are My mother and My brethren?" And looking around on those who sat about Him, He said, "Here are My mother and My brethren! Whoever does the will of God is My brother, and sister, and mother."

[Salvation]

St. Jane Frances deChantal

[Salvation]

Information: St. Euplius

Feast Day:	August 12
Patron of:	Catania; Trevico; Francavilla di Sicilia

[Salvation]

Information: St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Feast Day:	August 12
Born:	January 28, 1572, Dijon, Burgundy, France
Died:	December 13, 1641, Moulins, France
Canonized:	July 16, 1767, Rome by Pope Clement XIII
Major Shrine:	Annecy, Savoy
Patron of:	forgotten people; in-law problems; loss of parents; parents separated from children; widows

[Salvation]

Interactive Saints for Kids

St. Porcarius and Companions

 
Feast Day: August 12
Born: (about) 670 :: Died: (about) 732

Saints are just ordinary men and women whose lives are pleasing to God. This story is about some saints and martyrs who followed Jesus' teaching "there is no greater gift than to lay down one's life for a friend."

In the fifth century, a large abbey or monastery (where holy monks live in prayer and poverty) was built on an island off the coast of Provence, in France.

In the year 732 over five hundred people lived in the Abbey of Lerins. Some were monks, some students and some were workers with their families.

The Abbot (priest) was a wise and gentle man named Porcarius. One night Porcarius had a dream in which an angel told him that the monastery was going to be attacked from the sea by barbarians.

St. Porcarius was able to get a room on a ship for all the students and as many of the younger monks as could fit and he sent them off to safety.

Because there were no more boats, he gathered the remainder of the monks around him and they prayed together for courage. Nobody complained about being left behind but asked the Lord for the gift to forgive their enemies.

Soon the barbarians landed their ships and attacked the monks. They killed all the monks including St. Porcarius. Only four, they kept alive, put them in chains and took them away as slaves.

St. Porcarius and his companions died happy deaths as martyrs for Jesus.

[Salvation]

 

Catholic

Almanac:

Sunday, August 12
Liturgical Color: Green
Bl. Karl Leisner died on this day in 1945. He organized Catholic prayer services while imprisoned in a Nazi prison camp for speaking against Hitler. In 1944, a French bishop secretly entered the camp and ordained him to the priesthood.

[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: August 12, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Late Summer into Fall Sample Menu

ACTIVITIES

• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: August

PRAYERS

• Blessing of Food or Drink or Other Elements Connected with Devotion

Ordinary Time: August 12th

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Old Calendar: Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

"Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die (John 6:46-50)."

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

---

Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the First Book of Kings 19:4-8 and gives us the story from the life of the prophet Elijah in which it is narrated that an angel fed him miraculously.

The second reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 4:30, 5:2 in which he urges his converts to live in peace, harmony and love with one another.

The Gospel is from St. John 6:41-51. The main point of doctrine in this part of our Lord's discourse, as given by St. John, is the necessity for belief in Christ who has come down from heaven. It is only in the last verse of today's text that Christ explicitly states that he is about to give his own very body as their spiritual food to those who believe in him. The description of himself as "bread from heaven" and the vital difference between the effect of this bread and the manna given to their fathers in the desert, are a definite preparation for the announcement of the doctrine of the Eucharist.

However, before they could even think of accepting this teaching on the Eucharist they had first to accept Christ as divine, as the Son of God. This was not easy for Jews, for whom strict monotheism was the center of their faith. To admit that Christ was God would at first sight seem like admitting two gods. Secondly, even though Christ had worked extraordinary miracles, to all appearances he was still a mere man—and the prophets of old had worked miracles. True, Christ was evidently claiming to be more than a prophet; he claimed that he alone had seen the Father, that he had come from the Father. This claim of equality with the Father would be sheer blasphemy if it were not true; could God give the power of miracles to such a great sinner?

Perhaps some of them argued along these lines and accepted his claim later on. Others remained stiff-necked and stubborn and could see nothing in him but a native of Nazareth, a humble Galilean like themselves, but one who had developed strange ideas about who and what he was. These Galileans began a long line of unbelievers which has stretched down through the centuries to our own day. The reasons for the unbelief are the same today as they were in the year 29 A.D. Man is proud of his intelligence; which he did not give to himself. Whatever he cannot grasp within the limited confines of that intellect, he treats as non-existent as far as he is concerned. If a God exists, a doubtful possibility to these great thinkers, we mortals can know nothing about him; he is beyond our ken and we can be of no concern to him.

If there ever was a Jesus of Nazareth, he could be only a mere man who suffered from grave hallucinations! But his miracles? A simple answer: there never were any. His disciples invented these stories later. But these disciples were willing to die for these inventions of theirs! Thousands of Christians were martyred rather than deny the divine claims of Jesus! More hallucination, no doubt! Nineteen centuries of Christian history can be shrugged off as easily as that by those who will not believe. If certain statements do not fit in with preconceived ideas then these statements are false; if certain facts do not agree with history, as the unbelievers understand history, then these facts never happened. So man's limited, finite mind remains the sole judge and arbiter of all truth.

We believe in a loving God, and in his divine Son, Jesus Christ, who came on earth to bring us to heaven, and in the Holy Spirit who completes the work of sanctification in us. Surely, we owe this Blessed Trinity a debt of gratitude! We can never fully repay it. Because of our Christian faith which has come to us from Jesus, we know where we came from, we know whither we are going and we know how to reach that destination. Of all the knowledge a human being can acquire on this earth, the above facts are the most essential and important. Any other knowledge is of temporary value. The knowledge our Christian faith gives us concerns eternity and our journey toward it.

Today, we must thank God from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the Christian faith. This faith means that "God out of the abundance of his love, speaks to men as friends and lives among them so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself," as Vatican II puts it. He did not put us on earth and leave us on our own with nowhere to go except to the grave. He sent his beloved Son on earth. He made us heirs to heaven and left to us, in his Church, all the instruction and aids we need to reach our inheritance. The unbelievers and free-thinkers may feel that they are free to do what they will here on earth, but we know that we have been given the freedom of the children of God for all eternity, if only we live according to the faith given us.

Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: John 6:41-51

“The Jews murmured about him.” (John 6:41)

Let’s face it. We all murmur and grumble. It’s one of the most pop­ular ways we humans have come up with for expressing our dis­agreement or displeasure over something. Elijah grumbled as he sought protection from Jezebel’s anger. He had just seen God per­form a spectacular miracle, and still he complained: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4). Somehow, he lost sight of all God had done for him and could focus only on the immediate threat. It’s as if the problem before him was too big for God to handle!

More than anything else, grum­bling is a sign of unbelief. Elijah found it hard to believe and trust that God would continue to take care of him. Similarly, the people in today’s Gospel reading couldn’t believe that Jesus had the power to bring them spiritual salvation. They had just feasted on an overabun­dance of bread and fish that Jesus miraculously provided, but this sign simply was not enough to convince them that he was something special.

This passage shows us how easy it is to doubt God when he says some­thing hard to accept—no matter how many other miracles we have seen in our lives. And when we grumble, we risk missing out on what he is pre­pared to do for us today. We are so busy building arguments against God that we don’t have any time to build an argument for him.

Jesus is the Bread of Life, and he wants to feed us with his grace today. He wants to show himself to us so that we never have a reason to grumble or doubt him. So receive him in faith today. Be like Mary, who willingly accepted God’s plan for her to bear the Son of God. Or be like Peter, who, despite the grumbling around him, told Jesus: “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

“Jesus, teach me to trust in you more deeply today.”

---

Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

(1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34:2-9; Ephesians 4:30–5:2; John 6:41-51)

1. In the first reading, God responded to Elijah’s grumbling by providing sleep and food. Have you ever been in a situation where, like Elijah, you were worn out or overwhelmed by your circumstances? When you are discouraged do you grumble? How did it make you feel? If you looked for relief by turning to the Lord, how did that make you feel? What happened when you turned elsewhere?

2. In the Responsorial Psalm, we are invited to focus on the fact that it is not just human food that God provides us. He also gives us the opportunity to taste and see his very goodness - through prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments. How have you used prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments to be delivered from “fears”, “shame” and “distress”? When you “sought the Lord” in prayer, what are the ways in which the Lord “answered”, “saved”, and “delivered” you?

3. Just as we say in the Lord’s Prayer, today’s letter to the Ephesians in the second reading reminds us of our duty to forgive one another “as God has forgiven you in Christ.” St. Paul also reminds us of areas where we may have harmed relationships through our “bitterness”, “anger”, etc. What specific steps can you take to restore some broken relationships in your life?

4. We are also asked by St. Paul to be “imitators” of God and “live in love” by being “kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ.” With the Holy Spirit’s promptings, what specific steps can you take to show God’s kindness, compassion, and forgiveness in your family, your neighborhood, your parish, and your work environment?

5. In the Gospel reading, Jesus offers his “flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51), a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. Every Sunday in the Eucharist the God of the Universe will offer himself, “body and blood, soul and divinity” to you. Jesus wants to draw near to you as your food, your rest, your strength, your peace, your refuge, your healer and deliverer, your promise of eternal life! What steps can you take at Mass to make this more of a reality in your life?

6. In the meditation, we hear these words: “Jesus is the Bread of Life, and he wants to feed us with his grace today. He wants to show himself to us so that we never have a reason to grumble or doubt him. So receive him in faith today.” What do these words mean to you? How can you allow him to feed you and “show himself” to you more deeply as you as you spend time in his presence in prayer?

7. Take some time now to pray for a greater trust in the Lord’s love for you and for a greater openness to receiving Him, the Bread of Life, in a new and deeper way? Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.

[annalex]

John
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	John 6
41.	The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.	Murmurabant ergo Judæi de illo, quia dixisset : Ego sum panis vivus, qui de cælo descendi,	εγογγυζον ουν οι ιουδαιοι περι αυτου οτι ειπεν εγω ειμι ο αρτος ο καταβας εκ του ουρανου
42.	And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven?	et dicebant : Nonne hic est Jesus filius Joseph, cujus nos novimus patrem et matrem ? quomodo ergo dicit hic : Quia de cælo descendi ?	και ελεγον ουχ ουτος εστιν ιησους ο υιος ιωσηφ ου ημεις οιδαμεν τον πατερα και την μητερα πως ουν λεγει ουτος οτι εκ του ουρανου καταβεβηκα
43.	Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves.	Respondit ergo Jesus, et dixit eis : Nolite murmurare in invicem :	απεκριθη ουν ο ιησους και ειπεν αυτοις μη γογγυζετε μετ αλληλων
44.	No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.	nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater, qui misit me, traxerit eum ; et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die.	ουδεις δυναται ελθειν προς με εαν μη ο πατηρ ο πεμψας με ελκυση αυτον και εγω αναστησω αυτον εν τη εσχατη ημερα
45.	It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.	Est scriptum in prophetis : Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Omnis qui audivit a Patre, et didicit, venit ad me.	εστιν γεγραμμενον εν τοις προφηταις και εσονται παντες διδακτοι θεου πας ουν ο ακουων παρα του πατρος και μαθων ερχεται προς με
46.	Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father.	Non quia Patrem vidit quisquam, nisi is, qui est a Deo, hic vidit Patrem.	ουχ οτι τον πατερα τις εωρακεν ει μη ο ων παρα του θεου ουτος εωρακεν τον πατερα
47.	Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life.	Amen, amen dico vobis : qui credit in me, habet vitam æternam.	αμην αμην λεγω υμιν ο πιστευων εις εμε εχει ζωην αιωνιον
48.	I am the bread of life.	Ego sum panis vitæ.	εγω ειμι ο αρτος της ζωης
49.	Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.	Patres vestri manducaverunt manna in deserto, et mortui sunt.	οι πατερες υμων εφαγον το μαννα εν τη ερημω και απεθανον
50.	This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.	Hic est panis de cælo descendens : ut si quis ex ipso manducaverit, non moriatur.	ουτος εστιν ο αρτος ο εκ του ουρανου καταβαινων ινα τις εξ αυτου φαγη και μη αποθανη
51.	I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 6:52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.	Ego sum panis vivus, qui de cælo descendi. 6:52 Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in æternum : et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita.	εγω ειμι ο αρτος ο ζων ο εκ του ουρανου καταβας εαν τις φαγη εκ τουτου του αρτου ζησεται εις τον αιωνα και ο αρτος δε ον εγω δωσω η σαρξ μου εστιν ην εγω δωσω υπερ της του κοσμου ζωης

[annalex]

41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he said, I came down from heaven?
43. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44. No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me.
46. Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has seen the Father.

