Sunday, September 22, 2024
Claire’s Corner
· Sunday Family Dinner
o Thompson seedless grapes in sour cream
· How to celebrate Sep 22nd
o Wake up to the changing season by celebrating Fall Equinox with a riverside breakfast.
o Embrace the spirit of adventure on Hobbit Day with a barefoot trek through nature.
§ (Note: skip the barefoot and watch the movies)
o Take preventive measures against falls.
o Leave the car behind and explore your city on foot or by bike on Car Free Day.
o Indulge in a sweet treat on Ice Cream Cone Day.
o Reflect on your day’s adventures with a journal entry on Dear Diary Day.
o Try a Bee’s Knees
SAINT MAURICE-fall begins
1 Samuel, Chapter 18, Verse 12
Saul then began to FEAR David because the LORD was with him
but had turned away from Saul.
To
this David writes psalm 27:
The LORD
is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
When
evildoers come at me to devour my flesh, these my enemies and foes themselves
stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart does not fear;
though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.
One thing I
ask of the LORD; this I seek: to dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my
life, to gaze on the LORD’s beauty, to visit his temple. For God will hide me
in his shelter in time of trouble, He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;
and set me high upon a rock. Even now my head is held high above my enemies on
every side! I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing
and chant praise to the LORD. Hear my voice, LORD, when I call; have mercy on
me and answer me. “Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”; your face, LORD, do I
seek! Do not hide your face from me; do not repel your servant in anger. You
are my salvation; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior! Even if
my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me in.
LORD, show me your way; lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Do not abandon me to the desire of my foes; malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me. I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!
ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[1]
My esteemed Brothers in the
Episcopate
and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Introduction
5. From this perspective,
the situation appears somewhat mixed. On the one hand, there is the example of
some young Churches, which show how fervently Sunday can be celebrated, whether
in urban areas or in widely scattered villages. By contrast, in other parts of
the world, because of the sociological pressures already noted, and perhaps
because the motivation of faith is weak, the percentage of those attending the
Sunday liturgy is strikingly low. In the minds of many of the faithful, not
only the sense of the centrality of the Eucharist but even the sense of the
duty to give thanks to the Lord and to pray to him with others in the community
of the Church, seems to be diminishing.
It is also true that both
in mission countries and in countries evangelized long ago the lack of priests
is such that the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist cannot always be
guaranteed in every community.
Eighteenth Sunday after
Pentecost[2]
The church now enters a season of
reflection on the final magnification of Christ…
Sacrifice,
forgiveness, and "confirmation in the end without crime" (1 Cor. 4.8)
IN
the Introit of the Mass the Church prays for the peace which God has promised
through His prophets. “Give peace, O Lord, to them that patiently wait for
Thee, that Thy prophets may be found faithful; hear the prayers of Thy
servants, and of Thy people Israel. I rejoiced at the things that were said to
me; we shall go into the house of the Lord.
Prayer.
We
beseech Thee, O Lord, that the work of Thy mercy may direct our hearts; for
without Thy grace, we cannot be pleasing to Thee.
EPISTLE,
i. Cor. i. 4-8.
Brethren:
I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given you
in Christ Jesus, that in all things you are made rich in Him, in all utterance,
and in all knowledge; as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that
nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the
day of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brief
Lessons.
St.
Paul shows in this epistle that he possesses the true love of his neighbor, by
rejoicing and thanking God that He had bestowed on the Corinthians manifold
gifts and graces, and thereby confirmed the testimony of Christ in them. By
this we learn that we should rejoice over the gifts and graces of our
neighbors; should thank God for them, and pray Him to fill all who are in the
darkness of error with knowledge, and love, and all virtues.
GOSPEL.
Matt. ix. 1-8.
At that time Jesus,
entering into a boat, passed over the water and came into His own city. And
behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus,
seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good heart, son,
thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold some of the scribes said within
themselves: He blasphemeth.
And Jesus seeing their
thoughts, said:
Why do you think evil
in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee: or to
say, Arise and walk?
But
that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then
said He to the man sick of the palsy: Arise, take up thy bed and go into thy
house. And he arose, and went into his house. And the multitude seeing it,
feared, and glorified God that gave such power to men.
Explanation.
The charity of those who brought the sick man to
Christ was so full of faith, so pleasing to Him, that, out of regard for it, He
forgave the palsied man his sins, and healed him.
Christ did not heal the man sick with the palsy until
He had forgiven him his sins. By this He teaches us that sins are often the
cause of the sicknesses and evils that pursue us; and that if we sincerely
repent of our sins, God would be likely to remove these evils from us. This is
also intimated by the words of Jesus to him who had been sick eight-and-thirty
years: “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee” (John v. 14). This
should be kept in mind by those who so impetuously be seech God to free them
from their afflictions, but who do not think to free themselves from the sins
which may be the cause of them, by a sincere repentance and by leading a
Christian life.
