September 24, 2016

Sept. 24

September 24, 2016:  Saturday, 25th week, Ordinary Time
  • 'Hearts' tie:  "Let your heart be glad in your youth.  Follow the ways of your heart." (1st reading)

  • 'Eyeball' tie pin:  "Follow the vision of your eyes" (1st reading)

  • 'Clock' pin:  "1,000 years are as a watch of the night to you" (psalm)

  • 'Abacus' tie pin:  "Teach us to number our days" (psalm)

  • Green shirt and blazer:  Ordinary Time season
Listen

Pope Francis

To two Argentina dioceses:  God has remained faithful, giving you shepherds, from the first bishop to now; many priests and consecrated persons have given their lives to make Christ present among you.  This fills me with joy.  Be attentive to the Lord passing before you, and help him present in those oppressed, exploited, disillusioned, sick, or suffering because of any other needs.  After the volcano damage came the cloud of solidarity and a renewed effort to move forward.  You express "creative solidarity."
To Hospital Sisters of Mercy:  You're a concrete sign of how to express the Father’s mercy.  In the face of illness-caused weakness, distinctions of social status, race, language, and culture can't exist.  We all become weak and must entrust ourselves to others.  The Church is committed to all who suffer.  Persevere in your work, despite difficulties you face.  A secularist culture aims to remove religious references even from hospitals, including the Sisters themselves, but never tire of being friends, sisters, and mothers to the sick.  Prayer is the lifeblood that sustains your evangelizing mission.  Jesus is always present in the person suffering in the hospital bed.  Closeness to Jesus, and to the weakest, is your strength.
Read
    • Eccl 11:9-12:8  Rejoice and remember your Creator while you're young.  God will bring you to judgment.  Youth is fleeting.  All things are vanity!
    • Ps 90:3-6, 12-14, 17  "In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge."  You turn us back to dust.  1,000 years are as a watch of the night to you.  Teach us to number our days and so gain wisdom.  Return!  Fill us with your kindness.  Care for us and prosper our work!
    • Lk 9:43b-45  Jesus to disciples:  “The Son of Man is to be handed over.”  But they didn't understand and were afraid to ask.
    Reflect
      • Creighton:  Jesus' miracles inspired and amazed the disciples, but with his deeds came the prophesy of his betrayal, suffering, and death.  The disciples had a different notion of the Messiah and so were confused, but they were afraid to ask.  We can rationalize or reject what we don't want to know.  We can hear God but not respond.  We can pay more attention to noise around us than to the Spirit's whisper.  We know the consequences of accepting or rejecting God's word; our challenge is to live faithful to it, knowing it'll include the cross.
      • One Bread, One Body:  "Destroying death":  The author of Ecclesiastes, written before Jesus, is naturally pessimistic.  For him, death almost ruins life.  We're tempted to trivialize life by living for pleasure, giving our allegiance to the present age, but that makes us slaves.  Death can make life a living death.  Living for Jesus defangs death.  "Death is swallowed up in victory."
        Our Lady of Walshingham
        from shrine
      • Passionist:  "Provocateur of the Cross":  I think Jn 15:9 is amazing, likening the Lord's love for us to the stupendous love between the Father and Jesus.   May “you, rooted and grounded in love, have strength to... know the love of Christ,... that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”  Devotion to the Passion is dangerous because it exposes us to the radiation of God’s care for us.  St. Vincent Strambi, CP was a provocateur of God’s fondness for the world!  Many think God is too big to care about us, but the cross shows us the opposite.  Lack of humility is our greatest obstacle to the Lord's gifts.  We only experience God if we beg for His mercy.  The mystery of the Cross is revealed to little children.
      • DailyScripture.net:  "They were astonished at God's majesty":  Ascribing majesty is acknowledging and respecting greatness.  Jesus' miracles revealed God's power, majesty, favor, and grace, especially towards the lowly.  But Jesus warned there's share in God's glory without the cross. Jesus prophesied his crucifixion.  His disciples thought the Messiah would free people from tyranny and oppression, but they didn't know the way to victory would be through the cross and resurrection, and they didn't want to know more about the consequences of death on a cross.  How could the cross bring victory and lead to new life and freedom?  Lord, show us your glory that we may grow in reverence of you and your word.
        • Our Lady of Walsingham:  In a vision, the Virgin Mary told the lady of the Walsingham manor to build a replica of the house in Nazareth where the Annunciation took place.
        • St. Stephanie, martyr at 18 with 500 others
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