Saints + Scripture

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

The Popish Plot
"On Chucking Bibles"

'Tis the festival of Saint Gregory of Dekapolis, Religious (circa 780-842, A.K.A. the New Miracle-worker), a foe of the Byzantine Iconoclastic heresy: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Heresy-link Iconoclasm & Wikipedia-link Iconoclasm.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saints Edmund the Martyr & Humbert of Elmham, Bishop; Martyrs (died 869; A.K.A. King Edmund of the East Angles; also spelt Hunberht, Humbryct), tenth (X) & last Bishop of Elmham, martyred by the Great Heathen Army: Martyr-link Echo & Wikipedia-link Echo, Martyr-link Hotel & Wikipedia-link Hotel; Wikipedia-link Elmham & Wikipedia-link Great Heathen Army.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Bernward of Hildesheim, Bishop (circa 960-1022), thirteenth (XIII) Bishop of Hildesheim (993-1020): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link Hildesheim & Wikipedia-link Hildesheim.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Ambrose of Camaldoli, Religious, O.S.B.Cam. (1386-1439, A.K.A. Ambrogio Traversari), prior general of the Camaldolese Order (O.S.B.Cam.), a key player at the Council of Florence (1431-1449, the seventeenth [XVII] ecumenical council) that briefly healed the Great Schism of 1054: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Order-link O.S.B.Cam. & Wikipedia-link O.S.B.Cam., & Wikipedia-link Florence & Wikipedia-link Schism.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Maria Fortunata Viti, Religious, O.S.B. (1827-1922, A.K.A. Anna Felicia Viti): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The Second Book of Maccabees, chapter seven, verses one & twenty thru thirty-one;
Psalm Seventeen (R/. fifteen[b]), verses one(b/c/d), five & six, & eight(b) & fifteen;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter nineteen, verses eleven thru twenty-eight.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus uses images drawn from the world of business to instruct us in Christian living. And he especially liked the dynamic of investment, risk, and return as a model of the spiritual life. The reason is clear. God exists in gift form. Therefore, if you want his life in you, you have to learn to give it away.

Think of the coins we read about today as everything that we’ve received from God—life, breath, being, powers, and so on. Because they come from God, they are meant to become gifts. If you cling to them, in the manner of the third servant, they don’t grow; in fact, they wither away.

Notice that the first two servants doubled their wealth precisely in the measure that they risked it. This means that the one who truly has the divine life knows how to make it a gift, and that in turn will make the original gift increase. And the opposite holds: "From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." This means that if you try to cling to the divine life, you will, in short order, lose it.

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

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 91: Relativism Ridge, Day 16
The Book of Judges, chapter ten, verses six thru sixteen.

Commentary: Oppression by the Philistines & Ammonites (Judges, 10:6-16).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"It is in our power to correspond with continuing increase in grace that God wishes to grant us. He does so to help us advance, without hesitating or stumbling, toward His Kingdom."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Christian Quote o' the Day

"God creates out of nothing. Wonderful, you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners."
—Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Chesterton Quote o' the Day

"Government may grow into something worse than injustice; it may turn into treachery."
—G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)