Claire’s Corner-Get out and climb a mountain; today is mountain day
Seven Summits of America
· MOUNT WASHINGTON, 6,288 FEET New Hampshire
· MOUNT HOOD, 11,249 FEET Oregon
· MAUNA KEA, 13,803 FEET Hawaii
o As a little girl my dad was stationed in Hawaii and took us there.
§ Mauna Kea, located on the island of Hawaii, is actually the tallest mountain in the world. It stands 4,207 meters or 13,802 feet above sea level. Its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. However, most of the mountain is under water. When measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 meters or 33,000 feet tall. This makes it the world’s tallest mountain from base to summit.
· Way to go dad/Iceman!
· MOUNT RAINIER, 14,410 FEET Washington
· MOUNT ELBERT, 14,440 FEET Colorado
· MOUNT WHITNEY, 14,505 FEET California
· DENALI, 20,310 FEET Alaska
The highest peaks on each continent are known as the Seven Summits. The Seven Summits are:
- Mount Everest in Asia
- Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa
- Aconcagua in South America
- Mount McKinley (Denali) in North America
- Mount Elbrus in Europe
- Vinson Massif in Antarctica
- Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in Australia
Puncak Jaya is actually located in the Papua province of Indonesia. However, technically Puncak Jaya lies on the Australian continental shelf. The highest peak on the mainland of Australia is Mt Kosciuszko.
· The Summer Olympics Ends today
· Let Freedom Ring Day 36 Freedom from Avarice
o Avarice is a synonym of Greed. It is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Some distinguish between Avarice and greed, essentially implying that Avarice is like Greed-on-Steroids. No matter which word we care to use, both regard an excessive or inordinate desire of gain or wealth; a selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions.
o Avarice has a long if uncomplicated history in English. Chaucer in his 14th-century The Parson's Tale compared avarice with covetise, a now obsolete word that means "covetousness" ("Covetise is to covet such things as thou hast not; and avarice is to withhold and keep such things as thou hast, without rightful need"-743), and Shakespeare uses it in Macbeth ("With this there grows / In my most ill-composed affection such / A stanchless avarice that, were I king, / I should cut off the nobles for their lands, / Desire his jewels and this other's house: / And my more-having would be as a sauce / To make me hunger more"-IV.iii.76-82).
o Abundance of possessions or abundant life? Which will we choose? `
§ Greed: desires more and more
§ Covetousness: greed with jealousy (desiring what another has)
§ Avarice: an excessive desire to obtain and keep money or possessions. Hoarding.
· Hoarding: News story of woman whose house is filled with stuff. Her bed is stacked with stuff. In the summertime she sleeps outside on a glider, because there is no room in her house. Her teenage son moved out to live with an older sister because he couldn’t stand it. She knows she has a problem. Her family knows she knows she has a problem.
AUGUST 11 Twelfth
Sunday after Pentecost
ST. CLARE
Judges, Chapter 7, Verse 10-11
10
If you are AFRAID to attack, go down to the camp with your aide Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying.
After that you will have the courage to descend on the camp. So he went down
with his aide Purah to the outposts of the armed men in the camp.
“Take courage;
get up, he is calling you.”
(Mk: 10:49)
Christ
calls us to a greater purpose than he did Gideon:
No
man or woman of good will can renounce the struggle to overcome evil with good.
This fight can be fought effectively only with the weapons of love.
When good overcomes evil, love
prevails and where love prevails, there peace prevails.
This
is the teaching of the Gospel, restated by the Second Vatican Council:
"The
fundamental law of human perfection, and consequently of the transformation of
the world, is the new commandment of love"
…Christians
must be convinced witnesses of this
truth. They should show by their lives that love is the only force capable of
bringing fulfillment to persons and societies, the only force capable of
directing the course of history in the way of goodness and peace…By Christ's
death and resurrection, made sacramentally present in each Eucharistic
celebration, we are saved from evil and enabled to do good. Through the new
life which Christ has bestowed on us, we can recognize one another as brothers
and sisters, despite every difference of language, nationality and culture. In
a word, by sharing in the one bread and the one cup, we come to realize that we
are "God's family" and that together we can make our own effective
contribution to building a world based on the values of justice, freedom and
peace.[1]
CHAPTER
V
DIES
DIERUM
Sunday:
The Primordial
Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time
CONCLUSION
86. I entrust this Apostolic
Letter to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, that it may be received and
put into practice by the Christian community. Without in any way detracting
from the centrality of Christ and his Spirit, Mary is always present in the
Church's Sunday. It is the mystery of Christ itself which demands this: indeed,
how could she who is Mater Domini and Mater Ecclesiae fail to be
uniquely present on the day which is both dies Domini and dies
Ecclesiae?
