Daily Reflections

First Friday Devotion

Making Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
In the Nine First Fridays Devotion

“Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to testify to its love! And in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love.  …

“I feel this more than all that I suffered during My Passion. If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness. Do you at least console Me by supplying for their ingratitude, as far as you are able.”

(Revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Our LORD longs to find special expressions of our love for Him on the First Friday of each month. Your fervent Holy Communion, as a special act of reparation and love to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will greatly console Our LORD for the ingratitude and outrages that He endures for our sake in the Blessed Sacrament!

First Friday of the Month 

Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bishops (Traditional)

A mere word from Our LORD as He “was walking on” (Mt 9:9-13) energised Matthew to break free of the paralysing effects of sin and to begin a new existence. The love that Rebecca has when she sees Isaac “walking through the fields to meet us” (Genesis  24:62-67) prefigures the love we show Our LORD, who has sought us out and espoused us to Himself in the Incarnation. The Promise made to Abraham that God would “give this country to My descendants” (Genesis  24:7)is fulfilled in the preaching of the Apostles, who carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS, BISHOPS

These two celebrated apostles of the East are found by more than one tie to the history of Papal Rome. The Slav nations are indebted to Saint Cyril and Methodius, for their civilization, their Faith, and their original communion with the See of Peter. To this day, the Slav pilgrim who visits Rome  and kneels at the Sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles, sees upon that tomb a painting representing the Saviour between Saint Peter and Saint Paul. That venerated icon, on which is traced and inscription in the Slavonic tongue, is said to have been placed there by Saint Cyril and Methodius, as a mark of their homage and devotion to the Apostolic See. 

They were consecrated. Bishops, by Pope Adrian 11. They invented a writing for the language of the Slav; translated the Scriptures and made use of this language in the Liturgy. Cyril, worn out by the mission, returned to Rome and prepared a tomb for himself in the shadow of Saint Clement’s. He died in 869 A.D. at the age of 42 Methodius died in 885 A.D.

From a book on the Predestination of the Saints by Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Cap. 15, 30-31: PL 44, 981-983)

In His human nature Jesus Christ is descended from the line of David

The greatest glory of predestination and grace is the Saviour Himself, the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. What, I ask you, did His human nature do in the way of good works or of Faith to merit beforehand this Glory? Give me an answer to this question: How did His humanity merit to be taken up by the Word, Co-eternal with the Father, into unity with His person and so to be the Only-begotten Son of God? What goodness, of whatever kind, did He possess beforehand? What had He done, what Faith had He shown, what request had He made, that He should attain to that point of preeminence, beyond all human power of description? Was it not through the action of the Word in taking this humanity to Himself that, from the moment when He came into existence, this human being came into existence as the only Son of God?

We must keep before our eyes the very Source of Grace, taking its origin in Christ, our Head, and flowing through all His members according to the capacity of each. The Grace which makes any man a Christian from the first moment of his coming to believe is the same Grace which made this man the Christ from His coming to be as man. The Spirit through whom men are reborn is the same Spirit through whom Christ was born. The Spirit by whom we receive forgiveness of sins is the same Spirit who brought it about that Christ knew no sin. Clearly, God knew that He would do all this. The predestination of the saints is the same predestination that reached its greatest glory in the Saint above all other saints. Who can deny this among those who understand correctly the utterances of Truth? For we have been taught that inasmuch as the Son of God became man, the LORD of Glory Himself was the object of predestination.

Jesus then was predestined. He who was to be the son of David in His human nature was to be the Son of God in power through the action of the Spirit of Holiness, for He was born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary. This unique taking to Himself of a human nature by God the Word came about in such a way, too mysterious for our understanding, that with truth and accuracy the Word could be called at one and the same time the Son of God and the son of man: son of man because of the human nature that was taken, and Son of God because it was the Only-begotten God who took that human nature. We are not to believe in God as a quaternity but as a Trinity.

