Saints + Scripture: Advent

The Popish Plot
"Catholic T-Shirt Club Unboxing 2"

'Tis the Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin & Martyr (circa 283-304, of Syracuse), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperors Diocletian & Maximian, a victim of the Great Persecution: Martyr-link ūna, Martyr-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Saint Lucy's Day & Wikipedia-link Persecution.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

The single fact upon which various accounts agree is that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, & she was executed in Syracuse, Sicily, during the Diocletianic Persecution.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Elizabeth Rose, Abbess, O.S.B. (died circa 1130), foundress of the convent of Sainte-Marie-du-Rozoy: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

We also remember Servant of God Bertold of Regensberg, Religious, O.F.M. (circa 1220-1272; also spelt Berthold, A.K.A. of Ratisbon): Servant of God-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Antonio Grassi, Priest, C.O. (1592-1671, A.K.A. Vincenzo Grassi): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Thursday of the Second Week in Advent
The Book of Isaiah, chapter forty-one, verses thirteen thru twenty;
Psalm One Hundred Forty-five, verses one & nine, ten & eleven, & twelve & thirteen(a/b);
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eleven, verses eleven thru fifteen.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus says to the crowds: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force."

The name of Flannery O’Connor’s second novel was taken from the Douay-Rheims translation of this last line: "the violent bear it away." What do we make of this strange and famously ambiguous wording?

Many have taken it to mean that the kingdom of God is attacked by violent people, such as those who killed John the Baptist, and that they threaten to take it away. But others have interpreted it in the opposite direction, as a word of praise to the spiritually violent who manage to get into the kingdom. O’Connor herself sides with this latter group. In one of her letters, she says, "St. Thomas’s gloss on this verse is that the violent Christ is here talking about represent those ascetics who strain against mere nature. St. Augustine concurs."

The "mere nature" that classical Christianity describes is a fallen nature, one that tends away from God and his demands. The "violent," on this reading, are those spiritually heroic types who resist the promptings and tendencies of this nature and seek to discipline it in order to enter into the kingdom of God.

Video reflection by Father Roger Lopez, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Mass Readings—Memorial of St. Lucy
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verse seventeen thru chapter eleven, verse two;
Psalm thirty-one, verse six;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-five, verses one thru thirteen.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Love is great & authentic not only when it seems easy & pleasant, but also & most of all when it is strengthened in life's small & big trials."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day:)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"Offer God the sacrifice of never gathering any fruit off your tree."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Heaven is social; it is a fellowship. In some places, heaven is called a country, to indicate its vastness. It is called a city, to suggest the number of its inhabitants. It is called a kingdom, to suggest order and harmony. It is called a paradise in order to tell of its delights. And it is called the Father's house in order to indicate its eternity and its permanence of love and peace. In order to be perfectly happy after the end of the world, we will have to have our body with us because our body has done a great deal for the salvation of our souls. There we will meet, in the fullness of the communion of saints, all those who were our friends on earth. Husbands who have been grieved in time by the loss of a wife, will find a wife."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)