Saturday, November 25, 2023
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 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.
NOVEMBER 25 Saturday
ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
For
as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward
those who fear him.
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.
St. Catherine of Alexandria
The account of her martyrdom is legendary and defies every attempt to cull out the historical kernel. Old Oriental sources make no mention of her. In the West her cult does not appear before the eleventh century, when the crusaders made it popular. She became the patroness of philosophical faculties; she is one of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." The breviary offers the following:
Catherine, virgin of Alexandria, devoted herself to the pursuit of knowledge; at the age of eighteen, she surpassed all her contemporaries in science. Upon seeing how the Christians were being tortured, she went before Emperor Maximin (311-313), upbraided him for his cruelty, and with convincing reasons demonstrated the need of Christian faith in order to be saved. Astounded by her wisdom, the Emperor ordered her to be kept confined, and having summoned the most learned philosophers, promised them magnificent rewards if they could confound the virgin and turn her from belief in Christ. Far from being successful, a considerable number of the philosophers were inflamed by the sound reasons and persuasiveness of Catherine's speech with such a love for Jesus Christ that they declared themselves willing to offer their lives for the Gospel.
Then the Emperor attempted to win her by flattery and by promises, but his efforts proved equally fruitless. He ordered her whipped with rods, scourged with leaden nodules, and then left to languish eleven days without food in prison. The Emperor's wife and Porphyrius, general of the army, visited Catherine in prison; her words brought both to Christ and later they too proved their love in blood. Catherine's next torture consisted of being placed upon a wheel with sharp and pointed knives; from her lacerated body prayers ascended to heaven and the infernal machine fell to pieces. Many who witnessed the miracle embraced the faith. Finally, on November 25 Christ's servant was beheaded (307 or 312). By the hands of angels her body was carried to Mt. Sinai, where it was interred in the convent which bears her name.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
Patron: Apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters; spinners; etc.); archivists; attorneys; barristers; dying people; educators; girls; jurists; knife grinders; knife sharpeners; lawyers; librarians; libraries; maidens; mechanics; millers; nurses; old maids; philosophers; potters; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; spinners; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners; teachers; theologians; turners; unmarried girls; wheelwrights.
Things to Do:
- St. Catherine was
invoked by young girls seeking husbands. If you have children, you could
use this feast to discuss the qualities of a good spouse. You could bake St.
Catherine's wigs and have your discussion as part of the fun (a spoon
full of sugar).
- Read more about St.
Catherine.
- St. Catherine's
remains are in St. Katherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai. The Monastery,
a 1,600-year-old fortress at the base of Mt. Sinai, is inhabited by Coptic
monks (not in union with Rome). Inside the chapel is believed to be the
Burning Bush, through which God first appeared to Moses. Read more about
the history of the Church of Alexandria and the Council
of Chalcedon where the Coptic Church broke from the bark of Peter and
pray for the reunion of all Eastern Churches under the Pope.
Small Business Saturday
Small Business Saturday serves to
support and promote small and local businesses. Small businesses are an
important part of the American economy, providing 66% of all new jobs and
accounting for 54% of all US sales.
Small Business Saturday was created by the American Express Corporation.
Small Business Saturday was first held on November 27, 2010 with help
from American Express' advertising campaigns to support the day. The following
year, in 2011, political figures such as President Obama, voiced their support
for Small Business Saturday. Since then, Small Business Saturday has been
observed annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Small Business Saturday Top Events and Things to Do
- Do
your daily or holiday shopping a local or small business to support your
community.
- Watch
a movie about entrepreneurship and general business. Building a business
from an idea, into a small business and perhaps into something larger is
difficult. Our recommendations: The Wolf of Wallstreet, The
Pursuit of Happiness, Jerry Maguire, The Social
Network and You've Got Mail
- Participate
in Small Business Saturday as a business owner or encourage those you know
who own small business to participate. American
Express provides material online to further assist small businesses
with business promotion for the day.
- Take
a look on Groupon for some local deals. Groupon always offers deals to
small local businesses.
- Contribute
to a local cause and donate to a small non-profit organization within your
community. Many of these organizations organize activities for local children or
help those in your community who are most in need.
- Check
these small businesses.
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
§ PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION
OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
§ SECTION TWO THE SEVEN
SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
§ CHAPTER FOUR OTHER
LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS
§ Article 1 SACRAMENTALS
1667 "Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted
sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the
sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are
obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to
receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are
rendered holy."
The characteristics of sacramentals
1668 Sacramentals are instituted for the
sanctification of certain ministries of the Church, certain states of life, a
great variety of circumstances in Christian life, and the use of many things
helpful to man. In accordance with bishops' pastoral decisions, they can also
respond to the needs, culture, and special history of the Christian people of a
particular region or time. They always include a prayer, often accompanied by a
specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling
of holy water (which recalls Baptism).
1669 Sacramentals derive from the baptismal
priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a "blessing," and
to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a
blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its
administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or
deacons).
1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the
Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they
prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For
well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and
sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace
which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of
Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power.
There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus
directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God."
Various forms of sacramentals
1671 Among sacramentals blessings (of persons,
meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays
for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father "with
every spiritual blessing." This is why the Church imparts blessings
by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross
of Christ.
1672 Certain blessings have a lasting importance
because they consecrate persons to God, or reserve objects and places for
liturgical use. Among those blessings which are intended for persons - not to
be confused with sacramental ordination - are the blessing of the abbot or
abbess of a monastery, the consecration of virgins, the rite of religious
profession and the blessing of certain ministries of the Church (readers,
acolytes, catechists, etc.). The dedication or blessing of a church or an
altar, the blessing of holy oils, vessels, and vestments, bells, etc., can be
mentioned as examples of blessings that concern objects.
1673 When the Church asks publicly and
authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be
protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it
is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has
received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is
performed at the celebration of Baptism. the solemn exorcism, called "a
major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission
of the bishop. the priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the
rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of
demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual
authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially
psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern
of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important
to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an
illness.
Popular piety
1674 Besides sacramental liturgy and
sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular
devotions among the faithful. the religious sense of the Christian people has
always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's
sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries,
pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the
rosary, medals, etc.
1675 These expressions of piety extend the
liturgical life of the Church, but do not replace it. They "should be so
drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the
sacred liturgy, are in some way derived from it and lead the people to it,
since in fact the liturgy by its very nature is far superior to any of
them."
1676 Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain
and support popular piety and, if necessary, to purify and correct the
religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may
advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ. Their exercise is subject
to the care and judgment of the bishops and to the general norms of the Church.
At its core the piety of the people
is a storehouse of values that offers answers of Christian wisdom to the great
questions of life. the Catholic wisdom of the people is capable of fashioning a
vital synthesis.... It creatively combines the divine and the human, Christ and
Mary, spirit and body, communion and institution, person and community, faith
and homeland, intelligence and emotion. This wisdom is a Christian humanism
that radically affirms the dignity of every person as a child of God, establishes
a basic fraternity, teaches people to encounter nature and understand work,
provides reasons for joy and humor even in the midst of a very hard life. For
the people this wisdom is also a principle of discernment and an evangelical
instinct through which they spontaneously sense when the Gospel is served in
the Church and when it is emptied of its content and stifled by other
interests.
Daily
Devotions/Practice
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: The
sanctification of the Church Militant.
·
Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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