As they listen to the word proclaimed
in the Sunday assembly, the faithful look to the Virgin Mary, learning from her
to keep it and ponder it in their hearts (cf. Lk 2:19). With Mary, they
learn to stand at the foot of the Cross, offering to the Father the sacrifice
of Christ and joining to it the offering of their own lives. With Mary, they
experience the joy of the Resurrection, making their own the words of the Magnificat
which extol the inexhaustible gift of divine mercy in the inexorable flow of
time: "His mercy is from age to age upon those who fear him" (Lk
1:50). From Sunday to Sunday, the pilgrim people follow in the footsteps of
Mary, and her maternal intercession gives special power and fervour to the
prayer which rises from the Church to the Most Holy Trinity.
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost[3]
Focus: True and
laudable service as we run to attain the eternal promises and increase in
faith, hope, and love
Introit of the Mass to-day is the prayer of an
afflicted soul entreating God for assistance. “Incline to my aid, O God; O
Lord, make haste to help me; let my enemies be con founded and ashamed who seek
my soul. Let them be turned backwards, and blush for shame, who desire evils to
me.”
Prayer. O
almighty and merciful God, from Whose gift it comes that Thou art worthily and
laudably served by the faithful, grant us, we beseech Thee, to run without
offence to the attainment of Thy promises.
EPISTLE, ii. Cor. iii. 4-9.
Brethren: Such confidence we have through Christ
towards God: not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of
ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God: Who also hath made us fit ministers
of the New Testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit: for the letter
killeth: but the spirit quickeneth. Now if the ministration of death, engraven
with letters upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance,
which is made void: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather in
glory? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory: much more the
ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
Explanation.
St. Paul here introduces a comparison between the
priest hood of the Old and that of the New Law, in order to show that the
dignity of the priesthood under the New Law (and consequently the respect and
confidence due to it) as far excels the dignity of the priesthood under the Old
as the spirit does the letter the truth the figure. For if the ministry of
Moses, which consisted in the service of the letter, and imparted no grace, was
so glorious, how much more glorious is that priest hood of the New Law, through
which is conveyed the sanctifying grace of God! And how much more veneration
and obedience should accordingly be paid to the priests of the New Law!
GOSPEL Luke x 23-37
At that
time Jesus said to His disciples: Blessed are the eyes that see the things
which you see. For I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to
see the things that you see and have not seen them; and to hear the things that
you hear and have not heard them. And behold a certain lawyer stood up,
tempting Him, and saying: Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? But
He said to him: What is written in the law? How readest thou?
He
answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy
neighbor as thyself. And He said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and
thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is
my neighbor?
And
Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
fell among robbers, who also stripped him: and, having wounded him, went away
leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same
way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near
the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey
came near him: and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him,
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own
beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took
out two pence (worth two days wages), and gave to the host, and said: Take care
of him: and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I at my return will
repay thee. Which of these three in thy opinion was neighbor to him that fell
among the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to
him: Go and do thou in like manner.
Why does Jesus call His disciples
blessed?
Because
they had the happiness which so many kings, patriarchs, and prophets had
desired in vain of seeing the Savior of the world, and of hearing His teaching.
What is it to love God?
To acknowledge God as the highest and most
perfect good; to desire that He should be known, honored, loved, by all men;
that His will should be fulfilled by all; and so zealously to observe His
commandments that we would lose all the goods of life, and even life itself,
rather than transgress these commands and be separated from God.
What does it mean to love God with
the whole heart, etc.?
“With
thy whole heart”, signifies with all the motions and inclinations of the heart
“with thy whole soul”, with all the thoughts, conceptions of the soul, “with
thy whole mind”, with all the desires, wishes, and determination of the will;
“with all thy strength”, with all the powers and faculties of body and soul
with all the acts and motions of the senses. All these should be directed to
God alone, as the last object and end of man.
How can this be done?
By
doing whatever we do, whether it be mental or manual labor, eating, drinking,
or recreation, with the intention of doing the will of God and what is pleasing
to Him. By this it is understood that idle talk, intemperance in meat and
drink, and in general all sinful works, cannot be offered to God, because they
are contrary to His will and therefore deserve punishment.
Is that true love which loves God
because He does us good?
That
love is truly good and praiseworthy, but not perfect, for self-interest creeps
in with it.
What, then, is the perfect love of
God?
