Ninth Sunday after Pentecost[1]-faithful
to the end.
NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY
Jeremiah,
Chapter 23, Verse 4
During
this troubling time in our church, we offer our suffering up to Christ to be united
with His suffering and as our shepherd. He will guide us through this time to
bring us into his glory.
The
Presence of God[2]
For
Jews, there was only one Temple. It was the one place on earth that could truly
be called holy. It was the place where God’s Spirit dwelt. The Temple was a
place where they could withdraw from the pollutions of the world and know God’s
presence in purity. As Christians by the action of Christ we, our bodies, are
the temple of God, and He is always with us. No longer was God’s presence and
his purifying ritual confined to a single geographic location. No longer were
they the exclusive privilege of a single ethnic group. Now the temple has no
walls. It is universal—that is, it’s catholic. We are the temple of God’s
presence.
Do you not know that you are God’s
temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
...God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.
(I Cor. 3:16-17)
When
I was a youth of 20, I had the great honor of serving in the Navy Seabee’s and
went to build the South Pole Station in Antarctica and breathing was difficult
in the frozen thin air, here is an excerpt from my book, “The
Ice is Nice and Chee-Chee is Peachy.”
Most of the Steelworkers and I were assigned to shovel snow that had accumulated from the winter. As you worked, it was so ice-cold that frost formed on your beard, face and hair from the vapor of your very breath. Living there, I could really reflect on the statement: “God is closer to you than the very air you breathe”. Being there gave new meaning to that. Your breath was always with you; you could not escape it; even if you tried. Your breath almost caressed you as you went about your day. I thought, “Are we really loved that much?” and then I reflected on John 3:16 from the bible and it seemed to make more sense to me.
ON KEEPING
THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[3]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The Sunday obligation
46. Since the Eucharist is the very
heart of Sunday, it is clear why, from the earliest centuries, the Pastors of
the Church have not ceased to remind the faithful of the need to take part
in the liturgical assembly. "Leave everything on the Lord's Day",
urges the third century text known as the Didascalia, "and run
diligently to your assembly, because it is your praise of God. Otherwise, what
excuse will they make to God, those who do not come together on the Lord's Day
to hear the word of life and feed on the divine nourishment which lasts
forever?". The faithful have generally accepted this call of the Pastors
with conviction of soul and, although there have been times and situations when
this duty has not been perfectly met, one should never forget the genuine
heroism of priests and faithful who have fulfilled this obligation even when
faced with danger and the denial of religious freedom, as can be documented
from the first centuries of Christianity up to our own time.
In his first Apology addressed to the
Emperor Antoninus and the Senate, Saint Justin proudly described the Christian
practice of the Sunday assembly, which gathered in one place Christians from
both the city and the countryside. When, during the persecution of Diocletian,
their assemblies were banned with the greatest severity, many were courageous
enough to defy the imperial decree and accepted death rather than miss the
Sunday Eucharist. This was the case of the martyrs of Abitina, in Proconsular
Africa, who replied to their accusers: "Without fear of any kind we have
celebrated the Lord's Supper, because it cannot be missed; that is our
law"; "We cannot live without the Lord's Supper". As she
confessed her faith, one of the martyrs said: "Yes, I went to the assembly
and I celebrated the Lord's Supper with my brothers and sisters, because I am a
Christian".
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost[4]-The necessity of being faithful to the end.
Call upon God for help and assistance against all temptations of your enemies, both visible and invisible, and say with the priest, in the Introit of the Mass, “Behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul; turn back the evils upon my enemies, and cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord, my protector. Save me, O God, by Thy name, and deliver me in Thy strength” (Ps. liii.).
Prayer. Let the ears of Thy mercy, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliants, and that Thou mayest grant what Thy petitioners desire, make them ask those things which are pleasing to Thee.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. x. 6-13.
Brethren: We should not covet evil things, as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them: as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human: and God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.
Can we sin by thought and desire alone?
Certainly, if we desire evil and unlawful things, or of our own free will dwell upon them with pleasure.
