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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!
The Popish Plot
"St. Benedict's Medal"
'Tis the
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (
Tempus per annum, "time through the year"):
Wikipedia-link.
Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-five, verses ten & eleven;
Psalm Sixty-five, verses ten, eleven, twelve & thirteen, & fourteen
(R/. the Gospel according to Luke, chapter eight, verse eight);
The Letter to the Romans, chapter eight, verses eighteen thru twenty-three;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter thirteen, verses one thru twenty-three
(
or, the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter thirteen, verses one thru nine).
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the parable of the sower. "A sower went out to sow. Some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil . . . and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."
Imagine a crowd of farmers listening to this parable and shaking their heads at the farmer’s strange sowing. He would have been expelled from the seed sowers’ union for such irresponsible farming. Like the foolish sower, God’s love is so extravagant that it defies all of our expectations of what is reasonable.
The most important point of this parable is that we must imitate the foolish love of God. We must love not only those who love us, not only those who are like us and affirm us, but precisely those who are different and unresponsive. Our sun should shine on the good and bad alike.
Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M. (U.S.C. of Catholic Bishops): Sunday Reflection.
Video reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire): Sunday Sermon.
Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.
Scripture Study—Day 91: Contentness Plateau, Day 21
The Second Book of Samuel, chapter six, verses eleven thru fifteen.
Commentary: David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Samuel, 6:11-15).
†
Otherwise, 12 July would be the festival of
Saint Veronica (
floruit 33; A.K.A. Berenikē, Seraphia), who wiped the Lord Jesus Christ's face with the
Veil of Veronica (A.K.A. the
Sudarium) during the
Via Dolorosa, commemorated as the sixth
Station of the Cross:
Saint-link &
Wikipedia-link;
Wikipedia-link Veil,
Wikipedia-link Via Dolorosa, &
Wikipedia-link Stations.
Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Twould also be the festival of
Saint Giovanni Gualberto, Abbot, O.S.B. Vall. (circa 985-1073, Anglicized as John Gualbert), founder of
Vallombrosa Abbey (1038) & thus the
Vallumbrosan Order (O.S.B. Vall.), a congregation of the
Benedictine Confederation:
Saint-link ūnus,
Saint-link duo, &
Wikipedia-link;
Wikipedia-link Vallombrosa,
Wikipedia-link O.S.B. Vall., &
Wikipedia-link Confederation.
'Twould also be the festival of
Saint John Jones, Priest & Martyr, O.F.M. (1559-1598, A.K.A. Griffith Jones, Godfrey Maurice,
etc.), martyred in the reign of the English queen Elizabeth I, one of the
Forty Martyrs of England & Wales:
Martyr-link ūnus,
Martyr-link duo, &
Wikipedia-link;
Martyr-link England & Wales &
Wikipedia-link England & Wales.
'Twould also be the festival of
Saint Joachim of Saint Anne, Priest & Martyr, O.F.M. (1620-1679, A.K.A. John Wall, John Marsh), martyred in the reign of the Anglo-Scottish king Charles II, a victim of the perjurer Titus Oates's
"Popish Plot" hoax; one of the
Forty Martyrs of England & Wales:
Martyr-link ūnus,
Martyr-link duo, &
Wikipedia-link;
Popish Plot-link &
Wikipedia-link Popish Plot; &
Martyr-link England & Wales &
Wikipedia-link England & Wales.
'Twould also be the festival of
Saint Ignacio Clemente Delgado Cebrián, Bishop & Martyr, O.P. (1761-1838), martyred in the reign of the Nguyễn emperor Minh Mạng, one of the one hundred seventeen
Martyrs of Vietnam:
Martyr-link ūnus,
Martyr-link duo, &
Wikipedia-link (List);
Martyrs-link Vietnam &
Wikipedia-link Vietnam.
'Twould also be the festival of
Saints Louis Martin & Zélie Martin (1823-1894 & 1831-1877, A.K.A. Marie-Azélie Guérin):
Saint-link Lima Mike,
Saint-link Zulu Mike, &
Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Husband & wife, parents of the Doctor of the Church St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus & the Holy Face, A.K.A. of Lisieux, the "Little Flower of Jesus" [1 October] & the Servants of God Agnès of Jesus, Françoise-Thérèse Martin, & Geneviève of the Holy Face.
Papal Quote o' the Day"Sometimes, in the anxiety of our modern mentality to get thigns done, we are inclined to consider prayer as an obstacle to action, as if they were competing for time. In fact, action & prayer must be complementary."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, r. 1963-1978; feast: 29 May)
Saint Quote o' the Day"I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone."
—St. Francis of Assisi, O.F.M. (1181-1226, feast: 4 October)
Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day"It is much easier to conquer a country than to conquer ourselves."
—St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)
Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day"The Lord hears us more readily than we suspect… it is our listening to God that needs to be improved."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
