From: John 6:44-51
The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)
(Jesus said to the Jews,) [44] "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. [46] Not that any one has seen the Father except Him who is from God; He has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."
_______________________
Commentary:
44-45. Seeking Jesus until one finds Him is a free gift which no one can obtain through his own efforts, although everyone should try to be well disposed to receiving it. The Magisterium of the Church has recalled this teaching in Vatican II: "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth" ("Dei Verbum", 5).
When Jesus says, "They shall all be taught by God", He is invoking Isaiah 54:13 and Jeremiah 31:33ff, where the prophets refer to the future Covenant which God will establish with His people when the Messiah comes, the Covenant which will be sealed forever with the blood of the Messiah and which God will write on their hearts (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The last sentence of verse 45 refers to God's Revelation through the prophets and especially through Jesus Christ.
46. Men can know God the Father only through Jesus Christ, because only He has seen the Father, whom He has come to reveal to us. In his prologue St. John already said: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known" (John 1:18). Later on Jesus will say to Philip at the Last Supper: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), for Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one goes to the Father except through Him (cf. John 14:6).
In other words, in Christ God's revelation to men reaches its climax: "For He sent His Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men and to tell them about the inner life of God (cf. John 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus Christ, sent as `a man among men', `utters thewords of God' (John 3:34), and accomplishes the saving work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. John 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (cf. John 14:9)" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 4).
48. With this solemn declaration, which He repeats because of His audience's doubts, (cf. John 6:35, 41, 48), Jesus begins the second part of His discourse, in which He explicitly reveals the great mystery of the Blessed Eucharist. Christ's words have such a tremendous realism about them that they cannot be interpreted in a figurative way: if Christ were not really present under the species of bread and wine, this discourse would make absolutely no sense. But if His real presence in the Eucharist is accepted on faith, then His meaning is quite clear and we can see how infinite and tender His love for us is.
This is so great a mystery that it has always acted as a touchstone for Christian faith: it is proclaimed as "the mystery of our faith" immediately after the Consecration of the Mass. Some of our Lord's hearers were scandalized by what He said on this occasion (cf. verses 60-66). Down through history people have tried to dilute the obvious meaning of our Lord's words. In our own day the Magisterium of the Church has explained this teaching in these words" "When Transubstantiation has taken place, there is no doubt that the appearance of the bread and the appearance of the wine take on a new expressiveness and a new purpose since they are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new `reality' which we are right to call "ontological". For beneath these appearances there is no longer what was there before but something quite different [...] since on the conversion of the bread and wine's substance, or nature, into the body and blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and the wine but the appearances alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily present too, in His physical `reality', although not in the manner in which bodies are present in place.
For this reason the Fathers have had to issue frequent warnings to the faithful, when they consider this august Sacrament, not to be satisfied with the senses which announce the properties of bread and wine. They should rather assent to the words of Christ: these are of such power that they change, transform, `transelement' the bread and the wine into His body and blood. The reason for this, as the same Fathers say more than once, is that the power which performs this action is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of nothing at the beginning of time" (Paul VI, "Mysterium Fidei").
49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread--Christ Himself--which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: "the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh". These words promise the manifestation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: "This is My body which is for you" (1 Corinthians 11:24). The words "for the life of the world" and "for you" refer to the redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf. Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacrifice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the Feast of Corpus Christi: "O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours" ("Magnificat Antiphon", Evening Prayer II).
__________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Principles and Practices - August 9
Nothing Else
There is a fresco in the Campo Santo at Pisa of a hunting-party confronted with three open coffins, in which three bodies lie in various stages of decomposition, from enbonpoint to the skeleton. Is this all man? All that is left of him unless he 'makes his soul.'
-Rickaby, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
There is a fresco in the Campo Santo at Pisa of a hunting-party confronted with three open coffins, in which three bodies lie in various stages of decomposition, from enbonpoint to the skeleton. Is this all man? All that is left of him unless he 'makes his soul.'
-Rickaby, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 9
BUT let them who have a spiritual as well as a natural affection for their friends who are dead according to the flesh, though not according to the spirit, show a far greater solicitude and zeal in offering up for them those things which help the spirit of the departed - alms and prayers and supplication.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 9
SOME persons are so full of the spirit of contradiction that they controvert what others say solely for the sake of contention. "I only defend reason," they will say. In answer to these defenders of reason, Cardinal Bellarmine says that an ounce of charity is better than a hundred loads of reason.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Friday, August 07, 2009
Gospel for August 8, Memorial: St Domenic, Priest
Saturday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Matthew 17:14-20
The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, [15] "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16] And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." [17] And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." [18] And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. [19] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" [20] He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."
_____________________
Commentary:
14-21. This episode of the curing of the boy shows both Christ's omnipotence and the power of prayer full of faith. Because of his deep union with Christ, a Christian shares, through faith, in God's own omnipotence, to such an extent that Jesus actually says on another occasion, "he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father" (Jn 14:12).
Our Lord tells the Apostles that if they had faith they would be able to work miracles, to move mountains. "Moving mountains" was probably a proverbial saying. God would certainly let a believer move a mountain if that were necessary for his glory and for the edification of one's neighbor; however, Christ's promise is fulfilled everyday in a much more exalted way. Some Fathers of the Church (St. Jerome, St. Augustine) say that "a mountain is moved" every time someone is divinely aided to do something which exceed man's natural powers. This clearly happens in the work of our sanctification, which the Paraclete effects in our souls when we are docile to him and receive with faith and love the grace given us in the sacraments: we benefit from the sacraments to a greater or lesser degree depending on the dispositions with which we receive them. Sanctification is something more sublime than moving mountains, and it is something which is happening every day in so many holy souls, even though most people do not notice it.
The Apostles and many saints down the centuries have in fact worked amazing material miracles; but the greatest and most important miracles were, are and will be the miracles of souls dead through sin and ignorance being reborn and developing in the new life of the children of God.
20. Here and in the parable of Matthew 13:31-32 the main force of the comparison lies in the fact that a very small seed--the mustard seed--produces a large shrub up to three meters (ten feet) high: even a very small act of genuine faith can produce surprising results.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Matthew 17:14-20
The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, [15] "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16] And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." [17] And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." [18] And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. [19] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" [20] He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."
_____________________
Commentary:
14-21. This episode of the curing of the boy shows both Christ's omnipotence and the power of prayer full of faith. Because of his deep union with Christ, a Christian shares, through faith, in God's own omnipotence, to such an extent that Jesus actually says on another occasion, "he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father" (Jn 14:12).
Our Lord tells the Apostles that if they had faith they would be able to work miracles, to move mountains. "Moving mountains" was probably a proverbial saying. God would certainly let a believer move a mountain if that were necessary for his glory and for the edification of one's neighbor; however, Christ's promise is fulfilled everyday in a much more exalted way. Some Fathers of the Church (St. Jerome, St. Augustine) say that "a mountain is moved" every time someone is divinely aided to do something which exceed man's natural powers. This clearly happens in the work of our sanctification, which the Paraclete effects in our souls when we are docile to him and receive with faith and love the grace given us in the sacraments: we benefit from the sacraments to a greater or lesser degree depending on the dispositions with which we receive them. Sanctification is something more sublime than moving mountains, and it is something which is happening every day in so many holy souls, even though most people do not notice it.
The Apostles and many saints down the centuries have in fact worked amazing material miracles; but the greatest and most important miracles were, are and will be the miracles of souls dead through sin and ignorance being reborn and developing in the new life of the children of God.
20. Here and in the parable of Matthew 13:31-32 the main force of the comparison lies in the fact that a very small seed--the mustard seed--produces a large shrub up to three meters (ten feet) high: even a very small act of genuine faith can produce surprising results.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - August 8
Suit The Means
It is of the greatest importance to foresee clearly and perfectly the end whither we are tending, that so, knowing its beauty, the desire of attaining it may move us to undergo all labours encountered in the gaining thereof. Now, since our end is so noble and divine that the consideration of its worth suffices to make us, for its sake, to despise all that the world so highly esteems, even kingdoms and empires, as nothing in comparison with it, so the means for reaching it must be disposed accordingly.
-Barbanson-Touchet.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
It is of the greatest importance to foresee clearly and perfectly the end whither we are tending, that so, knowing its beauty, the desire of attaining it may move us to undergo all labours encountered in the gaining thereof. Now, since our end is so noble and divine that the consideration of its worth suffices to make us, for its sake, to despise all that the world so highly esteems, even kingdoms and empires, as nothing in comparison with it, so the means for reaching it must be disposed accordingly.
-Barbanson-Touchet.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 8
A PROPER care should be shown for the tomb and for burial, for such care is reckoned in Holy Scripture amongst good works....Then let men carry out these last offices for their dead and solace their human grief in so doing.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 8
HE who looks on Jesus crucified suffers everything in peace.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
News Updates, 8/7
CBS News Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care in Misleading Factcheck
CBS News has become the latest mainstream media outlet to come under criticism from pro-life advocates for covering up the abortion funding tucked away in the government-run health care plan...