Human nature was in this case predestined to so marvellous, so sublime, so perfect a dignity that it could not be raised higher; just as the Divine nature itself could not demean itself any lower than by taking human nature with all its weakness, even to dying on a Cross. Just as One Christ was predestined to be our Head, so we, the many, were predestined to be His members. Let there be no mention here of human merits; they were lost through Adam. Let God’s Grace reign Supreme, as it does through Jesus Christ, Our LORD, the Only Son of God, the One LORD. If anyone can find in Christ, our Head, any merits preceding His unique birth, he may look also for merits in ourselves preceding our rebirth as His many members.

Called to Holiness by God’s Initiative

What is “holiness”? The question is crucial. Holiness is not something I can acquire [for myself]. In the Scriptures God is “Holy” and this term was used in an effort to express His transcendence, His inmost being, His own world utterly separate from the world of men. It means God’s own, Unutterable Existence. A human being is holy insofar as he has come into contact with Divine holiness. For this, the Divine holiness must have drawn near and touched him, for man, of himself, cannot enter the Divine ambience. God’s Life is inaccessible to him. To be holy in the absolute sense means that a human being has been taken right into this ambience, that he lives with God, in God’s own sphere.

The writers of the New Testament speak of Christians as God’s holy people; they are the saints, the holy ones. This means that they are so in calling; the whole meaning of their vocation as Christians is to be drawn into the inmost Heart of God. They are drawn in Jesus who has made them His own. It is He, of humankind, who is the Holy One absolutely, for He belongs completely to God; besides being on our side He is also fully on God’s side. By our union with Jesus we too can enter, and do enter into God’s holy world. Holy in principle we have to become so in reality, we have to allow God to come close to us and by His closeness make us like Him and able to live wholly in His Sphere, His Eternal Life. The Divine initiative cannot be overstressed. Too easily we think of holiness as something we acquire…. No effort of ours can achieve it. It is hHe Himself who must snatch us away from ourselves.

Sister Ruth Burrows, o.c.d.

  Sister Ruth is a Carmelite nun at Quidenham in Norfolk, England. She is the author of a number of bestselling books. [From To Believe in Jesus. Copyright © 2010 by Ruth Burrows. Published by Hidden Spring, an imprint of Paulist Press, Inc., New York/Mahwah, New Jersey. Reprinted with permission of Paulist Press.

Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:4; Romans 8:3

When at last the appointed time had come,
God sent His Son into the world,
born of a virgin, subject to the Law,
– to redeem those who were subject to the Law.

Because of His great love for us,
God sent His Son in the likeness of our sinful human nature.
– To redeem those who were subject to the Law.

“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

Genesis 49:10, 8

The royal sceptre shall not pass from Judah,
nor the kingly mace from between his feet.
– until the coming of the One I have promised you;
He will be the desire of the nations.

Your brothers shall praise you;
your father’s sons shall bow down in worship before you.
– Until the coming of the One I have promised you;
He will be the desire of the nations.

Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, Queen, Widow

SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, QUEEN, WIDOW

Elizabeth, daughter of Spanish monarchs, is usually depicted in royal garb with a dove or an olive branch.  At her birth in 1271, her father Pedro III, future king of Aragon, was reconciled with his father James, the reigning monarch.  This proved to be a portent of things to come.  Under the healthful influences surrounding her early years, she quickly learned self-discipline and acquired a taste for spirituality.

Thus fortunately prepared, Elizabeth was able to meet the challenge when at the age of 12, she was given in marriage to Denis, king of Portugal.  She was able to establish for herself a pattern of life conducive to growth in God’s love, not merely through her exercises of piety, including daily Mass, but also through her exercise of charity, by which she was able to befriend and help pilgrims, strangers, the sick, the poor — in a word, all those whose need came to her notice.  At the same time she remained devoted to her husband, whose infidelity to her was a scandal to the kingdom.

Denis, too, was the object of many of her peace endeavours.  Elizabeth long sought peace for him with God, and was finally rewarded when he gave up his life of sin.  She repeatedly sought and effected peace between the king and their rebellious son Alfonso, who thought that he was passed over to favour the king’s illegitimate children.  She acted as peacemaker in the struggle between Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his cousin James, who claimed the crown.  And finally from Coimbra, where she had retired as a Franciscan tertiary to the monastery of the Poor Clares after the death of her husband, Elizabeth set out and was able to bring about a lasting peace between her son Alfonso, now king of Portugal, and his son-in-law, the king of Castile.
Elizabeth died in 1336 and is the patroness of Catholic charities.

