June 28, 2024

Irenaeus

June 28, 2024:  St. Irenaeus, Doctor, Martyr, Bishop


Listen
Pope Francis

To Verbites:  Your Chapter theme, “...Shine Before Others: Faithful and Creative Disciples in a Wounded World,” highlights your mission to spread Jesus' Word and follow him.  God’s Word gives life, inspires, and motivates.

Experiencing God's love and keeping the Spirit's flame alive is vital.  The flame renews, purifies, and transforms us. 
Always forgive.  Your missionary creativity comes from the Word and the Spirit, from Christ living within you.  Spread joy to carry out your mission to proclaim the Gospel.  Creative missionary activities are born of love for God's Word, and creativity is born of contemplation and discernment.

Be peacemakers in a world scarred by conflict, war, destruction of the environment, violence against human life and dignity, fundamentalist ideologies, and other wounds.  Be prophets of hope; exercise discernment as the internet and social media influence people’s lifestyles and values.

Be missionaries of synodality.  The Church must grow through listening to and dialoguing with everyone, and discerning her mission in the Spirit.   Be sensitive to the Spirit's gentle movement.  Your founder knew how to discern God's will and guide you in the way of the Spirit.  May his example help you to take courageous steps.

 Read
  • 2 Kgs 25:1-12  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, encamped around Jerusalem.  His rep burned the house of the Lord and led the people into exile.
  • Ps 137:1-6  "Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!"  Our despoilers urged us to be joyous, but we remembered Zion and wept.
  • Mt 8:1-4  Leper/Jesus:  “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  “Be made clean.  Tell no one...”
Reflect
St. Irenaeus
  • Creighton:  In today’s psalm, the people lament the dread of exile. We have a bond of music and prayer with our ancestors.  What a gift to gather and glorify God in song!
  • Passionist:  Jesus saw the leper as a believer, not as society saw him.  How do I treat today's "lepers"?  How do I bring hope and joy out of sadness?
  • DailyScripture.net:  "You can make me clean":  Lepers were outcasts, shunned and regarded as dead.  One approached Jesus confidently and humbly, expecting Jesus could heal him.  Jesus cleansed him and showed God's love in his physical touch. Holy Spirit, inflame me with Christ's love that I may touch others, especially the rejected, mistreated, and alone.
Dress legend (too bad I forgot to pack the bling I planned to wear today)
  • 'Doctor's office' tie:  Irenaeus, new Doctor of the Church
  • Red shirt:  Irenaeus, martyr
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June 27, 2024

June 27

June 27, 2024:  Thursday, 12th week, Ordinary Time

Listen
From the Vatican

Algorithms, serve people:  Communicating in the AI age:  How can we protect professionals and maintain the right to inform and be informed on the basis of truth, freedom, and responsibility?  How can we make AI platforms interoperable?  (Dr. Paolo Ruffini)

Pope Francis's interventions on AI demonstrate the Church's "intuition" in walking with humanity, as 500 years ago with the first Vatican printing press, in 1931 with Vatican Radio, and in 1994 with vatican.va. (Fr Lucio Ruiz)

Computers contributed to the A-bomb the breaking Nazi Germany encryption.  Then came "personal computing" through PCs, then smartphones.  We don't know how much computing will be local vs. cloud-based.  AI regulation is as necessary as traffic laws. (Fr. Paolo Benanti)

What makes AI have decisive anthropological impact is its reliance on so much data collected brutally over through free services that have become essential to us.  Algorithms have been trained with values and culture connected with the English language. Struggling to decode complex messages can be dangerous.  (Nunzia Ciardi)

Knowledge is becoming private property; e.g. OpenAI started as a nonprofit but is now partnered with Microsoft.  We must make AI a science with rigorous definitions, vs. a probabilistic tool that can't measure intelligence, truth, or causality.  (Prof. Mario Rasetti)

Love concretely:  Remember your founder's call to “make union with Christ, in His love for the Father and for all, the principle and centre” of your lives.

Unity is a gift not attained through our efforts, but we must do our part.  Give priority to sacramental life, meditate on scripture, and devote yourselves to prayer.  Make room for Jesus, whose heart eternally beats with love for us, inviting us to bring everything into His presence.

