Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:
St. John Eudes, C.J.M. was a French missionary & priest, who founded the Congregation of Jesus & Mary & the Order of Our Lady of Charity, & was the author of the propers for the Mass & Divine Office of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary.Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:
St. John Eudes joined the religious community of the Oratorians & was ordained a priest at twenty-four. During severe plagues in 1627 & 1631, he volunteered to care for the stricken in his own diocese. Lest he infect his fellow religious, he lived in a huge cask in the middle of a field during the plague. He is probably best known for the central these of his writings: Jesus as the source of holiness, Mary as the model of the Christian life. John's devotion to the Sacred Heart & to the Immaculate Heart of Mary led Pius XI to declare him the father of the liturgical cult of the Hearts of Jesus & Mary.'Twas also the festival of Saint Andrew Stratelates, Martyr (died circa 300, A.K.A. the Tribune), martyred in the reign of the emperors Diocletian & Maximian: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.
'Twas also the festival of Saint Louis of Toulouse, Bishop, O.F.M. (1274-1297, A.K.A. of Anjou): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.
'Twas also the festival of Blessed Hugh Green, Priest & Martyr (circa 1584-1642, A.K.A. Ferdinand Brooks or Brooke), martyred in the reign of the king Charles I: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.
Scripture of That Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The Book of Joshua, chapter twenty-four, verses fourteen thru twenty-nine;
Psalm Sixteen, verses one, two(a), & five; seven & eight; & eleven;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses thirteen, fourteen, & fifteen.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in our Gospel for today, Jesus proposes that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like children. Why? For starters, children don't know how to dissemble, how to be one way and act another. They are what they are; they act in accordance with their deepest nature. "Kids say the darndest things," because they don't know how to hide the truth of their reactions.Video reflection by Nicholas Sciarappa: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In this, they are like stars or flowers or animals, things that are what they are, unambiguously, uncomplicatedly. They are in accord with God's deepest intentions for them.
To say it another way, they haven't yet learned how to look at themselves. Why can a child immerse himself so eagerly and thoroughly in what he is doing? Why can he find joy in the simplest thing, like pushing a train around a track or watching a video over and over, or kicking a ball around? Because he can lose himself; because he is not looking at himself, not conscious of other people's reactions, expectations, and approval.
Mind you, this childlikeness has nothing to do with being unsophisticated, unaccomplished, or childish. Thomas Aquinas was one of the most accomplished men to ever live, the greatest intellectual in the history of the Church, one of the subtlest minds in the history of the West. Yet the terms that were used over and over to describe him were "childlike" and "innocent."
Childlikeness has to do with that rootedness in what God wants us to be. Thomas was born to be a theologian and a writer, and nothing would get him off of that beam: neither the critiques of his enemies, nor the blandishments of his religious superiors, nor the temptations to become a bishop. He was and remained who God wanted him to be and thus he was like a great mountain or a flower or, indeed, a child.
Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. John Eudes
The Letter to the Ephesians, chapter three, verses fourteen thru nineteen;
Psalm One Hundred Thirty-one;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eleven, verses twenty-five thru thirty.
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