CHRYS. The Jews, so long as they thought to get food for their carnal eating, had no misgivings; but when this hope was taken away, then, we read, the Jews murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. This was only a pretense. The real cause of their complaint was that they were disappointed in their expectation of a bodily feast. As yet however they reverenced Him, for His miracle; and only expressed their discontent by murmurs. What these were we read next: And they said, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that He said, I came down from heaven?

AUG. But they were far from being fit for that heavenly bread, and did not hunger for it. For they had not that hunger of the inner man.

CHRYS. It is evident that they did not yet know of His miraculous birth: for they call Him the Son of Joseph. Nor are they blamed for this. Our Lord does not reply, I am not the Son of Joseph: for the miracle of His birth would have overpowered them. And if the birth according to the flesh were above their belief, how much more that higher and ineffable birth.;

AUG. He took man's flesh upon Him, but not after the manner of men; for, His Father being in heaven, He chose a mother upon earth, and was born of her without a father. The answer to the murmurers next follows: Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Murmur not among yourselves; as if to say, I know why you hunger not after this bread, and so cannot understand it, and do not seek it: No man can come to Me except the Father who has sent Me draw him. This is the doctrine of grace: none comes, except he be drawn. But whom the Father draws, and whom not, and why He draws one, and not another, presume not to decide, if you would avoid falling into error. Take the doctrine as it is given you: and, if you are not drawn, pray that you may be.

CHRYS, But here the Manichees attack us, asserting that nothing is in our own power. Our Lords words however do not destroy our free agency, but only show that we need Divine assistance. For He is speaking not of one who comes without the concurrence of his own will, but one who has many hindrances in the way of his coming.

AUG. Now if we are drawn to Christ without our own will, we believe without our own will; the will is not exercised, but compulsion is applied. But, though a man can enter the Church involuntarily, he cannot believe other than voluntarily; for with the heart man believes to righteousness. Therefore if he who is drawn, comes without his will, he does not believe; if he does not believe, he does not come. For we do not come to Christ, by running, or walking, but by believing, not by the motion of the body, but the will of the mind. You are drawn by your will. But what is it to be drawn by the will? Delight you in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desire. There is a certain craving of the heart, to which that heavenly bread is pleasant. If the Poet could say, "Trahit sua quemque voluptas," how much more strongly may we speak of a man being drawn to Christ, i.e. being delighted with truth, happiness, justice eternal life, all which is Christ? Have the bodily senses their pleasures, and has not the soul hers? Give me one who loves, who longs, who burns, who sighs for the source of his being and his eternal home; and he will know what I mean. But why did He say, Except my Father draw him? If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by Him to whom His love said, Draw me, we will run after You. But let us see what is meant by it. The Father draws to the Son those who believe on the Son, as thinking that He has God for His Father. For the Father begat the Son equal to Himself; and whoso thinks and believes really and seriously that He on Whom He believes is equal to the Father, him the Father draws to the Son. Arius believed Him to be a creature; the Father drew not him. Thomas says, Christ is only a man. Because he so believes, the Father draws him not. He drew Peter who said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God; to whom accordingly it was told, For flesh and blood, has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in heaven. That revelation is the drawing. For if earthly objects, when put before us, draw us; how much more shall Christ, when revealed by the Father? For what does the soul more long after than truth? But here men hunger, there they will be filled. Wherefore He adds, And I will raise him up at the last day: as if He said, He shall be filled with that, for which he now thirsts, at the resurrection of the dead; for I will raise him up.

AUG. Or the Father draws to the Son, by the works which He did by Him.

CHRYS. Great indeed is the Son's dignity; the Father draws men, and the Son raises them up. This is no division of works, but an equality of power. He then shows the way in which the Father draws. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. You see the excellence of faith; that it cannot be learnt from men, or by the teaching of man, but only from God Himself. The Master sits, dispensing His truth to all, pouring out His doctrine to all. But if all are to be taught of God, how is it that some believe not? Because all here only means the generality, or, all that have the will.

AUG. Or thus, When a schoolmaster is the only one in a town, we say loosely, This man teaches all here to read; not that all learn of him, but that he teaches all who do learn. And in the same way we say that God teaches all men to come to Christ: not that all do come, but that no one comes in any other way.

AUG. All the men of that kingdom shall be taught of God; they shall hear nothing from men: for, though in this world what they hear with the outward ear is from men, yet what they understand is given them from within; from within is light and revelation. I force certain sounds into your ears, but unless He is within to reveal their meaning, how, O you Jews, can you acknowledge Me, you whom the Father has not taught?

BEDE. He uses the plural, In the Prophets, because all the Prophets being filled with one and the same spirit, their prophecies, though different, all tended to the same end; and with whatever any one of them says, all the rest agree; as with the prophecy of Joel, All shall be taught of God.

GLOSS. These words are not found in Joel, but something like them; Be glad then you children of Sion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you a Teacher. And more expressly in Isaiah, And all your children shall be taught of the Lord.

CHRYS. An important distinction. All men before learnt the things of God through men; now they learn them through the Only Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.

AUG. All that are taught of God come to the Son, because they have heard and learnt from the Father of the Son: wherefore He proceeds, Every man that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to Me. But if every one that has heard and learnt of the Father comes, every one that has not heard of the Father has not learnt. For beyond the reach of the bodily senses is this school, in which the Father is heard, and men taught to come to the Son. Here we have not to do with the carnal ear, but the ear of the heart; for here is the Son Himself, the Word by which the Father teaches, and together with Him the Holy Spirit the operations of the three Persons being inseparable from each other. This is attributed however principally to the Father, because from Him proceeds the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore the grace which the Divine bounty imparts in secret to men's hearts, is rejected by none from hardness of heart: seeing it is given in the first instance, in order to take away hard-heartedness. Why then does He not teach all to come to Christ? Because those whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy; and those whom He teaches not, He teaches not in judgment. But if we say, that those, whom He teaches not, wish to learn, we shall be answered, Why then is it said, Will you not turn again, and quicken us? If God does not make willing minds out of unwilling, why prays the Church, according to our Lord's command, for her persecutors? For no one can say, I believed, and therefore He called me: rather the preventing mercy of God called him, that he might believe.

