Sunday, June 9, 2024
Third
Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy, Chapter 1, Verse 28-29
28
What shall we meet with up there? Our men have made our hearts melt by saying,
‘The people are bigger and taller than we, and their cities are large and
fortified to the sky; besides, we saw the Anakim (Giant) there.’” 29 But I said to you,
“Have no dread or FEAR of them.
What are the giants in your life? Debauchery, theft, murder, adultery, greed malice, deceit, extravagance, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, recklessness all come from within. These giants are not out there; there in here; in the heart. The hearts fears make giants. Love is the cure. Love endures Love hopes. Love does small tasks. Love is like a water drop that outlasts the mountain, wearing it away. Love stands defiant before the giants in your life. In and through love we come to discover the giants in our life were shadows all along.
Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s light shining somewhere nearby.
(Ruth Renkle)
Live each day as if it were your last. Death brings an end to all, and man’s life suddenly passes away like a fleeting shadow.
Lord, for those in
mortal sin, death is the gateway to hell, but for those in sanctifying grace,
it is the pathway to Heaven. Let my greatest desire in life be to live in such
a way that I can die fearlessly at any moment. Let me fear sin more than death
or any other earthly harm. Amen.[1]
ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[2]
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.
Third
Sunday after Pentecost[3]
Because of God's
mercy, the Holy Spirit works to build the kingdom of God even in sinful souls.
ON
this Sunday, in the Introit of the Mass, the Church invites the sinner to call
on the Lord with confidence and humility. “Look Thou upon me and have mercy
upon me, O Lord, for I am alone and poor. See my abjection and my labor, and
forgive me all my sins, O my God. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; in
Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed” (Ps. xxiv.).
Prayer.
O God, the protector of those who hope in Thee, without Whom nothing is strong,
nothing is holy, multiply Thy mercy upon us, that under Thy rule and guidance
we may so pass through the goods of time as not to forfeit those of eternity.
EPISTLE. I. Peter v. 6-11.
Dearly
Beloved: Be you humbled under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in
the time of visitation. Casting all your care upon Him, for He hath care of
you. Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith,
knowing that the same affliction befalleth your brethren who are in the world.
But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory in Christ
Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm
you, and establish you. To Him be glory and empire forever and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL. Luke xv. 1-10.
At that time
the publicans and sinners drew near unto Jesus to hear Him. And the Pharisees
and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with
them. And He spoke to them this parable, saying “What man of you that hath an
hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the
ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost until he find it?
And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing; and coming home
call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me,
because I have found my sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so there
shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon
ninety-nine just who need not penance. Or what woman having ten groats*,
if she lose one groat (small coin) doth not light a candle and sweep the
house and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, call
together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have
found the groat which I had lost. So, I say to you, there shall be joy before
the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.”
Why did the Pharisees murmur?
Because
they thought themselves better than other men, and as they avoided the company
of sinners themselves, they required others to do likewise. They did not know,
or rather did not wish to know, that a truly just man always feels compassion
for sinners, and that the saints always desired and endeavored to promote their
conversion and eternal welfare. “True justice, says St. Gregory, has compassion
for sinners, while false and hypocritical justice is angry with them. Love
sinners, therefore, in imitation of Jesus, and pray earnestly for their
conversion.”
What does the parable of the lost sheep teach us?
It
teaches us the love of Jesus, Who seeks out sinners, brings them back to the
Father, and reinstates them in the privileges of the children of God. We find
in this parable an excuse for sinners. The sheep is a very simple animal which,
while grazing in the field, does not notice that it has left the fold. It is
lost, and when lost does not know the way back to the fold. It seems,
therefore, when Christ compared the sinner to a sheep He intended to say that
the sinner goes astray from the true path and from God through pure and natural
ignorance; because being dazzled and delighted by the things of the world, he
follows them; he separates himself from the just without knowing it, and, lost
in the desert of this world, he does not know his misfortune and has not,
humanly speaking, the means of returning again, if God in His infinite mercy
does not go in search of him and rescue him.
What is
meant by the words, “there shall be more joy over one sinner that does penance
than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance?
Thereby
it is not to be understood that the penitent sinner is more pleasing to God
than ninety-nine just, but that, as men have a special joy in finding that
which they supposed to be lost, so also God, the angels, and saints have an
extraordinary joy over the conversion of one sinner; because, in the conversion
of the sinner, they see the glory, love, and power of God exalted.
Aspiration.
O Lord, what
profit hast Thou in the conversion of a sinner, that Thou art thereby so
greatly pleased? The happiness of one of Thy poor creatures can add nothing to
Thine own. But Thou lovest me, and therefore it is that Thou art pleased if I
return to Thee. O my God, is it possible that I can know this Thy love, and
remain any longer in sin?
Building
up the Kingdom[4]
This
Sunday focuses on God's mercy, the Holy Spirit works to build the kingdom of
God even in sinful souls.
Scripture
and the Church teach us that we have three divinely ordained purposes that give
our lives meaning:
·
Salvation
— seeking
to save our eternal souls and help save the souls of others (that salvation,
the Church teaches, is God's free gift but requires our cooperation through
faith in God, obedience to his commandments, and repentance of our grave sins).
·
Service
— using
our God-given talents to build God's kingdom here on earth.
·
Sanctity
— growing
in holiness.
The
third of these life goals, sanctity, is central to building Catholic character.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something that is stunning:
"Be thou made perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48).