How can we be missionaries today, in a world marked by so many challenges?  Your founder understood that Jesus’ sufferings were a result of His love for the Father and for all people.  The secret of credible and effective proclamation is allowing, like Jesus, the word ‘love’ to be written upon us, in the concreteness of our actions.  (Pope Francis to Sacred Heart priests (Dehonians))

Hope and act with Creation:  Abuse of nature requires conversion.  It's our responsibility to take care of our Common Home, in obedience to Jesus’ commandment of love.  Creation was enslaved, unable to fulfill the purpose it was designed for.  Abuse of nature helps kill the environment, but our salvation is a hope for creation.  The Spirit guides and calls us to change our lifestyle to resist environmental degradation and to engage in social critique.

Join forces to rethink the meaning and limits of human power.  Injustice and war kill, destroy, pollute, and devastate.  The universe yearns for its original state to be restored.  War in Syria has eroded a lush forest.  Trying to possess, dominate, and manipulate nature is idolatry.  Creation is drawn toward its future; protecting it is an ethical and theological issue.

We're free, created in God's image, representatives of creation in Christ.  Creation suffers birth pangs, awaiting the revelation of the children of God.  Our life and eternity are at stake.  Remember your identity as God's children, empowered to live holy lives and effect change, become a song of love for God and humanity, with and for creation.  (World Day of Prayer for Care of creation message)

Act against trafficking:  Human trafficking is a grave violation of human dignity, and it often goes unseen.  We must reject the culture of indifference that desensitizes us and effaces the inalienable dignity of the exploited.  The poor are the most likely to fall into trafficking and slavery; we must help them find a safe place to rediscover peace and flourish.  We're called to deploy our efforts to prevent trafficking and to affirm the God-given dignity of victims of human rights violations.  Weakening values and relationships erodes families and the social fabric.

States need to pass laws to combat this offense to women’s dignity and to support victims of prostitution and address causes of such violence.  Continued growth in commodification and exploitation of women and girls calls for a concrete response to help victims, especially given the increasing prominence and use of surrogacy.   (Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN and Other International Organizations, Geneva)

  • 2 Kgs 24:8-17  Jehoiachin reigned three months in Jerusalem, doing evil in God's sight.  King Nebuchadnezzar's officials attacked Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, who took him captive, carried off the treasures, and deported all Jerusalem.  He deported Jehoiachin and led captive the king’s mother, wives, functionaries, and chief men.  He appointed his uncle Mattaniah king, changing his name to Zedekiah.
  • Ps 79:1b-2-5, 8, 9  "For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us."  The nations have defiled your temple, laid Jerusalem in ruins, and fed your dead servants to the birds.  Will you be angry and jealous forever?  May your compassion quickly come to us.
  • House built on rock
    vs.house built on sand
    Mt 7:21-29  “Only those who do my Father's will will enter the Kingdom.  Many will say, ‘Didn't we do mighty deeds in your name?,’ but I'll say, ‘I never knew you; depart, you evildoers.’  One who acts on my words is like a wise man who built his house on rock; it stood despite rain, floods, and winds.  One who doesn't act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand; rain, floods, and winds ruined it.”  The crowds were astonished, for he taught with authority.
        Reflect
        • Creighton:  Did Jesus tell the people who prophesied, expelled demons, and did great deeds to depart and suggest they had no solid foundation because they weren't properly motivated?  May love of God and neighbor be the foundation of our work.
        • Passionist:  Jesus calls us to do God’s will.  When we seek the Father's love and will, we find peace and stability even amid storms and winds.
        • DailyScripture.net:  "The wise who built their house upon the rock":  If you could foresee a threat to your life, home, and goods, you'd do what you could to avoid disaster.  Jesus' audience knew storms swept through their land unannounced and likely remembered the proverb, "When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm."  The foundation we build on determines how we survive life's storms and trials.  We may fool one another, but we can't deceive God who sees our heart.  Our sincerity can only be proved by our practice.  Our choices reveal our character.  If we make the Lord Jesus and his word our foundation, then nothing can shake us nor keep us from God's presence and protection.
          • St. Cyril of Alexandria, bishop, fought Nestorian heresy.  Read his writings online.
          • Mary, Our Lady (Mother) of Perpetual (Unfailing) Help
          • St. John Southworth, priest, martyr
          • Bl. Nykyta Budka, priest, martyr
          • Bl. Vasyl Velychkovsky, bishop, abbot
        Early Cyrillic: thanks, St. Cyril
        Dress legend (if only I'd packed the tie pins and bars I picked out Saturday)
        Our Lady of Perpetual Help
        • 'Crowns' tie:  Kings Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar, Solomon, and Zedekiah (1st reading)
        • 'Money bag' pin:  Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures of temple and palace,... (1)
        • Gold-colored accessories:  ...broke up the gold utensils Solomon had provided,... (1)
        • 'Hammer' tie pin:  ...deported officers, soldiers, and craftsmen (1)
        • 'Skeleton,' 'bird,' 'beast' pins:  They gave your servants' corpses to the birds, their flesh to beasts (psalm)
        • 'Car' tie pin:  "Didn't we 'drive' out demons in your name?" (gospel)
        • 'Owl,' 'rock' tie pins:  If you listen to and act on my words, you'll be like a wise man who built on rock (gospel)
        • 'Fire' pin:  "Lord, will your jealousy burn like fire?" (psalm)
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        June 24, 2024

