August, 2018

The Holy Father's Prayer Intention

Universal – The Treasure of Families, That any far-reaching decisions of economists and politicians may protect the family as one of the treasures of humanity.

'I fear that Last Day, that day of tribulation and anguish, of calamity and misery, of mist and darkness, that Day on which, if the just have reason to fear, how much more should I: an impious, wretched, and ungrateful sinner!'

St. Sebastian Valfre

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.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3679054/posts

Saints of the Day — Saints Pontian and Hippolytus

St. Pontian, Pope & Martyr and St. Hippolytus, Priest & Martyr

Information: St. Pontian

Feast Day: August 13

Information: St. Hippolytus Feast Day: August 13

Died: 236, Sardinia

Patron of: horses; prison guards; prison officers; prison workers

Information: St. John Berchmans

Feast Day: August 13

Born: 13 March 1599 at Driest, Brabant, Belgium

Died: 12 August 1621 at Rome, Italy

Canonized: 1888 by Pope Leo XIII

Major Shrine: Sant'Ignazio Patron of: altar boys, Oblate novices, young people

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus

Feast Day: August 13
Born: (about) 160 :: Died: (about) 236

St. Pontian was made Pope on July 21, 230 after the death of Pope Urban I. Then in 235 a man named Maximinus became the emperor of Rome.

Almost immediately, he began to punish the Christians and make them suffer. One of the common punishments of bishops and priests was to send them into exile to the dangerous and unhealthy mine fields of Sardinia, in Italy.

Emperor Maximinus immediately sent Pope Pontian to suffer in Sardinia.

The other saint on today's calendar is St. Hippolytus. He was a priest and a scholar in the Church of Rome. He wrote many excellent books on theology and was a great teacher.

Hippolytus had become angry with Pope St. Zephyrinus, who had been martyred in the year 217. Hippolytus felt that the pope had not been quick enough to stop people who were going about with false teachings.

When Pope Zephyrinus' died St. Callistus I became pope and this made Hippolytus even angrier.

Hippolytus himself had many followers, who wanted him to become pope. So he decided to form his own church and became a false pope.

When Emperor Maximinus found a second Pope, he arrested Hippolytus and also sent him away to Sardinia. There in that sad environment, while the enemies of Christianity laughed, a miracle of healing took place.

Pope Pontian and Hippolytus met in exile. Hippolytus was touched when he saw how humble the Pope was. He asked God for forgiveness and asked Pontian to let him return to the Catholic Church.

Pope Pontian gladly welcomed him back and Hippolytus found that the anger had lifted from his heart. Pope Pontian understood the priest and loved him. He realized their need to help and encourage each other in their love for Jesus.

Both became martyrs who died for Jesus and they have become strong witnesses of forgiveness and Christian hope.

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Monday, August 13

Liturgical Color: Green

Today the Church honors St. John
Berchmans. St. John was a Jesuit
priest known for his holiness and
sought out as a confessor. He died in
1621 when only 22 years old, and has
become the patron saint of altar
servers.

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: August 13th

Optional Memorial of Saints Pontian, pope and martyr and Hippolytus, priest and martyr

MASS READINGS

August 13, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

May the precious long-suffering of the just, O Lord, we pray, bring us a great increase of love for you and always prompt in our hearts constancy in the holy faith. 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.

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.

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Old Calendar: Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, martyrs; St. Radegund, queen (Hist)

St. Pontian (Pontianus) was a victim of the persecution of Alexander Severus, who directed his attention particularly against the leaders of the Church. St. Pontian governed the Church from 230 to 235. He was exiled to the mines of Sardinia and died in exile. St. Hippoytus, a priest and a person of some importance in the Church in Rome at the beginning of the third century, provoked a schism which lasted for some years. He was exiled to Sardinia with St. Pontian, where he was reconciled with the Church and died for the faith in 235.

Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar today was also the feast of St. Cassian of Immola, a martyr of the neighborhood of Bologna. According to his biography he was a schoolmaster and was delivered with his hands tied behind his back to his young pupils, who stabbed him to death. In the bishop's chapel at Ravenna there is a mosaic of St. Cassian that dates from the fifth century.

Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus
As kind as Severus might have been to the Christians, his successor Maximus Thrax persecuted them. Although Maximus was not a religious man himself, he despised Severus and intended to reverse any attitude to which Severus might have been disposed. He therefore decreed that leaders of the Church be singled out and banished to the labor mines of Sardinia, the famous "Island of Death."

Pontian, a Roman and son of Calpurnius, had enjoyed a peaceful reign over the Roman Church during Severus' time, but soon found himself among the first victims of this new emperor. Rounded up with the antipope Hippolytus, Pontian was deported to the labor mines. Since deportation was a life sentence which few survived, Pontian felt obligated to abdicate so that a successor might quickly preside over the Holy See. He is the first pope known to have abdicated.

While imprisoned, Hippolytus reconciled his differences with Pontian and even ordered his followers to bring themselves back to the Church. Before he succumbed to the harsh treatment of the mines, Hippolytus became a true confessor of Christ.

Pontian, in the mines only two months, was brutally beaten to death by his jailers. His body, with that of Hippolytus, was returned to Rome approximately a year later, during the pontificate of Fabian. He was buried in the cemetery of Calixtus and was rightfully honored by the Church as a martyr.

Excerpted from The Popes: A Papal History, J.V. Bartlett

Patron: Hippolytus: Horses; prison guards; prison officers; prison workers.

Symbols: Hippolytus: Armour; bunch of large kesy' spear; tails of wild horses; lance; iron hook; horses.

St. Cassian
St. Cassian was a schoolmaster at Imola in northeast Italy. He died a martyr during the Roman persecutions under Diocletian, probably in the third century.

Cassian had apparently been a schoolteacher for some time. Then a widespread persecution of Christians commenced. Roman officials arrested him because he was known, or at least suspected, to be a Christian. He was taken before the governor, and the governor demanded, as usual, that he offer sacrifice to the gods. Naturally, Cassian refused to perform this act of apostasy, so he was condemned to death.

Now, the Romans had many set types of execution to choose from, but sometimes they invented others. Knowing that Cassian was a schoolmaster, the governor decided that it would be a clever novelty to have him stabbed to death by his own pupils!

The schoolmaster was therefore stretched out on the ground and fixed down securely. Then Cassian's former students were brought in. They had not particularly liked their teacher because he had been strict with them. Given the signal, therefore, they set about with a fiendish joy to torment him. They broke their wooden writing tablets over his head, carved their initials carefully on his flesh, and finally stabbed him all over with their pens. Cassian meanwhile accepted their blows with much patience and no malice. He died bloodied with a thousand little wounds.

— Excerpted from Father Robert F. McNamara, Saints Alive

St. Radegund
St. Radegund's father was a king; when he was conquered by King Theodoric of Austrasia and King Clotaire I of Neustria, Radegund was taken captive at the age of twelve by Clotaire, son of Clovis, the first Christian King of the Franks. She lived at Athies until she was 18, when Clotaire brought her to Vitry and married her. Clotaire was "a man of shocking character." As queen, Radegund spent her time doing charitable work with the poor and the captives. She ministered to lepers and founded a hospital for them. Radegund had been married to Clotaire for six years when he killed her brother. Unable to bear his cruelties any longer, she became a nun, with his permission. Radegund had a double monastery built in Poitiers called Holy Cross. When Clotaire decided to bring her back to court, St. Germanus interceded on her behalf, and the repentant Clotaire sent Germanus back to Radeund to ask her forgiveness and prayers. After her death, Radegund's face shone "with a brightness surpassing the beauty of lilies and roses."

—Excerpted from 2009 Saints Calendar

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 17:22-27

Saints Pontian, Pope, and Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs (Optional Memorial)

Take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin. (Matthew 17:27)

Wouldn’t we all like to find the money for our taxes in the mouth of a fish! Jesus certainly surprised Peter with this unconventional tax plan. How easy it would be if Jesus stood beside us all day, visibly present and explaining how to meet every challenge that came along. How to appease the tax collector would be just the start!

