Saints + Scripture

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

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin & Martyr (1890-1902), martyred by her attempted rapist, Alessandro Serenelli, who repented & testified during her cause for canonization: Martyr-link ūna, Martyr-link duae, & Wikipedia-link.

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

Lord Jesus, in a world obsessed with sex, it is easy to lose perspective. Give me the courage to live a life that is chaste, after the example of St. Maria Goretti.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Goar of Aquitaine, Priest & Hermit (circa 575-649): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Sexburga of Ely, Abbess (circa 635-699; also spelt Seaxburh, Saxburgh), Queen of Kent, abbess at Ely (679-699) & foundress of abbeys at Milton Regis & Minster-in-Sheppey: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Milton Regis, Wikipedia-link Minster-in-Sheppey, & Wikipedia-link Ely.

Commentary: Sister of Ss. Æthelburh of Faremoutiers [7 July], Sæthryth [7 January], Etheldreda [23 June], & Withburga [8 July]; & mother of Ss. Ermenilda of Ely [13 February] & Ercongotha [23 February].

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Thomas Aufield, Priest & Martyr (1552-1585; also spelt Alfield, etc.), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the one hundred fifty-eight Martyrs of Douai: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link Douai & Wikipedia-link Douai.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska, Religious, S.S.P.C. (1863-1922, the "Mother of the African Missions"), foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver (1894, S.S.P.C.): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link S.S.P.C..

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Hosea, chapter two, verses sixteen, seventeen(c), eighteen, twenty-one, & twenty-two;
Psalm One Hundred Forty-five (R/. eight[a]), verses two & three, four & five, six & seven, & eight & nine;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter nine, verses eighteen thru twenty-six.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus demonstrates his miraculous power to heal the sick and raise the dead. He cured a woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years who came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. And he took the hand of the official’s daughter and raised her from the sleep of death.

Christianity is, first and foremost, a religion of the concrete and not the abstract. It takes its power not from a general religious consciousness, not from an ethical conviction, not from a comfortable abstraction, but from the person of Jesus Christ.

It is Christ—in his uncompromising call to repentance, his unforgettable gestures of healing, his unique and disturbing praxis of forgiveness, his provocative nonviolence, and especially his movement from godforsaken death to shalom-radiating Resurrection—that moves the believer to change of life and gift of self.

And it is the unique Christ—depicted vividly in the poetry of Dante, the frescoes of Michelangelo, the sermons of Augustine, the stained-glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle, and the sacred ballet of the liturgy—who speaks transformatively to hearts and souls across the Christian centuries.

Video reflection by Monsignor James Vlaun (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.

Video reflection by Curtis Mitch (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Daily Reflection.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Maria Goretti
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter six, verses thirteen(c), fourteen, fifteen(a), & seventeen thru twenty;
Psalm Thirty-one (R/. six), verses three(c/d) & four, six & eight(a/b), & sixteen(b/c) & seventeen;
The Gospel according to John, chapter twelve, verses twenty-four, twenty-five, & twenty-six.

Scripture Study—Day 91: Contentness Plateau, Day 15
The Second Book of Samuel, chapter four, verses five thru twelve.

Commentary: Ish-bosheth Is Assassinated (2 Samuel, 4:5-12).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"One of the underlying problems today is a loss of appreciation of the virtue of chastity. How important it is to recover this virtue in our own time! Chastity helps us to harmonize all the dimensions of our sexuality & thus to live joyfully accordance with God's will."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"No one in the world can change truth. What we can do & should do is to seek truth & serve it when we have found it."
—St. Maximilian Kolbe O.F.M. Conv. (1894-1941, feast: 14 August)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"Don't be afraid to be small. Numbers are not what make a difference, but—are we really His?"
—St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"Have you ever taken a rose petal into your fingers & pressed & squeezed it? Did you notice whether you could ever restore its tint? You could not. Lift a dewdrop from a leaf; you can never replace it. Evil in like manner is just too deep seated to be righted by a little bit of kindness & a little reason & a little tolerance. You might just as well tell a man who is suffering from consumption that all he need do is play six sets of tennis. The clock with a broken mainspring cannot repair itself. Salvation, therefore, has to come from without. Our human will is too weak to conquer its own evil. Just as the sick need medicine outside of themselves, we need a teacher for our minds, a physician for our bodies, & a redeemer for our souls. We need a redeemer from outside humanity, with all its weakness, its sin, & its rebellion. Now let’s take the other side. We said that if the mainspring is broken, a new mainspring has to be supplied from without, but it must be put inside of the clock. So too, salvation must come from without humanity, but it has to be done in some way within humanity. So God had to become man in order that man would be redeemed from within."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)