Project BLACK MAMBA

'Tis the Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious, S.J. (1568-1591): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

St. Aloysius was born of the princely family of Castiglione in 1568 near Mantua inLombardy. Instructed in piety by his mother, he manifested an inclination to religious life. He legally delivered his share of the ancestral dominion to his brother & entered the Society of Jesus. While serving the sick during a plague, he himself contracted the disease & died in 1591.

'Tis also the festival of Saint John Rigby, Martyr (circa 1570-1600), martyred in the reign of the queen Elizabeth I, one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link XL & Wikipedia-link XL.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Weekday
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine, verses six thru eleven;
Psalm One Hundred Twelve, verses one(b,c) & two, three & four, & nine;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter six, verses one thru six, sixteen, seventeen, & eighteen.

Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, todays Gospel prescribes the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I want to speak about the Biblical principle behind almsgiving. I know I’ve quoted to you before some of the breathtaking remarks of saints and Popes. For example, Pope Leo XIII said, “once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest of your money belongs to the poor.” St. John Chrysostom (13 September) said—and St. Ambrose (7 December) echoed him—“For the man who has two shirts in his closet, one belongs to him; the other belongs to the man who has no shirt.” These ideas are, of course, rooted in the Biblical prophets, who continually rail against those who are indifferent to the poor.

Compassion is key to Christian ethics, learning to suffer with and feel with the other. We’re not dealing with an abstract Aristotelian moral philosophy, but rather with something more visceral.

This is precisely why the two great commandments are so tightly linked: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…and love your neighbor as yourself.” In loving God, you feel the feelings of God, and God is compassionate to the poor and oppressed. That’s all the argument that a Biblical person needs.

Mass Readings—Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga
The First Letter of John, chapter five, verses one thru five;
cf. Psalm Sixteen, verse five(a);
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-two, verses thirty-four thru forty.

Bible Study—The Bible Timeline: Egypt & Exodus, Part 1
The Book of Exodus, chapter six, verses twenty-eight, twenty-nine, & thirty;
The Book of Exodus, chapter seven (verses one thru twenty-nine);
The Book of Exodus, chapter eight (verses one thru twenty-eight);
The Book of Exodus, chapter nine (verses one thru thirty-five);
The Book of Exodus, chapter ten (verses one thru twenty-nine);
The Book of Exodus, chapter eleven (verses one thru ten).

Commentary: Moses & Aaron before Pharaoh (6:28-7:7), the Staff Turns into a Snake (7:8-13), First Plague: Water Turned into Blood (7:14-24), Second Plague: the Frogs (7:25-8:11), Third Plague: the Gnats (8:12-15), Fourth Plague: the Flies (8:16-28), Fifth Plague: the Pestilence (9:1-7), Sixth Plague: the Boils (9:8-12), Seventh Plague: the Hail (9:13-35), Eight Plague: the Locusts (10:1-20), Ninth Plague: the Darkness (10:21-29), & Tenth Plague: the Death of the First-born (11:1-10).