Sunday, July 28, 2024

July 28

Saint of the day:

Saints Nazario and Celso Martiri


Claire’s Corner-Don’t be full of yourself

·         Let Freedom Ring Day 22 Freedom from Narcissism

 

o   In Greek mythology, we find the rather tragic figure of Narcissus. As the story goes, he is an extraordinary young man in every possible way. But, he is aloof and rather full of himself. Anyone who falls in love with him pays a steep price because he will not love them back. Eventually, while hunting, Narcissus stoops down to the water to get a drink. He sees his own reflection and falls madly in love with it. He reaches out to grab the reflection and drowns, suffering the abysmal fate others who tried to love him did. In psychology, narcissism is described as "selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type." My brothers and sisters, does not this word describe our society to a T?



Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

HEPATITIS DAY

 

Joshua, Chapter 9, Verse 22-24

22 Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us and say, ‘We live far off from you’? —You live among us! 23 Now are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.” 24 They answered Joshua, “Your servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded Moses his servant that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in great FEAR for our lives, we acted as we did.

 

Negotiation and Compromise. When Israel negotiated with the Gibeonites and ignored God’s order to destroy the city, they allowed compromise to jeopardize their mission. While negotiation is not wrong in itself, leaders must never negotiate their convictions, direct orders, or core values. When we start negotiating these, we compromise our mission.

 

If only our nation returned to wisdom and prayed and sought the Lord’s instruction before we entered any treaties with other nations; sadly, we too are like Joshua.

 

I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands. (Wis. 7:7-11)

 

Worrying keeps you trapped. Thinking sets you free. 

ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[1]

 

CHAPTER V

 

DIES DIERUM

 

Sunday: The Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time

CONCLUSION

84. Sustaining Christian life as it does, Sunday has the additional value of being a testimony and a proclamation. As a day of prayer, communion and joy, Sunday resounds throughout society, emanating vital energies and reasons for hope. Sunday is the proclamation that time, in which he who is the Risen Lord of history makes his home, is not the grave of our illusions but the cradle of an ever new future, an opportunity given to us to turn the fleeting moments of this life into seeds of eternity. Sunday is an invitation to look ahead; it is the day on which the Christian community cries out to Christ, "Marana tha: Come, O Lord!" (1 Cor 16:22). With this cry of hope and expectation, the Church is the companion and support of human hope. From Sunday to Sunday, enlightened by Christ, she goes forward towards the unending Sunday of the heavenly Jerusalem, which "has no need of the sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev 21:23).

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Humility and its source in knowing that all goodness comes from the Spirit.

AT the Introit of the Mass, join with the Church in extolling the help of God, whereby we are defended against our enemies. “When I cried to the Lord, He heard my voice from them that draw near against me, and He humbled them, Who is before all ages, and remains forever. Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication; be attentive to me, and hear me.”

Prayer. O God, Who dost particularly manifest Thy omnipotence by sparing and showing mercy, multiply Thy mercy towards us, that running to the possession of what Thou hast promised, Thou mayest make us partakers of heavenly goods.

EPISTLE, i. Cor. xii. 2-11.

Brethren: You know that when you were heathens, you went to dumb idols, according as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, saith Anathema to Jesus. And no man can say, the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit: and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord: and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, Who worketh all in all. And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit. To one, indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: to another faith in the same Spirit: to another the grace of healing, in one Spirit: to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of speeches. But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to everyone according as He will.

Explanation. As the Holy Ghost gave on Pentecost the gift of tongues, so also, He imparted to the faithful many other gifts. This Holy Spirit works in different ways. He confers not only ordinary but extraordinary graces on whom He will, and how He will, as He finds it for the edification of the body of Christ, and whatever gift anyone receives he must use for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, without being elated by it, since he has received it only as a pure grace.

GOSPEL. Luke xviii. 9-14

At that time, to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke this parable: Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers: as also is this publican; I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven: but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner! I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other, because everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Why did Jesus recite the parable of the Pharisee and the publican?

 To warn us against pride, ambition, and vanity in our good works, which thereby lose all their merits; to teach us not to despise or judge any man, although he should appear most impious; finally, to show us that if we would be heard in our prayers, we must appear before God with an humble and penitent heart.

Why was not the Pharisee’s prayer acceptable to God?

Because it was not a prayer, but rather a boast; for he praised himself, attributing his good works to himself, instead of giving God glory for them. Thus, despising and presumptuously judging others, he sinned the more against God, instead of making himself worthy of his praise.

Why was the prayer of the publican acceptable to God?