        John the Baptist's Birth

        June 24, 2024:  Nativity of St. John the Baptist

        Listen
        • Prepare ye, from Godspell/ Schwartz (John the Baptist)
        • John/ Winter (Medical Mission Sisters) (gospel) [leadsheet and note]
        Vigil:  trumped by 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
        • Is 49:1-6  The Lord called and formed me:  "You're my servant.  Through you Jacob and Israel will be gathered to me.  I'll make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth."
          "His name is John" (Animate)
        • Ps 139:1b-3, 13-15  "I praise you, for I am wonderfully made."  You've formed me and know me....
        • Acts 13:22-26  Paul:  “God raised up David as king and brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, from his descendants.  John heralded him by proclaiming a baptism of repentance, saying, ‘One is coming after me; I'm not worthy to unfasten his sandals.’  This word of salvation has been sent to you....”
          • Lk 1:57-66, 80  Elizabeth gave birth; her neighbors and relatives rejoiced.  They were going to name him Zechariah, but she said, “No:  John.” / “But none of your relatives has that name.”  They made signs asking his father; he wrote, “John,” all were amazed, his mouth was opened, he spoke blessing God, fear came upon the neighbors, and everyone talked about it:  “What will this child be?  God is with him."  The child grew and became strong in spirit...
          Reflect
          • Passionist:  “John is his name.” Scripture presents John as rather threatening, but his name in Hebrew means "God is gracious" (kind and compassionate).  God is Self-described as “merciful compassionate and very generous!  John the Baptist had to be forceful to wake up his generation to God's loving kindness; his mission was to prepare them for God's Incarnation.  May we always appreciate and share God's gift of Jesus.
          • Universalis:  John the Baptist (the only saint other than Mary and Joseph to have more than one feast day), prophet from before his birth, leaping in the womb to announce Jesus, proclaimed the fulfillment of all prophecies, and so his own obsolescence.  With courage he spread the news that he was the least in the kingdom of heaven.
          Dress legend
          • 'Playing card' tie bar:  Zechariah was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary (1st reading)
          • 'Prize' pin:  My reward is with the Lord (1st reading)
          • 'Crown' tie bar:  God raised up David as king (2nd reading)
          • 'Car with mouth' tie pin:  Zechariah's mouth was opened and tongue freed (gospel)
          • '?'  tie pin: "What will this child be?" (gospel)  "What do you suppose I am?" (2nd reading)
          • 'Hand' tie pin:  "The hand of the Lord was with [John]" (gospel)
          • 'Musical notes with "joy"' pin:  They rejoiced with Elizabeth (gospel)
          • 'Arrow' tie bar:  "He made me a sharpened arrow" (1st reading)
          • 'Heart' tie bar:  John will turn hearts (gospel); "I've found David a man after my own heart" (2nd reading); all who heard took it to heart (gospel)
          • 'Phone' tie bar:  The Lord 'called' me from birth (1st reading); they made signs, asking Zechariah what he wished the child to be called (gospel)
          • 'Sword' tie pin:  The Lord made of me a sharp-edged sword (1st reading)
          • Sandals (not shown):  "I'm not worthy to unfasten the sandals (2nd reading)
          • 'Feet' pin:  ...of his feet" (2nd reading)
          • 'Children around the world' tie, 'street light' tie bar:  I'll make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (1st reading); you knew me when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth (psalm)
          • 'Tablet' pin:  Zechariah wrote "John is his name" on a tablet (gospel)
          • White and red shirt, white socks, 'decapitated skeleton' tie pin:  White for today's celebration, red and pin for John's martyrdom
          • "Boundless mercy" button:  "John" is Hebrew for "God is merciful"; the Lord showed great mercy toward Elizabeth (gospel)
          • 'Light' pin:  I'll make you a light... (1st reading)
          • Suspenders with globe:  ...to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (1st reading d); I was fashioned in the depths of the earth (psalm)

          • 'Alps' pin:  These matters were discussed throughout the hill country (gospel)
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