What is it to tempt God?
It is presumptuously to expect signs of God
s omnipotence, benignity, providence, and justice. Such a sin it would be,
2,
to expose ourselves unnecessarily to danger of body or soul, expecting God to
deliver us.
3,
to reject the ordinary and natural means of deliverance in sickness or other
peril, trusting in God s immediate assistance.
GOSPEL. Luke xix. 41-47.
At that time, when Jesus drew near Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace, but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round: and straiten thee on every side: and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple.
Why did the Savior weep over the city of Jerusalem?
Because it had not known and profited by its time of visitation and through impenitence was hastening to destruction.
What was the time of its visitation?
The period in which God sent to the Jews one prophet after another, whom they derided and calumniated, stoned and put to death (Matt, xxiii. 34). But especially was it the time of the ministry of Christ, who so often proclaimed His life-giving doctrine; pointed out and demonstrated, by the greatest miracles, that He was the Messias and the Savior of the world, and yet was despised by this hardened and impenitent city, and even put to death on the cross.
Does God hide from the wicked the truths of salvation?
No; but sinners so blind themselves by their sins that the divine inspirations fail to move them to penance.
What do we learn by Jesus casting out of the temple those who sold and bought?
We learn how severely He will punish those who in church forget where they are; forget that Jesus Christ is present in the tabernacle; who laugh, talk, amuse themselves, cherish sinful thoughts, and give scandal by their improper dress and unbecoming behavior.
Prayer: O Jesus, who didst weep over the city of Jerusalem because it knew not the time of its visitation, I beseech Thee enlighten my heart, that I may know and profit by the season of grace; and grant that I may always behave with reverence in Thy church, and never turn it into a resort for evil thoughts and desires or for worldly cares.
LESSONS UPON DEATH-BED
REPENTANCE
Can the sinner rely upon being converted at the end of his life?
No for this would be to sin against the mercy of God, which is much the same as the sin against the Holy Ghost. Says St. Augustine, “usually punishes such sinners by allowing them at the last to forget themselves, who in the days of their health and strength have allowed themselves to forget Him. “God Himself also says: They have turned their back to Me and not their face, and in the time of their affliction they will say, Arise and deliver us. Where are thy gods whom thou hast made thee? Let them arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction” (Jer. ii. 27, 28). It is true we have a consoling example of conversion at the moment of death in the penitent thief, but, as St. Augustine further says, while this one example is given so that no sinner may despair, it is the only one, so that no sinner may defer repentance through presumption.
What may we hope for those who are converted at the close of life?
Everything that is good, if they be really converted; but this is a most rare thing. (Of the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been wicked,” writes St. Jerome, “hardly one will be converted at the hour of death and obtain forgiveness of his sins.” And St. Vincent Ferrer says it would be a greater miracle for a person who has lived wickedly to die well than for one who is dead to be restored to life. And no wonder; for repentance at the hour of death is generally but an extorted repentance. It is not so much that the sinner forsakes his sins as that his sins forsake him; and the resolution of amendment is one which he would hardly make, were he not driven to it by the agonies of death.
What is there to expect from such repentance? When, therefore, ought we to do penance?
While we are in possession of our reason and strength; for, as St. Augustine says, the repentance of the sick is a sickly repentance. In time of sickness, as experience teaches, the pains of disease, the hope of recovery, the fear of death, the torments of conscience, the temptations of the devil, and the care of all depending on him, so continually distract a man that he can hardly collect his thoughts at all, much less bestow them upon a work of a true repentance. If to many it is so difficult to do penance while they are yet in health and hindered by nothing from raising their thoughts to God, how much more difficult will it be when the body has already become weak! We have heard a number of persons who had been sick admit after their recovery that they had no knowledge of what happened to them during their illness, and even had no recollection of having received the holy sacraments. Accordingly, Isaias admonishes us: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaias Iv. 6). And Christ says: You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and you shall die in your sin” (John vii. 34; viii. 21). If, therefore, you have committed mortal sin, delay not to return to God, by perfect contrition and a good confession. Put it not off from one day to another; for repentance thereby becomes more and more difficult; for, as St. Gregory says, one unrepented sin by its own weight impels a man to still further sins, and all the while makes him the weaker, and his adversary, the devil, the stronger; so that at last he cannot be converted without the extraordinary grace of God.
