Vinny’s Corner
· July 5-July 27 Tour de France[3]
Celebrate France’s biggest sporting event this month — the Tour de France. The official kick-off takes place on the island of Corsica then crosses onto France’s mainland. Cruise the French countryside as you follow the grand event. Or if you can’t make it abroad, head to one of America’s top bicycling cities.
ACT OF FAITH
O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God, in three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man and died for our sins and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.
· Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
· Spirit hour: Lime Rickey in honor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
· National Bikini Day-Men should not wear bikini’s
· Bucket Item trip: Pilgrimage-Mawali
· Today in National Hawaii Day
· Foodie: Kachumbari
Men by nature, are masculine, and the Catholic Church's understanding of masculinity can be summed up in one word: sacrifice.[4]]
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. (Psalm 23:1)
Top 10 Masculinity Movies
JULY 5 First Saturday
5 On entering the tomb they saw a
young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were
utterly amazed. 6 He said to them, “Do not be
amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is
not here. Behold, the place where they laid him. 7 But go and tell his disciples and
Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told
you.’” 8 Then they went out and fled from the tomb,
seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone,
for they were AFRAID.
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother
of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. They
were doing an act of mercy to clean Christ’s corpse and properly bury him. When
they experienced the power of God raising from the dead, they were shocked to
silence.
Copilot
Mark 16, the final chapter of the Gospel, centers on the Resurrection—and
yet fear plays a striking role in how the story unfolds. From a Catholic
perspective, this fear is not dismissed but transformed. Here are the key
lessons:
1. Fear in
the Face of the Divine – When the women discover the empty tomb and encounter
the angel, they are “alarmed” (Mark 16:5). This reflects a natural human
reaction to the supernatural. Catholic tradition sees this as the beginning of holy
fear—a reverent awe in the presence of God’s power.
2. Fear Can
Silence Witness – Verse 8 says the women fled the tomb “for trembling and
astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were
afraid.” This moment is haunting. It reminds Catholics that fear can
paralyze our mission, even when we’ve encountered the truth. But the Church
also teaches that grace can overcome this silence—eventually, the Good News was
proclaimed.
3. Fear
Gives Way to Faithful Action – Later verses (especially in the longer ending of
Mark) show Jesus commissioning the disciples to preach the Gospel to all
creation. This shift from fear to bold proclamation reflects the Catholic
belief that encountering the risen Christ empowers us to move beyond fear into
mission.
4. Fear Is
Not the Final Word – The Resurrection itself is the ultimate answer to fear—of
death, of failure, of abandonment. Catholic theology holds that Christ’s
victory over the grave transforms fear into hope, and trembling into joy.
In short, Mark 16 teaches that fear is real—but it’s not the end of the
story. It’s the threshold of transformation, where grace meets trembling hearts
and sends them out to proclaim life.
The Law
of Victory: Jesus’ Resurrection[1]
The disciples had lost the teacher and Lord. The Jewish leaders had silenced their opposition. The people had lost their hope of a revolution against Rome. Even the devil thought he had finally stopped this divine leader and brought about the abandonment of the Gospel. What a surprise awaited that first Resurrection Sunday morning! When Jesus rose from the dead, He gave His followers a potent hope to end every doubt about His kingdom.
The
Wisdom of the Cross
The
world can never recognize the wisdom of the cross. The other day while sitting
in my church for mass it was revealed to me the wisdom of the cross.
·
As
the Eucharistic celebration was being conducted I was admiring our church and
as I gazed on the altar I notice we had the cross which represented Christ dead
for our sins.
·
Behind
the cross lit up with the sun waning was the stained glass of Christ ascending
to the Father. I asked interiorly where the representation of Christ
resurrected is? Then almost immediately an interior voice stated,
·
“You
are the representation of Christ resurrected.” At first, I withdrew from the
idea, sinner that I am.
Then
I knew that this was the divine wisdom that we by the frequent reception of the
Blessed Sacrament the Holy Body of Christ physically and spiritually become the
resurrected Christ to our families, neighbors, our friends and even dare I say
our enemies. May God’s will and wisdom be done!
First Saturday[2]
The following is an
explanation of the conditions contained in Our Lady's request regarding the
Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays of the Month.
1.
Confess and
receive Holy Communion
On February 15, 1926,
the Child Jesus alone came to visit Sr. Lucia and asked if the devotion to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary was being propagated. Sr. Lucia spoke of the
difficulty some people have in confessing on the first Saturday and asked if
they might be allowed eight days in order to fulfill Our Lady's requests. Jesus
answered: "Yes, even more time still, as long as they receive Me in the
state of grace and have the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary."