AUG. Behold then how the Father draws; not by laying a necessity on man, but by teaching the truth. To draw, belongs to God: Every one that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to Me. What then? has Christ taught nothing? Not so. What if men saw not the Father teaching, but saw the Son. So then the Father taught, the Son spoke. As I teach you by My word, so the Father teaches by His Word. But He Himself explains the matter, if we read on: Not that any man has seen the Father, save He which is of God, He has seen the Father; as if He said, Do not when I tell you, Every man that has heard and learnt of the Father, say to yourselves, We have never seen the Father, and how then can we have learnt from Him? Hear Him then in Me. I know the Father, and am from Him, just as a word is from him who speaks it; i.e. not the mere passing sound, but that which remains with the speaker, and draws the hearer.

CHRYS. We are all from God. That which belongs peculiarly and principally to the Son, He omits the mention of, as being unsuitable to the weakness of His hearers.

47. Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes in me has everlasting life.
48. I am that bread of life.
49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51a. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.

AUG. Our Lord wishes to reveal what He is; Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes in Me, has everlasting life. As if He said; He that believes in Me has Me: but what is it to have Me? It is to have eternal life: for the Word which was in the beginning with God is life eternal, and the life was the light of men. Life underwent death, that life might kill death.

CHRYS. The multitude being urgent for bodily food, and reminding Him of that which was given to their fathers, He tells them that the manna was only a type of that spiritual food which was now to be tasted in reality, I am that bread of life.

CHRYS. He calls Himself the bread of life, because He constitutes one life, both present, and to come.

AUG. And because they had taunted Him with the manna, He adds, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. Your fathers they are, for you are like them; murmuring sons of murmuring fathers. For in nothing did that people offend God more, than by their murmurs against Him. And therefore are they dead, because what they saw they believed, what they did not see they believed not, nor understood.

CHRYS. The addition, In the wilderness, is not put in without meaning, but to remind them how short a time the manna lasted; only till the entrance into the land of promise. And because the bread which Christ gave seemed inferior to the manna, in that the latter had come down from heaven, while the former was of this world, He adds, This is the bread which comes down from heaven.

AUG. This was the bread the manna typified, this was the bread the altar typified. Both the one and the other were sacraments, differing in symbol, alike in the thing signified. Hear the Apostle, They did all eat the same spiritual meat.

CHRYS. He then gives them a strong reason for believing that they were given for higher privileges than their fathers. Their fathers eat manna and were dead; whereas of this bread He says, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. The difference of the two is evident from the difference of their ends. By bread here is meant wholesome doctrine, and faith in Him, or His body: for these are the preservatives of the soul.

AUG. But are we, who eat the bread that comes down from heaven, relieved from death? From visible and carnal death, the death of the body, we are not: we shall die, even as they died. But from spiritual death which their fathers suffered, we are delivered. Moses and many, acceptable of God, eat the manna, and died not, because they understood that visible food in a spiritual sense, spiritually tasted it, and were spiritually filled with it. And we too at this day receive the visible food; but the Sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the Sacrament another. Many a one receives from the Altar, and perishes in receiving; eating and drinking his own damnation, as said the Apostle. To eat then the heavenly bread spiritually, is to bring to the Altar an innocent mind. Sins, though they be daily, are not deadly. Before you go to the Altar, attend to the prayer you repeat: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. If you forgive, you are forgiven: approach confidently; it is bread, not poison. None then that eat of this bread, shall die. But we speak of the virtue of the Sacrament, not the visible Sacrament itself; of the inward, not of the outward eater.

ALCUIN. Therefore I say, He that eats this bread, dies not: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

THEOPHYL. By becoming incarnate, He was not then first man, and afterwards assumed Divinity, as Nestorius fables.

AUG. The manna too came down from heaven; but the manna was shadow, this is substance.

ALCUIN. But men must be quickened by my life: If any man eat of this bread, he shall live, not only now by faith and righteousness, but for ever.

51b. - And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

AUG. Our Lord pronounces Himself to be bread, not only in respect of that Divinity, which feeds all things, but also in respect of that human nature, which was assumed by the Word of God: And the bread, He says, that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

BEDE. This bread our Lord then gave, when He delivered to His disciple the mystery of His Body and Blood, and offered Himself to God the Father on the altar of the cross. For the life of the world, i.e. not for the elements, but for mankind, who are called the world.

THEOPHYL. Which I shall give: this shows His power; for it shows that He was not crucified as a servant, in subjection to the Father, but of his own accord; for though He is said to have been given up by the Father, yet He delivered Himself up also. And observe, the bread which is taken by us in the mysteries, is not only the sign of Christ's flesh, but is itself the very flesh of Christ; for He does not say, The bread which I will give, is the sign of My flesh, but, is My flesh. The bread is by a mystical benediction conveyed in unutterable words, and by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, transmuted into the flesh of Christ. But why see we not the flesh? Because, if the flesh were seen, it would revolt us to such a degree, that we should be unable to partake of it. And therefore in condescension to our infirmity, the mystical food is given to us under an appearance suitable to our minds. He gave His flesh for the life of the world, in that, by dying, He destroyed death. By the life of the world too, I understand the resurrection; our Lord's death having brought about the resurrection of the whole human race. It may mean too the sanctified, beatified, spiritual life; for though all have not attained to this life, yet our Lord gave Himself for the world, and, as far as lies in Him, the whole world is sanctified.

AUG. But when does flesh receive the bread which He calls His flesh? The faithful know and receive the Body of Christ, if they labor to be the body of Christ. And they become the body of Christ, if they study to live by the Spirit of Christ: for that which lives by the Spirit of Christ, is the body of Christ. This bread the Apostle sets forth, where he says, We being many are one body. O sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of love! Whoso wishes to live, let him draw nigh, believe, be incorporated, that he may be quickened.

Catena Aurea John 6

[annalex]

Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament

Dieric Bouts the Elder

1464-67
Oil on panel, 185 x 294 cm
Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven

[Salvation]

 

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for August 12, 2012:

“Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert.” (1 Kings 19:4) What has been a low or dry point in your relationship with your beloved? How did you get out of it? If you’re still in a desert, ask for help – from your spouse, God, or angels who sometimes go by the name “counselor.”

