JUNE 27 Mon Weekday [St Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church]
Am 2:6-10, 13-16/Mt 8:18-22
28 Tue St Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr Memorial Am 3:1-8; 4:11-12/Mt 8:23-27
29 Wed St PETER AND PAUL, Solemnity
Acts 12:1-11/2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18/Mt 16:13-19
30 Thu Weekday ( First Martyrs of the Roman Church] Am 7:10-17/Mt 9:1-8
Feast of the Precious Blood, Heb 7: 11-17/Mk 14:12-24
1 Fri Weekday [USA: St Junípero Serra, Priest] Am 8:4-6, 9-12/Mt 9:9-13
2 Sat Weekday Am 9:11-15/Mt 9:14-17
JULY 3 SUN FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Is 66:10-14c/Gal 6:14-18/Lk 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9
We’re reading from the Book of Amos this week, the farmer who became a prophet.
Cyril of Alexandria (Monday) and Irenaeus ( Tuesday) were early saints who helped define the faith we believe in as Christians. On Wednesday we celebrate the founders of our church, Peter and Paul, who were put to death in Rome during Nero’s persecution. That feast is followed onThursday by the remembrance of the unknown number of martyrs who died in the same persecution
On Saturday we celebrate one of the founders of the church in America, Juniper Serra.
The weekday gospel readings from Matthew describe Jesus gathering disciples after preaching on the mount, and the beginning of the opposition to him.
The other day I came across an article that said that the Traditional Passionist Mission Prayer was actually written by the beloved St. Gabriel Possenti.
I was glad to read that. This prayer alludes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His incredible mercy upon us sinners:
“You (Jesus) have loved me with an infinite love, and I have taken advantage of that Love to sin the more against You. Yet my ingratitude has but pierced Your Sacred Heart, and upon me has flowed Your Precious Blood. Lord Jesus, let Your Blood be upon me, not for a curse, but for a blessing. Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on me. Amen.”
It always leaves me feeling somewhat guilty, and rightfully so, but I must not forget the incredible beauty, goodness, and absolute Life that is contained in that Saving Blood.
This Monday I was pruning some vines in my garden with a hand clipper and accidentally cut into my index finger. I went to the door of the house to stop the bleeding with some paper towels but the door was locked and I had to wait for my wife to open it for me. During those long seconds I marveled at the amount of the precious red stuff that I was shedding. It was running down my fingers and hand. There were blood stains all over the concrete floor, and running down the door. Wow! This was part of me flowing out of my body; it was alive, being pumped by my accelerated heart. Suddenly the memory of the Passionist Prayer came to me. Our Lord bled so much more for us. His Blood was alive, holy, powerful, healing and saving. And yet, His was also human blood (the plasma, the cells) like mine! I actually smiled, bemused, in gratitude to our Beloved Jesus, giver of life. All anxiety was gone. I went into the house and stopped the bleeding with some paper towels. My Lord never had that chance. This incident led me to pray upon and meditate on the devotion to Jesus’ Sacred Heart.
It seems that my patron saint, St. Paul of the Cross, was well acquainted with the story of Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque and her devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He often referred to this in his writings as a way into deep prayer and mystical experience, which eventually leads to the practice of love of neighbor:
“ Never stop placing yourself in the Holy of Holies, which is the most pure Heart of Jesus. Love Him with the love of His own heart.” And, “Continually drink in the love of Jesus at the fountain of His most sweet Heart. You cannot pass on to the contemplation of the Infinite and Immense Divinity, without entering through the door of the Divine humanity of Jesus, especially by imitating His most sublime virtues.”
These encouragements led me into different prayers throughout the week. But the devotion that most touched me was this: “Above all I recommend interior solitude, and I pray you to fly in spirit to the dear Heart of Jesus. Once there lock yourself inside with the Gold Key of God’s love, placing that precious key on the most pure Heart of Mary most holy, Mother of Sorrows.”
