Saints + Scripture

The Popish Plot
G. K. Chesterton's The Defendant: "Patriotism"

'Tis the festival of Saint Felix III, Pope (died 492, truly Felix II), forty-eighth (XLVIII) Bishop of Rome, who stood for uncompromised orthodoxy against the Acacian Schism: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff & Wikipedia-link Schism.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Great-great-grandfather of Pope St. Gregory I the Great [3 September].

The numbering of the Popes Felix is a fiasco. Pope St. Felix I [30 December] reigned in the third century; Antipope Felix II pretended in the fourth, & his memory is sometimes conflated with a faithful martyr, Felix [29 July], accounting for the miscounting; Pope St. Felix III [1 March] was the truly only the second Pope Felix; & Pope St. Felix IV [30 January] was truly only the third Pope Felix. To further muddy the already murky waters, a fifteenth century antipope styled himself Felix V.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Albinus of Angers, Bishop & Monk (circa 469-550, also spelt Aubin), Bishop of Angers: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link & Wikipedia-link Diocese.

'Tis also the festival of Saint David of Wales, Bishop (circa 500-589, "Aquaticus" ["water drinker"]; A.K.A. Dewi, Dafydd, etc.), who presided over the Synod of Victory (569): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Synod & Wikipedia-link Saint David's Day.

Commentary: Son of St. Non [3 March].

'Tis also the festival of Saint Swithbert of Kaiserswerth, Bishop, O.S.B. (circa 647-713, the "Apostle of the Frisians;" A.K.A. the Elder; also spelt Suidbert, etc.), founder of the abbey around which arose the Kaiserswerth section of Düsseldorf: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Kaiserswerth.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Giovanna Maria Bonomo, Abbess, O.S.B. (1606-1670), stigmatic: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Stigmata-link & Wikipedia-link Stigmata.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Sirach, chapter six, verses five thru seventeen;
Psalm One Hundred Nineteen, verses twelve, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-seven, thirty-four, & thirty-five;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter ten, verses one thru twelve.

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

Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus defines the fundamental sacredness of marriage. I’m convinced that the deep sacramental and religious meaning of marriage—even within the Church—has been, in recent years, dramatically compromised. We say that marriage is a vocation, but do we mean it?

We can look at human sexual relationships at a number of different levels. Two people can come together purely for physical pleasure, for economic reasons, or for psychological companionship. And we might witness two people coming together out of authentic love.

But none of these levels is what the Bible means by marriage. When I was doing parish work I would invariably ask young couples, "Why do you want to get married in church?" Most would say something like, "Because we love each other." But I would reply, "Well, that’s no reason to get married in church."

They usually looked stunned, but I meant it. You come to church to be married before God and his people when you are convinced that your marriage is not, finally, about you; that it is about God and about serving God’s purposes; that it is, as much as the priesthood of a priest, a vocation, a sacred calling.

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

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 40
The Book of Exodus, chapter sixteen, verses four thru twenty-one.

Commentary: Manna from Heaven (cont'd; Exodus, 16:4-21).

Proverb o' the Day (Sirach, 6:14)

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter:
he that has found one has found a treasure.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Mary, you are the Mother of the Church & the Model of every vocation. Help us respond by saying 'Yes' to the Lord when He calls us to collaborate in the Divine Plan of salvation."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I am but a weak & helpless child, yet it is my very weakness which makes me dare to offer myself, O Jesus, as victim to Thy Love."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Not to oppose error is to approve it; & not to defend truth is to suppress it; & indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them."
—Pope St. Felix III (d. 492, feast day: 1 March)

Mass Matters
Through 28 February, the fifty-ninth day of Anno domini 2019, I served at &/or participated in fifty-seven Masses, ten fewer than by this same point in 2018.