Cardinal: Morality needed in business decisions
Chicago's George reiterates message in Pope's encyclical
Sotomayor confirmed as Supreme Court justice
Voting yes were 57 Democrats and nine Republicans
Bishop opposes abortion bill over contraception
Proposal claims to reduce 'the need for abortions'
Pakistan: Who's attacking the Christians?
Muslims involved suspected to be linked to Taliban
Archbishop warns Chavez is curtailing democracy
Venezuelan president has closed 24 radio stations
Four charged in attack on anti-gay marriage group
Weapons included mayonnaise, ketchup, salsa, and fists
Twitter CEO dismisses Archbishop Nichols' critique
Says social networking sites don't 'dehumanize'
Vast majority of Catholics do not go to confession
Three-quarters don't even receive sacrament once a year
Forty years since the Summer of Love -- or Evil?
Woodstock, the Manson Murders, Chappaquiddick, Stonewall
=========
Other Issues
=========
Priest jailed for missile silo stunt
A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois was jailed Thursday after police said he cut a hole in a fence at a Weld County missile silo and trespassed as a way to protest nuclear arms. It is now his third such arrest in Weld County...
Fr Thomas Euteneuer: Cash for Clunker Politicians
I have a modest proposal for getting rid of wasteful spending, irresponsible government and even out-of-sight deficits: let's demand cash for trading in congressional clunkers....
Six people, including P-D reporter, arrested at Carnahan meeting
[Obama brownshirts & thugs responsible?]
DEMS SNEAK UNION THUGS INTO CARNAHAN TOWN HALL, Taxpayers Locked Out![Youtube]
Over 1,000 St. Louis Tea Party Taxpayers showed up to attend the Russ Carnahan town hall meeting in South St. Louis. They were Locked Out! But... The Carnahah staff was sneaking in SIEU members in the side door marked "handicapped."
White House to Dems: 'Punch back twice as hard'
Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess battle plan on Thursday, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town hall meetings
Obama Admin Blasted for Asking for Snitches on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration is coming under heavy criticism for asking for people to become tattletales on groups and people who oppose the pro-abruption health care bills in Congress.
Union Goons Rough Up Town Hall in Florida
I can’t believe what the union goons are doing at town hall meetings. I first heard about their presence when Mike Gallagher read the news story from the Huffington Post yesterday morning. Below is a video from the Tampa Bay meeting. Below the video are a couple links from news stories of the events. The comments may be more informative than the news stories themselves...
CBS News has become the latest mainstream media outlet to come under criticism from pro-life advocates for covering up the abortion funding tucked away in the government-run health care plan...
Cardinal: Morality needed in business decisions
Chicago's George reiterates message in Pope's encyclical
Sotomayor confirmed as Supreme Court justice
Voting yes were 57 Democrats and nine Republicans
Bishop opposes abortion bill over contraception
Proposal claims to reduce 'the need for abortions'
Pakistan: Who's attacking the Christians?
Muslims involved suspected to be linked to Taliban
Archbishop warns Chavez is curtailing democracy
Venezuelan president has closed 24 radio stations
Four charged in attack on anti-gay marriage group
Weapons included mayonnaise, ketchup, salsa, and fists
Twitter CEO dismisses Archbishop Nichols' critique
Says social networking sites don't 'dehumanize'
Vast majority of Catholics do not go to confession
Three-quarters don't even receive sacrament once a year
Forty years since the Summer of Love -- or Evil?
Woodstock, the Manson Murders, Chappaquiddick, Stonewall
=========
Other Issues
=========
Priest jailed for missile silo stunt
A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois was jailed Thursday after police said he cut a hole in a fence at a Weld County missile silo and trespassed as a way to protest nuclear arms. It is now his third such arrest in Weld County...
Fr Thomas Euteneuer: Cash for Clunker Politicians
I have a modest proposal for getting rid of wasteful spending, irresponsible government and even out-of-sight deficits: let's demand cash for trading in congressional clunkers....
Six people, including P-D reporter, arrested at Carnahan meeting
[Obama brownshirts & thugs responsible?]
DEMS SNEAK UNION THUGS INTO CARNAHAN TOWN HALL, Taxpayers Locked Out![Youtube]
Over 1,000 St. Louis Tea Party Taxpayers showed up to attend the Russ Carnahan town hall meeting in South St. Louis. They were Locked Out! But... The Carnahah staff was sneaking in SIEU members in the side door marked "handicapped."
White House to Dems: 'Punch back twice as hard'
Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess battle plan on Thursday, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town hall meetings
Obama Admin Blasted for Asking for Snitches on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration is coming under heavy criticism for asking for people to become tattletales on groups and people who oppose the pro-abruption health care bills in Congress.
Union Goons Rough Up Town Hall in Florida
I can’t believe what the union goons are doing at town hall meetings. I first heard about their presence when Mike Gallagher read the news story from the Huffington Post yesterday morning. Below is a video from the Tampa Bay meeting. Below the video are a couple links from news stories of the events. The comments may be more informative than the news stories themselves...
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Gospel for Friday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: St Sixtus II, Pope amd Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs
Optional Memorial: St Cajetan, Priest
From: Matthew 16:24-28
Jesus Foretells His Passion and Resurrection (Continuation)
[24] Then Jesus told His disciples, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. [25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26] For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? [27] For the Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay every man for what he has done. [28] Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."
_________________________
Commentary:
24. "Divine love, `poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us' (Romans 5:5), enables lay people to express concretely in their lives the spirit of the Beatitudes. Following Jesus in His poverty, they feel no depression in want, no pride in plenty; imitating the humble Christ, they are not greedy for vain show (cf. Galatians 5:26). They strive to please God rather than men, always ready to abandon everything for Christ (cf. Luke 14:26) and even to endure persecution in the cause of right (cf. Matthew 5:10), having in mind the Lord's saying? `If any man wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me'" (Matthew 16:24) ("Apostolicam Actuositatem", 4).
25. A Christian cannot ignore these words of Jesus. He has to risk, to gamble, this present life in order to attain eternal life: "How little a life is to offer to God!" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 420).
Our Lord's requirement means that we must renounce our own will in order to identify with the will of God and so to ensure that, as St. John of the Cross comments, we do not follow the way of those many people who "would have God will that which they themselves will, and are fretful at having to will that which He wills, and find it repugnant to accommodate their will to that of God. Hence it happens to them that oftentimes they think that that wherein they find not their own will and pleasure is not the will of God; and that, on the other hand, when they themselves find satisfaction, God is satisfied. Thus they measure God by themselves and not themselves by God" ("Dark Night of the Soul", Book 1, Chapter 7, 3).
26-27. Christ's words are crystal-clear: every person has to bear in mind the Last Judgment. Salvation, in other words, is something radically personal: "He will repay every man for what he has done" (verse 27).
Man's goal does not consist in accumulating worldly goods; these are only means to an end; man's last end, his ultimate goal, is God Himself; he possesses God in advance, as it were, here on earth by means of grace, and possesses him fully and forever in Heaven. Jesus shows the route to take to reach this destination--denying oneself (that is, saying no to ease, comfort, selfishness and attachment to temporal goods) and taking up the cross. For no earthly--impermanent--good can compare with the soul's eternal salvation. As St. Thomas expresses it with theological precision, "the least good of grace is superior to the natural good of the entire universe" ("Summa Theologiae", I-II, q. 113, a. 9).
28. Here Jesus is referring not to His Last Coming (which He speaks about in the preceding verse) but to other events which will occur prior to that and which will be a sign of His glorification after death. The Coming He speaks of here may refer firstly to His Resurrection and His appearance thereafter; it could also refer to His Transfiguration, which is itself a manifestation of His glory. This coming of Christ in His Kingdom might also be seen in the destruction of Jerusalem--a sign of the end of the ancient people of Israel as a form of the Kingdom of God and its substitution by the Church, the new Kingdom.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Optional Memorial: St Cajetan, Priest
From: Matthew 16:24-28
Jesus Foretells His Passion and Resurrection (Continuation)
[24] Then Jesus told His disciples, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. [25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26] For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? [27] For the Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay every man for what he has done. [28] Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."
_________________________
Commentary:
24. "Divine love, `poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us' (Romans 5:5), enables lay people to express concretely in their lives the spirit of the Beatitudes. Following Jesus in His poverty, they feel no depression in want, no pride in plenty; imitating the humble Christ, they are not greedy for vain show (cf. Galatians 5:26). They strive to please God rather than men, always ready to abandon everything for Christ (cf. Luke 14:26) and even to endure persecution in the cause of right (cf. Matthew 5:10), having in mind the Lord's saying? `If any man wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me'" (Matthew 16:24) ("Apostolicam Actuositatem", 4).
25. A Christian cannot ignore these words of Jesus. He has to risk, to gamble, this present life in order to attain eternal life: "How little a life is to offer to God!" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 420).
Our Lord's requirement means that we must renounce our own will in order to identify with the will of God and so to ensure that, as St. John of the Cross comments, we do not follow the way of those many people who "would have God will that which they themselves will, and are fretful at having to will that which He wills, and find it repugnant to accommodate their will to that of God. Hence it happens to them that oftentimes they think that that wherein they find not their own will and pleasure is not the will of God; and that, on the other hand, when they themselves find satisfaction, God is satisfied. Thus they measure God by themselves and not themselves by God" ("Dark Night of the Soul", Book 1, Chapter 7, 3).