Courtesy of Franciscan Media.  All Rights Reserved

From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop
(De pace: PL 52, 347-348)

Blessed are the peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers, the evangelist said, dearest brethren, for they shall be called the sons of God. Truly Christian Virtues grow in a man who enjoys the unchangeable possession of Christian Peace, nor does one come to the title of son of God except through that of peacemaker.

Peace, dearest brethren, rescues man from servitude, provides him with the name of a free man, changes his identity before God together with his condition, from a servant to a son, and from a slave to a free man. Peace among brethren is the Will of God, the joy of Christ, the completion of holiness, the rule of justice, the teacher of Truth, the guardian of morals and a praiseworthy discipline in every regard. Peace lends strength to our prayers; it is the way our petitions can reach God easily and be credited; it is the plenitude which fulfills our desires. Peace is the mother of love, the bond of concord and the manifest sigh of a pure soul, one which seeks to please God, which seeks to be fulfilled and has its desire rewarded. Peace must be preserved according to the LORD’s precepts, as Christ said: I leave you Peace, My Peace I give you, that is, as I left you in peace, in peace shall I find you. As Christ left the world, He wished to leave the gift He wanted to find when He returned.

We have a Commandment from Heaven to retain His gift; His one word is: “I shall find what I left.” God’s is the planting of peace in the root, but the uprooting is from the enemy; for, just as brotherly love comes from God, so hatred comes from the devil; therefore, we must condemn our hatred of men, for it is written: He who hates his brother is a murderer.

Now you see, dearest brethren, why we should   love peace and cultivate harmony: because they beget and nurture love. But you know also from the apostle John that, Love comes from God, and that whoever is not with God does not possess love.

Let us therefore, my brethren, keep the Commandments, which are life for us; let us carry on together the obligations of our brotherhood in profound peace; let us bind one another with the ties of salvific charity in this mutual love which covers a multitude of sins. Love ought to be embraced with the grasp of all our desires, since the goods it provides amount to as many rewards. We must keep peace before all other virtues, since God is always in peace.

Love peace, and all the world will be tranquil and quiet. By doing so you store up rewards for me, and joy for yourselves, that the Church of God may be founded on the bond of Peace and may cling to perfect observance in Christ.

The Storm as Symbol of “Fearful Expectation”

There are two messages today: first, we have to hold on to absolute responsibility for real order and commitment to the LORD God. Second, the fundamental character of life is a true waiting, hard for Occidentals [people of the West] to comprehend, especially for modern people. Life means waiting, not Faust-like grasping, but waiting and being ready. We are waiting for the terror of the night, and waiting for the day when this terror will have passed. “The people will languish from fearful expectation.” Anyone who remains stuck, waiting in fearful expectation just to see whether or not he will survive, has not yet laid bare the innermost strata. For the fearful expectation was sent to us in order to remove our false sense of security and behind it is this other metaphysical waiting that is part of existence. Man is always in danger of rooting himself, of running aground. Over and over again, life will shake anyone who only waits in that way, in order to make him hurry out to meet what is coming. Then what vitality he has been given will come to life. Then he will feel that life goes above and beyond individual lives. Only in this way will he be truly human, by living above and beyond himself, waiting for the final reality. That is the reason for this striving and seeking further and knowing it will one day come: to wait until the lights flare up.

We have more expectation than earth can grant, because what we encounter is only a piece of reality, a piece of creation. We are waiting for the fulfillment of a promise: You will one day possess all this because God, as God, is himself reality, realness, and intimacy.

Father Alfred Delp, s.j.

Father Delp († 1945) was a German member of the Society of Jesus involved with youth work and on the editorial team of the Jesuit publication Stimmen der Zeit (Voice of the Times), until it was suppressed in 1941. He was executed during World War II for his resistance to the Nazi regime. [From Advent of the Heart, Seasonal Sermons and Prison Writings, 1941-1944. Abtei St. Walburg, Tr.

