Saints + Scripture

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

The Popish Plot
"Our Lady of the Rosary"

'Tis the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (formerly, Our Lady of Victory), instituted in celebration of the miraculous victory of the Holy League over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1571): Madonna-link ūna, Madonna-link duæ, Madonna-link tria, & Wikipedia-link; Rosary-link & Wikipedia-link Rosary; & Wikipedia-link Lepanto & Wayback Machine ("The Explorers' Club," № CDX).

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

Lord Jesus, today is the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. May the prayers of Your Holy Mother for the world lead me to pray the Rosary more often & with greater fervor.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Justina of Padua, Virgin & Martyr (died circa 304), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperors Diocletian & Maximian, a victim of the Diocletianic Persecution (303-313): Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Persecutions-link, Wikipedia-link Diocletian ūnus, Wikipedia-link Diocletian duo, & Wikipedia-link Diocletian trēs.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Mark, Pope (died 336), thirty-fourth (XXXIV) Bishop of Rome (336): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Pontifex-link & Wikipedia-link Pontifex.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Cynog ap Brychan, Martyr (circa 434-492, also spelt Canog): Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Son of St. Brychan of Brycheiniog [6 April].

'Tis also the festival of Saint Dubthach I of Armagh, Bishop (circa 450-513; A.K.A. Dúach, Duffy, etc.), seventh (VII) Bishop of Armagh (497-513): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link & Wikipedia-link Armagh.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Osyth, Abbess & Martyr (died circa 700; also spelt Osgyth, Sythe, etc.), founding abbess of the convent at St. Osyth; martyred by pagan Danes (a cephalophore): Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link St. Osyth, & Wikipedia-link Cephalophore.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Gerold of Cologne, Martyr (circa 1201-1251), martyred by robbers whilst on pilgrimage: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
The Letter to the Galatians, chapter two, verses one, two, & seven thru fourteen;
Psalm One Hundred Seventeen, verses one(b/c), two (cf. R/. the Gospel according to Mark, chapter sixteen, verse fifteen);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter eleven, verses one thru four.

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

Friends, our Gospel today gives us an opportunity to reflect on the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer for the Christian journey. I want to consider three of the prayer’s petitions.

"Father, hallowed be your name." We’re not implying that God should make his name holy (as though it isn’t); we’re praying that we might make it holy for us, that God might be honored above all. Everything else in the spiritual life flows from this prioritization.

"Your Kingdom come." God’s kingdom refers to God’s way of ordering things. Jesus’ teaching and his manner of life give us a very good idea of what this kingdom would look like: peace, nonviolence, forgiveness, healing, walking the path of compassion.

"Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us." How central to the teaching of Jesus is forgiveness. And how central to the suffering of the world is the incapacity to forgive, both on the smallest, most intimate level and on the grandest, geo-political scale. How wonderful and how deeply challenging that, at the very heart of the prayer that the Son of God taught us is a petition to be given the grace to forgive.

Video reflection by Jem Sullivan, Ph.D. (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.

Mass Readings—Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter one, verses twelve, thirteen, & fourteen;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one (R/. forty-nine), verses forty-six & forty-seven, forty-eight & forty-nine, fifty & fifty-one, fifty-two & fifty-three, & fifty-four & fifty-five;
(or, R/. "O Blessed Virgin Mary, you carried the Son of the eternal Father.");
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses twenty-six thru thirty-eight.

Commentary: Video reflection by Doctor John Bergsma (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Daily Reflection.

Scripture Study—Day 91: Havel Highlands, Day 17
The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter five, verses one, two, three, & seven.

Commentary: Reverence, Humility, Enjoyment (Ecclesiastes, 5:1-3, 7).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ…"
—Pope Francis (b. 1936, r. 2013-present)

Bonus! Papal Quote o' the Day

"I want to recommend the Rosary to you in a special way. It is a source of profound Christian life. Try to pray it every day alone or with your family. Meditate on those scenes of the life of Jesus & Mary of which the Joyful, Sorrowful, & Glorious Mysteries remind us."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Commentary: This quote must be from prior to 2002, when the sainted pope introduced the Luminous Mysteries in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, you often see small & big wires, new & old, cheap & expensive, all lined up. Until the current passes through them there will be no light. That wire is you & me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the light of the world. Or we can refuse to be used & allow darkness to spread."
—St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."
—Servant of God Maria Lúcia of Jesus & of the Immaculate Heart, O.C.D. (1907-2005)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"When we stay close to the good Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we will see the flesh of all the poor people that we meet as an extension of the body of Christ. That outlook will come through to them. Then we will be Christians. Then we will not be in the mountain in ecstasy nor in the valley, impotent & ineffective. But we will be the kind of Christians the world is looking for. A group of Russian soldiers broke into a barn not very long ago in Russia & found hundreds of people in prayer. They said to them, 'You are violating the Soviet law. Prayer is forbidden. We give you five minutes to leave. All who remain will be shot.' Two left. The Russian soldiers threw down their guns & said, 'We want to be Christians, too. We only wanted to be sure that you were really Christians.'"
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)