Saints + Scripture

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest, C.Ss.R. (1819-1867): Blessed-link ūnus, Blessed-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

He was a German Redemptorist who worked as a missionary in the United States frontier. Towards the end of his life, he went to New Orleans to minister to victims of yellow fever. He then died after contracting the disease.

'Tis also the festival of Blesseds William Hartley & John Hewitt, Priests; & Robert Sutton; Martyrs (died 1588), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I: Martyr-link Whiskey Hotel & Wikipedia-link Whiskey Hotel, Martyr-link Juliett Hotel & Wikipedia-link Juliett Hotel, & Martyr-link Romeo Sierra.

Commentary: Bl. Robert Sutton, a layman, is not to be confused with Bl. Robert Sutton [27 July], a priest, who was martyred a year earlier, in 1587, one of the Eighty-five Martyrs of England & Wales.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Bartolo Longo, T.O.S.D., K.H.S. (1841-1926), who build the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Shrine & Wikipedia-link Knights.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Maria Faustyna of the Blessed Sacrament, Virgin, O.L.M. (1905-1938, the "Apostle of Divine Mercy;" A.K.A. Faustina Kowalska, Helena Kowalska), to whom the Lord revealed the Divine Mercy devotion, authoress of Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul: Saint-link ūna, Saint-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Divine Mercy, Wikipedia-link Diary, Wikipedia-link Image, & Wikipedia-link Chaplet.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Job, chapter thirty-eight, verses one & twelve thru twenty-one & chapter forty, verses three, four, & five;
Psalm One Hundred Thirty-nine, verses one, two, & three; seven & eight; nine & ten; & thirteen & fourteen(a/b);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter ten, verses thirteen thru sixteen.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus passes judgment on towns who have failed to believe in him and his signs: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." And this Gospel contains a word for us.

What is the first thing that the minister should do upon entering a city? "Cure the sick there." Christ is Soter, healer of both body and spirit. So many of the saints were healers; so many of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother lead to healing.

Another great task of the Church is to proclaim, "The reign of God is at hand." The Church is an announcing, proclaiming, evangelizing organism. What we proclaim is that, in Jesus Christ, a whole new way of ordering things has appeared, that God, in Christ, is drawing all things to himself. The great ordering principles of the world—money, fame, power, sex, pleasure—are overthrown. A new king has come, a new way of organizing life. Love, inclusion, compassion, nonviolence, forgiveness, especially of enemies—this is now the way sanctioned by God.

Video reflection by Fr. Jonathan W. Felux: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-two, verses seven thru ten;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter sixteen, verse fifteen;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-eight, verses sixteen thru twenty.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Man is truly himself when his body & soul are intimately united… Should he aspire to be pure spirit & to reject the flesh as pertaining to his animal nature alone, then spirit & body would both lose their dignity. On the other hand, should he deny the spirit & consider matter, the body, as the only reality, he would likewise lose his greatness."
—Pope Benedict XVI (born 1927, reigned 2005-2013)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I have only to cast a glance in the Gospel & immediately I breathe in the perfumes of Jesus's life."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Whenever you refuse to accuse someone without proof, you announce the coming of the Kingdom of God & His justice. From that Kingdom no one is excluded."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)