Posted on 05/22/2019 8:48:57 PM PDT by Salvation
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Thursday, May 23
Liturgical Color: White
Today the Church honors St. Ivo of Chartres.
He was a counselor to King Philip I of France
whom he criticized for divorcing and then
remarrying. For this he was imprisoned
for several years.
Easter: May 23rd
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
MASS READINGS
May 23, 2019 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
O God, by whose grace, though sinners, we are made just and, though pitiable, made blessed, stand, we pray, by your works, stand by your gifts, that those justified by faith may not lack the courage of perseverance. 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.
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Old Calendar: St. Julia of Corsica, virgin &martyr (Hist); St. John Baptist de Rossi, priest (Hist)
Historically today is the feast of St. Julia of Corsica, also known as Saint Julia of Carthage, and more rarely Saint Julia of Nonza, was a virgin martyr. The date of her death is most probably on or after AD 439. She, along with Saint Devota, are the patron saints of Corsica. Saint Julia was declared a patroness of Corsica by the Church on August 5, 1809; Saint Devota, on March 14, 1820. Both were martyred in pre-Christian Corsica under Roman rule.
It is also historically the feast of St. John Baptist de Rossi who was from Genoa, and studied and worked in Rome before becoming a priest there and a canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. He worked tirelessly for homeless women, the sick, prisoners and workers, and was a very popular confessor, being called a second Philip Neri.
St. Julia of Corsica
St. Julia was a noble virgin of Carthage, who, when the city was taken by Genseric in 489, was sold for a slave to a pagan merchant of Syria named Eusebius. Under the most mortifying employments of her station, by cheerfulness and patience she found a happiness and comfort which the world could not have afforded.
All the time she was not employed in her master’s business was devoted to prayer and reading books of piety. Her master, who was charmed with her fidelity and other virtues, carried her with him on one of his voyages to Gaul. Having reached the northern part of Corsica, he cast anchor, and went on shore to join the pagans of the place in an idolatrous festival. Julia was left at some distance, because she would not be defiled by the superstitious ceremonies which she openly reviled.
Felix, the governor of the island, who was a bigoted pagan, asked who this woman was who dared to insult the gods. Eusebius informed him that she was a Christian, and that all his authority over her was too weak to prevail with her to renounce her religion, but that he found her so diligent and faithful he could not part with her. The governor offered him four of his best female slaves in exchange for her. But the merchant replied, “No; all you are worth will not purchase her; for I would freely lose the most valuable thing I have in the world rather than be deprived of her.” However, the governor, while Eusebius was drunk and asleep, took upon him to compel her to sacrifice to his gods. He offered to procure her liberty if she would comply. The Saint made answer that she was as free as she desired to be as long as she was allowed to serve Jesus Christ. Felix, thinking himself derided by her undaunted and resolute air, in a transport of rage caused her to be struck on the face, and the hair of head to be torn off, and lastly, ordered her to be hanged on a cross till she expired. Certain monks of the isle of Gorgon carried off her body; but in 768 Desiderius, King Of Lombardy, removed her relics to Breseia, where her memory is celebrated with great devotion.
St. Julia, whether free or a slave, whether in prosperity or in adversity, was equally fervent and devout. She adored all the sweet designs of Providence; and far from complaining, she never ceased to praise and thank God under all his holy appointments, making them always the means of her virtue and sanctification. God, by an admirable chain of events, raised her by her fidelity to the honour of the saints, and to the dignity of a virgin and martyr.
Excerpted from Butler’s Lives of the Saints
Things to Do:
Visit this website for pictures and information about St. Julia.
St. John Baptist de Rossi
St. John was born at Voltaggio in the Diocese of Genoa on February 22, 1698 and died at Rome on May 23, 1764. His parents, Charles de Rossi and Frances Anfossi, were not rich in earthly goods, but had solid piety and the esteem of their fellow-citizens. Of their four children, John excelled in gentleness and piety. At the age of ten he was taken to Genoa by friends for his education. There he received news of the death of his father.
After three years he was called to Rome by a relative, Lorenzo de Rossi, who was canon at St. Mary in Cosmedin. He pursued his studies at the Collegium Romanum under the direction of the Jesuits, and soon became a model by his talents, application to study, and virtue. As a member of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin and of the Ristretto of the Twelve Apostles established at the college, he led the members in the meetings and pious exercises, in visits to the sick in the hospitals and in other works of mercy, and merited even then the name of apostle.
At the age of sixteen he entered the clerical state. Owing to indiscreet practices of mortification he contracted spells of epilepsy, notwithstanding which he made his course of scholastic philosophy and theology, in the college of the Dominicans, and, with dispensation, was ordained priest on 8 March, 1721. Having reached the desired goal, he bound himself by vow to accept no ecclesiastical benefice unless commanded by obedience. He fulfilled the duties of the sacred ministry by devoting himself to the laborers, herds, and teamsters of the Campagna, preaching to them early in the morning, or late in the evening, at the old Forum Romanum (Campo Vaccino), and by visiting, instructing, and assisting the poor at the hospital of St. Galla. In 1731 he established near St. Galla another hospital as a home of refuge for the unfortunates who wander the city by night (”Rom. Brev.”, tr. Bute, Summer, 573).
