Eighth Sunday after
Pentecost (18th S. Ord. Time)
SAINT JOHN VIANNEY- NATIONAL SISTERS DAY
Tobit,
Chapter 14, Verse 1-2
1 So the words of Tobit’s hymn of
praise came to an end. Tobit died in peace at the age of a hundred and twelve
and was buried with honor in Nineveh. 2
He was fifty-eight years old when
he lost his eyesight, and after he recovered it he lived in prosperity, giving
alms; he continued to fear God and
give thanks to the divine Majesty.
May God in his
grace open your eyes to your blessings! Tobit’s song of praise focuses on
giving praise to God who is all powerful and yet has a love for us that grants
us freedom and mercy.
- Tobit took the angel’s words seriously. He
prayed out loud and long, proclaiming God’s great mercy to anyone who
would listen. He also prayed for his countrymen. If God could
bring about such healing in Tobit’s life, what more could he do for the
people of Israel!
- Tobit, apparently, lived a happy life after
that. He passed on when he was 112. He was 58 when he became
blind and was blind for four years. He continued to give alms and to
praise God.
- Before he died, he called Tobias (who now had
seven sons) and told him to leave Nineveh and to return to Media. He
predicted the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem as well as its
restoration. When the temple would be rebuilt, people would see and
be converted to the one God.
- He made Tobias promise that he would leave the
day his mother was buried.
A Grateful Heart
Having and
retaining a grateful heart is the key to making right judgments and being a
person of character. John McCain highlights in his book, “Character is Destiny”
the life of the Native American war Chief Tecumseh as an example of a man that
never lost his gratitude in life. Tecumseh was a great Indian leader who lost a
war but taught even his enemies how to live. Everyone knew that the great
Tecumseh, fearless warrior and visionary, steadfast leader, did not tolerate torture
or murder, or suffer intentional harm to be done to innocents. He was a man of
honor. Even his enemies knew that, especially the man who had fought him the
longest, William Henry Harrison. However, as a youth Tecumseh was unnerved in
his first encounter with organized bloodletting, and fled the battle. It was
the only time in his life his courage failed him. In a later raid near the end
of the war, the Shawnees attacked the crew of a flatboat on the Ohio River. All
but one of the crew was killed in the encounter. The lone survivor was dragged
ashore and burned at the stake. The atrocity left a deep mark on Tecumseh, who,
though he was too young to intervene in the victim’s behalf, denounced the
murder after it occurred, and swore he would never again remain silent in the
face of such an injustice. He would live and die determined to defend Indian
land from the insatiable appetites of American settlers. In the course of his
crusade, he became the greatest Indian leader of his time. Many would argue,
including Americans who fought him, that he was the greatest war chief of all
time. Raised by his older brother Chiksika, he took special care of his younger
brother Tecumseh. He taught him to hunt and fish, and to learn the fighting
skills of a Shawnee brave. He raised him to revere the memory of their
courageous father, and the virtues he had exemplified as a warrior who
preferred death to dishonor. There
was something in his character that repelled despair, finding in life, with all
its many tragedies, a reason to be thankful for the very fact that he could
remain true to himself. He was the kind of person for whom life was a gift that
could not be diminished by suffering, and it gave him a unique strength, a
confidence that was superior to most people. Tall and sinewy, with an erect
bearing, a superior skill at arms, exuding a sense of command, and possessing a
gift for oratory that earned him admirers even among his enemies, he was
renowned as a capable provider and protector of his clan, whose leadership had
an ever-broadening appeal to neighboring tribes. Tecumseh delivered an address
to his people as he prepared them for the coming struggle that has become
famous not only as a measure of his own character, but as a code of honor that
merits respect and emulation.
So,
live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no
one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they
respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your
life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your
people. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a
friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and
grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and the
joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in
yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and
robs the spirit of vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes,
they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a
different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
On the day of his
final battle never having despaired over the vicissitudes of life, he would not
do so now. He arose in the morning and gave thanks for the joy of living. At
the Battle of the Thames in Ontario on October 5, 1813, British General Procter
and his soldiers fled the field after the first volley was fired. Tecumseh
dispensed with his sword and British officer’s jacket, and charged, as always,
into the thick of the battle. When a musket ball shattered his right leg, he
told his braves to leave him. He kept fighting until a crowd of American
soldiers surrounded him. He sang his death song and died like a hero going
home.
The importance of intelligent
foresight and the fascinating passage on "the mammon of iniquity"
(Lk. 16.9).
IN the Introit of the Mass the Church praises God, whose
mercy and justice extend to the ends of the world. “We have received Thy mercy,
O God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy name, O God, so also is Thy
praise unto the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of justice. Great is
the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, in the city of our God, in His holy
mountain”. (Ps. xlvii. 11, 1).
Prayer. Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, at all times, the spirit of thinking
and doing what is right, that we, who cannot exist without Thee, may be able to
live according to Thy will.
EPISTLE. Rom. viii. 12-17.
Brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die
but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. For
whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have
not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba (Father). For the Spirit
Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God. And if
sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
“The works of the flesh are,” according to St. Paul,
“fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities,
contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders,
drunkenness, reveilings, and such like” (Gal. v. 19, 20). Those who practise
such vices are not children of God, and will inherit, not heaven, but eternal
death. Examine yourself, therefore, whether you are not living according to the
flesh, and for the future resist sinful desires with God’s assistance, and you
will gain a crown in heaven.
Aspiration. Grant me, Lord, Thy spirit, that I may always remember the happiness of
Thy kingdom, may mortify the lusts of the flesh, and may walk as Thy child in
holy chastity.
Luke xvi. 1-9.
At that time Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable:
There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto
him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said to him: How is
it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship: for now, thou
canst be steward no longer. And the steward said within himself: What shall I
do, because my lord taketh away from me the steward ship? To dig I am not able,
to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from
the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Therefore, calling
together every one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first: How much dost
thou owe my lord? But he said: A hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him:
Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then he said to another:
And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to
him: Take thy bill and write eighty. And the lord commended the unjust steward,
forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in
their generation than the children of light. And I say to you: Make unto you
friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail they may receive
you into everlasting dwellings.
Who are meant by
the rich man and his steward? By the rich man is meant God; by the steward, man. The goods intrusted
to the steward are the different goods and gifts of soul and body, of nature
and of grace.
Why did Christ
use this parable? To teach us that God requires of every man a strict account of whatever
has been given to him, to encourage us to be liberal to the poor, and to warn
us against dissipation and injustice.
How are we to
understand the direction “to make unto us friends of the mammon of iniquity”? Riches are called the mammon of iniquity because
they so easily lead us to injustice, avarice, excess, and dissipation. Jesus
intended to say that we should, according to our ability, employ in doing good
those worldly goods which so easily carry us into sin. But He is not to be
understood as saying that we should steal, or cheat, or use goods otherwise
unjustly obtained, to give alms.
What friends are
we thus to make? The friends are the good works which render us pleasing to God, and open
to us heaven; the poor, the saints of God; the angels, who rejoice in our
benevolence, and become our in tercessors; and finally Christ, Who regards what
is given to the poor as so much given to Himself (Matt. xxv. 40). “The hands of
the poor” says St. Chrysostom, “are the hands of Christ” through them we send
our goods to heaven beforehand, and through their intercession we obtain the
grace of salvation.
Aspiration. Grant me, O most just God and Judge, grace so to
use the goods entrusted to me on earth, that with them I may make my self
friends to receive me, at the end of my life, into everlasting habitations.
INSTRUCTION ON
CALUMNY
Is calumny a
grievous sin?
When the occasion is important, and the slander is deliberately uttered, with
evil intention, when one’s neighbor is thereby grievously injured, and his good
name damaged, everyone may see how grievous and detestable, in such a case,
this sin is. (Hmm…Fake News?)
Is it sinful to
disclose the faults of our neighbor? To make public
the faults and sins of our neighbor uselessly, merely for the entertainment of
idle persons, is always sinful. But if, after trying in vain to correct his
faults and sins by brotherly admonition, we make them known to his parents or
superiors, for his punishment and amendment, so far from being a sin, it is
rather a good work and a duty of Christian charity.