26-27. Christ's words are crystal-clear: every person has to bear in mind the Last Judgment. Salvation, in other words, is something radically personal: "He will repay every man for what he has done" (verse 27).
Man's goal does not consist in accumulating worldly goods; these are only means to an end; man's last end, his ultimate goal, is God Himself; he possesses God in advance, as it were, here on earth by means of grace, and possesses him fully and forever in Heaven. Jesus shows the route to take to reach this destination--denying oneself (that is, saying no to ease, comfort, selfishness and attachment to temporal goods) and taking up the cross. For no earthly--impermanent--good can compare with the soul's eternal salvation. As St. Thomas expresses it with theological precision, "the least good of grace is superior to the natural good of the entire universe" ("Summa Theologiae", I-II, q. 113, a. 9).
28. Here Jesus is referring not to His Last Coming (which He speaks about in the preceding verse) but to other events which will occur prior to that and which will be a sign of His glorification after death. The Coming He speaks of here may refer firstly to His Resurrection and His appearance thereafter; it could also refer to His Transfiguration, which is itself a manifestation of His glory. This coming of Christ in His Kingdom might also be seen in the destruction of Jerusalem--a sign of the end of the ancient people of Israel as a form of the Kingdom of God and its substitution by the Church, the new Kingdom.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - August 7
For The Contemplative
Such a soul should studiously imitate the internal solitude belonging to a religious, withdrawing her spirit from affection to outward things - riches, pleasures, the thought of creatures, or worldly objects. She should, therefore, perform her external duties in reference to God and in subordination to her principal design, which is to perfect her spirit in divine love. She should not account herself absolute mistress of her worldly goods, but as God's steward, manage them so as to promote His glory.
-Baker.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Such a soul should studiously imitate the internal solitude belonging to a religious, withdrawing her spirit from affection to outward things - riches, pleasures, the thought of creatures, or worldly objects. She should, therefore, perform her external duties in reference to God and in subordination to her principal design, which is to perfect her spirit in divine love. She should not account herself absolute mistress of her worldly goods, but as God's steward, manage them so as to promote His glory.
-Baker.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 7
A CERTAIN sadness over the dead, whom we love, is in a manner natural, for it is not our judgement but our nature which shuns death....Kind hearts, then, may be allowed to sorrow in moderation over their dear departed ones, and to shed peaceful tears by reason of their mortal condition.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 7
DEARLY beloved reader, though you should live as many years as you expect, a day will come, and on that day, an hour, which will be the last for you. For me, who am now writing, and for you who read this little book, the day and the moment have been decreed when I shall no longer write and you will no longer read.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
News Updates, 8/6
Mexican police raid Catholic church during Mass
Feds apologize to Church for ill-planned drug arrest
Report: 185 killed in ethnic clashes in Sudan
Catholic radio station confirms thousands displaced
Catholic group crusades against Madonna concert
Pop diva scheduled to sing in Poland on Annunciation
Bishops seek gov's help to end church robberies
Indian cardinal: At least two are looted each week
Episcopals nominated openly gay, lesbian as bishops
Move likely to further inflame Anglican communion
'Most religious' colleges of 2009 revealed
At number one: Thomas Aquinas College in California
Catholic sisters queried about doctrine, fidelity
U.S. nuns have strayed too far from Church teaching
Priest's mission: Saving flock from foreclosure
Bank sale signs sprout faster than weeds in parish
Catholic Charities receives large federal contract
$100 million over 5 years to aid in disaster relief
[playing footsies with the devil]
=========
Other Issues
=========
U.S. Considers Remaking Mortgage Giants, Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac
The Obama administration is considering an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would strip the mortgage finance giants of hundreds of billions of dollars in troubled loans and create a new structure to support the home-loan market, government officials said....
California ordered to release 40,000 inmates
In a decision that could dramatically reshape California's criminal justice system, a panel of federal judges Tuesday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to find ways to cut the prison population by 40,000, or about one-quarter of all inmates.
Half of U.S. mortgages seen underwater by 2011
Senator accuses White House of compiling 'enemies list'
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, accusing the White House of compiling an "enemies list," has asked President Barack Obama to stop an effort to collect "fishy" information Americans see about a health care overhaul.
Welcome to Gestapo-care
So what has the White House told supporters to do when you run across those who spread "disinformation" about the new attempt by the Obama administration to install the anti-competitive practices of a "public option" into a federalized universal health care initiative?
Cornyn to Obama: Stop With the Enemies Lists
The White House call for people to inform on anyone spreading "disinformation about health insurance reform" didn't sit well with a lot of people...
MEDICAL MURDER: Why Obamacare could result in the early deaths of millions of baby boomers
Crowd mocks lawmakers over Obama health plan in Arkansas
Pelosi: Town Hall Protesters Are 'Carrying Swastikas'
Obama's spies monitoring Jews house-to-house
'They try to mingle with us to get more information on what we're doing'
==========
[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them.
-G.K.Chesterton, The Debate with Bertrand Russell, BBC Magazine, 11/27/35
Feds apologize to Church for ill-planned drug arrest
Report: 185 killed in ethnic clashes in Sudan
Catholic radio station confirms thousands displaced
Catholic group crusades against Madonna concert
Pop diva scheduled to sing in Poland on Annunciation
Bishops seek gov's help to end church robberies
Indian cardinal: At least two are looted each week
Episcopals nominated openly gay, lesbian as bishops
Move likely to further inflame Anglican communion
'Most religious' colleges of 2009 revealed
At number one: Thomas Aquinas College in California
Catholic sisters queried about doctrine, fidelity
U.S. nuns have strayed too far from Church teaching
Priest's mission: Saving flock from foreclosure
Bank sale signs sprout faster than weeds in parish
Catholic Charities receives large federal contract
$100 million over 5 years to aid in disaster relief
[playing footsies with the devil]
=========
Other Issues
=========
U.S. Considers Remaking Mortgage Giants, Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac
The Obama administration is considering an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would strip the mortgage finance giants of hundreds of billions of dollars in troubled loans and create a new structure to support the home-loan market, government officials said....
California ordered to release 40,000 inmates
In a decision that could dramatically reshape California's criminal justice system, a panel of federal judges Tuesday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to find ways to cut the prison population by 40,000, or about one-quarter of all inmates.
Half of U.S. mortgages seen underwater by 2011
Senator accuses White House of compiling 'enemies list'
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, accusing the White House of compiling an "enemies list," has asked President Barack Obama to stop an effort to collect "fishy" information Americans see about a health care overhaul.
Welcome to Gestapo-careSo what has the White House told supporters to do when you run across those who spread "disinformation" about the new attempt by the Obama administration to install the anti-competitive practices of a "public option" into a federalized universal health care initiative?
Cornyn to Obama: Stop With the Enemies Lists
The White House call for people to inform on anyone spreading "disinformation about health insurance reform" didn't sit well with a lot of people...
MEDICAL MURDER: Why Obamacare could result in the early deaths of millions of baby boomers
Crowd mocks lawmakers over Obama health plan in Arkansas
Pelosi: Town Hall Protesters Are 'Carrying Swastikas'
Obama's spies monitoring Jews house-to-house
'They try to mingle with us to get more information on what we're doing'
==========
[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them.
-G.K.Chesterton, The Debate with Bertrand Russell, BBC Magazine, 11/27/35
Gospel for August 6, Feast: The Transfiguration of the Lord
From: Mark 9:2-10
The Transfiguration
[2] And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them, [3] and His garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth bleach them. [4] And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. [5] And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah." [6] For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. [7] And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him." [8] And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.
[9] And as they were coming down the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man should have risen from the dead. [10] So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
____________________________
Commentary:
2-10. We contemplate in awe this manifestation of the glory of the Son of God to three of His disciples. Ever since the Incarnation, the divinity of our Lord has usually been hidden behind His humanity. But Christ wishes to show, to these favorite disciples, who will later be pillars of the Church, the splendor of His divine glory, in order to encourage them to follow the difficult way that lies ahead, fixing their gaze on the happy goal which is awaiting them at the end. This is why, as St. Thomas comments (cf. "Summa Theologia", III, q. 45, a. 1), it was appropriate for Him to give them an insight into His glory. The fact that the Transfiguration comes immediately after the first announcement of His passion, and His prophetic words about how His followers would also have to carry His cross, shows us that "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
What happened at the Transfiguration? To understand this miraculous event in Christ's life, we must remember that in order to redeem us by His passion and death our Lord freely renounced divine glory and became man, assuming flesh which was capable of suffering and which was not glorious, becoming like us in every way except sin (cf. Hebrew 4:15). In the Transfiguration, Jesus Christ willed that the glory which was His as God and which His soul had from the moment of the Incarnation, should miraculously become present in His body. "We should learn from Jesus' attitude in these trials. During His life on earth He did not even want the glory that belong to Him. Though He had the right to be treated as God, He took the form of a servant, a slave (cf. Philippians 2:6)" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 62). Bearing in mind WHO became man (the divinity of the person and the glory of His soul), it was appropriate for His body to be glorious; given the PURPOSE of His Incarnation, it was not appropriate, usually, for His glory to be evident. Christ shows His glory in the Transfiguration in order to move us to desire the divine glory which will be given us so that, having this hope, we too can understand "that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).