[Salvation]

Elijah Runs Away

Pastor’s Column

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 12, 2012

 

Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death, saying, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life!”

                                                            1 Kings 19:4

 

          Have you ever felt like just “running away?” Elijah did! Elijah the prophet was one of the greatest figures of the Old Testament, a man who worked many miracles and manifested the power of God. Yet, in this Sunday’s first reading from 1 Kings 19, Elijah seems to have reached the end of his strength. He had just successfully defeated several hundred pagan priests who were misleading the people, but now Jezebel, the wife of the corrupt King Ahab, is chasing him to kill him. 

 

          Is it ever God’s will that we run away like this? Even Jesus ran away! Jesus not infrequently tried to escape the crowds by heading to the hills to pray. What are some of the reasons God might call us to “run away?”

 

          If we are in trouble, we may find it necessary to “run away” to get help. God may require us to move from a troubling situation to a healthy one. We are always called to “run away” from sin, by going to confession or seeking a change of life. Like Jesus, we too have a regular need to “run away” to God in prayer, before we return to the battles and triumphs of everyday life.

 

          St. Theresa of Lisieux writes in her diary that if she found herself in a situation in the convent where she was afraid of losing the battle of kindness with another nun, she was not above simply “running away” to another part of the convent to avoid saying or doing the wrong thing. The Holy Spirit can help us to pick our battles and to have the discernment to know when we need to get out of a certain situation to save us from sin or an unloving action. To avoid an occasion of sin is not to “run” but is a smart move!

 

          When Elijah ultimately finds himself at the end of his rope, the Lord sends him an angel to give him food for the journey so that he can go on. For a Christian, Jesus himself is our Body and Blood. He feeds us with the Eucharist every time we attend Mass so that we will know that we are truly loved. After the angel encourages him, Elijah then stops running and begins moving toward a goal, to reach Mt. Sinai and speak with God. When we are discouraged, Christ reminds us that we are loved, and then renews our goal: heaven. To be truly loved; to have heaven as a goal; to have the Eucharist and the Scriptures as food for the journey; to have a community of faith to accompany us: these help us during the tough times in our lives too.

                                                                             Father Gary

[Salvation]

19th Sunday: Food for Our Journey

"I am the living bread . . . from heaven"

Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081212.cfm

1 Kng 19: 4-8

Eph 4: 30 – 5:2
Jn 6: 41-51

This past week we have witnessed an impressive display of power.  It is quite literally something outside this world.  A car-sized rover, after travelling for more than eight months and hundreds of millions of miles out into deep space beyond our precious home we call Earth, landed at a precise location on that closest red planet called Mars.  If one sat down and calculated all the possible scenarios for this perilous journey, it is a wonder both of scientific technology and impressive human genius.

Yet, despite all that expended power, it will not last forever.  That probe, traversing around that strange world, will need to recharge itself. And, like the more basic water we drink and the food we eat, eating recharges our batteries as we say. Fortunately, our folks at NASA are not strapped with searching how to supply water and food to humans on that space vehicle.

Our Gospel this Sunday provides for us an insight into what became and perhaps still is among Jesus’ most challenging teachings. Our Lord promises spiritual nourishment that will last forever: “I am the bread of life” he proclaims “. . . this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die . . .” Here Jesus compares himself to the generous manna from heaven of which we heard last Sunday. Jesus is like that food, provided by God for the wandering people in the desert with Moses, which gave them power for their journey ahead.  Likewise, he had provided water for them to drink; more food for their journey.

Then Jesus adds: “. . . whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  Now that is a food we would all enjoy - that which gives eternal life. To our Catholic ears we may hear an allusion to the Eucharist – the sacred Body and Blood of Christ.  However, to those of Jesus’ time, what they heard was scandalous, blasphemous, or mad on the part of Jesus. 

“How can he say I have come down from heaven?” the crowds wondered.  They knew his parents, Mary and Joseph.  “He’s just one of us!” they implied.  Yes, true but far more which they did not see, accept, or simply didn’t realize. There is the point of John’s Gospel and a challenge for us today. Do we see it?

To help us understand, John makes an important connection with the Old Testament.  It may help us to confirm our faith as it did for the early Christians.  That Jesus Christ is indeed “from heaven” and faith in him is food for our journey.

But, the people “murmured” about Jesus.  So too did the early Hebrew people in the desert complain about thirst and mutter to Moses about starvation.  Moses turned to God with whom he had a personal relationship and God, from heaven, provided for them.

Likewise, in the first reading we hear of the prophet Elijah, hiding in the desert in fear of his life after he killed the pagan prophets of Baal, about to despair.  Elijah relinquishes all his prophetic power and just wants to die.  But, God intervenes through his angel and provides for Elijah, food and water to drink, for his continued journey.

All this seems as background to the Gospel. Far more what Jesus supplies, his own person, his mission of death and resurrection, is like but more than water to drink, manna and quail to eat, or bread and fish to feed thousands along the hillsides of Galilee.  All this came from God.   Jesus from heaven like the manna now provides himself as the food – “bread from heaven to eat.”

We profess our loyalty to live in Christ and by Christ. In him we find food for our spiritual life journey.  The Eucharist is the place we go, the food we eat, for our journey.  There we find a real time encounter with the risen Lord in our midst and the people of God, our brothers and sisters in the faith, who are made into a community by Christ which lives in and through him.

But, this Sunday, it seems, we are called to reflect on our own perceptions of what Jesus has made.  We forget that the Church is both divine and human.  We murmur like the ancient people who could not see past Jesus’ humanity - “Who does he think he is saying these things?”

All we may see and become disturbed by is the sin of the Church – the human dimension in constant need of reform. If all we see is scandal, arrogant leadership, poor pastors and abuse of power, then we may as well despair like Elijah. But we forget the divine presence in the Church which makes it Holy. We don’t see beyond the humanity.

John’s Gospel invites us today to look beyond and look in to the fullness of who Jesus is: God from God, light from light, true God from true God.  If we do that, then Jesus and living in him and through him in his Church is the bread that provides power to “live forever.” 

Almighty ever-living God,

whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,

we dare to call our Father,

bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts

the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,

that we may merit to enter into the inheritance

which you have promised.