“He blasphemeth.”; Thus, in their perverted minds, the
Jews thought of Christ; supposing that, by forgiving the sick man his sins, He
had committed an encroachment on the prerogative of God, and thereby done Him
great wrong; for it is blasphemy against God to attempt to wrong Him, or to
think, speak, or do anything insulting to Him or to His saints.
“And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said:
Why
do you think evil in your hearts?”
This is something to be considered by those who
suppose their thoughts to be free from scrutiny, and to whom it does not even
occur to make their evil thoughts matter of confession. God, the most holy and
most just, will no more leave unpunished impure, proud, angry, revengeful,
envious thoughts, than He will an idle word (Matt. xii. 36). Do not, therefore,
give yourself up to evil thoughts; and in order to repel them, remember each
time that God sees and punishes them.
Would
you not drive them away if men saw them?
ON INDULGENCES
What is an indulgence?
It is the remission granted by the Church, in the name
of God, and on account of the merits of Jesus Christ and of all the saints, of
the temporal punishment which men must suffer, either in this world or in the
world to come, for sins that have been already forgiven.
Whence do we know that after sins
are forgiven there yet remains a temporal punishment?
From Holy Scripture, thus, God imposed upon Adam and
Eve great temporal punishments, although He forgave them their sin (Gen. iii.).
Moses and Aaron were punished for a slight want of confidence in God (Num. xx.
24; Deut. xxxii. 51). David, though forgiven, was obliged to submit to great
temporal punishments (n. Kings xii.). Finally, faith teaches us that after
death we must suffer in purgatory till we have paid the last farthing (Matt. v.
26).
Can the Church remit all temporal
punishments, even those imposed by God Himself, and why?
Certainly, by virtue of the power to bind and to loose
which Christ has given her (Matt, xviii. 18). For if the Church has received
from God the power to remit sins which is the greater, she certainly has
authority to remit the punishment of them which is the less. Moreover, it is by
the bands of punishment that we are hindered from reaching the kingdom of God.
But if the Church can loose all
bands, why not this?
Finally, Jesus certainly had power to remit the
temporal punishment of sins and the power which He Himself had He gave to His
disciples.
What is required in order rightly
to gain an indulgence?
In
order to gain an indulgence, it is necessary:
I.
To be in the grace of God. It is proper, therefore, to go to confession every
time that one begins the good works enjoined for the gaining of an indulgence.
In granting partial indulgences sacramental confession is not usually
prescribed, but if one who is in the state of mortal sin wishes to gain the
indulgence, he must at least make an act of true contrition with a firm purpose
of going to confession.
2.
It is necessary to have at least a general intention of gaining the
indulgences.
3.
It is necessary to perform in person and with devotion all the good works
enjoined as to time, manner, end, etc., according to the terms in which the
indulgence is granted. To gain plenary indulgences, confession, communion, a
visit to some church or public oratory, and pious prayers are usually
prescribed. If visits to a church are prescribed, Holy Communion may be
received in any church, but the indulgenced prayers must be said in that church
in which the indulgence is granted, and on the prescribed day. As to prayers,
it is recommended that there be said seven times the Our Father, Hail Mary,
Glory be to the Father, and Creed.
Prayer
for gaining an Indulgence.
“We
beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously accept the petitions of Thy holy Church, that
Thou wouldst deliver her from all adversities, root out from her all heresies,
unite all Christian rulers and princes, and exalt Thy holy Church on earth,
that we may all serve Thee in peace and quietness. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Saint
Maurice[3]
Early life
Maurice was an Egyptian,
born in AD 250 in Thebes, an ancient city in Upper Egypt that was the capital
of the New Kingdom of Egypt (1575–1069 BC). He was brought up in the region of
Thebes (Luxor).
Career
Maurice became a soldier in
the Roman army. He rose through the ranks until he became the commander of the
Theban legion, thus leading approximately a thousand men. He was an
acknowledged Christian at a time when early Christianity was considered to be a
threat to the Roman Empire. The legion, entirely composed of Christians, had
been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Emperor Maximian in
defeating a revolt by the bagaudae. The Theban Legion was dispatched with
orders to clear the Great St Bernard Pass across the Alps. Before going into
battle, they were instructed to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods and pay
homage to the emperor. Maurice pledged his men's military allegiance to Rome.
He stated that service to God superseded all else. He said that to engage in
wanton slaughter was inconceivable to Christian soldiers. He and his men
refused to worship Roman deities.
