Saints + Scripture: Holy Week

The Popish Plot
Vlog Post: "What Are Alms?"

Commentary: Day seven of The Popish Plot's "Turn It Up to 11" fête! Now with more møøse!

Scripture of This Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of Holy Week
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty, verses four thru nine(a);
Psalm Sixty-nine, verses eight, nine, & ten; twenty-one & twenty-two; & thirty-one, thirty-three, & thirty-four;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-six, verses fourteen thru twenty-five.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus asks his disciples to go into Jerusalem and prepare a Passover supper.

At the heart of the Passover meal was the eating of a lamb, which had been sacrificed, in remembrance of the lambs of the original Passover, whose blood had been smeared on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt. Making his Last Supper a Passover meal, Jesus was signaling the fulfillment of John the Baptist’s prophecy that he, Jesus, would be the Lamb of God and the definitive sacrifice.

This sacrifice is made sacramentally present at every Mass—not for the sake of God, who has no need of it, but for our sake. In the Mass, we participate in the act by which divinity and humanity are reconciled, and we eat the sacrificed body and drink the poured-out blood of the Lamb of God.

Video reflection by Jem Sullivan, Ph.D.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

†

Otherwise, 28 March would be the festival of Saint Sixtus III, Pope (died 440, also spelt Xystus), forty-fourth (XLIV) Bishop of Rome, who approved the canons of the Council of Ephesus (431): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff & Wikipedia-link Council.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem, Priest (died circa 450): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Stephen Harding, Priest & Abbot, O.Cist. (circa 1060-1134, in the French: Étienne Harding), co-founder of the Abbey of Cîteaux & the Cistercian Order: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Abbey & Wikipedia-link O.Cist.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Christopher Wharton, Priest & Martyr (circa 1540-1600), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the Eighty-five Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link LXXXV & Wikipedia-link LXXXV.

Papal Quote o' This Day

"This week let us think deeply about the suffering of Jesus & let us say to ourselves: this is for my sake. Even if I had been the only person in the world, He would have done it. He did it for me. Let us kiss the crucifix & say: for my sake, thank You, Jesus, for me."
—Pope Francis

Little Flower Quote o' This Day

"God alone can sound the heart!"
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' This Day

"He who can preserve gentleness amid pains, & peace amid worry multitude of affairs, is almost perfect."
—St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church (1567-1622, feast day: 24 January)