Saints + Scripture

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

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, S.J. (1542-1621), Archbishop of Capua (1602-1605): Doctor-link ūnus, Doctor-link duo, Doctor-link trēs & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link & Wikipedia-link Capua; & Doctors-link & Wikipedia-link Doctors.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Lambert of Maastricht, Bishop & Martyr (circa 635-705), Bishop of Maastricht (669-705), founder of Munsterbilzen Abbey (670), martyred whilst celebrating Mass in the reign of the Frankish warlord Pepin II: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link, Wikipedia-link Maastricht, & Wikipedia-link Bishops; & Wikipedia-link Munsterbilzen.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Unni of Bremen, Bishop (died 936), Archbishop of Hamburg & Bishop of Bremen (917-936): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Hamburg & Wikipedia-link Hamburg-Bremen.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Abbess & Doctor of the Church, O.S.B. (1098-1179, the "Sibyl of the Rhine"), whose visions are recorded in the Scivias ("Sci vias Domini," "Know the Ways of the Lord"): Doctor-link ūna, Doctor-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link; Doctors-link & Wikipedia-link Doctors; & Wikipedia-link Scivias.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Pedro de Arbués, Priest & Martyr, C.R.S.A. (circa 1441-1485), martyred by Conversos whilst at prayer in the cathedral of Zaragosa: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Bishop, T.O.S.F. (1822-1895), ninth (IX) Archbishop of Warsaw (1862-1883) & founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary (1857, R.M.): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Warsaw & Wikipedia-link Bishops, & Wikipedia-link R.M.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter fifteen, verses one thru eleven;
Psalm One Hundred Eighteen (R/. one), verses one(b) & two, sixteen(a/b) & seventeen, & twenty-eight;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter seven, verses thirty-six thru fifty.

Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus exposes and corrects a Pharisee’s strict religiosity. We can see throughout the Gospels how Jesus judges religion itself, including this narrative of the “sinful woman” in the house of Simon the Pharisee.

Imagine Simon’s shock that the woman’s arrival precipitated—this intrusion of an uninvited guest into a proper dinner party. Then she intensifies the unease when she stands behind Jesus, weeping onto his feet, drying them with her hair, and then anointing them with oil.

There are several aspects to Simon’s reaction, each one reflective of a dimension of the religiously toned pusilla anima (small soul). Simon is, first of all, dismayed at the social upset this woman’s appearance has caused. Secondly, Simon notices—and undoubtedly rejoices in—Jesus’ apparent inability to read the heart of the intruder. Jesus clearly is not as religiously careful as Simon himself.

How does all of this constitute a judgment on Simon’s religiosity? The Pharisee is so concerned with propriety and cultic purity that he simply doesn’t see the presence of grace around him. Simon’s religion presupposes the fundamentally egotistic conviction that divine favor is won through human achievement. Jesus punctures this illusion of the pusilla anima.

Video reflection by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers (U. S. C. of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.

Video reflection by Becket Ghioto (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Daily Reflection.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine
The Book of Wisdom, chapter seven, verses seven thru ten, fifteen, & sixteen;
Psalm Nineteen (R/. ten), verses eight, nine, ten, & eleven
(or, R/. the Gospel according to John, chapter six, verse sixty-three);
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter seven, verses twenty-one thru twenty-nine.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"The first requirement for a constant listening to Christ is the full knowledge of yourselves. A methodical & intelligent work of your personal life will open you to the perceptive & joyful formation of the new self."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"We learn humility through accepting humiliations cheerfully. Do not let a chance pass you by. It is so easy to be proud, harsh, moody, & selfish, but we have been created for greater things. Why stoop down to things that will spoil the beauty of our hearts?"
—St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Pray that God will console you when you feel the burden of the Cross, for in doing so you are in no way acting against the will of God, but you are placing yourself beside the Son of God Who asked His Father during the Agony in the Garden to send Him some relief. But if He is not willing to give it be ready to pronounce the same ‘Fiat,’ ‘So be it,’ that Jesus did."
—St. Pius of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap. (1887-1968, feast: 23 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"The cross itself, just that figure, is the symbol of absurdity, because the upright bar of life is contradicted by the horizontal bar of death. The ego is contradicted by the other-ego, the negation of identity. By itself, it is the symbol of absurdity. But if you put someone on it, who teaches the lesson that death is the condition of life, then the cross is no longer absurd. Then it becomes a philosophy of life."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)