Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-16-18, OM, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Gertrude, Virgin

USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 11-16-18 | Revised New American Bible

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'It is a certain, well established fact that no other crime so seriously offends God and provokes His greatest wrath as the vice of heresy. Nothing contributes more to the down fall of provinces and kingdoms than this frightful pest.'

St. Charles Borromeo

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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).

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3706508/posts

Saint of the Day — Saint Margaret of Scotland

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Our Anglican Roots: St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland
St Margaret of Scotland

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On St. Gertrude
SAINT GERTRUDE Abbess of Eisleben (1264-1334) SAINT EDMUND Archbishop of Canterbury (†1240)
During Month of Souls, Recall Mystic, St. Gerturde the Great
Saint Gertrude The Great

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CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Friday, November 16

Liturgical Color: Green

Today is the optional memorial of St. Gertrude the
Great, virgin. Beginning in 1282, St. Gertrude
experienced visions of Jesus encouraging her to
write prayers and spread devotion to the Sacred
Heart. She is the patron of nuns and travelers.

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Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: November 16th

Optional Memorials of St. Margaret of Scotland; St. Gertrude, virgin

MASS READINGS

November 16, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who made Saint Margaret of Scotland wonderful in her outstanding charity towards the poor, grant that through her intercession and example we may reflect among all humanity the image of your divine goodness. 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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O God, who prepared a delightful dwelling for yourself in the heart of the Virgin Saint Gertrude, graciously bring light, through her intercession, to the darkness of our hearts, that we may joyfully experience you present and at work within us. 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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Almighty and merciful God, graciously keep from us all adversity, so that, unhindered in mind and body alike, we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are yours. 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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Recipes (6)

• 'Braveheart' Cock-A-Leekie Soup
• Crown Cake
• Genoise Book Cake
• Heart Cake (cut-up)
• Nun's Lemon Layer Cake
• Scottish Oat Scones

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Activities (3)

• What is a Nameday?
• Nameday Ideas for the Feast of St. Gertrude the Great
• Nameday Ideas for the Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland

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Prayers (7)

• Consecration to the Sacred Heart
• Married Couple's Prayer to the Sacred Heart
• Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Home
• Explanation of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart
• Devotion to the Sacred Heart
• Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Litany of St. Gertrude the Great

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Library (1)

• Gertrude: The Only Female Saint to Be Called 'The Great' | Paolo Rossi

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: St. Gertrude; St. Mechtilde (Hist)

St. Margaret (c. 1045-1093) was the great-niece of St. Edward the Confessor. She was a Saxon princess, raised in Hungary in exile. Returning to England, she had to flee once again after the Battle of Hastings, to the court of Malcolm, the King of Scotland, whom she married shortly thereafter. She proved to be a model mother and exemplary queen who brought up her eight children in an atmosphere of great devotion and worked hard to improve the morality of her subjects.

St. Gertrude, a Benedictine nun of the monastery of Helfta, in Saxony, is one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages. She was favored by visions of our Savior and has left a marvelous account of them in a book which she called Revelations. St. Gertrude introduced the devotion to the Sacred Heart which, four centuries later, St. Margaret Mary spread throughout the Church. She died at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, June 10 is the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland.

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St. Margaret of Scotland
She was born in Hungary (1046), where her father was living in exile, and likewise spent her childhood there as an unusually devout and pious girl. In the course of time she went to England, when her father was called to high office in his fatherland by his uncle, King St. Edward III. Fortune, however, soon reversed itself again (Margaret's father died suddenly in 1057), and upon leaving England a mighty storm — or better, divine Providence — brought her to the shores of Scotland. Upon instructions from her mother, Margaret married Malcolm III, king of Scotland, in 1069. The country was blessed by her holy life and by her deeds of charity for the next thirty years. Her eight children she zealously trained in the practice of Christian virtues.

In the midst of royal splendor Margaret chastised her flesh by mortification and vigils and passed the greater part of the night in devout prayer. Her most remarkable virtue was love of neighbor, particularly love toward the poor. Her alms supported countless unfortunates; daily she provided food for three hundred and shared in the work of serving them personally, washing their feet and kissing their wounds.

