Saints + Scripture

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the festival of Saints Protus & Hyacinth, Martyrs (died circa 257), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Valerian, victims of his persecution: Martyr-link Papa, Martyr-link Hotel, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Persecution ūnus & Wikipedia-link Persecution duo.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Paphnutius of Thebes, Bishop (floruit 335; A.K.A. the Confessor, of Egypt), who attended the First Council of Nicaea (325): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Council.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Carlo Spinola, Priest & Martyr, S.J. (1565-1622, Anglicized as Charles Spinola), martyred in the reign of the Japanese warlord Tokugawa Hidetada: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blesseds John Bathe, S.J. & Thomas Bathe, Priests & Martyrs (died 1649), martyred in the reign of the English warlord Oliver Cromwell, two of the Irish Martyrs: Martyr-link Juliett Bravo, Martyr-link Tango Bravo, & Wikipedia-link; & Martyrs-link Irish & Wikipedia-link Irish.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, Priest & Martyr, C.M. (1802-1840), martyred in the reign of the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing Dynasty: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, Martyr-link The True Enlightenment!, & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of This Day
Mass Readings—Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter six, verses one thru eleven;
Psalm One Hundred Forty-nine, verses one(b) & two; three & four; five, six(a), & nine(b);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter six, verses twelve thru nineteen.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, after Jesus names his twelve Apostles in today’s Gospel, he heals a multitude of people. And that multitude represents us, for we all stand in need of the Savior’s healing touch.

We are made for love and connection and justice and nonviolence, but at every turn and in every way we are twisted in the direction of hatred, separation, injustice, and violence. We are, as St. Augustine put it, wandering in the land of dissimilitude and in the grip of the libido dominandi. The contemporary philosopher René Girard has reminded us that all of our social arrangements are marked by scapegoating and oppression.

The human race is best characterized as a dysfunctional spiritual family, all of us having been marked from birth by the effects of sin. Sin has found its way into every aspect of human life, personally and institutionally. We would be hopelessly naïve to think otherwise.

And so we need, not just a philosopher or social theorist or political activist or military hero, but a Savior, someone who can break into our dysfunction from the outside and heal us.

Video reflection by Father Charles Slisz: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bible Study—Wisdom Books
The Book of Psalms, psalm seventy-four (verses one thru twenty-three);
The Book of Psalms, psalm seventy-five (verses one thru ten);
The Book of Proverbs, chapter eleven (verses one thru thirty-one).

Commentary: Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation (Psalm 74) & Thanksgiving for God's Wondrous Deeds (Psalm 75); Wise Saying of Solomon (cont'd; Proverbs, 11:1-31)

Proverb o' This Day (11:4)

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.

Papal Quote o' This Day

"Faith humiliates our pride of imagined self-sufficiency & at the same time opens our hearts to the immense & exalting proportions of the revealing Word of God. On the threshold of the crib, of the Gospel, of salvation stands faith."
—Pope Bl. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 26 September)

Little Flower Quote o' This Day

"Just as the sun shines at the same time on trees & flowers, like each was the only one on earth, so does our Lord care for all souls in a special manner, as if they were each unique."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' This Day

"What did not lie in my plan lay in God's plan. And the more often something like this happens to me,the livelier becomes the conviction of my faith that—from God's perspective—nothing is accidental."
—St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942, feast day: 9 August)