Because, though short, it was most humble and penitent. He did not, like the Pharisee, advance into the temple, but remained afar off, as though unworthy the presence of God and the fellowship of men. There he stood, with eyes cast down, in token that, for his sins, he was not worthy to look up to heaven; nay, he openly confessed himself a sinner, and in sorrow smote his breast, thereby punishing, as it were, says St. Augustine, the sins which had come from his heart. Let us, then, be afraid of vainglory, like St. Ignatius, who said, “They who praise me scourge me” and St. Hilary, who wept when he saw himself honored, because he was afraid of receiving his reward on earth. Learn to despise vainglory and think of what St. Augustine says: God is most high; exalt yourself, and He withdraws from you; humble yourself, and He comes down to you.” Seek in all things not your own but God’s glory; accustom yourself before every undertaking to raise your heart to God by making a good intention, and you will, like the publican, find grace before God.

Parents' Day[2]

Parents’ Day celebrates and recognizes the important role of responsible parenting in everyday family life. Families are a fundamental human institution; they are bonded by unconditional love and commitment. Parents' Day was established in 1994 and the National Parents’ Day Coalition was developed to support Parents’ Day by annually selecting ‘Parents’ of the Year’ at local, national and state levels.  The Coalition also provides educational programs for parents and aims to promote the stability of family by encouraging fidelity between husbands and wives, as well as abstinence in young people prior to marriage.  In addition to The National Parents’ Day Coalition, other organizations use Parents’ Day to promote the traditional two parent nuclear family model. Parents' Day is held annually on the fourth Sunday in July.

Parents' Day Facts & Quotes

·         In 2015, 3.3 million unmarried or cohabiting couples in America had children under the age of 18.  This is in comparison to 1.2 million cohabiting couples with children in 1996. In 1960, 73% of U.S. children lived in a traditional home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage.  By 1980, this figure had dropped to 61%.  By 2013, 46% of children lived in a traditional home.

·         All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. — Abraham Lincoln.

·         By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong. — Charles Wadsworth, Classical Pianist

World Hepatitis Day[3] 

World Hepatitis Day seeks to raise awareness for the spectrum of Hepatitis diseases. Hepatitis diseases cause inflammation of the liver cells. There are five main types of hepatitis, A, B, C, D and E. It is estimated that around 250 million people worldwide are infected with Hepatitis C and 300 million people are Hepatitis B carriers.

World Hepatitis Day was proclaimed by the World Health Organization. It is celebrated annually on July 28th.
 

World Hepatitis Day Facts 

Hepatitis A is usually transmitted by consuming contaminated food or water or coming into contact with an infected person's feces. 

Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease. It is transmitted through exposure to infected blood or body fluids. 

Hepatitis B is spread via blood of an infected person. 

Hepatitis can also be caused by alcohol and other toxins and infections. 

Life Matters: Embryo Research[4] 

The Nuremberg Code (1947) was prompted by the horrific and often deadly experimentation on human beings in Nazi concentration camps that came to light during the “Doctors’ Trials” before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. The main principles of the Nuremberg Code require that experiments involving human subjects cause no unnecessary risk, be undertaken with the full and informed consent of the subjects and must never knowingly cause serious injury or death. Nazi doctors were not the first, nor the last, to perform inhumane and sometimes disabling research on unsuspecting human subjects living in poverty, in prisons, mental health institutions, and orphanages. The Tuskegee syphilis experiments, the Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study, and the Willowbrook (Long Island) State School experiments—in which children with mental disabilities were intentionally infected with viral hepatitis—are just a few examples of cases in which doctors put the pursuit of knowledge and “cures” ahead of the lives and well-being of individual human beings. The Nuremberg Code inspired other declarations of medical and research ethics. In 1948, the World Medical Association approved a statement addressing the ethics of physicians, the Declaration of Geneva. As originally adopted, it read in part: “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of conception; even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity.” 

COVID? 

Novena in Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney[5]

Complete Trust in God

Saint John Marie Baptist Vianney, what confidence the people had in your prayers! You could not leave your old rectory or your humble church without being surrounded by imploring souls, who appealed to you as they would have appealed to Jesus Himself during His earthly life. And you, O good Saint, gave them hope by your words, which were full of love for God. You, who had always counted entirely on the heart of God, obtain for me a deep filial trust in His Providence. As the hope of divine goods fills my heart, give me courage and help me to always obey the Commandments of God. Holy Priest of Ars, I have confidence in your intercession. Pray for me during this novena especially for ... (mention silently your special intentions).

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Day 44

Providence and the scandal of evil

309 If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.

310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it?

With infinite power God could always create something better. But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection.

311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.

312 In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: "It was not you", said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive." From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more", brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good.

313 "We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him." The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth:

St. Catherine of Siena said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them": "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind."
St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. and I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best."
Dame Julian of Norwich: "Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith... and that at the same time I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in what our Lord shewed in this time - that 'all manner (of) thing shall be well.'"

314 We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God "face to face", will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest for which he created heaven and earth.

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: Binding and suppressing the Devils Evil Works

·         Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

·         Religion in the Home for Preschool: July

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Universal Man Plan

·         Rosary

[5]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1129




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