When
we love God only because He is in Himself the highest good and most worthy of
love. In such manner must we endeavor to love God; not out of self-interest,
not from the expectation of reward, nor yet from fear of punishment.
Can everyone thus love God?
Yes,
for there is no state of life in which we cannot refer everything to God. Love
does not require great deeds, but that we should avoid evil, and refer
everything to God; and all can do this.
Aspiration. O Jesus, rich in love, Who hast so
earnestly exhorted us to the love of God and of our neighbor, engrave deep in
our hearts, we pray Thee, this commandment of love, that whatever we do or
leave undone, all our thoughts, words, and works, may begin and end in love of
Thee; and that no tribulation, temptation, or danger, nor even death itself,
may ever separate us from Thee. Grant, also, that out of love to Thee we may
love our neighbor, whether friend or enemy, as ourselves, and by this love may deserve
to have Thee as a Savior and merciful Judge.
Who is our neighbor?
Every
man be he a foreigner or a fellow-countryman, poor or rich, of our own religion
or of any other, a friend or an enemy.
How are we to love our
neighbor?
We
must love our neighbor as ourselves; that is, we must wish for him and do for
him what in similar circumstances we should desire for ourselves, and not wish
for him or do to him what we would not wish done to ourselves (Matt. vii. 12).
In what way are we
particularly to practice the love of our neighbor?
1.
By heartily rejoicing over the gifts and graces which our neighbor has received
from God, and by sympathizing with him in misfortune.
2.
By praying God to grant to our neighbor such gifts as St. Paul, on his knees,
besought for the Ephesians, the fulness of the knowledge of God, and of all
perfection.
3.
By overlooking and patiently bearing our neighbor’s faults, disorders, and
infirmities of every kind, as St. Paul says: “Bear ye one another’s burdens and
so you shall fulfil the law of Christ”.
4.
In general, by both the spiritual and the corporal works of mercy.
With what intention
should we love our neighbor?
We
must love our neighbor in God, and for God’s sake, because He commands it, and
because such love is pleasing to Him.
Be Not Afraid
In modern times, with all the violence that is going on in the whole world and with America at the center of any response to terror and terrorists, how should we respond? First and foremost, without fear for the Lord is our King. We should search our hearts and seek to retain a heart of peace. Our response must be measured and used with no malice. We must stop evil but not with hatred. We should love the humanity of our enemies, pray for them and do good to them if we can.
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink." (Romans 12:20)
According to the CIA
world fact book many of the countries in which we have the greatest troubles
have the lowest per capita income per person in the world. For example, per
capita in the US is $63,700 a year versus $700 in Burundi #229 and North Korea
is #214 ($1700) with Mexico@95 ($19,100) (note the US is 14th in
per capita; it is interesting to note the number one nation in per capita is Liechtenstein
at $139,100). Our enemies are hungry and used or abused by ruff creatures
of men. Imagine what could happen if we
could use the great economic power of this country to raise the good men in
these regions up: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty: to empower men
of goodwill and remove the ruff creatures of men from power.
St. Clare[4]
The Lady Clare, "shining in name, more shining in life," was born in the town of Assisi about the year 1193. She was eighteen years old when St. Francis, preaching the Lenten sermons at the church of St. George in Assisi, influenced her to change the whole course of her life. Talking with him strengthened her desire to leave all worldly things behind and live for Christ. The following evening, she slipped away from her home and hurried through the woods to the chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis was then living with his small community. He and his brethren had been at prayers before the altar and met her at the door with lighted tapers in their hands. Before the Blessed Virgin's altar Clare laid off her fine cloak, Francis sheared her hair, and gave her his own penitential habit, a tunic of coarse cloth tied with a cord.
When
it was known at home what Clare had done, relatives and friends came to rescue
her. She resisted valiantly when they tried to drag her away, clinging to the
convent altar so firmly as to pull the cloths half off. Baring her shorn head,
she declared that Christ had called her to His service, she would have no other
spouse, and the more they continued their persecutions the more steadfast she
would become.
Francis
had her removed to the nunnery of Sant' Angelo di Panzo, where her sister
Agnes, a child of fourteen, joined her. This meant more difficulty for them
both, but Agnes' constancy too was victorious, and in spite of her youth
Francis gave her the habit. Later he placed them in a small and humble house,
adjacent to his beloved church of St. Damian, on the outskirts of Assisi, and
in 1215, when Clare was about twenty-two, he appointed her superior and gave
her his rule to live by. She was soon joined by her mother and several other
women, to the number of sixteen. They had all felt the strong appeal of poverty
and sackcloth, and without regret gave up their titles and estates to become
Clare's humble disciples.
