Project BLACK MAMBA: Late Edition

Commentary: Friday's late, like clockwork.

'Tis the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious, T.O.S.F. (1207-1231, A.K.A. of Thuringia): Saint-link ūna, Saint-link duae, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Niece of St. Hedwig of Silesia (16 October).

Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Elizabeth is perhaps best known for her miracle of the roses which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig on a hunting party, who in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. In that moment, her cloak fell open & a vision of white & red roses could be seen.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

While still a young girl she was married to Louis the Landgrave of Thuringia & gave birth to three children. She devoted herself toprayer & meditation. After her husband's death, she embraced a life of poverty, erecting a hospital in which she herself served the sick. She died at Marburg in 1231.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop (circa 213-170, A.K.A. of Pontus, of Neocaesarea): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: "Thaumaturgus" is not St. Gregory's surname, but an epithet, meaning "wonder-worker" or "miracle-worker."

'Tis also the festival of Saint Gregory of Tours, Bishop (circa 538-594): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture o' the Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The Book of Wisdom, chapter thirteen, verses one thru nine;
Psalm Nineteen, verses two & three & four & five(a/b);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter seventeen, verses twenty-six thru thirty-seven.

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

Friends, in today's Gospel passage the Lord compares the clueless behavior of our time with that of Noah. Listen to his warning: "Jesus said to his disciples, 'The coming of the Son of Man will repeat what happened in Noah's time.'" Those aren't very reassuring words.

Then he specifies: people were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage right up to the time of the flood. And then, when it came with shocking suddenness, they were destroyed. The end of an old world had arrived, but the inhabitants of that world were clueless. A new world was coming, but the prospective citizens of it had no idea how to prepare for it.

Our version of Noah's world-destroying flood might be the crashing of a huge comet into the earth. What if we knew that a comet was coming, but we did nothing about it, we adjusted in no way to it? This was the situation of those in Noah's time and, Jesus suggests, those in his own time. And it's our situation, too. We must prepare for the Lord's coming by patterning our lives on the Gospel.

Video reflection by Father Juan Carlos Tejada: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Mass Readings—Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
The First Letter of John, chapter three, verses fourteen thru eighteen;
Psalm Thirty-four, verse two;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter six, verses twenty-seven thru thirty-eight.

Mass Readings—Requiem for Lima Kilo
The Book of Proverbs, chapter thirty-one, verses ten thru thirty-one;
Psalm Twenty-seven, verses one, four, & thirteen;
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses one thru eighteen;
The Gospel according to John, chapter fourteen, verses one thru six.

Saint Quote o' the Day
From "Heroes' Words" in 54-Day Basic Training in Holiness by Father Richard Heilman:

"He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows."
—St. Gregory of Nyssa (10 January)

A Humble Contribution to the New Evangelization
The Popish Plot—Theology Thursday: "Devotions Aren't Magic"

The Popish Plot—Bonus Episode: "Religious Chain Mail"