(Collect for Sunday)

 

Fr. Tim

[Salvation]

Insight Scoop

Spiritual Hunger and the Bread of Life

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, August 12, 2012, the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• 1 Kgs 19:4-8
• Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
• Eph 4:30—5:2
• Jn 6:41-51

“I’m hungry! I’m starving!” What parent hasn’t heard this (often exaggerated) complaint?

It is common to young children, but certainly not limited to them. When I was in high school I went on a ten-day hiking trip with a small church group. On the seventh day, due to poor planning, the food ran out and the complaints began. For a couple of days I had a very small taste—so to speak!—of what the Israelites experienced while wandering in the desert. Like them, I murmured and grumbled about the leaders: “But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!” (cf. Ex. 16:2-4).

That complaint was part of the Old Testament reading last week. In today’s Gospel we find that the Jews—those religious leaders ardently opposed to the person and message of Jesus—were murmuring and complaining. They were upset by his claim to be the “bread of heaven that came down from heaven.” The basis for their murmuring disbelief can be summarized quite simply: “We know who this Jesus really is!” This exchange, after all, took place near Capernaum, which was the center for much of Jesus’ public life and ministry (cf. Jn. 2:12; Mk. 2:1).

Jesus responded to the complaints by appealing to the two authorities found throughout his discourses in the Fourth Gospel: the Father and the prophets. Belief in the Son, he said, is a gift from the Father, and testimony to this fact is given by the prophets, whose entire mission was to exhort the people to hear God, learn from Him, and obey Him. The Son was sent to draw men to the Father; likewise, no man comes to the Father except through the Son.

This exclusive claim, which was just beginning to come into focus for the Jews listening to Jesus, is just as demanding and divisive today as it was two thousand years ago. This is why the Church, from the day of her birth, has had to address every sort of skewed understanding and false teaching about the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus then uttered the third, “Amen, amen,” of this discourse. The first (v. 26) had been a rebuke of the selfish motives and lack of faith shown by those following him. The second (v. 32) prefaced the revelation that he is the bread of life. The third is an invitation to faith: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” The manna in the wilderness was indeed miraculous in its source, but natural in its substance; those who ate it were physically nourished for a while, but eventually died.

The new manna, said the ordinary-looking Jewish carpenter to the murmuring crowd, is not a material object, but a divine person: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Having earlier performed a miracle involving simple bread, Jesus provided the spiritual basis for the stunning sacramental reality that would come to fruition at the Last Supper, on the eve of his crucifixion: “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

In the words of Moses, spoken many generations before to those complaining in the desert, this “is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat” (Ex. 16:15). Yet the bread of life can appear to be so ordinary, so commonplace, that who and what it is escapes our earth-bound gaze. Although the people listening to Jesus had hungered for ordinary bread, many of them did not hunger for spiritual bread. “For this bread,” wrote St. Augustine, “requires the hunger of the inner person.”

The great joy of our heavenly Father is to hear us say, as we come forward to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of his Son: “I’m hungry! I’m starving!” Instead of a murmuring complaint, this should be a cry of joy, a prayer of thanksgiving, and a public expression of faithful recognition.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the August 9, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

[Salvation]

Regnum Christi

The Bread of Eternal Life

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

John 6:41-51

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ´I have come down from heaven´?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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."

Introductory Prayer: Father, I believe in you with all my heart. I trust in your infinite goodness and mercy. Thank you for so patiently guiding me along the pathway to everlasting life. I love you and offer you all that I have and all that I do, for your glory and the salvation of souls.

Petition: Lord, give me faith to believe that you are the Bread of Life.

1. Faith is Free for the Pure of Heart: Sometimes we think that had we only lived in Jesus’ day it would have be so much easier to believe. However, this passage makes it clear that not only is faith a gift, but that to believe we must have certain dispositions of the heart. Those who murmur against Jesus are closing themselves off to the gift of faith, since the Father does not force our freedom; those who listen to the prophets and to the Father with humility and an open hearts will be drawn to Jesus by the Father’s love. Today we need these same dispositions. Without them, what God reveals will seem too difficult to accept or to live out – even appearing absurd to our human way of reasoning. These dispositions of the heart are so essential. We need to be less sure of ourselves and more dependent on listening to what God is saying to us in order to receive the gift of faith.

2. Bread That Was Less Filling: The manna which sustained the Israelites in the desert was a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. God fed his people with manna throughout their long journey to the Promised Land. Yet that bread did not give eternal life; indeed, the Israelites rebelled and complained and fell into sin again and again. They were looking more for material comfort and satisfaction in this world than for the hope and joy that comes from being led by God to a new life. In the Eucharist, God feeds us with the Bread of Eternal Life and leads us on the journey of this life to an entirely new life in him, which gives all our sufferings and difficulties meaning and hope. Let’s renew our faith in the True Bread that gives us life.

3. I’m Gonna Live Forever: Eternal life begins now for those who believe that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Through faith in the Eucharist, we enter into this new life that is qualitatively different from a life that is bound up in the world and seeks only pleasure and comfort within the material confines of our limited existence. Ultimately, human life – even the richest, the most successful, and most powerful – becomes a gray monotony unless there is hope in something new and greater than this existence down below. To live forever is not simply to go on endlessly in time, it is to enter a new dimension: into a life in God, who is our true fulfillment and peace.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, give me always this Bread of Life. Open my heart and my soul to long for this new life that only you can bring me through the Eucharist. Give me the humility and simplicity to listen to you and to believe that you have the words of eternal life.

Resolution: I will spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and read all of Chapter Six of St. John’s Gospel, in which Jesus gives his discourse on the Bread of Life. I will ask the Holy Spirit to deepen my faith that the Eucharist is the center of my life, and I will embrace the teaching that nothing else has as much importance as true devotion to the Eucharist.

[Salvation]

Scripture Speaks: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

• Faith
• August 9th, 2012
• Gayle Somers

The Jews who followed Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand were looking for the Messiah—the New Moses who would again bring down bread from heaven.  When they found that Bread, they grumbled.  Why?

Gospel (Read Jn 6:41-51)

As we know from last Sunday’s Gospel, the Jews who had seen Jesus miraculously feed a crowd of hungry people strongly suspected that He was the Messiah—the “Prophet” Moses long ago had foretold that God would send.  Jewish rabbinic tradition, by Jesus’ day, taught the Jews to expect with the Messiah a return of the manna, the “bread of angels” (see Ps 78:25).  When they caught up with Jesus, they began angling to see if He would produce more miraculous bread as a sign that He was, indeed, the Messiah.  If so, they wanted to proclaim Him king (see Jn 6:15).