—Excerpted from the Roman Breviary

Queen Margaret of Scotland is the secondary patroness of Scotland. Margaret's copy of the Gospels is preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

Patron: Death of children; large families; learning; queens; Scotland; widows.

Symbols: Black cross; sceptre and book; hospital.
Often portrayed as: queen, often carrying a black cross, dispensing gifts to the poor.

Things to Do:

• Read more about this wonderful wife and mother: Life of St. Margaret of Scotland, Catholic Encyclopedia entry, and David McRoberts' essay.

• Give special attention to the virtue of charity today by performing some service for the poor, i.e., send alms, buy baby things for a local crisis pregnancy center, take a food donation to a food pantry.

• Offer your support (even if it is just a little morale) to a mother with young children who is trying to raise her children to love God.

• If you are a mother with young children, pray to St. Margaret to help you imitate her zeal in training her children.

• If you are a mother and need a little boost, read Cardinal Mindszenty's book, The Mother.

• Today it might be fun to cook a pot of Scottish soup in honor of St. Margaret who probably cooked many pots of soup herself.

• For nameday celebrations of St. Margaret, a crown cake, denoting her rank would be appropriate; a book cake would recall the love she had for Sacred Scripture. Chocolate "coins" wrapped in gold foil could be distributed to guests in memory of her generosity.

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St. Gertrude
St. Gertrude the Great, a Cistercian nun, is one of the most lovable German saints from medieval times, and through her writings she will remain for all ages a guide to the interior life. She was born in 1256 at Eisleben and at the age of five taken to the convent at Rossdorf, where Gertrude of Hackeborn was abbess. Similarity in name has often occasioned confusion between the two Gertrudes. Our St. Gertrude never functioned as superior.

In spite of much ill-health, Gertrude used her exceptional natural talents well, knew Latin fluently. When she was twenty-five years old (1281), Christ began to appear to her and to disclose to her the secrets of mystical union. Obeying a divine wish, she put into writing the favors of grace bestowed upon her. Her most important work, Legatus Divinae Pietatis, "The Herald of Divine Love," is distinguished for theological profundity, sublime poetry, and unusual clarity. How it stimulates love of God can be felt only by reading it; Abbot Blosius is said to have read it twelve times each year. St. Gertrude died in 1302, more consumed by the fire of God's love than by fever.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Nuns; travellers; West Indies.

Symbols: Crown; lily; taper; seven rings; heart with IHS; heart.

Things to Do:

• Teach your children the Hail Mary in Latin.

• Read The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great.

• Pray the Novena of the Sacred Heart; say the Litany of St. Gertrude.

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St. Mechtilde
Born in the Castle of Helfa, near Eisleben, Saxony, to one of the noblest families of Thuringia, St Mechtilde, at 7, entered the Benedictine Convent at Rodensdorf – where her elder sister, Gertrude Hackeborn was already a nun. Under the tutelage of Gertrude, Mechtilde made rapid strides in virtue and learning. On account of her humility, piety and zeal she was appointed, when still relatively young, to direct the novitiate and the choir and as such she became the first teacher of St Gertrude the Great when the latter was placed in her convent at the age of 15.

Though constantly subject to physical suffering, Mechtilde was ever intent upon joyfully singing the divine praises, and such is the key-note of the Book of Special Grace, in which St Gertrude and another sister-nun secretly (initially) set down the supernatural favors which God granted to Mechtilde.

In his revelations Our Lord used to address her as his “Nightingale”, and he favored her with such spiritual insight and mystical experiences that learned Dominicans were sent to consult her on spiritual matters. Through these Friar Preachers Mechtilde’s book of revelations was widely distributed after her death. Incidentally, the book is structured on the ecclesiastical year; it is liturgical, Trinitarian and Christo-centric. It was, according to Boccaccio, very popular in Florence in Dante’s time under the title of the Lauds of Donna Matilda and devout Florentines used to recite divine praises from the book during devotions at family shrines.

Together with St Gertrude the Great, St Mechtilde is one of the first to have stressed on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “When you awake in the morning, let your first act be to salute my Heart and to offer me your own,” our Lord once urged Mechtilde.

