Saints + Scripture

'Tis the festival of Saint Fulcran of Lodève, Bishop (died 1006): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Religious, O.P. (circa 1190-1237, A.K.A. of Alamania), second (II) Master of the Order of Preachers: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Masters.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Christina of Spoleto, Religious, O.S.A. (1435-1458, A.K.A. Agostina Camozzi): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Archangela Girlani, Religious, O.Carm. (1460-1495, A.K.A. Eleanora Girlani): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Genesis, chapter two, verses four(b) thru nine, fifteen, sixteen, & seventeen;
Psalm One Hundred Four, verses one & two(a), twenty-seven & twenty-eight, & twenty-nine(b/c) & thirty;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter seven, verses fourteen thru twenty-three.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus explains that sinful behavior flows from within our hearts. How often the Bible speaks of the “heart.” By that it means the core of the self, the deepest center of who we are, that place from which our thoughts and actions arise. God wants to penetrate that heart, so that he is the center of our souls.

But there is something terribly black in the human heart. We are made in the image and likeness of God, but that image can be so distorted by sin as to be barely recognizable. Our faith clearly teaches the awful truth of the fall, and we see the evidence of it in the mystery of sin, which is not to be ignored, not to be trifled with, not to be rationalized away. We are all capable of dark and evil acts. I’m not okay and neither are you.

Have our hearts become hardened, so that God cannot get in? Is there a deep resistance in us to grace?

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

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 24
The Book of Exodus, chapter ten, verses one thru twenty.

Commentary: The Eighth Plague: Locusts (Exodus, 10:1-20).

The Imitation of Christ
Book I: Useful Admonitions for the Spiritual Life
Chapter 24: "On the Last Judgment & the Punishment for Sins"

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Nobody is a Christian for oneself alone. The gift of faith is given to us so that by word & example we may become witnesses before others."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the "Our Father," or the "Hail Mary," & these prayers suffice to take me out of myself."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"An electric wire attached to the generator will give no light if the bulb is burned out. One of the reasons Christianity does not influence the world more is that few Christians shine more brightly than those who lack the faith. Is this not true also of many priests, in spite of the fact that the priest should be a different person from all the others because he is the Person of Christ?"
—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979)