Within
a few years similar convents were founded in the Italian cities of Perugia,
Padua, Rome, Venice, Mantua, Bologna, Milan, Siena, and Pisa, and also in
various parts of France and Germany. Agnes, daughter of the King of Bohemia,
established a nunnery of this order in Prague, and took the habit herself. The
"Poor Clare’s," as they came to be known, practiced austerities which
until then were unusual among women. They went barefoot, slept on the ground,
observed a perpetual abstinence from meat, and spoke only when obliged to do so
by necessity or charity. Clare herself considered this silence desirable as a
means of avoiding the innumerable sins of the tongue, and for keeping the mind
steadily fixed on God. Francis or the bishop of Assisi sometimes had to command
her to lie on a mattress and to take a little nourishment every day.
Discretion,
came with years, and much later Clare wrote this sound advice to Agnes of
Bohemia: "Since our bodies are not of brass and our strength is not the
strength of stone, but instead we are weak and subject to corporal infirmities,
I implore you vehemently in the Lord to refrain from the exceeding rigor of
abstinence which I know you practice, so that living and hoping in the Lord you
may offer Him a reasonable service and a sacrifice seasoned with the salt of
prudence."
Saint Clare, Virgin,
Foundress of the Poor Clare’s.
"When
the Saracens were besieging Assisi and were preparing to attack the convent,
St. Clare asked to be assisted as far as the entrance, for she was ill. In her
hand she carried a vessel containing the blessed Eucharist as she prayed: O
Lord, do not deliver over to beasts the souls that praise You! (Ps. 73).
Protect Your servants, for You have redeemed them by Your precious Blood. And
in the midst of that prayer a voice was heard, saying: Always will I protect
you!
The
Saracens took to flight."[5]
Highlights
and Things to Do:
- Learn
more about St. Clare:
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Golden Legend
- CatholicSaints.info
- Catholic Ireland
- Saints Stories for All Ages
- St.
Clare's relics rest in The Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi, Italy. More
information in English available here and here.
- This
Franciscan
Archive page dedicated to St. Clare has links to her writings,
biographies, religious congregations, papal documents, and more.
- See
images and information about the Founder Statue of St. Clare on St. Peter's Colonnade.
- Visit
Catholic Cuisine for some food feast inspiration.
- Read
Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience on St. Clare
- Although
not comprehensive, this site maintains the list of different Poor Clare Orders around the world.
- One
of the divisions of the cloistered and contemplative Poor Clares is the "Poor
Clare Federation of Mary Immaculate," which has 12 monasteries in
the United States. One of the more known monasteries is the one in
Roswell, New Mexico, where Mother
Mary Francis, P.C.C. (1921-2006) was Mother Superior. Some of her
books have been published by Ignatius Press. All her writings are highly
recommended. She wrote a book on St. Clare, which is self-published and
available through the sisters in NM.
- Read
a short
biography of St. Clare by Mother M. Angela, P.C.C..
- Mother
Angelica of EWTN was a Poor Clare. Her monastery is Poor Clares of Perpetual
Adoration at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 58
A hard battle. . .
407 The doctrine of original
sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid
discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents'
sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man
remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who
thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". Ignorance of
the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious
errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.
408 The consequences of
original sin and of all men's personal sins put the world as a whole in the
sinful condition aptly described in St. John's expression, "the sin of the
world". This expression can also refer to the negative influence
exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the
fruit of men's sins.
409 This dramatic situation of
"the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one" makes
man's life a battle:
The whole of
man's history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil,
stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last
day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do
what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God's grace,
that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.
IV. "YOU DID NOT ABANDON
HIM TO THE POWER OF DEATH"
410 After his fall, man was not
abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way
heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his
fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first
gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle
between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of
hers.
411 The Christian tradition
sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because
he "became obedient unto death, even death on a cross", makes amends
superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Furthermore, many Fathers
and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the
"Proto-evangelium" as Mary, the mother of Christ, the "new
Eve". Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ's victory over
sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of
God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
412 But why did God not prevent
the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's
inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had
taken away." and St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to
prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin;
God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says,
'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O
happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"
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: End
Sex Trafficking, Slavery
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
Today is
my Grandson Frank Isak’s (Free Laughter) Fourth birthday I ask your prayers.
This was the blessing and prophecy I wrote for his naming.
This child will
be a free man who laughs and is able to get enthusiastic about the endless
beauty of this world. He will be a person that is dependable, responsible and
teaches others gratitude.
[1]https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20041216_xxxviii-world-day-for-peace.html
[3]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
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