Daily Reflections

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional)

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor (Traditional)

When Saint Paul says that we are to owe nothing to anyone except mutual love, he is not referring to something sentimental. The love that the Apostle enjoins on us is summed up by the LORD’s words to the Prophet Ezekiel: “If…you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways…I will hold you responsible for his death” (Ezekiel 33:7-9). Our love must extend to those attitudes and actions that would prevent any of us from truly loving ourselves and our neighbour. In Christ, Truth and Love are as one, and love makes receptivity to His teaching possible. “If he listens to you, you have won back your brother” (Matthew 18:15-20).

TRADITIONAL MASS:

Our LORD Jesus Christ has snatched us from eternal death, as he once snatched the young man of Naim from natural death. Doing this, He shows the compassion which He feels for our mother, the Catholic Church lamenting over sinners, just as He was moved by pity for the poor widow  lamenting over her son.

Epistle: Galatians 5:26-26; 6:1-10

If we live in the Spirit, we shall be guided by the Holy Ghost.

Gospel: Luke 7:11-16

Resurrection of the young man of Naim. Our LORD‘s power over death.

ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO, CONFESSOR 

From his childhood Saint Nicholas was a model of virtue and innocence. He entered the Order of Saint Augustine and became a famous preacher. He died in 1310.

EXORCISM PRAYER TO ST. MICHAEL 

(LONG FORM)

POPE LEO XIII

With Friday 29 September dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, the leader of the heavenly armies. I wanted to take this opportunity to share the Long Form of the Exorcism Praye to St. Michael, (the shorter form of which we are all familiar with, see below), written by Pope Leo XIII:

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, prince of the heavenly host, be our defense, in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil (Eph 6:12). 

Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil (Wisdom 2:23–24, 1 Cor 6:20). 

Fight this day, the battle of the LORD, together with the holy angels, as already, thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels (Rev 12:7–9). 

Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wonders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God, and of His Christ, to seize  upon slay, and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. 

This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice, on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. 

These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness, the Church, the Spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions (Lam 3:15). 

In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the Light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered. 

Arise then, O invincible prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the People of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. 

Oh, pray to the God of peace that he may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. 

Offer our prayers in the sight of the most high, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the LORD; and, beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the cross of the LORD; be scattered ye hostile powers.

R. The Lion of the tribe of Juda has conquered, the Root of David.

V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, LORD.

R. As we have hoped in Thee.

V. Oh, Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us free.

O God, the Father of Our LORD Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and, as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that, by the intercession of Mary, every Virgin, Immaculate, and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan, and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race, and the ruin of souls. Amen.

SHORT FORM:

SAINT Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the wicked spirits, who roam through the world, seeking the ruin of souls.

DAILY MEDITATION 

“Young man, I say to thee, arise“ [Gospel]. We have already arisen, for we possess the life of grace. As living creatures of God, we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice. But with most of us, the LORD has still to make the life that is in us fruitful. We can still arise to a more active and fruitful life. There is still within us much that hinders and checks the growth of Christ’s life in us. We still long for empty honours, envy of one another, and deceive ourselves, by imagining ourselves to be greater than we really are. We see the faults of our neighbour, but neglect to instruct them in the spirit of charity. We refuse to share the burdens of our neighbour, and thus fail to fulfil the law of Christ. We allow ourselves to be flattered by others and misled by them, instead of following our own conscience, and the Will of God. We refuse to live by the spirit, and we forget that he who sows in the flesh, “of the flesh also shall reap corruption, but he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” [Epistle]. Woe onto us if our holy Mother the Church did not lift up her hands in prayer for us, beseeching the LORD, to restore the dead to life!  She prays for us in the Divine Office, through the prayers of Her holy priests and religious; She prays for us, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There the LORD says to us, “Young man, I said to thee, arise.” Christ in the company of His Church stand before the Throne of the Father, offering sacrifice and working in us through the power of Grace, that we may this day apply ourselves to the things of God in the spirit of charity devotion, and sacrifice.

Dom Benedict Baur [d 1963] – German Benedictine, respected theologian, and archabbot of Saint Martin’s Abbey in Bueron. 

From a sermon on the Beatitudes by Saint Leo the Great, Pope
(Sermo 95, 6-8: PL 54, 464-465)

Christian Wisdom

The LORD then goes on to say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. This hunger is not for any bodily food, this thirst is not for any earthly drink: it is a longing to be blessed with righteousness, and by penetrating the secret of all mysteries, to be filled with the LORD Himself.

Happy is the soul that longs for the food of righteousness and thirsts for this kind of drink; it would not seek such things if it had not already savoured their delight. When the soul hears the voice of the Spirit saying to it through the prophet: Taste and see that the LORD is good, it has already received a portion of God’s goodness, and is on fire with love, the love that gives joy of the utmost purity. It counts as nothing all that belongs to time; it is entirely consumed with desire to eat and drink the food of righteousness. The soul lays hold of the true meaning of the first and great Commandment: You shall love the LORD God with your whole heart, and your whole mind and your whole strength, for to love God is nothing else than to love righteousness.

Finally, just as concern for one’s neighbour is added to love of God, so the virtue of mercy is added to the desire for righteousness, as it is said: Blessed are the merciful, for God will be merciful to them.

Remember, Christian, the surpassing worth of the wisdom that is yours. Bear in mind the kind of school in which you are to learn your skills, the rewards to which you are called. Mercy itself wishes you to be merciful, righteousness itself wishes you to be righteous, so that the Creator may shine forth in His creature, and the image of God to be reflected in the mirror of the human heart as it imitates his qualities. The faith of those who live their Faith is a serene Faith. What you long for will be given you; what you love will be yours for ever.

Since it is by giving alms that everything is pure for you, you will also receive that blessing which is promised next by the LORD: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Dear friends, great is the happiness of those for whom such a reward is prepared. Who are the clean of heart if not those who strive for those virtues we have mentioned above? What mind can conceive, what words can express the great happiness of seeing God? Yet human nature will achieve this when it has been transformed so that it sees the Godhead no longer in a mirror or obscurely but face to face—the Godhead that no man has been able to see. In the inexpressible joy of this eternal vision, human nature will possess what eye has not seen or ear heard, what man’s heart has never conceived.

Psalm 30/31:20; 1 Corinthians 2:9

O how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness,O LORD, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee.
– Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee.

That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.
– Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee.