DAY 29 - MARY, TOWER OF IVORY, PRAY FOR US!
SUMMONED TO COURAGE
PRAY A ROSARY
- Rosary of the Day: Glorious Mysteries
- Traditional 54 Day Rotation: Sorrowful Mysteries
Book of Job Introduction[1]
Ever notice that the guy in front of you always gets the last apple fritter at Starbucks? On a Monday morning? When have you skipped dinner the night before? And why does the subway train always leave just as you get through the turnstile? Does it know that you're already running late, and it just wants to spite you? Why do you always get stuck in the middle seat on planes, no matter how far in advance you book? And why does the lady next to you always forget to wear deodorant that day? And, why oh why didn't you take the blue pill? The Book of Job deals with these exact issues. Well, not these exact issues, but the millennia-ago versions. If you think about it, these questions really get to the heart of most religious thought. If you believe in a righteous force that governs the universe, then why isn't activity on earth righteous? And didn't God say that the righteous would be rewarded and the wicked punished with fire? So why didn't you get your stinkin' apple fritter? Job is a nice guy who's been doing pretty well for himself out on the ranch—he's got a wife, some kids, and enough sheep to last him a lifetime. Then, suddenly, he loses it all. Does he whine and complain? No. He takes it one step further: he calls out God for letting all this misery happen to a righteous man. Yes, that's right—he calls God's bluff. We know you're ready to read it, so go ahead. And the next time you're asking, "why me?" just remember—Job was there first.
Why Should I Care?
Did you know that the Andromeda Galaxy is eventually going to collide with the Milky Way? Pretty nuts. How do we know this? Um, it's obvious: humans know everything. We mean, really. If we know about things that are 2.5 million light years away, there can't be anything we don't know…right? Wrong. Job learns that he can't ask the universe for justice because he doesn't know how the universe works. And as much as we know about the mechanics of the world millennia after Job's time, we still have questions galore. Whether you're a priest or a scientist—or both—you'll agree we can't know everything. Thanks, Job.
SEPTEMBER 12 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
HOLY NAME OF MARY-
Job, Chapter 1, Verse 1
In the land of Uz there was a blameless and upright man named Job, who FEARED God and avoided evil.
Can a man be blameless and upright and yet not be filled with self-pride? Job teaches us that we need to be all in with God.
Four Lessons of Job[2]
- Believe with all your heart in the absolute sovereignty of God. Pray that God would give you that conviction.
- Believe with all your heart that everything he does is right and good. Pray that God will give you that assurance.
- Repent of all the times you have questioned God or found fault with him in the way he has treated you. Pray that God would humble you to see these murmurings as sinful.
- Be satisfied with the holy will of God and do not murmur.
Piety[3]
Being pious is not squeezing one’s eyes shut to the world and putting on a sweet little angel face, Pope Francis said. Piety is opening up one’s heart to God and one’s arms to embrace everyone as brothers and sisters. “The gift of piety that the Holy Spirit gives us makes us meek; it makes us peaceful, patient and at peace with God in gentle service to others,” The Pope said he wanted to clarify its meaning right away “because some people think that being pious is closing your eyes, putting on a sweet angel face, isn’t that, right? No Piety is not to pretend to be a saint” and holier than thou; but piety is recognizing “our belonging to God, our deep bond with him, a relationship that gives meaning to our whole life and keeps us resolute, in communion with him, even during the most difficult and troubled moments” in life, he said. This personal bond with the Lord is not created out of obligation or force, he said; it is “a relationship lived from the heart,” a friendship that “changes our life and fills us with enthusiasm and joy,” gratitude, praise and “authentic worship of God.” “When the Holy Spirit helps us sense the presence of the Lord and all of his love for us, it warms our heart and drives us almost naturally to prayer and celebration,” the Pope said. Once people experience the loving relationship of God as father, “it helps us pour out this love onto others and recognize them as brothers and sisters”. Piety is about identity and belonging, he said, that is why it renders people “truly capable of being joyful with those who are happy; to cry with those who weep; to be near those who are alone or in distress; to correct those in error; to console the afflicted; to welcome and come to the aid of those in need.” Pope said the spirit of God is about kinship — a spirit of adoption, not “a spirit of slavery to fall back on into fear. Let us ask the Lord that the gift of his Spirit overcome our fears and uncertainties, our restless and impatient spirit, too, and that it may make us joyous witnesses of God and his love.” The Pope asked that people pray they could adore God in a genuine, not forced or fake, way, and to be in service to others “with gentleness and also a smile.”
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[4]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The table of the word
40. In considering the Sunday Eucharist more than thirty years after the Council, we need to assess how well the word of God is being proclaimed and how effectively the People of God have grown in knowledge and love of Sacred Scripture. There are two aspects of this — that of celebration and that of personal appropriation — and they are very closely related. At the level of celebration, the fact that the Council made it possible to proclaim the word of God in the language of the community taking part in the celebration must awaken a new sense of responsibility towards the word, allowing "the distinctive character of the sacred text" to shine forth "even in the mode of reading or singing". At the level of personal appropriation, the hearing of the word of God proclaimed must be well prepared in the souls of the faithful by an apt knowledge of Scripture and, where pastorally possible, by special initiatives designed to deepen understanding of the biblical readings, particularly those used on Sundays and holy days. If Christian individuals and families are not regularly drawing new life from the reading of the sacred text in a spirit of prayer and docility to the Church's interpretation, then it is difficult for the liturgical proclamation of the word of God alone to produce the fruit we might expect. This is the value of initiatives in parish communities which bring together during the week those who take part in the Eucharist — priest, ministers and faithful — in order to prepare the Sunday liturgy, reflecting beforehand upon the word of God which will be proclaimed. The objective sought here is that the entire celebration — praying, singing, listening, and not just the preaching — should express in some way the theme of the Sunday liturgy, so that all those taking part may be penetrated more powerfully by it. Clearly, much depends on those who exercise the ministry of the word. It is their duty to prepare the reflection on the word of the Lord by prayer and study of the sacred text, so that they may then express its contents faithfully and apply them to people's concerns and to their daily lives.
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The focus of this Sunday instructs us to weep over lost souls and rejoice over converted ones. Today the church retells the rising of the widow of Nain’s dead son by Christ.
THE Introit of the Mass of this day is a fervent prayer which may be said in any need or adversity. ‘Bow down Thy ear, O Lord, to me and hear me; save Thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in Thee; have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all day. Give joy to the soul of Thy servant, for to Thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.”
Prayer.
May continued mercy purify and defend Thy Church, O Lord; and since without Thee it cannot remain safe, may it ever be governed by Thy bounty!
EPISTLE. Gal. v. 25, 26; vi. 1-10.
Brethren: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. And if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let everyone prove his own work, and so he shall have glory in himself only, and not in another. For everyone shall bear his own burden. And let him that is instructed in the word communicate to him that instructeth him, in all good things. Be not deceived: God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption: but he that soweth in the Spirit, of the Spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail for in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Explanation.
From this epistle we learn that humility should teach and admonish us to think little of ourselves to shun self-confidence and vainglory; charity should incite us, on the other hand, to be meek, loving, compassionate, and kind to every man, even to sinners; to administer correction to the erring only with charity, for if this be done with impertinent and insolent zeal, we shall not only fail to correct offenders, but shall ourselves fall into the same temptations and sins; for God, by a common and just judgment, allows the proud, who look down upon others sins, to fall into sin themselves, that they may learn to be humble, and to have compassion upon those who have gone astray.
Aspiration.
O St. Paul, procure for me, by thy prayers, the grace of God, that I may continually walk in humility, may always love my neighbor, and, in particular, may bear with patience his faults and frailties, that so I may fulfil the law of God, and reap an abundant harvest.
GOSPEL. Luke vii. 11-16.
At that time Jesus went into a city that is called Nairn: and there went with Him His disciples, and a great multitude. And when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and a great multitude of the city was with her. Whom when the Lord had seen, being moved with mercy towards her, He said to her: Weep not. And He came near and touched the bier. And they that carried it stood still. And He said: young man, I say to thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother. And there came a fear on them all: and they glorified God, saying: A great prophet is risen up among us: and God hath visited His people.
Why did Christ have compassion on this widow? To show us that God takes forsaken and afflicted widows under His care, and becomes Himself their comforter and helper, and to teach us that we should do likewise. Christ had, however, still other grounds for His compassion; for He foresaw in this dead youth of Nairn the death of the sinner, and in the affliction of the mother the grief which the Church would suffer over the spiritual loss of so many children.