The truth is, Jesus loves to share his thoughts. He is always speaking to us. Or to put it in a more immediate personal way, he is always speaking to you.

Sometimes Jesus speaks matter-of-factly about practical needs. He offered Peter a simple concrete (unusual) way to solve a problem. He can do that for you too. Try to lean into his presence and listen at different points during your day. Perhaps an idea will pop into your thoughts as you ask about an issue or need. Or maybe a friend will give you a suggestion that seems just right. Jesus might be speaking to you through him or her!

Other times, Jesus speaks in more mystical ways, as he spoke to Ezekiel in today’s first reading. Ezekiel recognized that God was speaking to him in the violent winds, the flashing fire, the flapping wings, and the roaring waters—even if he wasn’t exactly sure of what the message was. It’s like that sometimes, almost like learning a foreign language. God occasionally does speak through dreams, visions, and even talking donkeys (Numbers 22:22-35)!

More often than not, God speaks in more commonplace ways. He may make a line from Scripture strike a chord in your heart. A homily at Mass may seem to have been written exactly to help you. Or a conversation gives you direction, encouragement, or wisdom when you need it most and expect it least.

God can use anything. He is speaking always, everywhere. Little by little you can learn to hear his voice. Then, with practice, you will grow in understanding what God is saying and how he wants you to respond.

“Father, you know my needs and desires. Open my ears today to hear what you are saying to me!”

Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28
Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14

Daily Gospel Commentary

Saint Ambrose (c.340-397)
Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Letter to Orontian, 35.4 to 6, 13 ; PL 16, 1078 (trans. breviary 5th Wednesday)

"Then the subjects are exempt"

The apostle Paul says that creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God (Rm 8:19). This creation is now subjected to futility not by its own will but in hope, because it takes hope in Christ… Because creation will be liberated from the slavery of corruption to be taken up into the liberty of the sons of God, so that when the future glory is revealed there will be but one liberty for both creation and the sons of God. But now, in truth, whilst this revelation is in daily expectation, the whole creation groans as it awaits the glory of our adoption and redemption…

The meaning is plain enough: they who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan in expectation of their adoption as sons (v.9f). Now, that adoption is the redemption of a whole body. That will come about when he sees face to face, as an adopted son of God, the divine and eternal goodness. Even so is the adoption of sons in the Church of the Lord, when the Spirit cries out, “Abba! Father!” (v.15). But that redemption will be perfect when all who are graced to see the face of God rise again in incorruptibility, honour and glory. Then indeed human nature will judge that it is redeemed. That is why the Apostle Paul makes his boast when he says, “In this hope we are saved” (v.24). Hope saves, as also does faith, of which it is said: “Your faith has saved you” (Mk 5:34).

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for August 13, 2018:

One version of the marriage vows states, “to have and to hold from this day forward.” Pay attention to that little word, “hold,” today. When times are tough or emotions raw, sometimes firmly and lovingly holding each other is the best comfort.

Homily of the Day

August 13, 2018

The reading today states the truth that Jesus is indeed God and Man. Taking the form of man, our Lord abides with what they ask of him.

He talks about he, being “delivered to human hands” and to be killed by them. He (the man that he was), although he submits, continues to say that he would rise again (the God he is).

He shows obedience to man’s law by paying his taxes even if he finds something wrong in the system. He takes note of the fact that the sons of the kings of the earth do not pay taxes.

Jesus points out that even he, who is God abides by the law of man regardless, if the head is dishonest or not. If we consider ourselves followers of Jesus, will we do the same? Many of us complain about our government taxes but in the end we will have to ask ourselves, is it abiding by the law of our country to pay these? If we say yes, then so be it.

We may question the fairness in this case but this is the teaching of Jesus and an example he has set. To understand further let us look into the following Scripture text: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks to God at every moment. This is the will of God, your vocation as Christians.” (1 Thes 5:16-18)

Regnum Christi

August 13, 2018 – Death and Taxes

Matthew 17:22-27

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord God, I believe in your presence here with me as I begin this moment of prayer. I hope in you. I know that you will always take care of me. I want this time with you to be a sign of my love for you. I seek only to please you, without desiring any spiritual consolation for myself.