In today’s Gospel, St. John tells us that when Jesus identified Himself as the bread from heaven they sought, they were offended.  They had asked Him for a sign so they could “come to” Him and “believe in” Him (see Jn 6:35), just as Moses had worked signs in Egypt to help the Israelites believe God had truly sent him as their deliverer.  These people wanted to see the bread “which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (see Jn 6:33).  Jesus, in essence, said, “You’re looking at it.”

What caused them to grumble?  It wasn’t His call to come to Him and believe in Him.  At this point, they understood Jesus’ claim to be “bread from heaven” as a metaphor for them to accept His leadership, to believe God had sent Him, and to follow Him as their king.  They were ready to do that.  No, it was Jesus’ claim that He “came down from heaven” that caused the problem.  They murmured against Him for this:  “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?  Do we not know His father and mother?”  Jesus’ claim seemed preposterous to them.  They were not ready to believe in Him that way.  His rebuke to them—“stop murmuring among yourselves”—was the same rebuke Moses gave to the Israelites when they refused to believe God could provide for them in the wilderness in ways they could never have imagined (see Ex 16:7).  History was repeating itself.

Jesus diagnosed the problem:  “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him.”  What did He mean?  To try to figure Jesus out from a strictly human perspective will never work.  If we say that human beings can’t “come down” from heaven, then we are assuming that we know everything that it is possible to know.  We review history—it’s never happened before.  We review what we think can happen in the future—nothing new can enter the stream of human life.  So, having closed down all possibilities, humanly speaking, we would reject Jesus’ amazing claim.  Only someone completely open to the idea that nothing is impossible for God can ever “come” to Jesus and give ear to His claim to have been sent from heaven by the Father to be our bread of eternal life.

Having already disturbed the crowd with His words, Jesus now proceeds to rattle them completely.  He reminds them again that the miraculous manna did not grant eternal life.  The bread He offers does:  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  If Jesus had stopped right here, maybe the crowd would have settled down, because, up to now, even if they stumbled over His divine origin, they could perhaps “come” and “believe” in Him.  However, the discourse takes a surprising twist:  “the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.”  Well.  Yes, there had been “bread” and “flesh” in Moses’ miracles in the wilderness.  But did these Jews ever imagine they would hear these words combined this way?

The drama continues.

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, I know there are times when I arrive at a “not possible” conclusion before I have opened myself to You.  Please forgive me.

First Reading (Read 1 Ki 19:4-8)

We have here yet another food miracle from the Old Testament (our third reading in as many weeks).  Elijah, who lived about the 9^th century B.C., had just called the Israelites to forsake their idolatry in a fiery prophetic miracle on Mt. Carmel.  As a result, the wicked queen, Jezebel, sent out forces to track him down and kill him.  He was so discouraged by this pursuit that he was ready to die.  Everything seemed like failure.

In his sleep of sorrow, he was awakened by an angel who ordered him to “get up and eat.”  Again he slept; again he was awakened by the angel.  “Eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”  The meal refreshed and strengthened him.  He was able to walk “forty days and forty nights” to meet God at Mt. Horeb.

When we see these Old Testament episodes of God’s provision of miraculous food to nourish and sustain His people, can we really find it so surprising that Jesus would leave us a miraculous meal for our own journey home?

Possible response:  Angel of God, my guardian dear, if I fall into a sleep of sorrow over something, please wake me up and exhort me to eat the Eucharistic meal for the strength I need.

Psalm (Read Ps 34:2-9)

The psalmist writes as one who has experienced God’s deliverance in times of fears, affliction, and distress.  This glorious trustworthiness of God leaves him with blessing and praise “ever in my mouth.”  How interesting that when he desires others to experience it, too, he urges us to “taste and see how good the Lord is.”  Could the psalmist have imagined how literally true Jesus would one day make this?  Our song today is one we can sing with confidence, for we have tasted of the Bread of Heaven:  “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

Possible response:  The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings.  Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Eph 4:30-5:2)

Because we can “taste and see” the goodness of the Lord in the Eucharist, what sort of people should we be?  St. Paul again gives us practical instruction in holiness.  Having been “sealed for the day of redemption” by the Holy Spirit, we need to recognize that in this personal relationship with Him, we are capable of grieving Him.  How?  If we allow “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling … along with … malice” to fester in us, we cause the Holy Spirit a kind of sorrow.  Why?  Because He wants to transform us into God’s “beloved children,” sharing His divine nature, and these other things make that impossible.  Instead, with the Spirit’s help, we are to choose kindness, compassion, and forgiveness towards others (see how much of our life in God depends on our life with others!).  St. Paul reminds us that those who have tasted the goodness of God are called to the same life Christ lived when He “handed Himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma” (see also Gn 8:20-22, when Noah offered God a sacrifice of thanksgiving for deliverance from the Flood).  How can we live this way?  It is hard, and we are weak, made of dust.  We need food for this journey, don’t we?  Thank God, He offers it every single day.

Possible response:  Holy Spirit, help me be ruthless in mortifying whatever in me causes You grief.  I want to cooperate with Your work of transformation in me.

[Salvation]

Elijah and the Food We Need

• Faith
• August 9th, 2012
• Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

It’s hard enough to do the right thing. But when you get blame for it instead of praise, it really takes the wind out of your sails, even if you happen to be a prophet.

This is background we need in order to understand this Sunday’s first reading. Elijah had just brought an end to a two year famine by doing away with the idolatrous prophets of Ba’al. So what thanks does he get from Queen Jezebel? She demands his head on a platter. Within seconds he goes from being a hero to a fugitive. After running for his life, he finally drops exhausted in the desert under the only shade he can find. Feeling sorry for himself, he prays for death.  God decides instead to give him food. An angel appears with bread and water and tells him to take nourishment. He has a long journey ahead of him and there is no time for moping.

This is no ordinary meal, however. Have you ever heard of a single snack of bread and water giving someone sufficient strength to trudge 40 days through barren desert only to arrive at an equally barren mountain?