In 1735 he became titular canon at St. Mary in Cosmedin, and, on the death of Lorenzo two years later, obedience forced him to accept the canonry. The house belonging to it, however, he would not use, but employed the rent for good purposes.
For a number of years John was afraid, on account of his sickness, to enter the confessional, and it was his custom to send to other priests the sinners whom he had brought to repentance by his instructions and sermons. In 1738 a dangerous sickness befell him, and to regain his health he went to Cività Castellana, a day’s journey from Rome. The bishop of the place induced him to hear confessions, and after reviewing his moral theology he received the unusual faculty of hearing confessions in any of the churches of Rome. He showed extraordinary zeal in the exercise of this privilege and spent many hours every day in hearing the confessions of the illiterate and the poor whom he sought in the hospitals and in their homes. He preached to such five and six times a day in churches, chapels, convents, hospitals, barracks, and prison cells, so that he became the apostle of the abandoned, a second Philip Neri, a hunter of souls.
In 1763, worn out by such labors and continued ill-health, his strength began to ebb away, and after several attacks of paralysis he died at his quarters in Trinità de’ Pellegrini. He was buried in that church under a marble slab at the altar of the Blessed Virgin. God honoured his servant by miracles, and only seventeen years after his death the process of beatification was begun, but the troubled state of Europe during the succeeding years prevented progress in the cause until it was resumed by Pius IX, who on 13 May, 1860, solemnly pronounced his beatification. As new signs still distinguished him, Leo XIII, on 8 December, 1881, enrolled him among the saints.
Excerpted from The Catholic Encyclopedia
Patron: of the abandoned
Things to Do:
Read the life of St. John Baptist de Rossi free at Google Books
For #23
Meditation: John 15:9-11
5th Week of Easter
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. (John 15:10)
Lots of people would pay a fortune for the secret to the complete joy that Jesus promises in today’s Gospel reading. Shelves and shelves of self-help books in shops around the world are living proof of that. So too are the countless lifestyle gurus whose seminars consistently sell out. It’s a good thing that Jesus gives it away for free!
You will have joy that is “complete,” Jesus promises, if you remain in his love (John 15:11). And just how do you do that? “Keep my commandments . . . just as I have kept my Father’s commandments” (15:10).
So there is a catch after all! Obedience is such a chore.
Well, not really. Instinctively, we all sense that we’re happy when we’re doing what God wants—even when it’s difficult. If nothing else, we know this from how we feel when we aren’t doing his will. Cardinal John Henry Newman made this point in one of his sermons:
Can’t you recall, at some time or other, having done something you knew to be wrong? Don’t you remember what a piercing bitter feeling came on you afterwards? Isn’t the feeling of a bad conscience more distressing than any other?
Why is it so distressing? Because God created us to be happy by abiding in him. So when we choose our way over his, we are going against our very nature. We are disrupting the flow of love that sustains us and gives us such joy.
The truth is, obedience to God is the exact opposite of wearisome duty. It’s the golden key that unlocks room after room of spiritual treasures. Every saint knew this. Even when obedience was painful and costly, the saints tried to hold fast to God’s will. They knew it would open the way to the deepest longing of the human heart—to be with Jesus. They knew what Cardinal Newman knew: that living like this isn’t burdensome. Instead, as Cardinal Newman tells us, it brings “indescribable joy and gladness.”
What does obedience mean for you? Does your golden key need a little dusting off?
“Jesus, help me to walk through this day with the key of obedience in my hand so that I can open the doors of holiness and intimacy with you.”
Acts 15:7-21
Psalm 96:1-3, 10
“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you”
Saint Francis maintained: “My best defense against all the plots and tricks of the enemy is still the spirit of joy. The devil is never so happy as when he has succeeded in robbing one of God’s servants of the joy in his or her soul. The devil always has some dust on hold that he blows into someone’s conscience through a small basement window so as to make opaque what is pure. But in a heart that is filled with joy, he tries in vain to introduce his deadly poison. The demons can do nothing against a servant of Christ whom they find filled with holy gladness; whereas a dejected, morose and depressed soul easily lets itself be submerged in sorrow or captured by false pleasures.”
That is why he himself always tried to keep his heart joyful, to preserve that oil of gladness with which his soul had been anointed (Ps 45:7). He took great care to avoid sorrow, the worst of illnesses, and when he felt that it was beginning to infiltrate his soul, he immediately had recourse to prayer. He said: “At the first sign of trouble, the servant of God must get up, begin to pray, and remain before the Father until the latter has caused him or her to retrieve the joy of the person who is saved.” (Ps 51:12)…
I sometimes saw Francis with my own eyes picking up a piece of wood from the ground, placing it on his left arm, and scraping it with a straight stick as if he were moving a bow on a violin. In this way, he mimed an accompaniment to the praises he was singing to the Lord in French.