Is it a sin also
to listen willingly to calumny? Yes; for thereby we furnish the calumniator an
occasion for sin and give him encouragement. For which reason St. Bernard says:
“Whether to calumniate be a greater sin than to listen to the calumniator I
will not lightly decide.”
What ought to
restrain us from calumny? The thought,
1,
of the enormity of this sin;
2,
of the number of sins occasioned thereby of which the calumniator, as the
occasion of them, becomes partaker;
3,
of the difficulty of correcting the harm done, since we cannot know the full
extent of the injury, nor stop the tongues of people. Finally, we must
think on the eternal punishment which follows this sin. The holy Fathers say
that of young persons who are condemned the greater part is for impurity, but
of the old, for calumny.
France before Saint John Vianney
During the French Revolution a
small band of Ursuline nuns was imprisoned in the Bastille. To cheer her
disconsolate companions, one of the group passed wheaten discs of bread, cut
from the loaf of the daily rations, to memorialize the happy days when they
were free and could receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. At that time all
religious schools and churches were closed, and those who harbored priests were
imprisoned. At the Vianney farmhouse near Dardilly, France, fugitive priests
were offered a refuge. Here their son was prepared in his tenth year for the
reception of Holy Communion by a hunted priest. While tending his father's
sheep, John Vianney fashioned a small statue of Our Lady out of clay. He hid it
in the hollow of an old tree with this petition: "Dear Lady Mary, I love
you very much; you must bring Jesus back to His tabernacles very soon!" On
a visit to his aunt at Ecully, John listened to her praises of Father Balley,
the parish priest, and he sought the Father's advice regarding his vocation to
the priesthood. The pastor appraised the overgrown, awkward youth of faltering
speech and devoid of general education. Though John was unable to answer the
questions pertaining to earthly science which Father asked him, yet, when the
priest put to him the questions of the catechism, his face became luminous with
lively interest. He answered every question correctly, and in a manner beyond
his years. The amazed pastor took this evidence as a sign from heaven,
prophesying, "You will become a priest!" The ensuing years brought
many trials to John. He was conscripted; his mother died; he failed often in
his studies. Ordained as a Mass priest, August 12, 1815, he remarked to Our
Lady, Queen of the Clergy: "Here is your priest, O Blessed Mother! Stay
close to me. Help me to be a good priest!" As a curate and as a pastor,
St. John Vianney's daily instruction on the catechism found an inspired
audience, among whom were noted orators such as Père Lacordaire, O.P., the
famed preacher of Notre Dame. The saintly pastor performed many miracles, but
the greatest was his own manner of Eucharistic living. It was his Lord, living
in Father Vianney, who made him "spend and be spent" in ceaseless
service for both sinner and saint in the sacred tribunal of penance.
Things to Do[4]
·
The
Collect praises St. John Vianney's zeal for souls and his spirit of prayer and
penance. Say a special prayer today that by his example and intercession we too
may win the souls of our brothers for Christ.
·
Say
a prayer for priests that they may persevere in their vocation. If you haven't
been to confession for a while resolve to do so right away and be sure that you
remember to say an extra prayer for your confessor.
·
From
the Catholic Culture library: Pope John XXIII holds St. John Vianney as a model
for the priesthood in this Encyclical.
National Sister Day Facts &
Quotes
·
Studies
form Brigham Young University show that sisters give siblings better mental
health.
·
According
to the Journal of Politics, boys with sisters are more likely to become
republican. Young men who were raised with sisters are more typically more
likely to express social conservative views on attitudes about gender roles.
·
Men
with sisters are more likely to have involved interactions and be liked
significantly more by their female acquaintances than those who did not have a
sister. In short, brother benefit from having sisters by having a higher
likelihood of getting a date.
·
There
is nobody in this world that knows me better than my sister. – Tia Mowry,
American actress and model.
·
Sister
is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the
sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship. – Margaret Mead,
American Cultural Anthropologist.
The 8th of August will
be my sister Linda’s Birthday I hope her day is special; please pray for her
intentions.
Daily Devotions
[1]http://www.biblewise.com/bible_study/characters/tobit-and-tobias.php
[2]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
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