2. According to Deuteronomy (19:15), to bear witness to anything the evidence of two or three much concur. Perhaps this is why Jesus wanted three Apostles to be present. It should be pointed out that these three Apostles were specially loved by Him; they were with Him also at the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37) and will also be closest to Him during His agony at Gethsemane (Mark 14:33). Cf. note on Matthew 17:1-13.
7. This is how St. Thomas Aquinas explains the meaning of the Transfiguration: "Just as in Baptism, where the mystery of the first regeneration was proclaimed, the operation of the whole Trinity was made manifest, because the Son Incarnate was there, the Holy Spirit appeared under the form of a dove, and the Father made Himself known in the voice; so also in the Transfiguration, which is the sign of the second regeneration [the Resurrection], the whole Trinity appears--the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Holy Spirit in the bright cloud; for just as in Baptism He confers innocence, as signified by the simplicity of the dove, so in the Resurrection will He give His elect the clarity of glory and the refreshment from every form of evil, as signified by the bright cloud" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 45, 1.4 ad 2). For, really, the Transfiguration was in some way an anticipation not only of Christ's glorification but also of ours. As St. Paul says, "it is the same Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:16-17).
10. That the dead would rise was already revealed in the Old Testament (cf. Daniel 12:2-3; 2 Maccabees 7:9; 12:43) and was believed by pious Jews (cf. John 11:23-25). However, they were unable to understand the profound truth of the death and Resurrection of the Lord: they expected a glorious and triumphant Messiah, despite the prophecy that He would suffer and die (cf. Isaiah 53). Hence the Apostles' oblique approach; they too do not dare to directly question our Lord about His Resurrection.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Transfiguration
[2] And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them, [3] and His garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth bleach them. [4] And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. [5] And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah." [6] For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. [7] And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him." [8] And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.
[9] And as they were coming down the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man should have risen from the dead. [10] So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
____________________________
Commentary:
2-10. We contemplate in awe this manifestation of the glory of the Son of God to three of His disciples. Ever since the Incarnation, the divinity of our Lord has usually been hidden behind His humanity. But Christ wishes to show, to these favorite disciples, who will later be pillars of the Church, the splendor of His divine glory, in order to encourage them to follow the difficult way that lies ahead, fixing their gaze on the happy goal which is awaiting them at the end. This is why, as St. Thomas comments (cf. "Summa Theologia", III, q. 45, a. 1), it was appropriate for Him to give them an insight into His glory. The fact that the Transfiguration comes immediately after the first announcement of His passion, and His prophetic words about how His followers would also have to carry His cross, shows us that "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
What happened at the Transfiguration? To understand this miraculous event in Christ's life, we must remember that in order to redeem us by His passion and death our Lord freely renounced divine glory and became man, assuming flesh which was capable of suffering and which was not glorious, becoming like us in every way except sin (cf. Hebrew 4:15). In the Transfiguration, Jesus Christ willed that the glory which was His as God and which His soul had from the moment of the Incarnation, should miraculously become present in His body. "We should learn from Jesus' attitude in these trials. During His life on earth He did not even want the glory that belong to Him. Though He had the right to be treated as God, He took the form of a servant, a slave (cf. Philippians 2:6)" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 62). Bearing in mind WHO became man (the divinity of the person and the glory of His soul), it was appropriate for His body to be glorious; given the PURPOSE of His Incarnation, it was not appropriate, usually, for His glory to be evident. Christ shows His glory in the Transfiguration in order to move us to desire the divine glory which will be given us so that, having this hope, we too can understand "that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).
2. According to Deuteronomy (19:15), to bear witness to anything the evidence of two or three much concur. Perhaps this is why Jesus wanted three Apostles to be present. It should be pointed out that these three Apostles were specially loved by Him; they were with Him also at the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37) and will also be closest to Him during His agony at Gethsemane (Mark 14:33). Cf. note on Matthew 17:1-13.
7. This is how St. Thomas Aquinas explains the meaning of the Transfiguration: "Just as in Baptism, where the mystery of the first regeneration was proclaimed, the operation of the whole Trinity was made manifest, because the Son Incarnate was there, the Holy Spirit appeared under the form of a dove, and the Father made Himself known in the voice; so also in the Transfiguration, which is the sign of the second regeneration [the Resurrection], the whole Trinity appears--the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Holy Spirit in the bright cloud; for just as in Baptism He confers innocence, as signified by the simplicity of the dove, so in the Resurrection will He give His elect the clarity of glory and the refreshment from every form of evil, as signified by the bright cloud" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 45, 1.4 ad 2). For, really, the Transfiguration was in some way an anticipation not only of Christ's glorification but also of ours. As St. Paul says, "it is the same Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:16-17).
10. That the dead would rise was already revealed in the Old Testament (cf. Daniel 12:2-3; 2 Maccabees 7:9; 12:43) and was believed by pious Jews (cf. John 11:23-25). However, they were unable to understand the profound truth of the death and Resurrection of the Lord: they expected a glorious and triumphant Messiah, despite the prophecy that He would suffer and die (cf. Isaiah 53). Hence the Apostles' oblique approach; they too do not dare to directly question our Lord about His Resurrection.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - August 6
Confidence in God's Mercies
A few whispered words, a few minutes' penance, and the soul doomed to hell has passed into a soul bound for heaven! How intimate, then, how condescending, how easily available is the operation of redeeming grace! The Cross reaches from earth to heaven; in it the faithfulness of God to His own Nature is mysteriously reconciled with mercy to the sinner, eternal Justice with reconciliation of our estranged souls to their Creator.
-Ronald A. Knox.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
A few whispered words, a few minutes' penance, and the soul doomed to hell has passed into a soul bound for heaven! How intimate, then, how condescending, how easily available is the operation of redeeming grace! The Cross reaches from earth to heaven; in it the faithfulness of God to His own Nature is mysteriously reconciled with mercy to the sinner, eternal Justice with reconciliation of our estranged souls to their Creator.
-Ronald A. Knox.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 6
THE blessed Apostle admonishes us not to be sorrowful concerning them "that are asleep" - that is, our dear dead, "as others, who have no hope," which hope is that of the resurrection and of eternal life.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 6
ALL the Saints have become Saints by mental prayer. Mental prayer is the blessed furnace in which souls are inflamed with divine love.
_______________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_______________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Principles and Practices - August 5
From Creatures To God
A legitimate, therefore, and authorized and safe way of arriving at some faint idea of the charity and love of Our Lord's Sacred Heart is to watch and note all the best and highest instances of strong and devoted love which we meet with in mothers and fathers and true friends here on earth, and when our hearts are consoled and cheered and brightened by meeting with such good things in this our prison, then to bid our souls rise upwards high and higher still, above the beauty of these created things, and hear the Holy Spirit whispering within us those words of wisdom: 'By the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby.'
-Gallwey, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
A legitimate, therefore, and authorized and safe way of arriving at some faint idea of the charity and love of Our Lord's Sacred Heart is to watch and note all the best and highest instances of strong and devoted love which we meet with in mothers and fathers and true friends here on earth, and when our hearts are consoled and cheered and brightened by meeting with such good things in this our prison, then to bid our souls rise upwards high and higher still, above the beauty of these created things, and hear the Holy Spirit whispering within us those words of wisdom: 'By the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby.'
-Gallwey, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 5
HE is at once the priest who offers himself and he is the Oblation. He willeth that the mystery should be the daily sacrifice of the Church.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 5
WHOEVER styles himself the greatest sinner in the world, and then is angry when others despise him, plainly shows humility of the tongue, but not of the heart.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Monday, August 03, 2009
News Updates, 8/4
RU 486 Users Risk Automatic Excommunication: Vatican Responds to Italian Drug Agency Decision
When the Italian drug agency approved the sale of the deadly abortion drug RU 486 late Thursday night, senior Vatican officials responded strongly saying that doctors who prescribe it and the women who take it risk excommunication...
Eight Christians burned alive in Pakistan
Religious and militant Islamic fundamentalists to blame
Pope deplores killings of Christians in Pakistan
Pontiff 'deeply grieved to learn of the senseless attack'
Archbishop of Westminster criticizes Facebook
Social networking websites undermining community life
Canterbury proposes two roads for Anglicans
Line of division is over ordination of gays, lesbians
Pope expresses sadness at death of Aquino
Praised her commitment to freedom, justice for Filipinos
Catholic congressman: 'I'd rather save my soul...'
Slams health care plan's 'stealth mandate' for abortion
Nigerian bishops issue appeal to end violence
Islamic group staged raid on police station
Church of England enjoys revival in France
Services held in churches lent by local Catholic clergy
=========
Other Issues
=========
Call For Informants:
If You Oppose Obamacare, Even in ‘Casual Conversation,’ the White House Wants to Know About It
If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP...