Upon reading this I fell into a meditation where I stood next to the Blessed Mother before the Cross of Jesus, immediately after the spear had been thrust into His side. “In spirit”, as St. Paul had said, Mary takes me by the hand up the still living stream of blood and water flowing from the ghastly wound, towards the cut on His Heart. She hands me the flaming Key of the Spirit of Love so I may enter within. There’s no time to feel unworthy or afraid. Inside this vast “Holy of Holies” a multitude of images flow: the warm endless sea of Papa’s love surrounds me, the infinite life and mercy of the Divine, sheltering the whole planet Earth, every living and non-living thing, every atom, every particle, the planets, the galaxies, billions of them, all within the Heart of Love of the unfathomable God. Everything else is beyond words. All I know is that He loves me, and man, I love Him back! Thank You, thank You, Beloved! Grant me the will, the strength, and the wisdom to share Your Love with the world.
More advice from St. Paul of the Cross: “Plunge yourself completely into the bottomless abyss of Divine Love and into the red sea of the Most Holy Passion of Jesus. This sea is born of the infinite Love of God. Walk always in greater simplicity, humility, hiddenness , leaving yourself in holy freedom to walk towards God as He draws you in prayer.”
We celebrate the feast of St. Thomas More today, June 22. Holbein’s painting of More and his family, holding their books, portrays a family that prized learning and prayer. More made sure his daughters were well-educated.
Some of those books, I would guess, are their prayerbooks, not unusual in those days. Daily prayer is part of Catholic life and prayerbooks with psalms, prayers and personal reflections were important to those who could read and afford them.
In these uncertain days, are we being called to daily, personal prayer? Prayerbooks (and blogs) may becoming more important for us, as Sunday Mass and parish based sacraments become weaker. So thank you, More and your family, for reminding us what we might do at home.
The prayer Jesus taught his disciples, the Our Father, was a daily prayer, one of the ways we get ready for what God sends each day. We’re children of God and should act like God’s children each day.
We need to live each day with large vision, doing our part that God’s kingdom come, “on earth as it is in heaven.” We need “daily bread” of all kinds. We’re part of a messy world that’s torn apart by selfishness and smallness and pride. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We need light to go by the right path. “Deliver us from evil” and guide us to do good.
I don’t think St. Thomas More could have lived so heroically in the world he lived in without daily prayer. It brings vision and grace to us; it’s daily bread.
JUNE 20 Mon Weekday (Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time)
2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18/Mt 7:1-5
21 Tue Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious Memorial
2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36/Mt 7:6, 12-14
22 Wed Weekday [St Paulinus of Nola, Bishop; Sts John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs] 2 Kgs 22:8-13; 23:1-3/Mt 7:15-20
23 Thu THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST Solemnity
Is 49:1-6/Acts 13:22-26/Lk 1:57-66, 80
24 Fri THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS Solemnity
Ez 34:11-16/Rom 5:5b-11/Lk 15:3-7
25 Sat Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary Memorial
Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19 (376)/Lk 2:41-51
26 SUN THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21/Gal 5:1, 13-18/Lk 9:51-62
We continue to read from the two Books of Kings this week. Here’s how they’re described in the Introduction in the New American Bible:
“The two Books of Kings are regarded by many as the last part of a work commonly known as the Deuteronomistic History. The latter tells the story of Israel from its settlement in the land (Joshua and Judges) through the transition from judgeship to monarchy under Samuel, Saul, and David (1 and 2 Samuel) to the reign of Solomon, the disintegration of the united kingdom into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the eventual downfall of both kingdoms (1 and 2 Kings). The Deuteronomistic History along with the Pentateuch forms a single historical narrative stretching from creation to exile.” NAB intro.
I and 2 Kings recounts Israel’s disintegration from a united kingdom under Solomon into two kingdoms, then the eventual disintegration of the both kingdoms, leading to Israel’s exile in Babylon. Though the narratives offer historical, economic and cultural information, they’re shaped by one dominant theme: Israel’s faithfulness to God’s covenant with David. Kings, leaders and people are judged by whether they abided by that norm or not.