Petition: Lord, help me to acknowledge your greatness with my words and actions.

No Tax Loopholes, Not Even for Jesus: Jesus draws from Peter the admission that collectors of the Temple Tax did not consider him the Son of God, and that they did not consider the Temple the house of his Father. They therefore thought he was subject to the tax. In effect, by obliging him to pay the tax they implied that they considered him a subject or a foreigner. Joined with Jesus’ prediction of his Passion, the scene harkens back to the line from the opening of John’s Gospel, “He was in the world and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11). How this must have broken the heart of Christ to find himself unwelcome among those he came to save. And how often we leave Christ alone in our churches and chapels, with no one to visit him or acknowledge his presence there.

A Place Where Christ Is Welcome: What does it mean for us to welcome Christ into our life? It must be more than a warm emotion. Rather it must be opening ourselves to the presence of him who comes to make his home among us and share our lives. We have a God who is so close to us and wants a relationship with us. He wants our time and our attention. Welcoming Christ into our life means recognizing him not as a foreigner who comes from afar to impose himself, but as our personal Lord — as our master, and our savior. It is his will that must rule in our life and direct our behavior. We must acknowledge that only he has the word of life and we must turn our lives to him in loving obedience. The fruit of this will be interior peace and profound joy.

A Society Without Christ Is Empty and Confused: Today we see how frequently Christ is refused entry into the world, and how frequently he is marginalized by so many of those who have great influence in society and in our culture. He is deliberately excluded from the world of politics, from the world of science, the arts, of business, law, and medicine. Often, he is treated in the media only when it chooses to ridicule him. As followers of Christ, we must bring him and his word of life back into every sphere of human activity, for a world without Christ is a world that knows neither its origin nor its destiny and will turn against man himself.

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, give me courage to make your presence felt in the world around me. Let me not be afraid to show that my faith in you is the center of my life and gives meaning to all I do. Let me give witness of the joy I experience in living by your law in my life.

Resolution: I will find time to spend with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament today or find a way to give witness to Christ in the midst of my daily occupations, manifesting my faith publicly.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 5

<< Monday, August 13, 2018 >>

Pope St. Pontian
St. Hippolytus

Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28
View Readings

Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14

Matthew 17:22-27
Similar Reflections

"IT COMES AS NO SURPRISE"

"Then Jesus on entering the house asked, without giving him time to speak: 'What is your opinion, Simon?' " �Matthew 17:25

It was no surprise, except to Peter, that Peter denied Christ three times shortly before Jesus was crucified. Peter had indicated the shallowness of his relationship with the Lord when he:

failed to recognize the implications of his profession of faith in Jesus, the Messiah and "the Son of the living God" (cf Mt 16:16 and Mt 17:4, 24ff),
denied that Jesus would have to suffer (Mt 16:22),
did not judge "by God's standards but by man's" (Mt 16:23), and
lacked the faith to free a boy from demonic possession (Mt 17:16ff).

When the mass apostasy occurs at the end of the world (2 Thes 2:3), if we suffer severe temptations before our deaths, or if we face being martyred, will we accept God's grace and rise to the occasion, or will we sin, compromise, and be manipulated into denying Christ? Right now, we are showing signs of faithfulness or unfaithfulness. It probably shouldn't be a surprise what we will do when the pressure's on. What does the depth of your faith in the present say about the strength of your commitment to Jesus in the future?

Prayer: Father, send the Holy Spirit to confirm and deepen my love for You.

Promise: "Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day was the splendor that surrounded Him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." —Ez 1:28

Praise: Pope St. Pontian remained faithful to the Lord and the Church through exile and eventual martyrdom. He forgave St. Hippolytus, a rival anti-pope who dedicated himself to discrediting Pontian. Hippolytus humbled himself and wrote his followers to support Pontian, the true pope.

Are YOUR taxes paying to abort babies?