Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Project BLACK MAMBA: Eastertide

'Tis the festival of Saints Donatian & Rogatian, Martyrs (died circa 299), martyred in the reign of the emperors Diocletian & Maximian: Martyr-link Delta, Martyr-link Romeo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Simeon Stylites the Younger, Priest (521-597): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blesseds Mario Vergara, Priest (P.I.M.E.), & Isidore Ngei Ko Lat, Martyrs (died 1950), martyred at the hands of Burmese Baptist rebels: Martyr-link Mike Victor & Wikipedia-link Mike Victor; Martyr-link India November Kilo Lima & Wikipedia-link India November Kilo Lima

Commentary: Bls. Mario & Isidore were beatified in 2014.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Easter Weekday
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter seventeen, verses fifteen & twenty-two thru chapter eighteen, verse one;
Psalm One Hundred Forty-eight, verses one & two, eleven & twelve, thirteen, & fourteen;
The Gospel according to John, chapter sixteen, verses twelve thru fifteen.

Commentary: Easter Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, the theme of today’s Gospel declares that when the Spirit comes, he will guide us into all truth. There is a story I’ve heard about Jean-Luc Marion that, if it isn’t true, should be. In the midst of his lively lecture on Descartes, a student asked a pointed question about God. Marion looked at her and said, “Go to Sunday Mass for a year and then return and ask me that question again.”

Marion’s response was not just a clever one-liner. If true knowledge of God depends upon immersion in the Holy Spirit, then that knowledge is a function of an entire form of life, involving prayer, self-denial, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and the forgiveness of one’s enemies. We don’t so much think our way to an understanding of God; we live our way to it.

Thomas Aquinas always said that he owed his theology far more to the persistence of his prayer than to the acuity of his mind. His penetration of the divine mystery flowed from his life in the Holy Spirit. And so today we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit, come!”

Bible Study
The Book of Genesis, chapter four (verses one thru twenty-six);
The Book of Genesis, chapter five (verses one thru thirty-two);
The Book of Genesis, chapter six, verses one thru four.

Commentary: Cain & Abel (4:1-16), Descendants of Cain & Seth (4:17-26), Generations: Adam to Noah (5:1-32), & Origin of the Nephilim (6:1-4).

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