Saints + Scripture

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

The Popish Plot
"'5 Questions for Catholic YouTubers' Collaboration"

'Tis the Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot (circa 251-356), most renowned of the Desert Fathers, whose temptation is oft-depicted in art, who is also associated with the Tau Cross: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Desert Fathers, Wikipedia-link Temptation of Saint Anthony, & Wikipedia-link Saint Anthony's Cross.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony such as Anthony of Padua [13 June] by various epithets of his own: Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, & Anthony of Thebes. He is also known as the "Father of All Monks."

Quoth Minute Meditations from the Popes:

O Lord, St. Anthony the Abbot traveled out into the desert in order to learn the ways of self-denial. May I too find the desert in my life & learn from You.

'Tis also the festival of Our Lady of Pontmain (apparition 17 January 1871, A.K.A. Our Lady of Hope): Madonna-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Sulpitius the Pious, Bishop (died circa 644), Bishop of Bourges (624-644): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Bourges.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Mildgytha, Abbess, O.S.B. (died circa 676): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Daughter of St. Domne Eafe [19 November] & sister of Ss. Mildburh [23 February] & Mildrith [13 July].

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Joseph of Freising, Bishop (died 764, A.K.A. of Verona), third (III) Bishop of Freising (747-764), founder of the Benedictine Isen Abbey (752): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Freising & Wikipedia-link Isen.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Roseline of Villeneuve, Religious, O.Cart. (circa 1263-1329, also spelt Rossolina, Rosalinde, etc.): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
The First Book of Samuel, chapter eight, verses four thru seven & ten thru twenty-two(a);
Psalm Eighty-nine (R/. two), verses sixteen & seventeen, eighteen & nineteen;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter two, verses one thru twelve.

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

Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus says matter-of-factly, before healing the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Shocked, the Pharisees respond, "He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?"

They were quite right, of course, which is the whole point. If you had hurt me, I could with some legitimacy offer you my personal forgiveness of your offense. But if someone else had harmed you, I could scarcely offer that person my forgiveness for his sin. The only way that such a statement could be anything but blasphemous would be if I were the one who is offended in every sin. And this is what the Pharisees correctly intuited.

G.K. Chesterton said that even those who reject the doctrine of the Incarnation (like the Pharisees) are different for having heard it. The claim that God became one of us changes the imagination, compelling a reassessment of both God and the world. This odd assertion is made, implicitly or explicitly, on practically every page of the New Testament.

Therefore, when Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sin, the Pharisees respond that only God can forgive sins, thereby, despite themselves, professing faith in the Good News.

Video reflection by Father John Crossin, O.S.F.S. (U.S. Con. of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.

Mass Readings—Memorial of St. Anthony
The Letter to the Ephesians, chapter six, verses ten thru thirteen & eighteen;
Psalm Sixteen (R/. five), verses one, two(a), & five; seven & eight; & eleven;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses sixteen thru twenty-six.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 5
The Book of Exodus, chapter two, verses eleven thru twenty-five.

Commentary: Moses Flees to Midian (Exodus, 2:11-25).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Be not afraid."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast day: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"I cannot see why a Christian should be in the least bit troubled about the virgin birth, because there's a virgin birth in us all. Everyone who becomes a Christian has Christ in him. Christ is born & conceived in everyone by baptism. There is first of all the renewal crisis in the intellect so that, Paul says, we 'put on the mind of Christ.' He is in the will, as grace & power. And He is in our body, because our body, becomes the temple of God. The convert (it's easy to understand in a convert because one can always distinguish the before & after state) can often say: 'Oh, yes, at this precise date I heard the word of God. And the Word was born in me so that I have His truth & His grace, & He's living inside of my body.' There is conception by perception, conception by the hearing of the word of God."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)