Scripture of This Week
Mass Readings—Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Book of Numbers, chapter eleven, verses twenty-five thru twenty-nine;
Psalm Nineteen, verses eight, ten, twelve & thirteen, & fourteen;
The Letter of James, chapter five, verses one thru six;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter nine, verses thirty-eight thru forty-three, forty-five, forty-seven, & forty-eight.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus speaks, with incredible bluntness, about cutting off one’s hand and foot and the plucking out of one’s own eye. If these things are a block to your salvation, get rid of them, for it is better to enter life maimed than to enter Gehenna with all of your limbs and members.Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The hand is the organ by which we reach out and grasp things. The soul is meant for union with God, but we have instead reached out to creatures, all of our energies grasping at finite things.
The Lord also speaks of the foot. The foot is the organ by which we set ourselves on a definite path. We are meant to walk on the path which is Christ. Do we? Or have we set out down a hundred errant paths, leading to glory, honor, power, or pleasure?
We are designed to seek after and look for God. Have we spent much of our lives looking in all the wrong places, beguiled by the enticements of this world? And are we willing to pluck out our eye spiritually, to abandon many of the preoccupations that have given us pleasure?
Video reflection by Father Claude Burns: Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.
Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.
Mass Journal: Week Forty
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:
A tree with deep roots can weather any storm. In your life & mine it is only a matter of time before the next storm gets here: an illness, the death of a loved one, unemployment, financial difficulties, a troubled child, a natural disaster, marital strife, or any number of other things. The storms of life are inevitable. The question is not whether there will be another storm. The question is: When will the next storm get here? And when the next storm gets here, it's too late to sink the roots. When the next storm gets here, you either have the roots or you don't.†
Otherwise, 30 September would be the festival of Saint Jerome, Priest & Doctor of the Church (circa 347-420, A.K.A. Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus): Doctor-link ūnus, Doctor-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Doctors.
Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Twould also be the festival of Saint Simon of Crépy, Religious (circa 1047-1082, A.K.A. of Vexin), Count of Amiens: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the festival of Saint Francis Borgia, Priest, S.J. (1510-1572, "Second Founder of the Society of Jesus"), Duke of Gandía, third Superior General of the Society of Jesus: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Black Pope.
Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Ludwik Roch Gietyngier, Priest & Martyr (1904-1941), martyred in the reign of the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, one of the One Hundred Eight Blessed Polish Martyrs: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link (List, № 51); Martyrs-link CVIII & Wikipedia-link CVIII.
Papal Quote o' the Day
"St. Jerome was the model of devotion & service to the revealed Word. He never tired of reminding the Church that God Himself spoke to the soul of sacred writers: 'To be ignorant of the Scriptures is not to know Christ.'""Little Flower Quote o' the Day
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)
"Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity."Saint Quote o' the Day
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)
"The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken from the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it should be held as certain that the greater violence we shall do ourselves in mortification, the greater advance we shall make in perfection."
—St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church (347-420, feast day: 30 September)
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