Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Easy Like Sunday Morning  

Posted by siouxbhoney


On the Day of 12 October
St. Seraphin of Montegranaro
(1540-1604)

Born into a poor Italian family, young Seraphin lived the life of a shepherd and spent much of his time in prayer. Mistreated for a time by his older brother after the two of them had been orphaned, Seraphin became a Capuchin Franciscan at age 16 and impressed everyone with his humility and generosity.
Serving as a lay brother, Seraphin imitated St. Francis in fasting, clothing and courtesy to all. He even mirrored Francis' missionary zeal, but Seraphin's superiors did not judge him to be a candidate for the missions.
Faithful to the core, Seraphin spent three hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament daily. The poor who begged at the friary door came to hold a special love for him. Despite his uneventful life, he reached impressive spiritual heights and has had miracles attributed to him.
Seraphin died on October 12, 1604, and was canonized in 1767.

**Saint/Feast of the Day copied from the AmericanCatholic.org saint of the day feature.



On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from every face;
the reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.
On that day it will be said:"Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

Reading II: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20

Brothers and sisters:
I know how to live in humble circumstances;
I know also how to live with abundance.
In every circumstance and in all things
I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress.
My God will fully supply whatever you need,
in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen


Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables,
saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers,
and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roadsand invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests,he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?
'But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen."








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Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time - One Big Happy Family  

Posted by siouxbhoney



On the day of 11 October
Today the Roman Martyrology commemorates Saint Alexander Sauli, a bishop of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul. He was of noble birth and renowned for virtues, learning, and miracles. Pope Pius X placed him in the canon of the saints.

**Saint/Feast of the day feature copied from the USCCB web page.


This just looks like more of the same from yesterday. No matter what race or culture that we come from, when we are Christians, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, heirs to Abraham, and children of God. Got it.

I guess the letters are getting easier.


This one is very interesting. On one hand, part of this reading is used in a common catholic prayer to Jesus' mother, Mary. On the other hand, Jesus is emphasizing "that attentiveness to God's word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus.". I got that from the USCCB footnotes page. It seems to tie in well to the first reading, in that, we are all a family, once we decide to follow Christ. One of the reasons Mary is special is because she, as his mother, decided to follow him as well, not just because she gave birth to him. Giving birth to the Lord is a huge thing, don't get me wrong, but she also raised him with God, and accepted him as the Christ once he took on his appointed role. There are a lot of reasons why Catholics consider her the most important of all of the saints.

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Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time  

Posted by siouxbhoney


On the day of 10 October

Daniel Comboni: the son of poor gardeners who became the first Catholic Bishop of Central Africa, and one of the great missionaries in the Church's history.
**Saint/Feast of the day segment copied from the Vatican's website today.




Let me just reiterate how difficult the letters are for me. I don't know why, but I resist reading them as much as I can, and the words just dance around in front of me. So, if I get this wrong, I'm not surprised.
So, I think that Paul is talking about two things here. First, he is reminding everyone that the spirit of God's law is much more important than any nit-picky interpretation of the law. Jesus liked to talk about how much more important the spirit of the law was than the letter, as well. Second, Paul wants all of the gentile Galatians to know that Christ died so that they could be saved, even as gentiles, even without becoming Jewish. The footnotes indicate that the Jewish Christians wanted the gentiles to become circumcised and observe Jewish law. Paul is telling them that they just need to follow the spirit of the law, and save themselves the knife. Right? Maybe?




So, I looked in the footnotes, and they saint NOTHING about the end of this passage. It leaves this whole "the demon will come back with his pals and inhabit the same person and throw a big nasty party in the cleaned out body" issue alone. This is the most interesting part of the reading for me. Yes, I recognize that in this reading, Jesus is revealing who he is, and also telling people that the other real Jewish exorcists are gonna get them. (The footnotes read: Your own people: the Greek reads "your sons." Other Jewish exorcists (see Acts 19:13-20), who recognize that the power of God is active in the exorcism, would themselves convict the accusers of Jesus. See also the note on Matthew 12:27.) I also understand that I frequently miss the point. So, If anyone has a better understanding of this passage than me, please let me know.




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Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary  

Posted by siouxbhoney


On the day of 7 October

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, of whom Pope John Paul II wrote eloquently in his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae: “The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity which pastors should use to advantage. In this way too Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ.”


**Saint/Feast of the day copied from the USCCB page.




I'm in a crazy hurry today, and have to leave for work in two seconds, so I'm just reprinting everything here for you.






Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
So they glorified God because of me.




Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply,“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

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Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time  

Posted by siouxbhoney



On the day of 6 October


Today is the feast day of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher. She was born in 1811 at Quebec, Canada. She established the first Canadian parish sodality for young women. In 1843 she founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, a congregation of women dedicated to Christian education, which flourished in spite of great poverty and misunderstandings. Marie Rose is especially known for her concern for the poor.

**Feast/Saint of the day segment copied from the USCCB webpage.


This is like walking in on the very ending of a great argument. What had the Galatians done to tick off Paul so much? Okay, obviously they were reading an unauthorized gospel, but does anyone know which one? Can anyone give me the full background? Amy? Mom? Bill?


This is another example of Jesus' constant reminding that we need to love and help one another. In this example, he uses cultural enemies. Here in the US, it is hard for us to emotionally grasp cultural enemies because we're such a melting pot. Sure, we have our pockets of prejudice against certain races, but those are the minority. We don't have the phenomenon of one group completely hating the other. The only modern example I can think of is the Palestinians and the Israelis. This may be a little off the subject, but we hear a lot about how modern society is going down the tubes and that we have degenerated morally, blah blah blah. Just the pure fact that I had a lot of trouble coming up with a modern equivalent of people that hate each other, says to me that "We've come a long way, baby..." So, I guess it all just comes down to one thing that we've heard since we were kids: Love your enemies.

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