Readings & Reflections: Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week of the Year & St. Columban, November 26,2016
Jesus warns us that the anxieties of daily life can in effect anesthetize us. He commands us to “pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations,” for such prayer makes us mindful of the One who hears our prayer. The Lord God shall give us light to face whatever assaults us. He remains ever unfailingly before us.
AMDG+
Opening Prayer
“Lord, you fill us with all good things. Fill my heart with the love, peace, joy, and righteousness of your kingdom. May the fire of the Holy Spirit inflame my heart with an eager longing for you and for your return.” Amen.read more
Readings & Reflections: Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Catherine of Alexandria, November 25,2016
In art, Catherine of Alexandria bears a spiked wheel and the martyr’s palm. She is said to have been a 4th century woman of great learning who confounded the pagan scholars of the Emperor Magnus Maximus with her defense of Christianity. After Catherine’s arguments converted some of her interlocutors and the emperor’s own wife, Catherine was threatened with the torment of the wheel. And angel intervened, destroying the wheel, and Catherine was beheaded. One of the beloved saints of the Middle Ages, Catherine’s patronage includes millers, young women, and philosophers.read more
Readings & Reflections: USA Thanksgiving Day & Thursday of 34thWeek in Ordinary Time, St. Andrew Dũng-Lac & Companions, November 24,2016
Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, the 16thPresident of USA, +1865 A.D. as follows: “It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in his mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps, and our sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our working-men in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, he has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions.read more
Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time & Blessed Miguel Pro, November 23,2016
A native of Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico, Miguel joined the Jesuits in 1911 A.D. After studies abroad, he was ordained and returned to Mexico in 1926 A.D., amid violent persecutions of the Church. Miguel braved chronic stomach pain and the constant threat of capture to hear confessions, give Communion, and serve disenfranchised families – always with his characteristic mirth. “I see God’s hand so palpably in everything that almost – almost I fear they won’t kill me in these adventures,” he wrote at this time. Miguel was arrested on the baseless charge of masterminding a bombing plot. He was executed on November 23,1927.read more
Readings & Reflections: Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Cecilia, November 22,2016
The beloved Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr, is believed to have given her life in the persecutions of the 3rd century. It is said that Cecilia “sang to God in her heart” on her wedding day, desiring to live for Christ alone. With the help of an angel, Cecilia converted her pagan husband. Both died as martyrs. Since the 16th century, Cecilia has been invoked as the universal patroness of music. In art, she is shown playing the organ, viola, or lyre. “Give thanks to the Lord on the harp; on the ten-stringed lyre offer praise” (Ps 33:2).read more
Readings & Reflections: Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time & Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 21,2016
The Byzantine Liturgy proclaims, “Today is the prelude to God’s munificence, and the announcement of salvation: in the Temple of God the Virgin is seen openly, foretelling to all the coming of Christ…. The most pure temple of the Savior, his most precious bridal chamber, the Virgin, sacred treasury of God’s glory, enters today into the house of the Lord, bringing with her the grace of the divine Spirit. Wherefore the angels of God are singing: ‘Behold the heavenly tabernacle!’…. Wherefore let us cry out to her with all our strength: ‘Joy to you, fulfillment of the Creator’s plan!’” At the moment when the young girl Mary was presented in the glorious Temple, “everything that humans build was already diminished by the praise in her heart” (Rilke).read more
Readings & Reflections with Cardinal Tagle’s Video: 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King C & St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, November 20, 2016
Today is the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. He was crucified for his claim to the Messianic King who would rule not only over his people Israel but ultimately over all the nations as well. Jesus death was a triumph over our twin enemies – sin and death. Above his head on the cross: “JNRJ or Jesus Nazarene King of the Jews”. To him we pray: “Remember us when you enter upon your kingdom” (cf. Lk 23:42). This prayer was already answered because through Christ we have redemption, “In him we have redemption through his blood….” (Eph 1:7). He has transformed us through his gift of grace into his brothers and sisters of a king. We are now princes and princesses, a royal people, possessed of a dignity and worth which only God can grant (cf. 1 Pt 2:9). Now, we are offered to share Christ’s Kingship: In his eternal and universal kingdom – a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace (cf. Rom 14:17, Eucharistic Prayer). Our King is Christ the Lord. For more reflection on the Reign of Christ the King click this link: http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2017/11/22/reign-of-christ-the-king/read more
Readings & Reflections: Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time & St. Agnes of Assisi, November 19,2016
“Those deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead can no longer die.” Even though people from every nation “gloat over” the corpses of the dead prophets, death is not the final power in the world. “After three and a half days, a breath of life entered them.” A “loud voice from heaven” said to them, “Come up here.”
Readings & Reflections: Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time & Dedication of St. Peter & St. Paul Basilicas, November 18,2016
This feast celebrates the dedications of two of the four major basilicas of Rome.
Saint Peter’s Basilica was originally built in 323 by the emperor Constantine. The basilica was constructed over the tomb of Peter the Apostle, the Church’s first Pope. After standing for more than a thousand years, Pope Julius II ordered the building to be torn down due to structural concerns. The construction of the new church spanned over 200 years before its completion. It was dedicated on Nov. 18, 1626. It is considered the most famous church in Christendom.read more
Readings & Reflections: Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time & St. Elizabeth of Hungary, November 17,2016
As a young child, Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew, the King of Hungary, was sent to the palace of Wartburg in Thuringia to be raised alongside her future husband, Ludwig. She was married to Ludwig, landgrave of Thuringia, at the age of fourteen, and together they had three children. She was devoted to her husband. He, for his part, grew to love Elizabeth’s open handed care of the poor. “So long as she does not sell the castle, I am happy with her!” he declared. She was a prodigy of charity. From the age of fourteen, when she became queen, she served the poor with her own hands. It is said that on one occasion, Elizabeth hurried from the palace with her apron full of bread for the hungry, but was stopped by her angry husband. She opened the apron and a bunch of red roses tumbled out. Ludwig died while on his way to the Crusades in 1227 A.D. After his death, Elizabeth entered the Franciscan Third Order and gave herself over to diligent prayer, penance, and tending the poor and nursing the sick in the hospital she founded. She died in the habit of the Franciscan Third Order at the age of twenty-four.read more
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