2.
Recite the
Rosary
Five decades of the
Rosary may be recited at any time or place; yet, since one will be attending
Mass in order to receive Holy Communion, a very desirable time and place would
be before or after Mass in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Meditation on
the mysteries according to one's capacity is an essential condition for praying
the Rosary. Yet, involuntary distractions do not rob the Rosary of fruit if one
is doing the best he can.
3.
"Keep me
company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the
Rosary."
The question is
often asked: Does the meditation while reciting the Rosary fulfill this
condition, or is there required an additional
fifteen minutes of meditation?
That
an additional 15 minutes of meditation is required was recently confirmed by
Sr. Lucia of Fatima. It is clear too from a statement by the first Bishop of
Fatima.
The last entry in the
chronology of Fatima, published in the official Calendar of the Sanctuary for
the year of 1940, and signed by Dom Jose Correia da Silva, the first Bishop of
Fatima, gave a summary of Our Lady's requests concerning the Five First Saturdays.
From that official statement in the Calendar of the Sanctuary, we read the
bishop’s enumeration of the various items that pertain to the devotion of the
five Saturdays:
It consists in going
to Confession, receiving Communion, reciting five decades of the Rosary and
meditating for a quarter of an hour on the mysteries of the Rosary on the first
Saturday of five consecutive months. The Confession may be made during the eight
days preceding or following the first Saturday of each month, provided that
Holy Communion be received in the state of grace. Should one forget to form the
intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it may be
formed at the next Confession, occasion to go to confession being taken at the
first opportunity.
The meditation embraces
one or more mysteries; it may
even include all, taken together or separately, according to individual
attraction or devotion; but it is preferable to meditate on one mystery each month.
Speaking of the
requirement of "keeping me company for fifteen minutes while meditating
on the mysteries of the Rosary," the bishop’s comment that "it
is preferable to meditate on one mystery each month" could apply only
to an extra fifteen minutes, for each decade of the Rosary must have its own
particular meditation. This is clear from the definition of the Rosary given in
the official document of the Church on indulgences, the ENCHIRIDION OF INDULGENCES
published by Pope Paul VI in 1968. It describes the Rosary as follows:
"The Rosary is a
certain formula of prayer, which is made up of fifteen decades of HAIL MARYS
with an OUR FATHER before each decade, and in which the recitation of each decade is accompanied by pious
meditation on a particular mystery of our Redemption." (n. 48)
Like the Rosary, this
meditation may be made any time or place during the first Saturday. Yet again,
like the Rosary, a very fitting time and place would be in the presence of the
Blessed Sacrament before or after Mass.
The question has
been asked: "Would an extra Rosary, which would require about fifteen
minutes, fulfill this request?
It
would seem, if fruitfully meditated, that it would. Or again, the time could be
spent reading meditatively on
one of the fifteen mysteries, which is a form of mental prayer that involves
reading with frequent pauses to reflect on the matter read.
4.
With the
intention of making reparation.
All of the conditions
mentioned above - in numbers 1 to 3 - should be fulfilled with the intention of
making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On the occasion of the visit
of the Child Jesus to Sr. Lucia (Feb. 16, 1926), she asked:
"My Jesus, what
about those who forget to make the intention?"
Jesus
answered: "They can do so at their next confession, taking advantage of
their first opportunity to go to Confession."
The above are the
minimum requirements for fulfilling the conditions of Our Lady's promise to
obtain for us "at the hour of death the graces necessary for
salvation." Yet, these Communions of reparation, as has been pointed
out, are only a portion of the devotion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These
few pages are meant to help bring about a frame of mind and heart that will
make us aware of the need of reparation all through the month, and not just on
the first Saturday.
WHY FIVE SATURDAYS?
It
is sometimes asked why Our Lady asked for Communions of reparation on five
first Saturdays, instead of some other number. Our Blessed Lord answered that
question when He appeared to Sr. Lucia May 29, 1930. He explained that it was
because of five kinds of offenses and blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, namely: blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception, against her
perpetual virginity, against the divine and spiritual maternity of Mary,
blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonoring of her images, and the
neglect of implanting in the hearts of children a knowledge and love of this
Immaculate Mother.
Bible in a Year-Day 17
Fr. Mike highlights the mysterious role suffering in Job's life as we continue journeying through Genesis 31-32, Job 21-22, and Proverbs 3:9-12.
Daily
Devotions
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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