Project BLACK MAMBA

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest, M.I. (1550-1614), founder of the Camillians, formally the Clerics Regular, Ministers to the Sick: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link M.I.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Because the squeaky wheel gets the grease [!], quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

He was a Roman Catholic priest from Italy who founded a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

At seventeen, he was afflicted with a disease of his leg that remained with him for life. In Rome, he entered the San Giacomo Hospital for Incurables as both patient & servant, but was dismissed for quarrelsomeness after nine months. He served in the Ventian army for three years. Then in the winter of 1574, when he was twenty-four, he gambled away everything he had—savings, weapons, literally down to his shirt. He accepted work at the Capuchin friary at Manfredonia, & was one day so moved by a sermon of the superior that he began a conversion that changed his whole life. He devoted the rest of his life to the care of the sick, & has been named, along with St. John of God [8 March], patron of hospitals, nurses, & the sick. With the advice of his friend St. Philip Neri [26 May], he studied for the priesthood & was ordained at the age of thirty-four.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Pambo, Hermit (died circa 375): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The Book of Exodus, chapter two, verses one thru fifteen(a);
Psalm Sixty-nine, verses three, fourteen, thirty & thirty-one, & thirty-three & thirty-four;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eleven, verses twenty thru twenty-four.

Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today Jesus declares judgment on the towns of Galilee that did not believe in him and repent. He stands at the end of the long line of prophets God sent in order to reconcile his people to himself. Like the prophets before him, Jesus is ignored, mocked, and rejected.

What happens as a result of man's refusal of God? Not nothing. God's judgment falls on the unfaithful nation. What is the instrument of God's justice? One of the heathen nations, the Chaldeans, come and destroy the city of Jerusalem, burn the temple, carry off its most sacred objects, and force the Israelites into exile. And then the Romans follow suit in the first century.

Is this bad luck? Just the typical give and take of geopolitical forces? No! The Bible insists that this should be read as God's action, more specifically, as God's judgment and punishment. Mind you, this is not an arbitrary punishment, something cruel and vindictive; rather it is God allowing the fallen nation to feel the effects of its sin.

So what's the lesson? Sin has consequences, and we rarely have to wait for the next world to experience them.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis
The First Letter of John, chapter three, verses fourteen thru eighteen;
Psalm One Hundred Twelve, verse one;
The Gospel according to John, chapter fifteen, verses nine thru seventeen.