Saints + Scripture

The Popish Plot
Not Really G. K. Chesterton's The Defendant (Not at All, Actually): "Maginot Line"

'Tis the festival of Saint Lucius I, Pope (circa 200-254), twenty-second (XXII) Bishop of Rome: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Piran, Abbot (died circa 480, also spelt Perran, etc.): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Saint Piran's Day & Wikipedia-link Saint Piran's Flag.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Kieran, Bishop (died circa 530, of Saigir; also spelt Ciarán, Cieran; A.K.A. Ciarán mac Luaigne), one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Éire-link & Wikipedia-link Éire.

'Tis also the festival of Saint John Joseph of the Cross, Priest, O.F.M. (circa 1654-1734): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Lazër Shantoja, Priest & Martyr (1892-1945), martyred in the reign of the Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, one of the thirty-eight Martyrs of Albania: Martyr-link, Wikipedia-link Main, & Wikipedia-link List; Wikipedia-link Albania.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Sirach, chapter thirty-five, verses one thru twelve;
Psalm Fifty, verses five & six, seven & eight, & fourteen & twenty-three;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter ten, verses twenty-eight thru thirty-one.

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

Friends, today’s Gospel exhorts us to see the radicality and rewards of Jesus’ call to discipleship, which cuts through so many of the social conventions of his time and ours. He urges us to see that everyone—rich and poor, men and women, those on the inside and those on the outs—is summoned to discipleship, and that this summons is the most important consideration of all. It is the better part, to use Jesus’ words; it is the one thing necessary.

St. Augustine was right: "Lord, you have made us for yourself; therefore, our heart is restless until it rests in thee." We are all wired for God. There is a hunger in us that nothing in this world can possibly satisfy. Only Jesus can lead us to the heavenly banquet; and that’s why we must follow him.

Video reflection by Father Andrew Lauricella: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Scripture Study—Wisdom Books
The Book of the Proverbs, chapter four (verses one thru twenty-seven);
The Book of the Proverbs, chapter five (verses one thru twenty-three).

Commentary: A Father's Advice (Proverbs, 4:1-27) & Warning against Loose Women (Proverbs, 5:1-23).

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 44
The Book of Exodus, chapter eighteen, verses one thru twenty-seven.

Commentary: Jethro's Counsel to Moses (Exodus, 18:1-27).

Proverb o' the Day (Sirach, 34:20)

Like one who kills a son before his father's eyes
is the man who offers a sacrifice from the property of the poor.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"The Church cannot say what is bad is good, nor can she call valid what is invalid. She cannot fail to proclaim Christ's teaching, even when this teaching is difficult to accept."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"Now that I am about to appear before God, I understand very clearly that one thing only is necessary: to work for Him alone, & not for oneself or for others."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"When the Lord came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, we encounter another part of the Church. Nine apostles were trying to deal with a social problem. A distraught father who has a boy with mental problems comes into the picture. He is the symbol of every social problem & the symbol of every father's worry. The father goes to the Church & says to the Church: 'Will you help this boy? This is not a religious problem that I have. It belongs to the social order. Heal him.' The father comes to our Lord & says: 'They could not drive the devil out of my son. Will you drive him out?' And our Blessed Lord said to the disciples, 'How long must I suffer you?' This is the church of development; this is the church of social action. This is the church of economic & political order. This is the church of secularity. This is the church of involvement. As the other was the church of ecstasy, apartness, individual sanctification, joy, happiness, peace.

"When his disciples said, 'Why can we not drive him out?' the Lord almost became intolerant of them. He said, '0 ye of little faith. You have no faith. You are trying to build up a new world. That kind is driven out only by prayer & fasting.' Which church was right? Neither. And that's the modern world. Divide it as you please. Say the church on the mountain represents the old. Say the church in the valley represents the young. Both of them are ineffective. One sleeping, misinterpreting the Passion of Christ, trying to translate an emotion into a religion. The other was dealing with the hard facts of life. This is our divorce. Neither one was right. So if we are to build up a Church for this new age, we will have to begin by putting the two together, by returning to the very fundamental doctrine that the Word became flesh: first the spiritual, then the action."
—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979)