Martyrdom
When Maximian ordered them
to murder local Christians, they refused. Ordering the unit to be punished,
Maximian had every tenth soldier killed, a military punishment known as
decimation. More orders followed, the men refused compliance as encouraged by Maurice,
and a second decimation was ordered. In response to the Theban Christians'
refusal to attack fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members
of the legion to be executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred,
known as Agaunum, is now Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, site of the Abbey of St.
Maurice. So reads the earliest account of their martyrdom, contained in the
public letter which Bishop Eucherius of Lyon (c. 434–450), addressed to his
fellow bishop, Salvius. Alternative versions have the legion refusing
Maximian's orders only after discovering innocent Christians had inhabited a
town they had just destroyed, or that the emperor had them executed when they
refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
Day 101
Expectation of the Messiah and
his Spirit
711 "Behold, I am doing a
new thing." Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the
expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new
Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await
in hope the "consolation of Israel" and "the redemption of
Jerusalem."
We have seen earlier how Jesus
fulfills the prophecies concerning himself. We limit ourselves here to those in
which the relationship of the Messiah and his Spirit appears more clearly.
712 The characteristics of the
awaited Messiah begin to appear in the "Book of Emmanuel"
("Isaiah said this when he saw his glory," speaking of Christ),
especially in the first two verses of Isaiah 11:
There shall
come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch
shall grow out of his roots.
and the Spirit
of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the spirit
of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit
of counsel and might,
the spirit
of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
713 The Messiah's
characteristics are revealed above all in the "Servant
songs." These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' Passion and show
how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an
outsider, but by embracing our "form as slave." Taking our death
upon himself, he can communicate to us his own Spirit of life.
714 This is why Christ
inaugurates the proclamation of the Good News by making his own the following
passage from Isaiah:
The Spirit
of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good
tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who
are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD'S favor.
715 The prophetic texts that
directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks
to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of
"love and fidelity." St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment
on the morning of Pentecost. According to these promises, at the "end
time" the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law
in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he
will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace.
716 The People of the
"poor" - those who, humble and meek, rely solely on their God's
mysterious plans, who await the justice, not of men but of the Messiah - are in
the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit's hidden mission during the
time of the promises that prepare for Christ's coming. It is this quality of
heart, purified and enlightened by the Spirit, which is expressed in the
Psalms. In these poor, the Spirit is making ready "a people prepared for
the Lord."
IV. The Spirit of Christ
in the Fullness of Time
John, precursor, prophet, and Baptist
717 "There was a man sent from
God, whose name was John." John was "filled with the Holy Spirit
even from his mother's womb" by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary
had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus
became a visit from God to his people.
718 John is "Elijah (who) must come." The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of "[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord."
719 John the Baptist is
"more than a prophet." In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his
speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by
Elijah. He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the
"voice" of the Consoler who is coming. As the Spirit of truth
will also do, John "came to bear witness to the light." In
John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the careful search of the
prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. "He on whom you see
the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
and I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.... Behold,
the Lamb of God."
720 Finally, with John the
Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of "the divine likeness,"
prefiguring what he would achieve with and in Christ. John's baptism was for
repentance; baptism in water and the Spirit will be a new birth.
Fall begins (Northern
H.)[4]
Fall
begins in the Northern Hemisphere when the Sun is perpendicular to the equator.
This day has equal hours of day and night. The first day of Fall is
also called the Autumnal Equinox. In many areas it coincides with
harvests. The first day of Fall happens between each year between September
22 and 24.
Fall
begins (Northern H.) Facts & Quotes
·
The Harvest Moon is the full moon which occurs closest to the
autumnal equinox.
·
The Earth takes 365.25 days to make one complete revolution
around the Sun. This results in the first day of Fall beginning 6 hours
later each year and moving a full day backwards on Leap Years.
·
During the fall, the leaves on many trees die and fall to the
ground. 500 years ago, expressions like fall of the leaf and fall of the year
were quite common in the English-speaking world. The term fall as the
name for this season comes from these early expressions.
·
How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and
color are their last days - John Burroughs
Fall begins (Northern H.) Top Events and
Things to Do
·
Take a hike and enjoy the colorful leaves.
·
Visit a Nature Center or Nature Museum near you.
·
Plant cold weather plants or begin to protect your summer plants from the winter elements.
·
Rake leaves into piles and then jump in them.
·
Visit an apple orchard and pick some fresh apples. Use some of
them to make a delicious apple pie or apple crisp for dinner.
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: Today's Fast: Increase Vocations to
the Holy Priesthood
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: September
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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