Padre Pio

September 23, 2017:  St. Pius of Pietrelcina ("Padre Pio"), Priest

See 13 connections with today?
Legend below

Listen

• Look, O look, the sight is glorious (Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious)/ Kelly:  new tune; lyrics+ (1st reading)

For the gospel

• Almighty God, thy word is cast/ Cawood:  lyrics+

• Sow in the morn thy seed/ Montgomery:  another tune, lyrics+

• Seed, scattered and sown/ Feiten:  sheet music

• Christ, you walked among the grain fields/ Gillette:  lyrics+

• Christ taught us of a farmer/ Gillette [too], to The Church's one foundation tune (AURELIA)

• All good gifts, from Godspell:  origin

• Psalm 65:  The seed that falls on good ground/ Celoni (gospel-inspired)

For Psalm 100

• All people that on earth do dwell/ Kethe, Vaughan Williams, set to Old 100th hymn tune
• Jubilate Deo/ Peeters
• Psalm 100:  For the Lord is good/ Silver
• We are God's people/ Haas
• All the earth/ Deiss
• Psalm 100:  We are his people/ Celoni:  sheet music

Read

• 1 Tm 6:13-16  Keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our immortal Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings Lord of lords, who dwells in unapproachable light.  To him be honor and eternal power.

• Ps 100:1b-5  "Come with joy into the presence of the Lord."  Serve him with gladness.  He made us; we're the flock he tends.  Bless his name.  He's good, kind, and faithful....

• Lk 8:4-15  “As a sower sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds ate it, some fell on rocky ground and withered, some fell among thorns and got choked, and some fell on good soil, grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.  Hear!  Meaning:  The seed is God's word.  Those on the path heard, but the Devil took away the word.  Those on rocky ground received the word with joy but had no root and so fell away.  Those among thorns heard, but life's anxieties and riches choked them.  But those on rich soil embraced the word, persevered, and bore fruit.

Reflect

• Creighton:  What happens when your faith is put to the test, when you have to suffer for your witness?  What happens when I'm confronted by daily desires and worries?  Am I a person of God like young bishop Timothy?  Maturing is tough; it takes sun, rain, pruning, and time.  The rocky-soil and rich-soil disciples embrace the Word but differ in perseverance.

• One Bread, One Body:  "Broken for the harvest":  The best soil for harvest is newly tilled, upside down, broken up into clods, not smooth.  If your heart was broken or you feel turned upside down, you're beautiful to the Gardener, like that soil.  May we offer Jesus our upside-down heart and life; even if we feel wounded or useless, Jesus sees the harvest potential.  If we let him, he'll lovingly nourish and care for us and use us to bear fruit.  

• Passionist:  The seed that fell on rich soil are the ones who embrace the word... and bear fruit through perseverance.  Maybe the perseverance isn't just through hard times but also perseverance with ourselves, not letting anxiety or riches keep us from embracing God’s word.  God can lift us out of anxiety.  Are we willing to be lifted up out of being seduced by what won't last?  May we come closer to God, embrace his love and word, and strive to bear fruit, trusting God will persevere with us.

• DailyScripture.net:  "If you have ears, hear":  God is always ready to speak to us and give us understanding of his word.  Different ways of accepting God's word produce different results:  closed-minded prejudiced hearers are blind to things of God, and shallow ones who doesn't think things through eventually wander.  People with many interests and cares who don't hear and understand what's truly important are too busy to listen and reflect on God's word.  What gets my attention?  Receptive hearts listen attentively to God's word and discern its meaning for them and let it grow and bear good fruit; they hear with a teachable spirit and tune out distractions.  May we receive God's word with trust and allow it to take root and nourish, strengthen, and transform us.

Today's saints, from Universalis

• St. Pio of Pietrelcina ("Padre Pio"), Capuchin priest, spiritual advisor, confessor, intercessor, stigmatic

• St. Adomnan (Adamnan, Adomnan, Eunan) of Iona, abbot, wrote Life of St. Columba (St. Columbkille), praised as the best and most complete biography written in Europe for centuries [though hagiography]

Dress Legend

• San Fernando Regional Congress music ministry badge/lanyard:  Today is the event, themed in line with today's gospel:  "Embrace all with a generous heart!"

• 'Roses' pin:  Thorns choked the seed that fell among them (gospel)

• 'Apple' pin:  Seed in good soil bore abundant fruit (gospel)

• 'Heart' pin:  Embrace the word with a generous and good heart; bear fruit... (gospel)

• 'Lights' tie:  Christ dwells in unapproachable light (1st reading)

• 'Eyeball' pin:  No human being has seen or can see God (1st reading)

• 'Sheep' tie bar:  We're God's people, his flock (psalm)

• 'Bird' tie pin:  Birds ate the seed on the footpath (gospel)

• 'Rock' tie pin:  Seed on rocky ground withered (gospel)

• 'Blood drop' and 'nail' pins:  Padre Pio's stigmata

• 'Keyboard' suspenders:  Sing joyfully to the Lord (psalm) [instruments 'sing' in their own way]

• White shirt:  liturgical color for St. Pius/Padre Pio

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