Claire’s Corner
· 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.
· Bucket List Trip: Around the World “Perfect Weather”
o Bhutan
§ Paro
· Spirit Hour: Frisky Bison
· Foodie: Matsutake Recipes
Do the Herb
· 30 Days of Women and Herbs – Frauendreissiger
o Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
MEDICINAL PLANTS Day 3-Revealed by Heaven to Luz De María
OUTDOORS EXPOSURE AND GOOD SAMARITAN OIL
My children are suffering more frequently from respiratory diseases, which increase, being recurrent and requiring long treatment. Children, have you not asked yourselves why it is that you should be weaker faced with respiratory diseases?
Exposure to drastic changes in the climate greatly contributes to your bodies’ being exposed to respiratory complications, but at the same time the hand of man is implicit, spreading chemicals and viruses through the air so that you fall sick more frequently, and these sometimes become mortal for human beings. Faced with this, you should protect yourselves in order to minimize exposure to white trails when they cover the atmosphere. At the same time, spray the oil of the Good Samaritan on what you have chosen to protect your nose and mouth.
Sick minds of powerful nations are the demons that spread the disease on My children in airplanes. Shut your homes and do not expose yourselves to the open air when you see strange forms in the atmosphere.” Blessed Virgin Mary, 12.21.2019
· Hurricane Camille hit Gulfport Mississippi in 1969-Know what to do in a Hurricane; you don’t just drink them. My dad was stationed in Gulfport in 1974 at the Seabee base there.
On Sundays Pray:
Glorious Queen of Heaven and Earth, Virgin Most Powerful, thou who hast the power to crush the head of the ancient serpent with thy heel, come and exercise this power flowing from the grace of thine Immaculate Conception. Shield us under the mantle of thy purity and love, draw us into the sweet abode of thy heart and annihilate and render impotent the forces bent on destroying us. Come Most Sovereign Mistress of the Holy Angels and Mistress of the Most Holy Rosary, thou who from the very beginning hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan. Send forth thy holy legions, we humbly beseech thee, that under thy command and by thy power they may pursue the evil spirits, counter them on every side, resist their bold attacks and drive them far from us, harming no one on the way, binding them to the foot of the Cross to be judged and sentenced by Jesus Christ Thy Son and to be disposed of by Him as He wills.
St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, come to our aid in this grave battle against the forces of darkness, repel the attacks of the devil and free the members of the Auxilium Christianorum, and those for whom the priests of the Auxilium Christianorum pray, from the strongholds of the enemy.
St. Michael, summon the entire heavenly court to engage their forces in this fierce battle against the powers of hell. Come O Prince of Heaven with thy mighty sword and thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits. O Guardian Angels, guide and protect us. Amen.
God's blessings are indeed signs of His goodness, signs of His infinite Love. Are we indifferent to those signs of His goodness and love? Are we so unaware of His signs that we are disconnected from Him that we can take it or leave it?
AUGUST 17 Tenth Sunday after
Pentecost
The
scribes and chief priests sought to lay their hands on him at that very hour,
but they FEARED the people, for they
knew that he had addressed this parable to them.
Politics
never changes. Those in power find it very difficult to surrender. The powerful
leaders of Israel were offended because Christ told them the truth, “The stone
which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
The Real
Issue was Surrender[1]
The
scribes had set a trap by asking whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar.
They sought to label Him as a traitor to the Jews if he said yes and if He said no they could accuse Him before the Romans. Their plan was perfect
yet, Jesus was able to see past the façade. Taxes were not the issue: Surrender
was the issue. Who or what are the values and assumptions about life do we
surrender too? Christ’s question, “Who’s image is on the coin.” He meant that
any object stamped with a person’s image belongs to the individual pictured.
This coin carried Caesar’s image, so they were to surrender that coin to
Caesar. Christ’s point was the Israel’s had been stamped with God’s image. They
therefore should surrender themselves to God.
Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship[2]
As
Catholics we therefore must give our consciences to God. Catholic’s are called
to care and vote responsibly.
The
Catholic bishops of the United States offer to the Catholic faithful Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, their teaching document on the political
responsibility of Catholics.
Copilot
Luke 20:19 and the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost is
rich with insight and spiritual urgency. Let’s deepen the layers a bit
more—especially around the themes of surrender, conscience, and political
responsibility.
🕊️ Luke
20:19 — Fear, Truth, and Power
“The scribes and chief priests sought to lay their
hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people…”
This verse captures a moment of spiritual tension.
The religious elite recognized that Jesus’ parable—about the wicked tenants—was
aimed directly at them. Their fear wasn’t rooted in moral conviction but in
public backlash. Commentary expands this:
·
Jesus’ parables exposed hypocrisy: His teachings
weren’t abstract; they were confrontational, revealing the leaders’ failure to
steward God’s people faithfully.
o Fear of
the crowd restrained them: Their authority was fragile, dependent on public
perception. They feared losing control more than they feared God.
§ The real
confrontation was spiritual: Jesus wasn’t just challenging politics—He was
calling for a radical reorientation of the soul.
§ This
moment is a mirror: when truth threatens our comfort or status, do we surrender
to it—or suppress it?
🪙 “Whose
Image Is This?” — The Coin and the Conscience
Jesus’ response to the tax trap— “Render unto Caesar
what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s”—wasn’t just clever. It was
theological brilliance.
·
The coin bore Caesar’s image: So, it belonged to
Caesar.
o We bear
God’s image: So we belong to God.
§ This is
the heart of surrender. The issue wasn’t taxation—it was identity. Jesus was
asking: To whom do you belong? The scribes wanted to trap Him in politics; He
invited them into divine allegiance.
🗳️ Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ document, Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, echoes this call to surrender—not to
political ideologies, but to God’s truth. You can read the full document on the
USCCB website.
Key principles include:
·
Conscience formation is ongoing: It requires prayer,
study of Scripture, and reflection on Church teaching.
o Not all
issues carry equal moral weight: Some, like abortion and euthanasia, are
intrinsic evils and must be opposed.
§ Catholics
must engage politics for the common good.
§ This
isn’t about partisanship—it’s about prophetic witness.
🔥 The Real
Issue Is Still Surrender
“The real issue was surrender”—is the spiritual
crux. Whether in ancient Jerusalem or modern America, the question remains:
To whom do we give ourselves?
·
Do we surrender to fear, comfort, or ideology?
o Or do we
surrender to the One whose image we bear?
§ This Sunday’s Gospel isn’t just a historical moment—it’s a living challenge that as Catholics we are invited to respond not with evasion, but with Eucharistic courage.
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[3]
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 fervor to the
prayer which rises from the Church to the Most Holy Trinity.
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.
Bible in a Year Day 60 Intercessory Prayer
Fr. Mike makes note of how the tribes of Israel travel with Judah (praise)
leading the way, and makes note of how Moses intercedes for the people and acts
as a mediator between God and man. Today's readings are Numbers 10, Deuteronomy
9, and Psalm 10.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Individuals
with Mental Illness
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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