Saints + Scripture: XXIV Sunday in Tempus per annum

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

'Tis the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time during the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Book of Exodus, chapter thirty-two, verses seven thru eleven, thirteen, & fourteen;
Psalm Fifty-one, verses three & four, twelve & thirteen, & seventeen & nineteen
(& the Gospel according to Luke, chapter fifteen, verse eighteen);
The First Letter to Timothy, chapter one, verses twelve thru seventeen;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter fifteen, verses one thru thirty-two
(or, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter fifteen, verses one thru ten).

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

Friends, today’s Gospel passage recounts the story of the shepherd finding his lost sheep. Let’s look at that lost sheep. A sheep is something more than a lost coin—which is to say, it has mobility, sense, appetites, and so on. Many years ago, when I was on retreat at the Abbey of Tamie in the Alps, I heard the desperate bleating of a sheep who had fallen into a pit. All night he cried, knowing that he was in trouble and hoping that someone would come to save him.

There are souls who are like the lost sheep. Spiritually compromised, fundamentally unable to help themselves, they are at least aware that they are in a mess. They are like people who commence the AA process by admitting that they have hit bottom and are out of control. They bleat, they cry for help.

And God finds them—and when he finds them, he carries them back, for they are unable to move on their own.

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

Video reflection by Father Claude Burns (uCatholic): Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Mass Journal: Week 42
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

Repent is a powerful word. But what does it means for you & me, here & now, more than two thousand years later? It means the same as it did to the people walking around the dusty pathways in their sandals, trying to inch closer to Jesus as He passed through their town or village. Repent means "to turn back to God." I find myself needing to turn back to God many times a day, in ways small & large. It is not a matter of guilt & it is not a shameful things. It is simply that at His side I am a better person—a better son, husband, father, brother, friend, employer, citizen. Over time, I have also come to realize, quite painfully, that when I turn away from God I am also turning my back on my true self. Do you need to turn back to God today? Do you need to repent?

†

Otherwise, 15 September would be the festival of Our Lady of Sorrows (A.K.A. Our Lady of the Seven Dolours, of Compassion, etc.): Madonna-link ūna, Madonna-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth Minute Meditations from the Popes:

O Lord, ease the pain of those who have lost children to drugs or violence. Console those whose children are rebelling & ungrateful. May they learn from Mary's trust, & share in her gentle love.

'Twould also be the festival of Saints Emilas, Deacon, & Jeremiah, Martyrs (died 852), martyred in the reign of the Umayyad king Abd ar-Rahman II, two of the forty-eight Martyrs of Córdoba: Martyr-link Echo, Martyr-link Juliett, & Wikipedia-link (List); Wikipedia-link Córdoba.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Anton Maria Schwartz, Priest (1852-1929), founder of the Pious Workers of Saint Joseph Calasanctius of the Mother of God: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pious Workers.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Władysław Miegoń, Priest & Martyr (1892-1942), martyred in the reign of the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, one of the One Hundred Eight Blessed Polish Martyrs: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link (List, № 75); Martyrs-link Polska & Wikipedia-link Polska.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Paolo Manna, Priest, P.I.M.E. (1872-1952), Superior General of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (P.I.M.E.), founder of the Pontifical Missionary Union (P.M.U.): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link P.I.M.E. & Wikipedia-link P.M.U.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"May not only leads us to the Mystery of the Cross like a teacher; she also participates in that Mystery. She suffers with Jesus & suffers with us. With Jesus she also confronts & defeats the powers of evil."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips."
—St. Peter Claver (1580-1654, feast day: 9 September)