Daily Marriage Tip for May 23, 2019:
In the midst of an argument, reach out to your spouse. Physical touch can’t fix everything, but it can alleviate tension.
May 23, 2019 – My Love for the Church
23 May 2019
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Father Patrick Langan, LC
John 15: 9-11
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for granting me the opportunity to be with you. There are things in life, Lord, that attract me, but you attract me more. I hope in you, and I love you. Maybe I don’t really understand what it means to love, and maybe I don’t love the way I should, but I do love you.
Petition: Lord, increase my love and appreciation for the Church and her leaders.
Christ and His Church: When Christ says, “Keep my commandments and remain in my love,” he is talking not only about the Ten Commandments but also about the Church. What is the Church? It is Christ’s extension through time. We cannot say, “Christ, yes; the Church, no,” because the Church is the mystical body of Christ; the two are inseparable as head and body. The Church, through its sacraments and its solid teachings, makes Christ present for me now, today. It is through this Church that I received the gift of faith. I want to remain in Christ. I want to remain enthusiastically in his Church.
God’s Chosen Ministers: You chose the Apostles to continue your work of redemption throughout the ages. Therefore, Lord, I want to love your priests and your bishops. I know how hard their job is. I see their perseverance. The Eucharist is available all over the world because of the fidelity of priests. Thank you for bishops and priests. Thank you for our parish. I want to support the parish with joy; giving of my time and my financial sacrifices.
The Pope: Lord, I want to love the Holy Father. He is the rock on which you chose to build your Church. Because he has kept the straight path, the world recognizes his moral authority. Lord, I want to learn more about what he is saying. Today with the Internet, it is so easy. It just takes a little interest and a little time. This is one way I can remain in your love. Thus, my joy will be complete.
Conversation with Christ: When you came, Lord, you wanted to heal us through the sacraments, and you set up the Church to administer them. Because you are present in your Church, it has lasted two thousand years. Thank you for giving us this instrument of salvation.
Resolution: I will read something Pope Francis has written. Much can be found on the Vatican website.
Homily of the Day
May 23, 2019
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
To remain in God’s love is a twofold process: we are his beloved, and we are called to love others as he loves us.
It is crucial that we make an effort to remain in his love. When we are in union with Jesus, all our thoughts, emotions, intentions and actions are directed to him. His love is there, giving us the source of strength we need as we sustain and build relationships with those around us — family, friends, colleagues at work, our community. In psychological developmental stages, there is a stage of crisis between intimacy and isolation. Jesus’ call to love is manifest when we are able to nurture healthy, loving relationships. When we are able to draw others (and sometimes even ourselves) out of isolation, out of our loneliness — we see the power of Jesus’ love at work.
Oftentimes we have a lot of requirements when it comes to accepting
God’s love for us and sharing it with others. We would rather stay within the comfort zone of doing the minimum requirements as followers of Christ — loving only when it is easy and convenient to do so. But God’s love cannot be contained within the parameters we set around it — his love calls us to complete obedience to his will. The obedience that Jesus asks of us is not obedience to worldly rules, but to the Father who is pure, total love. Obedience means following his commandment to love others with our whole heart, mind, soul and self. A love that brings out the best in people, for God’s love is perfect.
With Jesus dwelling in us, we, too, must dwell in him. Dwelling in Jesus means that we are steadfast in our promise to walk with him, to journey with him. When we dwell in his love, there is no room for selfishness and pride, but there are wide-open spaces where faith, happiness, harmony, goodness, truth and grace can reside. Our union with him is intimate — we are embraced in his loving arms, we are invited to dance with him, to share in his joy for which we were created and which brings the deepest fulfillment to our lives. “To live in Jesus” is to live in Jesus’ love.
One Bread, One Body
Language: English | Español
All Issues > Volume 35, Issue 3
<< Thursday, May 23, 2019 >>
Acts 15:7-21
View Readings
Psalm 96:1-3, 10
John 15:9-11
Similar Reflections
“WHAT WONDROUS LOVE IS THIS”
“As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.” —John 15:9
The love of the Father for the Son Jesus is immensely powerful. God’s love for Jesus is explosive, powerful, creative, healing, regenerative, wild, unmeasurable, and beyond human control. Furthermore, Jesus loves each of us with that same love; He loves us “as the Father has loved” Him (Jn 15:9). If we truly experienced and realized how fully God loves us, we would be gloriously transformed. “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29).
God’s love has unfathomable power, like an avalanche that sweeps up all in its path and carries it all along. God, in His wondrous mercy, humbles Himself so that we might have the possibility to relate to His love. How else could we explain that the love of God, powerful enough to create a universe, could be contained in a small wafer of bread, the Holy Eucharist?
Receive His love. “Live in His love” (Jn 15:10).
Prayer: Father, may we come to “grasp fully...the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience this love” (Eph 3:18-19). Empower us to love those in our life with Your all-consuming love.
Promise: “All this I tell you that My joy may be yours and your joy may be complete.” —Jn 15:11
Praise: Sheila is rendered speechless when before the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration.
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