This is indeed a puzzling incident that is more than a miraculous desert refueling of a discouraged prophet. The Holy Spirit intends it to point forward to an even more remarkable food and drink that God will make available through his son, Jesus. Are we speaking of the loaves and fishes that Jesus multiplies to feed thousands in the wilderness? Even that is too little. For this miraculous lakeside meal, mentioned by all four gospels, satisfied only for a short time, and then the people were hungry again. Jesus points this out in John 6, and he also reminds the people that the manna their forefathers ate in the desert had similar limitations.

Even the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, like the meal Elijah received under the broom tree, merely points forward to something even greater, to food that truly satisfies and leads to eternal life. The fulfillment of all this foreshadowing is Jesus’ own flesh and blood, to be eaten sacramentally under the forms of bread and wine, in the Eucharist. This meal will be offered not just to a select few, but to all those sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) through baptism, making them prophets, kings, and priests of the Lord. They, like the prophet Elijah, will ultimately walk with God in glory, but before that will have a long, arduous journey to make that will require extraordinary strength and stamina.

Our second reading tells us why they will need superhuman strength. They are to rid themselves of bitterness, passion, anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind. Have you ever tried to eliminate all such things in from your life? Have you found it easy to be as kind, compassionate, and forgiving as God, to be imitators of Christ’s way of love and self-sacrifice?  Then you know why God has made nourishment available to us that is truly superhuman, indeed divine, so that we are capable of loving in a way normally impossible for mere mortals.  In God’s wonderful plan of creation, blood was designed to purify our system of all impurities and bring life to every cell of our bodies. Christ gives us his own blood to drink to flush out the toxins of selfishness and revitalize us with his divine generosity and unlimited patience. When we receive this sacrament in faith, we have God’s own love coursing through our veins, passing through our weak hearts, transforming them and strengthening them for the journey of love that can lead us through some pretty bleak landscapes at times.

God cared enough for Elijah to have an angel bring him a special meal. He did one better for us.  He sent his Son who both brought the meal and is Himself the meal.

 

Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio writes from Texas.

[Salvation]

Manna and the Eucharist

• Homily of the Day
• August 12th, 2012
• Food For Thought

First Reading: 1 Kngs. 19:4-8

Psalm: Ps. 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

SecondReading: Eph. 4:30-5:2

Gospel: Jn. 6:41-51

Today, Jesus attempts to link the Old Testament event of the feeding of the manna to the Israelites to his ego eimi or the “I am” sayings, that is, his being the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

As we all know, bread is something that is considered as staple for many cultures unlike in thePhilippinesandAsiawhere we tend to eat more of rice. But more than the physiological satisfaction that bread or rice gives us, it is good to ask: what do we feed ourselves for nourishment?

Nowadays, we hear of various ways by which we somehow pamper ourselves. We cannot seem to be contented with how things are. For those with curly hair, they want it to be straightened and vice-versa. Those who have darker skin they like to look fairer. Those who are excessively overweight go to health clubs so that they might trim down.

While some of what has been mentioned is commendable, it is good to ask whether we are able to do something to enhance the other aspects of our lives. Do we do something for our emotional and spiritual dimensions, which Jesus is likewise concerned? What have we done to nourish our relationship with Jesus? Do we make time for prayer? Or is prayer something we remember only when we have problems or are in need of help from Jesus?

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin was the former archbishop ofChicago,Illinois,USA. One of his most practical advices was that we should pray when we are still healthy because when the time comes that we are sick, it would be very difficult to focus our attention to God. He arrived at this conclusion because he himself experienced getting seriously sick, that is, his encounter with cancer. Isn’t this true? Just a simple running nose, headache and toothache make us easily distracted. What more for illnesses and diseases where pain can be so much that we feel so helpless as it cannot be sufficiently managed. During those times, it is easy to neglect the presence of Jesus as we are so enmeshed in our suffering.

But, in ways that we cannot fully comprehend, Jesus continues to offer himself to us. In our desperation, we are able to suddenly remember to call on him, whose availability and love are without question. These then are the moments that Jesus becomes truly the bread of life because from hopelessness, we become hopeful. From lack of meaning in life, we find reason to move on. We find that even in moments of weakness and insignificance, Jesus continues to sustain us and make us feel special. These, in the end, would only be experienced with the eyes of faith. Just as Jesus has become the bread of life to us, we are likewise invited to be bread too for others.

“I am the bread of life”, Jesus claims. It was a truly a difficult moment for the Jews for they were supposedly very familiar with Jesus’ background. They simply found him too much, too overwhelming. We too can find such a claim difficult to believe. But with constant reflection, openness of heart and mind, as well as faith, such a profound truth may be perceived and accepted.

Today, let us pray that we may experience true nourishment in our hearts, mind and body. May we grow in deeper relationship with him, who manifests in finding meaning in life. May we look forward to reaching the eternal life as he promised.

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Sunday, August 12, 2012 >>

19th Sunday Ordinary Time Saint of the Day

1 Kings 19:4-8
Ephesians 4:30—5:2
View Readings

Psalm 34:2-9
John 6:41-51

THE DEPRESSION DIET

"This is the Bread that comes down from heaven for a man to eat and never die." —John 6:50

 

Even the mighty Elijah became depressed. He went into the desert, cut himself off from others (1 Kgs 19:4), prayed for death, and fell asleep (1 Kgs 19:4-5). However, the Lord rescued Elijah from depression by sending an angel, who ordered Elijah to get up and eat (1 Kgs 19:5).

God's solution to depression is for us to eat. Most people do this, but in the wrong way. The world is full of depressed people who eat to make themselves feel better. However, the Lord did not command Elijah just to eat but rather to eat what He gave him through the angel. If we eat the food of the world, our depression will only worsen, and we will even lose our appetite for the goodness of the Lord (see Ps 34:9). We will become spiritually anorexic. What we must do daily, and especially in difficult times, is to eat the spiritual food of Jesus Himself in His Word (see Mt 4:4) and in the Eucharist.

Jesus promises: "I Myself am the Living Bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this Bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world" (Jn 6:51).

Eat, drink, and be Christian, for we will never die.

 

Prayer: Father, may I not fall into spiritual anorexia.

Promise: "Do nothing to sadden the Holy Spirit with Whom you were sealed against the day of redemption." —Eph 4:30

Praise: Praise You, risen Jesus! You are "the Resurrection and the Life" (Jn 11:25). Alleluia!