OBAMA 2003 (UNCUT): 'SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE PLAN, THAT IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE'
Guard troops may be needed in troubled Alabama county
The sheriff in Alabama's most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff's budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis.
Obama administration withholds data on 'cash-for-clunkers' program
Issa to Emanuel: Back Off!
Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work in Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.”...
["Dead fish" Emanuel is a little thug punk....I'm surprised someone hasn't punched his lights out]
After the beers, Obama's character (or lack of it) revealed
Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious? A metaphor for ObamaCare?
Feds Hit With Biggest Tax Revenue Drop Since 1932
The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab...
[Dangerous enemies control the government - and slavery is their goal]
Post office considers changing hundreds of offices
The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States.
Harry Reid: Not 1 minute for 'phony issue' of birth
But Senate Democrat pressed 'total transparency' on McCain
Tamiflu resistant Swine Flu along US border
"We have found resistance to Tamiflu on the border. We have observed some cases, few to be sure, in El Paso and close to McAllen, Texas," said Maria Teresa Cerqueira, head of the Pan-American Health Organization office in La Jolla, California...
'Non-partisan' AARP named by Pelosi as part of Democrats August recess health care reform blitz
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's August 31 memo to House Democrats with their instructions for the August recess described a comprehensive national campaign designed in conjunction with a long list of outside groups lobbying for government government health care. Notably listed among those groups by Pelosi is AARP, the 40 million-member Goliath of Capitol Hill lobbying on behalf of government entitlement programs...
[AARP - non-partisan???? Puhleeeeze! Only statists, liberals, atheists, apostates, fascists, communists, marxists, Obama supporters, DC politicians and other "village idiots" try to pass off these lies as truth. Agents of Satan, every last one of them!]
Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance
Guaranty Bank Agrees To Be Taken Over By Feds
In a move that has yet to take place Guaranty Bank, with 160 branches in California and Texas, has agreed to be taken over by the Feds...
McCaskill Town Hall Meeting in St Louis 4-Solider's Story
[McCaskill too chicken to show up]
Protesters Shout Down Obamacare in Austin
Crowd Explodes When Sen. Specter Urges We 'Do This Fast'
UPRISING BACK HOME: Constituents Make Congressman Tim Bishop Sweat
Constituents protest before his arrival and speak out in frustration at the meeting.
Mexican trucks to storm U.S.
Obama prepares to reopen nation's roads to foreign long-haul rigs
Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner Vents as Overhaul Stumbles
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration's faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation, according to people familiar with the meeting...
[Is Timmy getting nervous?]
Post office considers changing hundreds of offices
The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States.
==========
"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him."
-G.K.Chesterton, ILN 8-31-12
When the Italian drug agency approved the sale of the deadly abortion drug RU 486 late Thursday night, senior Vatican officials responded strongly saying that doctors who prescribe it and the women who take it risk excommunication...
Eight Christians burned alive in Pakistan
Religious and militant Islamic fundamentalists to blame
Pope deplores killings of Christians in Pakistan
Pontiff 'deeply grieved to learn of the senseless attack'
Archbishop of Westminster criticizes Facebook
Social networking websites undermining community life
Canterbury proposes two roads for Anglicans
Line of division is over ordination of gays, lesbians
Pope expresses sadness at death of Aquino
Praised her commitment to freedom, justice for Filipinos
Catholic congressman: 'I'd rather save my soul...'
Slams health care plan's 'stealth mandate' for abortion
Nigerian bishops issue appeal to end violence
Islamic group staged raid on police station
Church of England enjoys revival in France
Services held in churches lent by local Catholic clergy
=========
Other Issues
=========
Call For Informants: If You Oppose Obamacare, Even in ‘Casual Conversation,’ the White House Wants to Know About It
If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP...
OBAMA 2003 (UNCUT): 'SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE PLAN, THAT IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE'
Guard troops may be needed in troubled Alabama county
The sheriff in Alabama's most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff's budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis.
Obama administration withholds data on 'cash-for-clunkers' program
Issa to Emanuel: Back Off!
Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work in Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.”...
["Dead fish" Emanuel is a little thug punk....I'm surprised someone hasn't punched his lights out]
After the beers, Obama's character (or lack of it) revealedSergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious? A metaphor for ObamaCare?
Feds Hit With Biggest Tax Revenue Drop Since 1932
The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab...
[Dangerous enemies control the government - and slavery is their goal]
Post office considers changing hundreds of offices
The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States.
Harry Reid: Not 1 minute for 'phony issue' of birth
But Senate Democrat pressed 'total transparency' on McCain
Tamiflu resistant Swine Flu along US border
"We have found resistance to Tamiflu on the border. We have observed some cases, few to be sure, in El Paso and close to McAllen, Texas," said Maria Teresa Cerqueira, head of the Pan-American Health Organization office in La Jolla, California...
'Non-partisan' AARP named by Pelosi as part of Democrats August recess health care reform blitz
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's August 31 memo to House Democrats with their instructions for the August recess described a comprehensive national campaign designed in conjunction with a long list of outside groups lobbying for government government health care. Notably listed among those groups by Pelosi is AARP, the 40 million-member Goliath of Capitol Hill lobbying on behalf of government entitlement programs...
[AARP - non-partisan???? Puhleeeeze! Only statists, liberals, atheists, apostates, fascists, communists, marxists, Obama supporters, DC politicians and other "village idiots" try to pass off these lies as truth. Agents of Satan, every last one of them!]
Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance
Guaranty Bank Agrees To Be Taken Over By Feds
In a move that has yet to take place Guaranty Bank, with 160 branches in California and Texas, has agreed to be taken over by the Feds...
McCaskill Town Hall Meeting in St Louis 4-Solider's Story
[McCaskill too chicken to show up]
Protesters Shout Down Obamacare in Austin
Crowd Explodes When Sen. Specter Urges We 'Do This Fast'
UPRISING BACK HOME: Constituents Make Congressman Tim Bishop Sweat
Constituents protest before his arrival and speak out in frustration at the meeting.
Mexican trucks to storm U.S.
Obama prepares to reopen nation's roads to foreign long-haul rigs
Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner Vents as Overhaul Stumbles
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration's faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation, according to people familiar with the meeting...
[Is Timmy getting nervous?]
Post office considers changing hundreds of offices
The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States.
==========
"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him."
-G.K.Chesterton, ILN 8-31-12
Gospel for Aug 4, Memorial: St John Vianney, Priest
Tuesday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Matthew 14:22-36
Jesus Walks on the Water
[22] Then He (Jesus) made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. [23] And after He had dismissed the crowds He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, [24] but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. [26] But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. [27] But immediately He spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."
[28] And Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to You on the water." [29] He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; [30] but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." [31] Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" [32] And when they got into boat, the wind ceased. [33] And those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, "Truly You are the son of God."
[34] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. [35] And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent round to all the region and brought to Him all that were sick, [36] and besought Him that they might only touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
________________________
Commentary:
22-23. It has been a very full day, like so many others. First, Jesus works many cures (14:14) and then performs the remarkable miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, a symbol of the future Eucharist. The crowd who have been following Him were avid for food, teaching and consolation. Jesus "had compassion on them" (14:14), curing their sick and giving them the comfort of His teaching and the nourishment of food. He continues to do the same, down the centuries, tending to our needs and comforting us with His word and with the nourishment of His own body. Jesus must have been very moved, realizing the vivifying effect the Blessed Sacrament would have on the lives of Christians--a sacrament which is a mystery of life and faith and love. It is understandable that He should feel the need to spend some hours in private to speak to His Father. Jesus' private prayer, in an interlude between one demanding activity and another, teaches us that every Christian needs to take time out for recollection, to speak to His Father, God. On Jesus' frequent personal prayer see, for example, Mark 1:35; 6:47; Luke 5:16; 16:12. See the notes on Matthew 6:5-6 and Matthew 7:7-11.
24-33: This remarkable episode of Jesus walking on the sea must have made a deep impression on the Apostles. It was one of their outstanding memories of the life hey shared with the Master. It is reported not only by St. Matthew, but also by St. Mark (6:45-52), who would have heard about it from St. Peter, and by St. John (6:14-21).
Storms are very frequent on Lake Gennesaret; they cause huge waves and are very dangerous to fishing boats. During His prayer on the hill, Jesus is still mindful of His disciples; He sees them trying to cope with the wind and the waves and comes to their rescue once He has finished praying.
This episode has applications to Christian life. The Church, like the Apostles' boat, also gets into difficulties, and Jesus who watches over His Church comes to its rescue also, after allowing it to wrestle with obstacles and be strengthened in the process. He gives us encouragement: "Take heart, it is I; have no fear" (14:27); and we show our faith and fidelity by striving to keep an even keel, and by calling on His aid when we feel ourselves weakening: "Lord, save me" (14:30), words of St. Peter which every soul uses when he has recourse to Jesus, his Savior. Then our Lord does save us, and we urgently confess our faith: "Truly you are the Son of God" (14:33).
29-31. St. John Chrysostom ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 50) comments that in this episode Jesus taught Peter to realize, from his own experience, that all his strength comes from our Lord and that he could not rely on his own resources, on his own weaknesses and wretchedness. Chrysostom goes as far as to say that "if we fail to play our part, God ceases to help us." Hence the reproach, 'O man of little faith" (14:31).