“Why did Christ say to this widow, Weep not?” To intimate that He would restore her son to her, and at the same time to teach us that we should not mourn and weep to excess for the dead. St. Paul therefore admonishes us not to be sorrowful in regard to the dead, as others who have no hope of resurrection (i. Thess. iv. 12).
Why did Christ command the bearers to stand still? To awaken their confidence and to put it beyond doubt that the resurrection of the dead proceeded from Him. This should teach us that a soul that is dead cannot be restored to life so long as the passions which have caused its death, and borne it, as it were, to the grave, are not brought to a stop.
What more do we learn from this gospel? That no one, however young, is safe from death; and that everyone, therefore, should be always prepared for it.
What is often the cause of early death among young persons?
1. Gluttony and intemperance; for by surfeiting and intemperance more perish than by the sword (Ecclus. xxxvii. 34).
2. Lust.
3. Anger “If you bite and devour one another, take heed you be not consumed one of another” (Gal. v. 15). From angry words often come strife and blows, and not unfrequently murder itself.
4. Disobedience. We have dreadful examples to show that God has taken out of the world, early and suddenly, disobedient children, for instance, Absalom. Not without reason does God say to children “Honor thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayest live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land” (Deut. v. 16).
ON DEATH
Certain it is that we shall die, but uncertain the hour of our death. Would that we might never forget this truth that we might earnestly think of it every day! How different our lives would then be! Have mercy, then, on thine own soul. Keep thyself in readiness so live that thou mayest have no reason to fear death. Do in thy lifetime what in the hour of death you will wish that you had done. Die daily, with St. Paul, by crucifying the flesh with its desires and lusts, and by voluntarily loosening thy heart from the world, its goods, and its vanities, before death does this for you by violence. In time of temptation and passion think of these truths and resist then to die will not be too hard.
Who is it that fears not death…?
Whoever walks without blame, doing what is right, speaking truth from the heart; Who does not slander with his tongue, does no harm to a friend, never defames a neighbor; Who disdains the wicked, but honors those who fear the LORD; Who keeps an oath despite the cost, lends no money at interest, accepts no bribe against the innocent.
Most Holy Name of Mary[5]
In accordance with Jewish custom our Lady's parents named her eight days after her birth and were inspired to call her Mary. The feast of the Holy Name of Mary therefore follows that of her Birthday, as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus follows Christmas. The feast originated in Spain and was approved by the Holy See in 1513; Innocent XI extended its observance to the whole Church in 1683 in thanksgiving to our Lady for the victory on September 12, 1683, by John Sobieski, king of Poland, over the Turks, who were besieging Vienna and threatening the West. This day was commemorated in Vienna by creating a new kind of pastry and shaping it in the form of the Turkish half-moon. It was eaten along with coffee which was part of the booty from the Turks. The ancient Onomastica Sacra have preserved the meanings ascribed to Mary's name by the early Christian writers and perpetuated by the Greek Fathers. "Bitter Sea," "Myrrh of the Sea," "The Light Giver," "The Enlightened One," "Lady," "Seal of the Lord," and "Mother of the Lord" are the principal interpretations. These etymologies suppose that the Hebrew form of the name is Maryãm, not Miryãm. From the time of St. Jerome until the 16th century, preferred interpretations of Mary's name in the West were "Lady," "Bitter Sea," "The Light Giver," and especially "Star of the Sea." Stella Maris was by far the favored interpretation. The revival of Hebraic studies, which accompanied the Renaissance, led to a more critical appraisal of the meanings assigned to Our Lady's name. Miryãm has all the appearance of a genuine Hebrew name, and no solid reason has been discovered to warrant rejecting the Semitic origin of the word. The Hebrew name of Mary, Miryãm, (in Latin Domina) means lady or sovereign; this Mary is in virtue of her Son's sovereign authority as Lord of the World. We call Mary our Lady as we call Jesus our Lord, and when we pronounce her name, we affirm her power, implore her aid and place ourselves under her protection.
35 Promises of God[6] cont.
“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”
-1 Cor 10:13
Daily Devotions
· Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Holy Priests, Consecrated, & Religious
· Iceman’s Total Consecration to Mary-Day 2
· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
· Make reparations to the Holy Face
· Go to MASS
Comments
Post a Comment