St Mechtilde breathed her last at the Helfta monastery on 19 November c.1298.

Excerpted from Feast of All Saints

Things to Do:

• Prayers of St. Gertrude & St. Mechtilde

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The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 17:26-37

Saint Margaret of Scotland (Optional Memorial)

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. (Luke 17:33)

If you think this Scripture verse sounds familiar, there’s good reason. Jesus says the same thing at least once in every Gospel! But even though it’s familiar, Jesus’ statement is the type of paradox that can be hard to make sense of. What does it mean for me?

To see one way it was lived out “in real life,” let’s look at someone who practiced “losing” his life and ended up “saving” it.

Francis Xavier was an ambitious young man who sought success in the scholarly world. Living in Paris, he had many opportunities to take advantage of all that the world had to offer. But an older student named Ignatius of Loyola saw something special in Francis—something that could be fulfilled only as he let go of the life of scholarly success that he valued so highly. And so Ignatius befriended him and challenged him—patiently but repeatedly—to put God above his worldly ambitions: to “lose his life” instead of seeking to “preserve it.”

Slowly, Francis found his priorities changing. Earthly accomplishments no longer seemed so fulfilling. The idea of doing great things for God started to entice him. After following the Spiritual Exercises with Ignatius, he decided to let go of his earthly ambitions, “lose” his life in this world, and devote himself to God.

The rest, as they say, is history. Francis Xavier spent the rest of his life bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the distant lands of Asia. He is credited with the conversions of countless people, and it’s said that he baptized more than one hundred thousand people before he died at the age of forty-six.

Your experience of losing your life to save it probably won’t look as dramatic as St. Francis Xavier’s. But inwardly, it is every bit as life changing. Every time you put aside your own preference or put someone else first, you are “saving” your life. Each choice to hold your own plans loosely and ask for God’s guidance is a choice to let go of preserving your own way. Little by little, these choices reshape your heart and your will. Step-by-step, your desires start to change. Before you know it, you’ll be doing great things for God!

“Lord, help me to let go of anything that would keep me from following you.”

2 John 4-9
Psalm 119:1-2, 10-11, 17-18

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Daily Gospel Commentary

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (313-350)
Bishop of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church
Catechetical lectures 15, 1 ; PG 33, 870-871

The two comings of Christ

We do not preach only one advent of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the first. For the first gave us a glimpse of his patience; but the second brings with it the crown of a divine kingdom… In his former advent he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger; in his second, “he covers himself with light as with a garment” (Ps 103:2). In his first coming, he endured the cross, despising shame (Heb 12:2); in his second, he comes attended by a host of angels, receiving glory.

Now, then, we do not just rest only on his first advent, but look forward to his second also when, meeting our Master with the angels, we may worship him and say: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mt 21:9). The Savior will come, not to be judged again but to judge those who judged him… He came the first time because of a divine dispensation, teaching people with persuasion; but on that day they will of necessity have him for their King.

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

Daily Marriage Tip for November 16, 2018:

“Taking time to rest is not a waste of time.” (Susan Vogt) Give yourself a break today or tomorrow – from kids, a chore, worries. It doesn’t have to be long to refresh. Take your cue from God, our Creator, who rested on the seventh day.

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Regnum Christi

November 16, 2018 – Living My Encounter with Christ

Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Father Edward Hopkins, LC

Luke 17:26-37

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”

 

Introductory Prayer: I believe in you, Lord, my companion and strength. I believe that you come out to meet me each day, asking me to depend more on you and less on creatures. I hope in you, Lord, as the one who fills my longing to love and be loved. I love you here and now with my prayer and with my desire to be faithful and generous in the little things you ask of me.

Petition: Lord, help me to put you first in my life.

1. They Were Eating and Drinking: In the time of Noah and of Lot, God’s judgment was said to come down upon man. Yet the real moment of judgment for each one of us comes immediately upon our own death. It is then that the kingdom will be fully revealed to us, and it will be decided whether we will be part of it or not. But it is in the course of my own life that my option for being received into the kingdom is decided. God comes to me today. How will I respond? My response now and each day determines my eternal place in the kingdom.

