'Tis the festival of Saint Aspren of Naples, Bishop (first century), inaugural (I) Bishop of Naples: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link Naples, Wikipedia-link Naples, & Wikipedia-link Bishops.
Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Tis also the festival of Saint Dalmatius of Constantinople, Abbot (died circa 440), who opposed the Nestorian heresy: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Heresy-link Nestorianism & Wikipedia-link Nestorianism.
'Tis also the festival of Saint Euphronius of Autun, Bishop (died circa 490): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link Autun & Wikipedia-link Autun.
'Tis also the festival of Saint Waltheof of Melrose, Priest & Abbot, O.Cist. (circa 1095-1160), monk at Rievaulx Abbey, later abbot of Melrose Abbey: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Rievaulx, Wikipedia-link Abbots, & Wikipedia-link Melrose.
Commentary: Grandson of St. Waltheof of Northumbria [31 August].
'Tis also the festival of Blessed Augustin Kažotić, Bishop & Martyr, O.P. (circa 1260-1323, A.K.A. Augustine Gazotich), Bishop of Zagreb, who attended the Council of Vienne (1311-1312), then Bishop of Lucera, martyred by a Saracen of Lucera: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Zagreb & Wikipedia-link Council.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Leviticus, chapter twenty-five, verses one & eight thru seventeen;
Psalm Sixty-seven, verses two & three, five, & seven & eight;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter fourteen, verses one thru twelve.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the death of John the Baptist. Herod had arrested John, from whom Jesus had sought baptism, and put him to death. The arrest and death of John the Baptist were signals for Jesus.Video reflection by Marc DelMonico, Ph.D.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Immediately after the arrest, Jesus withdraws to Galilee and commences his own ministry of preaching and healing. Are these two events just coincidentally related? Hardly. Jesus read the arrest of John as a kind of signal that he was to begin.
We must remember that Jesus, like any Jew of his time, would have read the world through the lens of the Sacred Scriptures. They were the interpretive framework for everything. It was a commonplace of the prophets and the Psalms and parts of the Torah that the era of the Messiah would be preceded by a time of tribulation, when the opponents of God would rise up to counter God’s purposes.
Jesus saw this in the arrest of John. This great national figure, this prophet to Israel, was arrested and eventually killed by the enemies of God—and he took it as a signal that his own Messianic work should begin.
Scripture Study—Day 91: Progeny Point, Day 6
The Book of Genesis, chapter twenty-six, verses seventeen & eighteen.
Commentary: Isaac & Abimelech (Genesis, 26:17-18).
Papal Quote o' the Day
"In the light of faith, each one of you can look at others as if they were an icon, a portrait—at least a potential one—of Christ."Saint Quote o' the Day
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)
"My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them & makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven & something of paradise come down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls & makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun."
—St. Jean Vianney (1786-1859, feast day: 4 August)
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