Prophets like Elijah and Isaiah, voices of God’s judgment, play an essential part in 1 and 2 Kings, which appeared in final form after the Babylonian exile. They’re written for the Jewish community in exile to guide it into the future by learning from its past. They also tell us today that our nations will be judged by God.
The weekday readings from the gospel continue are from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.
Two important feasts are celebrated this week: the Nativity of John the Baptist (Thursday) and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (Friday)
Jesus says in today’s gospel : “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them.Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6, 8)
Gerhard Lohfink in his recent book “The Our Father” notes that ancient Near Eastern prayers began with a long address to the god approached. An Akkadian prayer, for example, begins: “God of heaven and earth, firstborn of Anu, Dispenser of kingship, Chief Executive of the Assembly of the gods, Father of gods and men, Granter of agriculture, Lord of the air”.
“One senses that the forms of address had to be precise; otherwise the god would not listen. It’s not a simple matter to speak to him without making a mistake. Correct language and competence in praying are required. Above all, one must know the deity’s proper name.
Nothing of the kind in the Our Father! ‘Abba’ that’s the only address. It’s familial.”
The creed and other Christian prayers keep that address as first. “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” The Creator is our Father. The creed tells us what we as God’s children have received from our Father and what we are promised.
“We would not dare claim such a name in prayer, unless God himself had given us permission to pray this. And so, we should remember that when we call God our Father, we must live as children of God, so that whatever pleasure we take in having God for our Father, he may take the same pleasure in us.” (St. Cyprian, Commentary on the Our Father}
You wont find any prayer in scripture that isn’t found in some way in the Lord’s Prayer, St. Augustine writes to Proba, a Roman woman looking for advice about how to pray.
Jesus himself gave this prayer to us. The words of the prayer are teachers of prayer, a school of prayer. No prayer is more important than the Our Father for teaching and leading us into union with God.
“Teach us to pray,” the disciples of Jesus ask him and gave them this prayer as their norm.
It’s a norm, Augustine tells Proba, ” So when we pray we are free to use different words to any extent, but we must ask the same things: in this we have no choice.”
The saint is recommending we pray the Our Father meditatively, a prayer that easily becomes one we say by rote. Think of the words, what they mean, what they tell us. Sometimes it’s good to leave long prayers or many prayers, and simply rest in one, like the Our Father.
JUNE 6 Mon Mary, Mother of the Church (Tenth Week in Ordinary Time) Memorial
Gn 3:9-15, 20 or Acts 1:12-14/Jn 19:25-34
7 Tue Weekday 1 Kgs 17:7-16/Mt 5:13-16
8 Wed Weekday 1 Kgs 18:20-39/Mt 5:17-19
9 Thu Weekday [Saint Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor of the Church]
1 Kgs 18:41-46/Mt 5:20-26
10 Fri Weekday 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-16/Mt 5:27-32
11 Sat Saint Barnabas, Apostle Memorial
Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3 /Mt 5:33-37
12 SUN THE MOST HOLY TRINITY Solemnity
Prv 8:22-31/Rom 5:1-5/Jn 16:12-15
For the next 6 months, following the Feast of Pentecost, we’re living in what our liturgical calendar calls “Ordinary Time.” It’s the time of the Holy Spirit. We’re not orphans, the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and lead us on our way.
In the Easter season Peter, Paul and the others venture from Jerusalem to Asia Minor and to Rome, empowered by strong winds and tongues of fire. “Their message goes out to all the earth.” Now it’s our turn. The Spirit takes us to the ends of the earth, in the few steps we take every day.
Ordinary time begins with a feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. (Monday) Faithful hearer of the Spirit, she knows the meaning of daily patience. To use a term from Pope Francis, she’s Mary “next door,” who’s with us day by day.
O God, Father of mercies, your Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross, chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also. Grant, we pray, that with her loving help your Church may be more fruitful day by day and by the holiness of her children, draw to her embrace all the families of the earth.. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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