2. Do Not Return to What Was Left Behind: In most disasters people have little chance to collect belongings; those who try are often lost as a result. The same will be true of the Final Judgment – or at our own death; when Jesus comes, will I be ready? What do I most cherish? What I must hold on to is my relationship with Christ. And this implies in so many ways losing “my life” here. Do I live with the attitude of losing my life a little more each day, detaching myself from things, activities and people, so as to be freer to love, serve and be with Christ?

3. Where the Body Is? “Where Lord?” the disciples ask; where will the day of the Son of man take place? It will take place, says Jesus, wherever you are. Whether we die and encounter Christ in a personal judgment or are alive to encounter the Lord at his Second Coming and the Final Judgment, the reality is the same. Standing next to a saint or a sinner will not alter our fate. Who we know or what contacts we have will do little. Where we are in our relationship with Christ will be the only real determining factor. Where am I, Lord, today, in relationship with you? May this be my only concern!

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, increase my desire to live my life in close relation with you. Order all my activities according to your will, and my relationships according to your heart. “I want whatever you want, because you want it, the way you want it, as long as you want it” (Prayer of Pope Clement XI).

Resolution: I will give priority to my relationship with Christ. I will make prayer my first act today before every meal.

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Homily of the Day

November 16, 2018

As we near the end of the Liturgical year, the Liturgy focuses on the essential things – to follow the Lord, as the responsorial psalm says. The Epistle stresses the new commandment: Let us love one another. This is love: to walk according to His Commandments, and this is His Commandment: that we walk in love as we have learned. The emphasis is on following the law of the Lord.

In the Gospel, the Lord’s basic message is that when the Son of Man comes, everything stops, and we had all better be ready. He recalls the time of Noah, when everything seemed normal until the day that Noah entered the Ark and they all died. Also, the Lord reminds us all that even Lot’s wife, who was already headed to safety, should not have tried to look back and hold on to the past. Lastly, the Lord emphasizes that whoever tries to save his life shall lose it, and whoever gives his life will be born again. Whoever gives his life for Jesus will be born again.

Thus there seem to be two special words for today: COMMANDMENT OF LOVE and FOLLOWING THIS COMMANDMENT. These are the essential things that will carry us to the next life, to rebirth, to God’s Presence. Let us all pray for each other to learn the Commandment of Love and to Follow it steadfastly.

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One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Espa�ol

All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 6

<< Friday, November 16, 2018 >>

St. Margaret of Scotland St. Gertrude

2 John 4-9
View Readings

Psalm 119:1-2, 10-11, 17-18

Luke 17:26-37
Similar Reflections

FUTURE NOW

"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate and drank, they took husbands and wives, right up to the day Noah entered the ark � and when the flood came, it destroyed them all." �Luke 17:26-27

At the end of the world, many people will not be prepared. This has also been the case with Noah's flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and other catastrophes. Thus, to be prepared for the future, we must be prepared in the present for anything.

Are you ready for the end of the world and Jesus' final coming now? Are you ready to die now? Are you ready to be martyred for Jesus now? If we're not ready to die now, then we're not ready to live the abundant life in Christ.

To be ready for anything now, we must be living in and for Jesus alone. Jesus is our only Hope, and the only Hope we need. Jesus is the Lord of the past, the present, and the future (see Heb 13:8). Jesus is the only name "in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12). Without Jesus, we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). In Jesus, nothing is impossible (Lk 1:37). Jesus is God, Who "is Love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 Jn 4:16). "There is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rm 8:1). When Jesus is our Life (see Jn 14:6; 11:25), we have eternal life. In Jesus, we will escape the wrath to come (1 Thes 1:10), for the Lord has plans for our welfare, not for woe � plans to give us a future full of hope (Jer 29:11). Give your life totally to Jesus now. Then look forward in joy to the future.

Prayer: Father, make all who read this holy in every aspect of their conduct (1 Pt 1:15).

Promise: "Look out that you yourselves do not lose what you have worked for; you must receive your reward in full." —2 Jn 8

Praise: St. Margaret has been called the ideal mother and queen. She learned the Faith from her English father and Hungarian mother, and taught it to her Scottish husband and children.

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Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.

I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen!