Project BLACK MAMBA

Today is the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Otherwise, on 13 September we would remember Saint John Chrysostom (347-407), archbishop (Patriarch of Constantinople) & Doctor of the Church: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: St. John Chrysostom is a personal patron of yours truly, by his intercession, not by my conscious choice. Last year, I received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, for spiritual rather than physical sickness, & as Father prayed over me & all the assembled Cursillistas laid on hands, he asked if there was a saint whose intercession I wished to invoke. My mind was blank. Father then received the inspiration to invoke St. John Chrysostom, from whom I had been regularly requesting intercession for those C.R.H.P. team members giving spoken witnesses. 'Twas a moment of significant grace, a powerful & lasting reminder that we in the Church Militant are never very far away from our brothers & sisters in the Church Penitent & the Church Triumphant. This world that we see around us, this glorious Creation, is not all there is.

The epithet Chrysostom means "golden-mouthed," because St. John was renowned for his eloquent homilies. The Lord has gifted me with a silver tongue, which I hope & pray to be able to use as a golden mouth for His greater glory & the building up of His Body which is the Church.

Scripture of the Day
Personal Reading
The Letter to the Ephesians, chapter two;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter seven, verses one thru eleven.

Mass Readings
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty, verses five thru nine(a);
Psalm One Hundred Sixteen, verses one thru six, eight & nine;
The Letter of James, chapter two, verses fourteen thru eighteen;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter eight, verses twenty-seven thru thirty-five.

Mass Journal: Week 38
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute

Yesterday, I was visiting a friend in Atlanta. He lives in a beautiful neighborhood & as we drove past these magnificent homes, one after another, I began to ask myself, "If your spiritual life were a house, what would it be like?" I would like to place the question before you now. If your spiritual life were a house, what would it be like? What street would it be on? What part of town would it be in? What would it look like? Would it be a house or a home? Is it in need of renovations? It is peaceful, noisy, distracting, well organized, messy?

By way of answer, allow me to quote the daily Gospel from yesterday, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter six, verses forty-six through forty-nine:

⁴⁶ "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' but do not do what I command? ⁴⁷ I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, & acts on them. ⁴⁸ That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply & laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against the house but could not shake it because it had been well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who listens & does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once & was completely destroyed."

Bonus! Song of the Lord's Day
Cowboy Junkies, "Working On a Building" via iTunes (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"If I was a liar,
I tell you what I'd do,
I would quit my lying,
And work on that building, too.

"Working on a building,
It's a Holy Ghost building,
O my Lord!
Yes, o my Lord!…"