But how can the presumptuous sinner expect such grace?
God will laugh in his
destruction, in like manner as he has despised His instruction, counsel, and
reproof (Prov. i. 26-28). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good.”
(Gal. vi. 10), for who knows whether we may not be suddenly prevented, by
severe sickness, from working out our salvation!
Novena
of St. Ann[5]
Daily Prayer to Saint Ann
O
glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and
with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my
troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present
intention which I recommend to you in your special care.
Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it
before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue
to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me
the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the
saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .
O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at
the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
FIFTH
DAY
Hail, all-powerful Lady. By God’s special
favor, grant consolation to those who invoke you. Procure for them the eternal
riches of heaven, and like a good mother, success in their temporal affairs as
well.
Good St. Ann, obtain my deliverance from the
punishment which my sins deserve. Obtain for me success in my temporal affairs;
especially see to the salvation of my soul.
St. Ann, by your influence with Mary’s son
Jesus, you have won the gift of conversion for many sinners. Will you then
abandon me, who have chosen you as my mother? No, St. Ann. Your name alone,
which signifies grace, assures me of the help of your prayers, and these
prayers will surely procure pardon and mercy from Jesus. You will pray for me
now and at the hour of my death.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
DAY 37
IV. THE DIVINE WORKS AND THE
TRINITARIAN MISSIONS
257 "O blessed light, O
Trinity and first Unity!" God is eternal blessedness, undying life,
unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to
communicate the glory of his blessed life. Such is the "plan of his loving
kindness", conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in
his beloved Son: "He destined us in love to be his sons" and "to
be conformed to the image of his Son", through "the spirit of sonship". This
plan is a "grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages
began", stemming immediately from Trinitarian love. It unfolds in the
work of creation, the whole history of salvation after the fall, and the
missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church.
258 The whole divine economy is
the common work of the three divine persons. For as the Trinity has only one
and the same natures so too does it have only one and the same operation:
"The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three principles of
creation but one principle." However, each divine person performs the
common work according to his unique personal property. Thus, the Church
confesses, following the New Testament, "one God and Father from whom all
things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and one
Holy Spirit in whom all things are". It is above all the divine
missions of the Son's Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit that show
forth the properties of the divine persons.
259 Being a work at once common
and personal, the whole divine economy makes known both what is proper to the
divine persons, and their one divine nature. Hence the whole Christian life is
a communion with each of the divine persons, without in any way separating
them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy
Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and
the Spirit moves him.
260 The ultimate end of the
whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of
the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the
Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will
keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make
our home with him":
O my God,
Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in
you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing
be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may
each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make
it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never
abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in
my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.
National Ice Cream Day[6]
National Ice Cream Day is dedicated to appreciating ice cream. In 1984, Senator Walter Dee Huddleston of Kentucky initiated a joint resolution to declare July as the National Ice Cream Month and July 15 as National Ice Cream Day. On July 9, 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July 1984 as the National Ice Cream Month and July 15, 1984, as the National Ice Cream Day. This holiday is now celebrated on the third Sunday of July.
According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the origins of ice
cream date back to the second century B.C., when several prominent historical
figures such as Alexander the Great, King Soloman and Nero Claudius Caesar
enjoyed consuming iced beverages and snow. As the centuries passed, the snow
and ice were refined into cream ice and eventually, in 1777, ice cream
was first advertised in New York. However, ice cream was a rare deli––cacy for
the elite until 1800s when ice houses were built. Since then, it has become a
staple dessert for the American people.
National Ice Cream Day Facts &
Quotes
·
During the summer of 1790, President George
Washington spent $200 on ice cream. Meanwhile, according to Thomas Berry
of Duke University, the price of 1 pound of coffee was $0.50 in 1788.
·
10% of milk in the US goes towards making ice
cream.