When Peter began to be afraid and to doubt, he started to sink, until again, full of faith, he called out, "Lord, save me." If at any time we, like Peter, should begin to weaken, we too should try to bring our faith into play and call on Jesus to save us.
34-36. Learning from the faith of these people on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, every Christian should approach the adorable humanity of the Savior. Christ--God and Man--is accessible to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
"When you approach the Tabernacle remember that He has been awaiting you for twenty centuries" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 537).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Matthew 14:22-36
Jesus Walks on the Water
[22] Then He (Jesus) made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. [23] And after He had dismissed the crowds He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, [24] but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. [26] But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. [27] But immediately He spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."
[28] And Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to You on the water." [29] He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; [30] but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." [31] Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" [32] And when they got into boat, the wind ceased. [33] And those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, "Truly You are the son of God."
[34] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. [35] And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent round to all the region and brought to Him all that were sick, [36] and besought Him that they might only touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
________________________
Commentary:
22-23. It has been a very full day, like so many others. First, Jesus works many cures (14:14) and then performs the remarkable miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, a symbol of the future Eucharist. The crowd who have been following Him were avid for food, teaching and consolation. Jesus "had compassion on them" (14:14), curing their sick and giving them the comfort of His teaching and the nourishment of food. He continues to do the same, down the centuries, tending to our needs and comforting us with His word and with the nourishment of His own body. Jesus must have been very moved, realizing the vivifying effect the Blessed Sacrament would have on the lives of Christians--a sacrament which is a mystery of life and faith and love. It is understandable that He should feel the need to spend some hours in private to speak to His Father. Jesus' private prayer, in an interlude between one demanding activity and another, teaches us that every Christian needs to take time out for recollection, to speak to His Father, God. On Jesus' frequent personal prayer see, for example, Mark 1:35; 6:47; Luke 5:16; 16:12. See the notes on Matthew 6:5-6 and Matthew 7:7-11.
24-33: This remarkable episode of Jesus walking on the sea must have made a deep impression on the Apostles. It was one of their outstanding memories of the life hey shared with the Master. It is reported not only by St. Matthew, but also by St. Mark (6:45-52), who would have heard about it from St. Peter, and by St. John (6:14-21).
Storms are very frequent on Lake Gennesaret; they cause huge waves and are very dangerous to fishing boats. During His prayer on the hill, Jesus is still mindful of His disciples; He sees them trying to cope with the wind and the waves and comes to their rescue once He has finished praying.
This episode has applications to Christian life. The Church, like the Apostles' boat, also gets into difficulties, and Jesus who watches over His Church comes to its rescue also, after allowing it to wrestle with obstacles and be strengthened in the process. He gives us encouragement: "Take heart, it is I; have no fear" (14:27); and we show our faith and fidelity by striving to keep an even keel, and by calling on His aid when we feel ourselves weakening: "Lord, save me" (14:30), words of St. Peter which every soul uses when he has recourse to Jesus, his Savior. Then our Lord does save us, and we urgently confess our faith: "Truly you are the Son of God" (14:33).
29-31. St. John Chrysostom ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 50) comments that in this episode Jesus taught Peter to realize, from his own experience, that all his strength comes from our Lord and that he could not rely on his own resources, on his own weaknesses and wretchedness. Chrysostom goes as far as to say that "if we fail to play our part, God ceases to help us." Hence the reproach, 'O man of little faith" (14:31).
When Peter began to be afraid and to doubt, he started to sink, until again, full of faith, he called out, "Lord, save me." If at any time we, like Peter, should begin to weaken, we too should try to bring our faith into play and call on Jesus to save us.
34-36. Learning from the faith of these people on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, every Christian should approach the adorable humanity of the Savior. Christ--God and Man--is accessible to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
"When you approach the Tabernacle remember that He has been awaiting you for twenty centuries" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 537).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for Aug 4, Memorial: St John Vianney, Priest
Tuesday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Numbers 12:1-13
The Complaint of Miriam and Aaron Against Moses
[1] Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman; [2] and they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it. [3] Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth. [4] And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting." And the three of them came out. [5] And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. [6] And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. [7] Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. [8] With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
[9] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed; [10] and when the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. [11] And Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. [12] Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb."
Moses Intercedes
[13] And Moses cried to the LORD, "Heal her, 0 God, I beseech thee." [14] But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again." [15] So Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days; and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. [16] After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
_________
Commentary:
12.1-16. Aaron and Miriam's complaints about Moses begin with the subject of his marriage to a foreigner. (The Hebrew text says "Cushite", which means "from Ethiopia", but if we look at Habakkuk 3:7, which links Cushan to the Midianites, perhaps we can read this passage as referring to Zipporoah: cf. Ex 2:16-21.) But their complaints are really aimed at something much deeper--Moses' unique authority as intermediary between God and his people. He is not the only prophet, they say; however, unlike Moses, they have not the humility to see that prophecy is a charism, a gift to be exercised on behalf of the people; rather, they see it as a privilege from which they can gain advantage. This negative feature of Aaron, along with what Exodus 32 has to tell about him, seems to suggest that his place in folk memory is less positive than might appear at first sight.
The passage really shows what a unique personality Moses was in history of Israel. He was the one who most put his trust in the Lord (perhaps that is the meaning of the Hebrew "anaw", here translated as "meek": v.3). Such was his trust that he became the most long-suffering of men; and brought God to his defense. The severity of Miriam's punishment and swiftness of her cure at Moses' intercession, serve to show how great Moses is. What really makes him great is the fact that God speaks directly to him and not through visions or dreams as in the case of the prophets. So, Moses is greater than the prophets. According to the Hebrew text, Moses saw the "form" of the Lord (v. 8); the Greek translation (presumably because of the spiritual nature of God and his transcendence) says that Moses saw "the glory of the Lord". Similarly St John will say that no one has ever seen God" (Jn 1:18), in order then to go on and stress that only Jesus Christ, the Son of God and himself true God, could reveal to us all the truth about God.
However; God's spirituality and transcendence does not mean we cannot enter into direct conversation with him through prayer. "Moses' prayer is characteristic of contemplative prayer by which God's servant remains faithful to his mission. Moses converses with God often and at length, climbing the mountain to hear and entreat him and coming down to the people to repeat the words of his God for their guidance. Moses 'is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly, not in riddles' for 'Moses was very humble, more so than everyone else on the face of the earth' (Num 12:3, 7-8)' " ("Catechism of Catholic Church", 2576).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Numbers 12:1-13
The Complaint of Miriam and Aaron Against Moses
[1] Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman; [2] and they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it. [3] Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth. [4] And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting." And the three of them came out. [5] And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. [6] And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. [7] Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. [8] With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
[9] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed; [10] and when the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. [11] And Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. [12] Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb."
Moses Intercedes
[13] And Moses cried to the LORD, "Heal her, 0 God, I beseech thee." [14] But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again." [15] So Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days; and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. [16] After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
_________
Commentary:
12.1-16. Aaron and Miriam's complaints about Moses begin with the subject of his marriage to a foreigner. (The Hebrew text says "Cushite", which means "from Ethiopia", but if we look at Habakkuk 3:7, which links Cushan to the Midianites, perhaps we can read this passage as referring to Zipporoah: cf. Ex 2:16-21.) But their complaints are really aimed at something much deeper--Moses' unique authority as intermediary between God and his people. He is not the only prophet, they say; however, unlike Moses, they have not the humility to see that prophecy is a charism, a gift to be exercised on behalf of the people; rather, they see it as a privilege from which they can gain advantage. This negative feature of Aaron, along with what Exodus 32 has to tell about him, seems to suggest that his place in folk memory is less positive than might appear at first sight.
The passage really shows what a unique personality Moses was in history of Israel. He was the one who most put his trust in the Lord (perhaps that is the meaning of the Hebrew "anaw", here translated as "meek": v.3). Such was his trust that he became the most long-suffering of men; and brought God to his defense. The severity of Miriam's punishment and swiftness of her cure at Moses' intercession, serve to show how great Moses is. What really makes him great is the fact that God speaks directly to him and not through visions or dreams as in the case of the prophets. So, Moses is greater than the prophets. According to the Hebrew text, Moses saw the "form" of the Lord (v. 8); the Greek translation (presumably because of the spiritual nature of God and his transcendence) says that Moses saw "the glory of the Lord". Similarly St John will say that no one has ever seen God" (Jn 1:18), in order then to go on and stress that only Jesus Christ, the Son of God and himself true God, could reveal to us all the truth about God.
However; God's spirituality and transcendence does not mean we cannot enter into direct conversation with him through prayer. "Moses' prayer is characteristic of contemplative prayer by which God's servant remains faithful to his mission. Moses converses with God often and at length, climbing the mountain to hear and entreat him and coming down to the people to repeat the words of his God for their guidance. Moses 'is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly, not in riddles' for 'Moses was very humble, more so than everyone else on the face of the earth' (Num 12:3, 7-8)' " ("Catechism of Catholic Church", 2576).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - August 4
For God Alone
Whoever really and in sincerity gives himself up to the service of God will experience the truth of that sentence: 'To serve God is to reign,' even if it be in poverty, in humiliations, and in suffering. All those who in this world seek their happiness in something that is not God, all, without exception, will verify the saying of St. Augustine: 'The heart of man is made for God alone, and is never at peace until it rests in God.' 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart findeth no rest until it reposeth in Thee.'
