Daily Reflections

2 Samuel 12:9; Exodus 20:2, 13, 14

You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword
and took his wife as your own.
– Why then have you shown contempt for the LORD
by doing what it evil in His sight?

I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery.
– Why then have you shown contempt for the LORD
by doing what it evil in His sight?

Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Elizabeth of Portugal (Traditional)

Saint Kilian, Bishop (Ireland)

“The Blessed Mother takes us in hand and makes us worthy to appear before the Heavenly Father. She clothes us with the new and precious garments of Jesus Christ her Son. Recognising in these servants the merits and the good odour of His Son and of the Holy Mother of His Son, the Father gives them His double benediction” (Saint Louis de Montfort).

SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, QUEEN, WIDOW

(For details on her life, see July 4, 2023 blog)

SAINT KILIAN, BISHOP

An Irish monk, St. Kilian was consecrated Bishop, went to Rome with eleven companions in 686 A.D., and received permission from Pope Conon to evangelize Franconia (Baden and Bavaria). He was successful, with two followers – Colman, a priest, and Totnan, a deacon – in his missionary endeavours until he converted Gosbert, Duke of Wurzburg, who had married Geilana, his brother’s widow.

According to legend, while Gosbert was away on a military expedition, Geilana is reputed to have had the three missionaries beheaded when she found that Gosbert was going to leave her after Kilian had told him the marriage was forbidden by the Church. His feast day is July 8th.

From a catechetical instruction by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop
(Cat. 1, 2-3, 5-6: PG 33, 371, 375-378)

Acknowledge your sins at a time of God’s Favour

If there is any slave of sin here present, he should at once prepare himself through Faith for the rebirth into freedom that makes us God’s adopted children. He should lay aside the wretchedness of slavery to sin, and put on the joyful slavery of the LORD, so as to be counted worthy to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. By acknowledging your sins strip away your former self, seduced as it is by destructive desires, and put on the new self, renewed in the likeness of its Creator. Through Faith receive the pledge of the Holy Ghost, so that you may be welcomed into the Everlasting dwelling places. Draw near to be marked with the Supernatural seal, so that you may be easily recognized by your Master. Become a member of Christ’s holy and spiritual flock, so that one day you may be set apart on His right hand, and so gain the life prepared as your inheritance.

Those whose sins still cling to them like a goatskin will stand on His left hand because they did not approach Christ’s fountain of rebirth to receive God’s Grace. By rebirth I mean, not rebirth of the body, but the Spiritual rebirth of the soul. Our bodies are brought into being by parents who can be seen, but our souls are reborn through Faith: the Spirit breathes where He Wills. At the end, if you are made worthy, you may hear the words: Well done, good and faithful servant, when, that is, you are found with no stain of hypocrisy on your conscience.

If anyone here present is thinking of putting God’s grace to the test, he is deceiving himself, and he does not understand the nature of things. You are but a man; there is one who searches out men’s thoughts and hearts. You must keep your soul innocent and free from deceit.

The present is a time for the acknowledgment of sins. Acknowledge what you have done, in word or deed, by night or day. Acknowledge your sins at a time of God’s favour, and on the day of salvation you will receive the Treasures of Heaven.

Wash yourself clean, so that you may hold a richer store of grace. Sins are forgiven equally for all, but communion in the Holy Ghost is given in the measure of each one’s faith. If you have done little work, you will receive little; if you have achieved a great deal, great will be your reward. The race you are running is for your own advantage; look after your own interests.

If you have a grudge against anyone, forgive him. You are drawing near to receive forgiveness for your own sins; you must yourself forgive those who have sinned against you

DAILY MEDIATION

Who shall find a valiant woman? She who can draw from stores of never-failing courage the necessary energy to make head against all the difficulties of her position, its daily worries, hourly anxieties, and ever recurring contradictions and disappointments. She who can bear up briefly under the many inevitable shocks of life; under family jars, interior depression, and all of those slights and wounds, which, like the legions of insects in autumn, perpetually assaiing the heart of a woman. She presides with unvarying prudence over the labours of her household and all of the details of housekeeping; who rules her servants wisely and preserves due order in the arrangement of that multitude of petty affairs which follow on one another through every hour of the day, as quickly as the clouds of Heaven flit across the sky. Who shall find a valiant woman, who shows herself superior to disaster, to calumny, to the malice of men, and to the many blows of fate; and who, when the violence of the waves is spent, still remains firmly rooted in the sea, a beacon of light to poor shipwrecked mariners. 

Mulierem fortem quis inveniet?What daily excites my admiration for the Fathers of the Church is the marvellous skill with which they cultivated the soil of human nature, assiduously profiting by the least tokens of fertility, to sow therein the seed of the Gospel, and enrich it with the Grace of Jesus Christ. For religion alone can give to character that firm resolution, grand energy, and steady perseverance, which are the crown of our noblest faculties. Without the Supernatural aid of God, human nature is too poor and weak to produce, far less ripen, those fruits of Virtue, that exquisite blossom of a Heavenly plant, which the Holy Ghost is everywhere seeking under the title of a “valiant woman”. Be true Christian women, really and sincerely religious; make God the habitual Guide and Help of your whole lives, and then only will you resemble that ideal of strength and constancy of which Christian heroines have left us so many examples, causing even pagan philosophers to exclaim: “How admirable are these Christian women!”

Jean-François Anne Landriot (d. 1874) – French archbisiop of Reims, celebrated orator, author, and influential father at the First Vatican Council.

A Heart for the Bridegroom Alone

During Holy Communion, I thought of the Heart of Jesus: His heart that I adore in the Eucharist and in Heaven, where His heart is always in the company of the heart of Mary.

With great joy, I reflected upon the kind of Heart with which the glorious Jesus loves us. I was wondering what my response towards the Heart of Jesus could be. I had an intuition: a heart calls for a heart. “A heart for a heart”, therefore, is my proposal for today and for ever, as long as God wants it.

A heart for a heart. This means that I must make my own the reality of “letting go” without half-measures, so as to be completely receptive to the Holy Ghost. He alone in me is able to love the Heart of Jesus worthily. Thus I need to put aside everything, let go of it all, even the most beautiful and holy things, all that I could legitimately love, but which are not God.

Servant of God Chiara Lubich

Chiara Lubich († 2008) was the founder and president of the Focolare movement. [From Heaven on Earth: Meditations and Reflections, Jerry Hearne, Tr.

Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9

He who conceals his sins will not prosper;
– he who confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

If we acknowledge our sins,
then God who is Faithful and Just will forgive us.
– He who confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen