Saints + Scripture

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

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

Saints of the Day
'Tis the optional Memorial of Saint Bridget, Religious, O.Ss.S. (circa 1303-1373, of Sweden, of Vadstena; A.K.A. Birgitta Birgersdotter), foundress of the Bridgettines (O.Ss.S.), formally the Order of the Most Holy Savior.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter two, verses one, two, three, seven, eight, twelve & thirteen;
Psalm Thirty-six (R/. ten[a]), verses six & seven(a/b), eight & nine, & ten & eleven;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter thirteen, verses ten thru seventeen.

Commentary: Daily Readings.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus explains that he speaks in parables to baffle the crowds, who “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” The parables of Jesus are often exercises whose purpose is to confuse and confound the hearer, overturning her expectations and upsetting her theological convictions.

God is just, but in light of the parable of the vineyard owner, one realizes that the ordinary notion of justice only vaguely indicates what divine justice is like. God is compassionate, but after hearing the story of the prodigal son, one knows that divine compassion infinitely surpasses even the most radical mode of human love.

But why is the biblical God so elusive? Because he brought the whole of the finite universe into existence. God must be other in a way that transcends any and all modes of otherness discoverable within creation.

Video reflection by Alice Heinzen (U.S.C.C.B.): Daily Reflection.

Mass Readings—Memorial of Saint Bridget
The Letter to the Galatians, chapter two, verses nineteen & twenty;
Psalm Thirty-four (R/. two; or, nine), verses two & three, four & five,six & seven, eight & nine, & ten & eleven;
The Gospel according to John, chapter fifteen, verses one thru eight.

Commentary: Memorial Readings.