St. Gregory put it this way: "The goal of a virtuous life is to become
like God." Scripture tells us, "God is love" (1 Jn 4:16). If we
want to be like God, our vocation is to love. The essence of love is to
sacrifice for the sake of another, as Jesus did. Love is self-gift. What, then,
is our goal if we want to develop Catholic character in our children and
ourselves? Look to the character of Christ: A life of self-giving.
Natural
Virtues
The
high goal of Christ-like character builds on a base of what the Church calls
"natural virtues." Among the natural virtues that families and
schools should nurture are the four advanced by the ancient Greeks, named in
Scripture (Wis 8:7), and adopted by the Church as "the cardinal
virtues": prudence, which enables us to judge what we should do; justice,
which enables us to respect the rights of others and give them what they are
due; fortitude, which enables us to do what is right in the face of difficulties;
temperance, which enables us to control our desires and avoid abuse of even
legitimate pleasures. These natural virtues are developed through effort and
practice, aided by God's grace. To develop a Christ-like character, however, we
need more than the natural virtues. We also need the three supernatural, or
"theological," virtues:
Spiritual
Virtues
1. Faith in God, which enables us to
believe in God and the teachings of his church.
2. Hope in God, which leads us to view
eternal life as our most important goal and to place total trust in God.
3. Love of God, which enables us to
love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
The
three theological virtues are considered supernatural because they come from
God and have as their purpose our participation in God's divine life. As the
Catechism (1813) teaches, the theological virtues are not separate from the
natural virtues; rather, they "are the foundation of Christian moral
activity; they animate it and give it its special character." The Catholic
writer Peter Kreeft points out, "The Christian is prudent, just,
courageous, and self-controlled out of faith in God, hope in God, and love of
God." The supernatural virtues, like the natural virtues, grow stronger
through our effort and practice, in cooperation with God's grace.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE:
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION ONE
"I BELIEVE" - "WE
BELIEVE"
CHAPTER ONE-MAN'S CAPACITY FOR GOD
II. Ways of Coming to Know God
31 Created
in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God
discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for
the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but
rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments", which
allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These "ways" of
approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical
world, and the human person.
32 The
world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and
beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the
universe.
As St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the
creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and
deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.
And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the
beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the
air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . .
question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful."
Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change.
Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?
33 The human
person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his
freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and
for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he
discerns signs of his spiritual soul. the soul, the "seed of eternity we
bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material", can have its
origin only in God.
34 The
world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first
principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being
itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can
come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end
of all things, a reality "that everyone calls God".
35 Man's
faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a
personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God
willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able
to welcome this revelation in faith. (so) the proofs of God's existence,
however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not
opposed to reason.
Apostolic Exhortation[5]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most
Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My beloved Brothers and
Sisters in Christ,
Part III
Loving and Adoring the
Eucharistic Lord
IV. Invite a friend to join you
in adoration.
89. The Apostle Andrew gives a
direct, personal invitation to his brother Peter to accompany him to see the
Lord. He declares to his younger brother that “we have found the Messiah” and
then walks with him into the presence of Jesus (Jn 1:42). Are there not a host
of persons who are one confident, loving invitation away from engaging (or
re-engaging) the Lord through His Eucharistic body? What a blessing for so many
of our closest loved ones and friends if we were to have Andrew’s courage to
say, “I’ve found a treasure in the Eucharistic presence of Christ. Would you
like to join me there?”.
90. Faith-filled intercession
for others plays a key role, especially when neither testimony nor invitation
is sufficient to draw a person into Christ’s presence. A man was so incapacitated
that he could not even walk to where Christ was. So, his friends picked him up
and they “were trying to bring him in and set him in His [Jesus’] presence”.
Unable to carry him into the crowded house, they lowered him on a stretcher
through an opening in the roof. Jesus saw their faith, forgave and healed the
man, who “went home glorifying God” (Lk 5:17-26). We should never despair when
someone we love is unable or unwilling to accompany us to the Eucharist. With
deep faith, we can still lower them on the stretcher of our intercessory prayer
into the Lord’s presence.
91. These three events remind
us that Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is meant to be shared. They also
remind us that there is no single method of drawing others into the Lord’s
presence. Sometimes honest testimony is enough for those to seek Him out on
their own, as with the people of Samaria. For others like Peter, it requires a
direct, friendly invitation to come with us into Christ’s presence. For still
others who may be spiritually “paralyzed” and for whom direct access to
Eucharistic adoration is not yet a possibility, we can carry them on the
stretcher of our intercessory prayers, lowered before Christ in His presence
despite their immobilized condition.
Claire’s
Corner
Elk Hunting in Idaho: What you need
to know
Want to hunt elk in Idaho? Good choice, but do you know about the latest changes in General-Season Non-Resident deer and elk tags? Get the latest update, along with other useful information about elk hunting in the Gem State!
Idaho is a popular elk hunting
destination. To begin with, according to the latest estimates by Idaho
Department of Fish & Game, the elk herds in the state number approximately
120,000 head. In spite of hard winters of the last few years, which hurt the
mule deer populations, the elk are stable or growing and expanding their range
in most of Idaho. For the six years starting from 2014 hunters harvested over
20,000 elk each season. Over 100,000 hunters take part in the pursuit, thanks
to generous allocation of licenses, and availability of over-the-counter tags.
In 2019, hunter harvest was 20,532 elk, of which 11,418 were antlered, at an
overall success rate of 22%. General hunts accounted for a higher share of
harvest (13,799 elk), but controlled hunts sported a significantly higher
success rate: 38%.
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: Purity
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1] Paone, Anthony J., S.J. My Daily
Bread, Confraternity of the Precious Blood.
[3] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
* medieval silver coin
[4]http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/building-catholic-character-5-things-parents-can-do.html
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