Saints + Scripture

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

'Tis the festival of Saint Veronica (floruit 33, A.K.A. Berenikē, Seraphia), who wiped the Lord Jesus Christ's face with the Veil of Veronica (A.K.A. the Sudarium) during the Via Dolorosa, commemorated as the sixth Station of the Cross: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Veil, Wikipedia-link Via Dolorosa, & Wikipedia-link Stations.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Giovanni Gualberto, Abbot, O.S.B. Vall. (circa 985-1073, Anglicized as John Gualbert), founder of Vallombrosa Abbey & thus the Vallumbrosan Order (O.S.B. Vall.), a congregation of the Benedictine Confederation: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Abbey, Wikipedia-link O.S.B. Vall., & Wikipedia-link Confederation.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint John Jones, Priest & Martyr, O.F.M. (died 1598, A.K.A. Griffith Jones, Godfrey Maurice, etc.), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link England & Wales & Wikipedia-link England & Wales.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Joachim of Saint Anne, Priest & Martyr, O.F.M. (1620-1679, A.K.A. John Wall, John Marsh), martyred in the reign of the Anglo-Scottish king Charles II, a victim of the perjurer Titus Oates's "Popish Plot" hoax; one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Plot-link & Wikipedia-link Plot; & Martyrs-link England & Wales & Wikipedia-link England & Wales.

'Tis also the festival of Saints Louis Martin & Zélie Martin (1823-1894 & 1831-1877, A.K.A. Marie-Azélie Guérin): Saint-link Lima Mike, Saint-link Zulu Mike, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Husband & wife, parents of the Doctor of the Church St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus & the Holy Face, A.K.A. of Lisieux, the "Little Flower of Jesus" [1 October] & the Servants of God Agnès of Jesus, Françoise-Thérèse Martin, & Geneviève of the Holy Face.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Genesis, chapter forty-six, verses one thru seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, & thirty;
Psalm Thirty-seven, verses three & four, eighteen & nineteen, twenty-seven & twenty-eight, & thirty-nine & forty;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter ten, verses sixteen thru twenty-three.

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

Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit will help us when we face persecution. Speaking to his disciples the night before he dies, Jesus says that he and his Father will send another Parakletos (Advocate). That word, stemming from kaleo (to call) and para (for, or on behalf of), designates something like a lawyer, someone who would plead on behalf of another, who would support, advocate, encourage.

Jesus is saying that while he will depart physically from the scene, he and his Father will send the Spirit as a friend. This is the Advocate who will inspire Christians up and down the ages.

When the martyrs went to their deaths, it was with the help of the Holy Spirit; when the missionaries went to proclaim the faith in hostile lands, it was the Holy Spirit who pleaded on their behalf; when Edith Stein went with her Gestapo captors to Auschwitz, she too went with the Holy Spirit. And that same Spirit is with you today, right now.

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

Scripture Study—Day 91: Covenant Crag, Day 28
The Book of Genesis, chapter eighteen, verses sixteen thru twenty-eight.

Commentary: Abraham Intercedes for Sodom (Genesis, 18:16-28).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Sometimes, in the anxiety of our modern mentality to get things done, we are inclined to consider prayer as an obstacle to action, as if they were competing for time. In fact, action & prayer must be complementary."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 29 May)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"After He purified it, our Lord left the temple because the people had become irreverent. In religion it is possible for irreverence to grow. There can be a want of the sense of holy. Holy means set apart. For example, Sunday is holy. It is set apart from the rest of the week. A church is holy; it is separate & distinct from other buildings. And therefore there is a fitting conduct in the presence of God, a conduct which was lost in those days & which is lost in ours. Just think of the way that people dress coming to Mass. They would not go to the home of a visiting duke the way they come to see the Lord God of Hosts. It is easy to blame those few who trafficked in the temple, but what of the many of us who give up the signs of their dedication, for example, the nuns who would give up the sacramental signs of their dedication? Or the priests who would give up clerical dress?"
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)