Saints of the Day
'Tis the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, C.Ss.R. (1696-1787), Bishop of Sant'Agata de' Goti & founder of the Redemptorists (C.Ss.R.), formally the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
'Tis the Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter twenty-six, verses eleven thru sixteen & twenty-four;
Psalm Sixty-nine (R/. fourteen[c]), verses fifteen & sixteen, thirty & thirty-one, & thirty-three & thirty-four;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter fourteen, verses one thru twelve.
Commentary: Daily Readings.
Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Herod has John the Baptist beheaded, making him a protomartyr of Christ’s followers, the first of many martyrs to come.Video reflection by Marc DelMonico, Ph.D. (U.S.C.C.B.): Daily Reflection.
Can we read that terrible and wonderful book of martyrs, the book of Revelation, without seeing the power of bold, truthful proclamation in the early Christian Church? And the cloud of witnesses grows up and down the Christian centuries. Today, from Pakistan to Nigeria, from Egypt to Iraq, ordinary Christians routinely risk their lives simply by declaring their faith and worshiping according to their consciences.
They are walking in the footsteps of great martyrs of the tradition, from Stephen, Peter, and Paul to Miguel Pro shouting “Viva Cristo Rey!” to his executioners; Martin Luther King Jr. taking an assassin’s bullet because he insisted on being a drum major for New Testament justice; and Franz Jaggerstätter, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Edith Stein challenging to their dying breaths the lies of Nazism.
And what we see in these martyrs is not ordinary courage but a courage elevated and transfigured through love. We see a willingness to give away even one’s life out of love for Christ and his people.
Mass Readings—Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori
The Letter to the Romans, chapter eight, verses one thru four;
Psalm One Hundred Nineteen (R/. twelve), verses nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, & fourteen;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter five, verses thirteen thru nineteen.
Commentary: Memorial Readings.
Saint Quote o' the Day
"The kings of the earth do not always grant audience readily; on the contrary, the King of Heaven, hidden under Eucharistic veils, is ready to receive anyone…"
—Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church (1696-1787, feast: 1 August)
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