Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Genesis, chapter fifteen, verses one thru twelve, seventeen, & eighteen;
Psalm One Hundred Five (R/. eight[a]), verses one & two, three & four, six & seven, & eight & nine;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter seven, verses fifteen thru twenty.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that a tree is known by its fruits. In the fifth chapter of his Letter to the Galatians, Paul makes this very specific. He tells us that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control,” implying that the Spirit’s presence in one’s life can be read from its radiance in these soul-expanding qualities.

All of Paul’s “fruits of the Holy Spirit” are marks of an outward-looking, expansive magna anima (great soul), which stands in contradistinction to the pusilla anima (the cramped soul) of the sinner. Thus love is willing the good of the other as other; joy is self-diffusive; patience bears with the troublesome; kindness makes the other gentle; self-control restricts the havoc that the ego can cause; etc.

When is the Spirit present? When these attributes are awakened and sustained; when our souls are made great.

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

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

Video reflection by Doctor Tim Gray (Augustine Institute/Formed.org): Easter Reflection.

Mass Readings—Vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter one, verses four thru ten;
Psalm Seventy-one (R/. six[b]), verses one & two, three & four(a), five & six(a/b), & fifteen(a/b) & seventeen;
The First Letter of Peter, chapter one, verses eight thru twelve;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses five thru seventeen.

Scripture Study—Day 91: False Peak, Day 10
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter twelve, verses one thru seventeen.

Commentary: Jeremiah Complains to God (Jeremiah, 12:1-13) & the Lord's Answer (12:14-17).