Saints + Scripture: Quadragesima

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

The Popish Plot
vLent 2019: "Top 10 Catholic Podcasts, Part 2"

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
The Book of Ezekiel, chapter forty-seven, verses one thru nine & twelve;
Psalm Forty-six, verses two & three, five & six, & eight & nine;
The Gospel according to John, chapter five, verses one thru sixteen.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel we find the beautiful healing of a paralyzed man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus sees the man lying on his mat, next to a pool, and asks, "Do you want to be well?" The man answers him, and Jesus replies, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately, the man is healed.

Now at this point, the story really heats up. We notice something that is frequently on display in the Gospels: the resistance to the creative work of God, the attempt to find any excuse, however lame, to deny it, to pretend it’s not there, to condemn it.

One would expect that everyone around the cured man would rejoice, but just the contrary: the Jewish leaders are infuriated and confounded. They see the healed man and their first response is, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."

Why are they so reactive? Why don’t they want this to be? We sinners don’t like the ways of God. We find them troubling and threatening. Why? Because they undermine the games of oppression and exclusion that we rely upon in order to boost our own egos.

Let this encounter remind us that God’s ways are not our ways, and that there is one even greater than the Sabbath.

Reflect: God created the Sabbath for a particular purpose. What was that purpose and how is the Sabbath honored and kept today?

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

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Francis of Paola
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter three, verses eight thru fourteen;
Psalm Sixteen, verses one, two(a), & five; seven & eight; & eleven;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter twelve, verses thirty-two, thirty-three, & thirty-four.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 72
The Book of Exodus, chapter thirty-one, verses one thru six & twelve thru seventeen.

Commentary: Bezalel & Oholiab (Exodus, 31:1-6) & the Sabbath Law (Exodus, 31:12-17).

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Francis of Paola, Hermit, O.M. (1416-1507, A.K.A. the Fire Handler), founder of the Order of Minims (O.M.): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Order-link O.M. & Wikipedia-link O.M.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

He was an Italian mendicant friar & the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religious orders, & like his patron saint [& namesake, St. Francis of Assisi (4 November)], Francis was never ordained a priest.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint Aphian, Martyr (circa 287-305, of Caesarea; also spelt Appian, etc.), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperors Galerius & Constantius, a victim of the Great Persecution: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Persecution.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint Theodosia of Tyre, Martyr (circa 290-307, also spelt Theodora), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperors Galerius & Constantius, a victim of the Great Persecution: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Persecution.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint John Payne, Priest & Martyr (1532-1582), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyr-link England & Wales & Wikipedia-link England & Wales.

'Tis also the commemoration of Blessed Elizabetta Vendramini, Religious, T.O.S.F. (1790-1860), foundress of the Franciscan Elizabethan Sisters: Blessed-link, Blessed-link (List), & Wikipedia-link.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Christian renunciation is an authentic way of Christian life. It implies a hierarchical classification of its goods & it stimulates us to choose the better part. It gives us practice in self-control, & it establishes a mysterious economy of expiation, which makes us participants in Christ's redemption."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 26 September)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I do not regret having offered myself up as a victim to Love."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"At least once daily, cast your mind ahead to the moment of death so that you can consider the events of each day in this light."
—St. Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975, feast day: 26 June)