·
During World War II, ice cream was served to
troops to boost morale while sanctions and rationing was in effect for the
general public. When the war ended, rationing of ice cream was lifted and
Americans celebrated victory with a cold, creamy treat. In fact, each American
consumed more than 20 quarts of ice cream in 1946.
·
In 2014, 872 million gallons of ice cream were
produced in the United States. The average American annually consumes 22
pounds of ice cream.
·
Ice cream is a nutritious and wholesome food,
enjoyed by over ninety percent of the people in the United States. It enjoys a
reputation as the perfect dessert and snack food. Over eight hundred and
eighty-seven million gallons of ice cream were consumed in the United States in
1983. - President Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5219 - National Ice Cream Month
and National Ice Cream Day, 1984
National Ice Cream Day Top Events
and Things to Do
·
Enjoy ice cream with your family and friends.
·
Get free or discounted ice cream. Most ice
cream shops giveaway free ice cream or offer special discounts on National Ice
Cream Day.
·
Make President Thomas Jefferson's favorite vanilla ice cream.
The recipe believed to have been handwritten by Jefferson is archived at
the Library of Congress.
· Liven up your ice cream by getting some healthy toppings. Our favorites:
-Chopped Walnuts
-Fresh Berries
-Raw Cacao nibs
-Goji Berries
-Frozen chopped banana
-Granola
-Unsweetened shredded Coconut
·
Try a non-dairy alternative to milk-based ice
cream products. Whether it is for dietary choices or lactose-intolerance,
there are a variety of non-dairy frozen desserts made from soymilk, coconut
milk, almond milk, cashew milk and rice milk. Here are some non-dairy
frozen desserts to try:
- Rice Dream Organic Vanilla
- Luna & Larry’s Organic Coconut Bliss Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey
- So Delicious Dairy Free Cashew Milk in Salted Caramel Cluster flavor
- Nada Moo Gotta Do Chocolate Ice Cream
- So Delicious Almond Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
Full Buck Moon
According to the almanac today we are having a Full Buck Moon; plan to spend some time, if you are not a hunter, out hiking with your children or grandchildren. In Arizona deer season starts in August but you can hunt Bison and Elk.
Claire’s Corner
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 15 Freedom from Wastefulness
o Pope St. John Paul II said, “Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
Here are ten unmistakable signs that your gifts are going to waste[7] in the wrong job:
1. The real world keeps changing, but your company doesn't change. Your job description remains the same, month in and month out -- even if you were told that the job would provide lots of great learning experiences.
2. Your manager isn't interested in trying new things. They aren't interested in making improvements to the work flow or innovating in any other way. You can't afford to waste your career working for someone like that!
3. You have tried many times and failed at getting your boss to be open to change. I believe 99% of the "change management" initiatives companies undertake are pointless, because it's so often not the employees who are resistant to change -- it's their managers!
4. You have big ideas about your job. You see ways to help your employer serve its customers better and generate more income. You might roll your ideas around in your head or even commit them to paper -- but in your heart you know they will never see the light of day.
5. You are the only "malcontent" in your work group. You are the only person who wishes your manager would wake up and step into the future. Your coworkers are perfectly content. You need a snappier group of people to work with!
6. When you look around at work, you don't see anybody you could learn from. Even as a relatively new employee, you already know more about how things work, and come up with more ideas, than almost anybody else.
7. You daydream about a job that will give you more creative freedom, acknowledge you for your contributions and allow you to feel like a valued member of a team that is accomplishing great things. You don't experience any of those feelings in your current role.
8. When you look ahead, you don't see anything changing at your job in a year or beyond.
9. You feel sick on Sunday night when you contemplate going back to work on Monday morning.
10. Your trusty gut hates your job. Trust your gut!
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: For
the intercession of the angels and saints
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[2] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 32. Presence of God.
[4]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[5]Blessed Sacrament
Fathers, ST. ANN’S SHRINE, Cleveland, Ohio
[7]https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2018/06/25/ten-unmistakable-signs-youre-wasting-your-talent/
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