Saints + Scripture

The Popish Plot by Proxy
Gracefully Catholic: "Welcome to Ordinary Time"

'Tis the festival of Saint Nennus, Abbot (died 654, A.K.A. Nem Moccu Birn, Nehemias): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Methodius of Constantinople, Bishop (circa 788-847, A.K.A. Methodios I), eighty-fourth (LXXXIV) Patriarch of Constantinople, exiled as an opponent of the Byzantine iconoclastic heresy: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Constantinople; & Heresy-link & Wikipedia-link Heresy.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer, Religious (circa 810-886, the "sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church;" A.K.A. of the Studium), exiled as an opponent of the Byzantine iconoclastic heresy: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Heresy-link & Wikipedia-link Heresy.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Walter Eustace, Martyr (died 1583), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the Irish Martyrs: Martyr-link; Martyrs-link Erin & Wikipedia-link Erin.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter four, verses seven thru fifteen;
Psalm One Hundred Sixteen, verses ten & eleven, fifteen & sixteen, & seventeen & eighteen;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter five, verses twenty-seven thru thirty-two.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus exposes the root problems behind sexual sin. Jesus says, “You have heard it said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The act is certainly bad, of course. But it’s grounded in a dysfunctional attitude, a basic misperception, a compromise of the soul. In order to be aligned to the God who is nothing but love, these underlying problems need to be addressed.

Time and again, we hear that the Church’s moral demands—especially in the sexual arena—are too stringent, that the Church ought to conform itself with societal expectations, or that huge pluralities of Catholics themselves want to lighten the load. What do these data prove? Well, nothing really, except that Catholic moral teaching is difficult. But so what? To dial down our moral ideals is to compromise the Church’s whole purpose. Jesus didn’t dial down the demands of love, and neither does his Church.

Video reflection by Father Brian Christopher, S.J.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"An apostle who wants to be yeast for society must follow the most necessary precondition for yeast to be effective. Such as apostle must take care to remain part of the mass."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 29 May)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"There is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must become less & less."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Scripture never speaks of reconciliation except through the death of Christ. We are saved, in other words, by the cross & Resurrection. It follows that the anti-cross is the sign of the demonic. It is interesting to discover how much the crucifix has been displaced or removed in schools in the last few years. I was in a retreat house giving a retreat. There were about 1,20 people there this particular night. I looked around for a crucifix. There was none. Upon enquiring, I found that there had not been a crucifix in that retreat house in the last seven years."
—Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)