-Fr. Jean Grou.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Whoever really and in sincerity gives himself up to the service of God will experience the truth of that sentence: 'To serve God is to reign,' even if it be in poverty, in humiliations, and in suffering. All those who in this world seek their happiness in something that is not God, all, without exception, will verify the saying of St. Augustine: 'The heart of man is made for God alone, and is never at peace until it rests in God.' 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart findeth no rest until it reposeth in Thee.'
-Fr. Jean Grou.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 4
A TRUE sacrifice is every work which is done that we may cleave in holy union to God - that is, with a reference to that great end by which we may become truly happy.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 4
PURITY of intention is called the heavenly alchemy by which iron is turned into gold; that is to say, the most trivial actions, such as to work, to take one's meals, to take recreation or repose, when done for God, become the gold of holy love.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Gospel for Monday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Matthew 14:13-21
First Miracle of the Loaves and Fish
[13] Now when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns. [14] As He went ashore He saw a great throng; and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. [15] When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." [16] Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." [17] They said to Him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." [18] And He said, "Bring them here to Me." [19] Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [20] And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. [21] And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
_______________
Commentary:
14-21. This episode must have occurred in the middle of springtime, because the grass was green (Mark 6:40; John 6:10). In the Near East loaves were usually made very thin, which meant it was easy to break them by hand and distribute them to those at table; this was usually done by the head of the household or the senior person at the meal. Our Lord follows this custom, and the miracle occurs when Jesus breaks the bread. The disciples then distribute it among the crowd. Here again we can see Jesus' desire to have people cooperate with Him.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
First Miracle of the Loaves and Fish
[13] Now when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns. [14] As He went ashore He saw a great throng; and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. [15] When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." [16] Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." [17] They said to Him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." [18] And He said, "Bring them here to Me." [19] Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [20] And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. [21] And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
_______________
Commentary:
14-21. This episode must have occurred in the middle of springtime, because the grass was green (Mark 6:40; John 6:10). In the Near East loaves were usually made very thin, which meant it was easy to break them by hand and distribute them to those at table; this was usually done by the head of the household or the senior person at the meal. Our Lord follows this custom, and the miracle occurs when Jesus breaks the bread. The disciples then distribute it among the crowd. Here again we can see Jesus' desire to have people cooperate with Him.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for Monday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Numbers 11:4b-15
Craving for Egyptian Food
[4b] And the people of Israel also wept again, and said, "0 that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; [6] but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."
[7] Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. [8] The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cake baked with oil. [9] When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Moses' Prayer
[10] Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. [11] Moses said to the LORD, "Why hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou dost lay the burden of aIl this people upon me? [12] Did I conceive all this people? Did I bring them forth, that thou shouldst say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries the sucking child, to the land which thou didst swear to give their fathers?' [13] Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' [14] I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. [15] If thou wilt deal thus will me, kill me at once, if I find favor in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."
__________
Commentary:
11:7-9. The people dream of the sort of food they had in Egypt. The manna was a sign of the providence of God, who supplied his people with food in the arid desert. Therefore, their lack of appreciation for the manna, and on top of that their protest against God, show their blindness, their inability to appreciate the gifts God is giving them. Regarding the manna, cf. the note on Exodus 16:1-36.
[The note on Exodus 16:1-36 states:
16:1-36. The prodigy of the manna and the quails was a very important sign of God's special providence towards his people while they were in the desert. It is recounted here and in Numbers 11, but in both accounts facts are interwoven with interpretation of same and with things to do with worship and ethics.
Some scholars have argued that the manna is the same thing as a sweet secretion that comes from the tamarisk ("tamarix mannifera") when punctured by a particular insect commonly found in the mountains of Sinai. The drops of this resin solidify in the coldness of the night and some fall to the ground. They have to be gathered up early in the morning because they deteriorate at twenty-four degrees temperature (almost eighty degrees Celsius). Even today desert Arabs collect them and use them for sucking and as a sweetener in confectionery.
As we know, quails cross the Sinai peninsula on their migrations back and forth between Africa and Europe or Asia. In May or June, when they return from Africa they usually rest in Sinai, exhausted after a long sea crossing; they can be easily trapped at this point.
Although these phenomenon can show where the manna and the quail come from, the important thing is that the Israelites saw them as wonders worked by God. The sacred writer stops to describe the impact the manna had on the sons of Israel. They are puzzled by it, as can be seen from their remarks when it comes for the first time: "What is it?" they ask, which in Hebrew sounds like "man hu", that is, manna (v. 15), which is how the Greek translation puts it. Indeed, the need to collect it every day gave rise to complaints about some people being greedy (v. 20) and who did not understand the scope of God's gift (v. 15). And just as manna is a divine gift to meet a basic human need (nourishment), so too the divine precepts, specifically that of the sabbath, are a free gift from the Lord (v. 28). So, obedience is not a heavy burden but the exercise of a capacity to receive the good things that God gives to those who obey him.
The prodigy of the manna will resound right through the Bible: in the "Deuteronomic" tradition it is a test that God gives his people to show them that "man does not live by bread alone, but [...] by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut 8:3). The psalmist discovers that manna is "the bread of the strong" ("of angels", says the Vulgate and the RSV), which God sent in abundance (Ps 78:23ff; cf. Ps 105:40). The book of Wisdom spells out the features of this bread from heaven "ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste" (Wis 16:20-29). And the New Testament reveals the full depth of this "spiritual" food (1 Cor 10:3), for, as the "Catechism" teaches, "manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, 'the true bread from heaven' (Jn 6:32)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1094).]
11:10-15. Despite the tone of complaint, in Moses' words we can glimpse God's relationship to his people: he is their father, he made them into a people. And the passage also shows the heavy responsibility he put on Moses' shoulders--to the point that he feels unable to carry it any longer.
The imagery used here to describe God's concern for his people will later be used by St Paul when he speaks of his concern for all the Christian communities which grew from his preaching and which he has to guide towards Christ (cf. I Thess 2: 7-11).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Craving for Egyptian Food
[4b] And the people of Israel also wept again, and said, "0 that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; [6] but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."
[7] Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. [8] The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cake baked with oil. [9] When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Moses' Prayer
[10] Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. [11] Moses said to the LORD, "Why hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou dost lay the burden of aIl this people upon me? [12] Did I conceive all this people? Did I bring them forth, that thou shouldst say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries the sucking child, to the land which thou didst swear to give their fathers?' [13] Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' [14] I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. [15] If thou wilt deal thus will me, kill me at once, if I find favor in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."
__________
Commentary:
11:7-9. The people dream of the sort of food they had in Egypt. The manna was a sign of the providence of God, who supplied his people with food in the arid desert. Therefore, their lack of appreciation for the manna, and on top of that their protest against God, show their blindness, their inability to appreciate the gifts God is giving them. Regarding the manna, cf. the note on Exodus 16:1-36.
[The note on Exodus 16:1-36 states:
16:1-36. The prodigy of the manna and the quails was a very important sign of God's special providence towards his people while they were in the desert. It is recounted here and in Numbers 11, but in both accounts facts are interwoven with interpretation of same and with things to do with worship and ethics.
Some scholars have argued that the manna is the same thing as a sweet secretion that comes from the tamarisk ("tamarix mannifera") when punctured by a particular insect commonly found in the mountains of Sinai. The drops of this resin solidify in the coldness of the night and some fall to the ground. They have to be gathered up early in the morning because they deteriorate at twenty-four degrees temperature (almost eighty degrees Celsius). Even today desert Arabs collect them and use them for sucking and as a sweetener in confectionery.
As we know, quails cross the Sinai peninsula on their migrations back and forth between Africa and Europe or Asia. In May or June, when they return from Africa they usually rest in Sinai, exhausted after a long sea crossing; they can be easily trapped at this point.
Although these phenomenon can show where the manna and the quail come from, the important thing is that the Israelites saw them as wonders worked by God. The sacred writer stops to describe the impact the manna had on the sons of Israel. They are puzzled by it, as can be seen from their remarks when it comes for the first time: "What is it?" they ask, which in Hebrew sounds like "man hu", that is, manna (v. 15), which is how the Greek translation puts it. Indeed, the need to collect it every day gave rise to complaints about some people being greedy (v. 20) and who did not understand the scope of God's gift (v. 15). And just as manna is a divine gift to meet a basic human need (nourishment), so too the divine precepts, specifically that of the sabbath, are a free gift from the Lord (v. 28). So, obedience is not a heavy burden but the exercise of a capacity to receive the good things that God gives to those who obey him.
The prodigy of the manna will resound right through the Bible: in the "Deuteronomic" tradition it is a test that God gives his people to show them that "man does not live by bread alone, but [...] by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut 8:3). The psalmist discovers that manna is "the bread of the strong" ("of angels", says the Vulgate and the RSV), which God sent in abundance (Ps 78:23ff; cf. Ps 105:40). The book of Wisdom spells out the features of this bread from heaven "ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste" (Wis 16:20-29). And the New Testament reveals the full depth of this "spiritual" food (1 Cor 10:3), for, as the "Catechism" teaches, "manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, 'the true bread from heaven' (Jn 6:32)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1094).]
11:10-15. Despite the tone of complaint, in Moses' words we can glimpse God's relationship to his people: he is their father, he made them into a people. And the passage also shows the heavy responsibility he put on Moses' shoulders--to the point that he feels unable to carry it any longer.
The imagery used here to describe God's concern for his people will later be used by St Paul when he speaks of his concern for all the Christian communities which grew from his preaching and which he has to guide towards Christ (cf. I Thess 2: 7-11).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
News Updates, 8/2-3
The Battle for Life in ‘Health Care Reform’: "Catholics United"[heretics] vs. Family Research Council
Someone is right and someone is wrong. There is no middle ground on this one. The truth must be revealed and shouted from the Housetops. In fact, it really is a matter of life and death. It will frame our action and response as Pro-Life people. It must be the determining factor as to whether faithful Catholics, other faithful Christians, Pro-Life people of faith and people of good will who recognize the truth concerning the personhood of our first neighbors in the womb can participate in any Health care Plan which funds the taking of innocent human life in the womb with tax payer dollars. If this Plan does indeed mandate such blood money, we have to prepare for massive resistance because we cannot participate. Abortion is not health care. Period. ...[emphasis added]
Italy ok's abortion pill despite church opposition
Italy's drug regulation agency has authorized the use of the abortion pill despite protests from the Roman Catholic church which threatens to excommunicate doctors who prescribe the drug and patients who use it...
Prominent Nun Ridicules Healthcare Vote Delay over "Insignificant Details"
A prominent Catholic nun [Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the national [pseudo-]Catholic justice lobby NETWORK] who is pushing for health care reform has dismissed concerns over Obama's health legislation - which pro-lifers say includes the "largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade" - as "insignificant details," according to a Catholic News Service (CNS) report.
[It's a scandal and disgrace that such so-called "Catholics" are not rebuked and/or punished by their superiors or bishops when they openly embrace policies which further advance the wilful murder of innocent human beings and culture of death. They march in lockstep with the death peddlers, spewing their poisonous venom]
Catholic bank buys heavily into birth control
Dealt in shares attached to contraceptive companies
Muslims destroy Christian village in Pakistan
Sixty houses torched after family accused of blasphemy
Irish court may censor next Catholic abuse report
Publication could undermine efforts to jail pedophiles
Newspaper apologizes for inventing a scandal
No credible support for PM 'pocketing' Communion host
Prime Minister: Albania to allow gay marriages
Church spokesman: 'We are categorically against it'
Chicago Catholic cathedral reopens after fire
134-year-old church suffers damage to roof and attic
White House working hard to woo Catholics
Obama being 'packaged' as one who respects the Church
[Faithful Catholics will not be deceived by the agent of Satan]
=========
Other Issues
=========
Kenyan Birth Certificate of Barack Hussein Obama Discovered?
The Kenyan BC is supposedly a certified copy issued in 1964 of an entry recorded in the Birth Registry of Mombasa Province, Book 44B Page 5733. It says he was born August 4, 1961, at Coast Hospital at Mombasa, Kenya...
[So now we have not one, not two, but THREE different hospitals where Barry was born]
Lou Dobbs Right on Obama Birth Certificate
The Associated Press is wrong and Lou Dobbs is right. This past weekend, the AP published a story entitled "CNN's Dobbs Under Fire for Hosting 'Birthers'"...
Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will 'Eliminate' Private Insurance
Obama DOJ Threatened Oklahoma Over English-Only Vote
In April Chairman Obama's Department of Justice threatened to cut off federal funding to Oklahoma if that state's voters approve a state constitutional amendment making English Oklahoma's official language, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) revealed...
Venezuela begins shutdown of 34 radio stations
More than a dozen of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez's drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media...
UK: Patients forced to live in agony after NHS refuses to pay for painkilling injections
[Tax cheat Timmy] Geithner Won't Rule Out New Taxes for Middle Class
=========
"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man."
-G.K.Chesterton, Chapter 19, What I Saw In America, 1922
Someone is right and someone is wrong. There is no middle ground on this one. The truth must be revealed and shouted from the Housetops. In fact, it really is a matter of life and death. It will frame our action and response as Pro-Life people. It must be the determining factor as to whether faithful Catholics, other faithful Christians, Pro-Life people of faith and people of good will who recognize the truth concerning the personhood of our first neighbors in the womb can participate in any Health care Plan which funds the taking of innocent human life in the womb with tax payer dollars. If this Plan does indeed mandate such blood money, we have to prepare for massive resistance because we cannot participate. Abortion is not health care. Period. ...[emphasis added]
Italy ok's abortion pill despite church opposition
Italy's drug regulation agency has authorized the use of the abortion pill despite protests from the Roman Catholic church which threatens to excommunicate doctors who prescribe the drug and patients who use it...
Prominent Nun Ridicules Healthcare Vote Delay over "Insignificant Details"
A prominent Catholic nun [Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the national [pseudo-]Catholic justice lobby NETWORK] who is pushing for health care reform has dismissed concerns over Obama's health legislation - which pro-lifers say includes the "largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade" - as "insignificant details," according to a Catholic News Service (CNS) report.
[It's a scandal and disgrace that such so-called "Catholics" are not rebuked and/or punished by their superiors or bishops when they openly embrace policies which further advance the wilful murder of innocent human beings and culture of death. They march in lockstep with the death peddlers, spewing their poisonous venom]
Catholic bank buys heavily into birth control
Dealt in shares attached to contraceptive companies
Muslims destroy Christian village in Pakistan
Sixty houses torched after family accused of blasphemy
Irish court may censor next Catholic abuse report
Publication could undermine efforts to jail pedophiles
Newspaper apologizes for inventing a scandal
No credible support for PM 'pocketing' Communion host
Prime Minister: Albania to allow gay marriages
Church spokesman: 'We are categorically against it'
Chicago Catholic cathedral reopens after fire
134-year-old church suffers damage to roof and attic
White House working hard to woo Catholics
Obama being 'packaged' as one who respects the Church
[Faithful Catholics will not be deceived by the agent of Satan]
=========
Other Issues
=========
Kenyan Birth Certificate of Barack Hussein Obama Discovered?
The Kenyan BC is supposedly a certified copy issued in 1964 of an entry recorded in the Birth Registry of Mombasa Province, Book 44B Page 5733. It says he was born August 4, 1961, at Coast Hospital at Mombasa, Kenya...
[So now we have not one, not two, but THREE different hospitals where Barry was born]
Lou Dobbs Right on Obama Birth CertificateThe Associated Press is wrong and Lou Dobbs is right. This past weekend, the AP published a story entitled "CNN's Dobbs Under Fire for Hosting 'Birthers'"...
Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will 'Eliminate' Private Insurance
Obama DOJ Threatened Oklahoma Over English-Only Vote
In April Chairman Obama's Department of Justice threatened to cut off federal funding to Oklahoma if that state's voters approve a state constitutional amendment making English Oklahoma's official language, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) revealed...
Venezuela begins shutdown of 34 radio stations
More than a dozen of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez's drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media...
UK: Patients forced to live in agony after NHS refuses to pay for painkilling injections
[Tax cheat Timmy] Geithner Won't Rule Out New Taxes for Middle Class
=========
"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man."
-G.K.Chesterton, Chapter 19, What I Saw In America, 1922
Principles and Practices - August 3
Do You Experience This?
I venture to say that an increased general desire of being more perfect is not altogether without its value as a sign of progress; and that in spite of what I have said of the importance of having a definite object in view. I do not think we esteem this general desire of perfection sufficiently. Of course, we must not stop at it, nor be satisfied with it. It is only given us to go on with.
Still, when we consider how worldly most good Christians are, and their amazing blindness to the interests of Jesus, and their almost incredible impenetrability by supernatural principles, we must see that this desire of holiness is from God, and a great gift, and that much which is of surpassing consequence is implied in it.
-Faber.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
I venture to say that an increased general desire of being more perfect is not altogether without its value as a sign of progress; and that in spite of what I have said of the importance of having a definite object in view. I do not think we esteem this general desire of perfection sufficiently. Of course, we must not stop at it, nor be satisfied with it. It is only given us to go on with.
Still, when we consider how worldly most good Christians are, and their amazing blindness to the interests of Jesus, and their almost incredible impenetrability by supernatural principles, we must see that this desire of holiness is from God, and a great gift, and that much which is of surpassing consequence is implied in it.
-Faber.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for August 3
THERE is this difference between heretics and bad Catholics: heretics believe that which is false, but bad Catholics, believing that which is true, do not carry out their faith in their lives.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-August 3
ALL are not allowed to speak to their king: the most that can be hoped for is to communicate with him through a third person. To converse with thee, O king of glory, no third person is needed; Thou art always ready in the Sacrament of the Altar to give audience to all.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927