Isaiah 58:7-8

Share your bread with the hungry,
and take the poor and homeless into your own house.
– Then your light will break forth like the dawn
and your holiness will go before you.

When you see a man who is naked, clothe him,
and do not scorn your brother.
– Then your light will break forth like the dawn
and your holiness will go before you 

“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

John 15:15; Matthew 13:11, 16

I no longer call you servants, but My friends,
– for I have shared with you everything
I have heard from My Father.

The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven have been revealed to you;
blessed are your eyes because they see
and your ears because they hear.
– For I have shared with you everything
I have heard from My Father.

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

Saint Irenaenus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church 

When the Apostles first met the resurrected LORD, Thomas was missing. “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in His hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe.” When Jesus next appeared, it was with a special invitation to Thomas: “Probe the marks of the nails, press your hands into My side”. Face to face with this fleshly testimony, Thomas exclaimed, “My LORD and My God!” “[God’s] clemency acted in this wonderful way so that through the doubting disciple touching the wounds in His Master’s Body, our own wounds of incredulity may be healed” (Saint Gregory the Great).

SAINT THOMAS, APOSTLE

St. Thomas was one of the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee whom Our LORD called to be His Apostles. By nature slow to believe, too apt to see difficulties, and to look at the dark side of things, he had withal a most sympathetic, loving, and courageous heart. Once when Jesus spoke of the mansions in His Father’s house, Thomas, in his simplicity, asked: “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” When Jesus turned to go toward Bethany to the grave of Lazarus, the desponding apostle at once feared the worst for his beloved LORD, yet cried out bravely to the rest: “Let us also go and die with Him.” After the Resurrection, incredulity again prevailed, and while the wounds of the Crucifixion were imprinted vividly on his affectionate mind, he would not credit the report that Christ had indeed Risen. But at the actual sight of the pierced hands and side, and the gentle rebuke of His Saviour, unbelief was gone forever; and his faith and ours has ever triumphed in the joyous utterance into which he broke: “My LORD and my God!”

SAINT IRENAENUS, BISHOP, MARTYR

(See Wednesday 28 June blog for details on his life )

From a homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, Pope
(Hom. 26, 7-9: PL 76, 1201-1202)

My LORD and my God

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The LORD came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s Providence. In a marvellous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of His Master’s Body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our Faith than the Faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our Faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the Resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out: My LORD and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Paul said: Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. It is clear, then, that Faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not Faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: You have believed because you have seen Me? Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: My LORD and my God. Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.

What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts one we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our Faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to Faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny Him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead.

“Put your finger here”

When we reflect back on a conversion, we may realize that it is to brush up against a secret in God, to sense a veil somewhat lifted, as though a quality of shyness in God is suddenly perceived that was never considered before. A taste of this exquisitely personal Truth in God takes place. He is not hiding in majestic distance; rather, He has become the LORD Jesus of flesh and blood whoseeyes respond to our own glance. We can sense His lingering gaze and His delight in returning our soul to His protection and care. The secret disclosure He offers us, which is only a taste at first, is the concealed wonder of His wounds.

The summons by Jesus to Saint Thomas the Apostle after the Resurrection to place his finger in the nail marks and his hand in his side is repeated again in conversions. Our LORD wants this probing, this sustained gaze and inquiry, a sifting by intimate desire of His own disguised hiddenness. The wounds remain in the body of Christ so that a wound of love may persist in the soul that gazes on them. It is as though Our LORD has been shy to let these wounds be seen until a conversion has taken place. And now, with our soul conquered by Him, He shares His secret. The wounds of Our LORD become for our soul a never fully fathomed reality in the mystery of relations with Him. They always invite further probing and contemplation that can seem endless as our life continues. “Look at My wounds and contemplate them in love”, He seems to say. The secrecy of God in this mystery of his wounded love opens itself more with each entry of our soul into the depth of His thirst for souls. The depth is limitless, and always, after a conversion, it is this Truth of His heart full of Infinite desire and wounded in love that awaits our discovery.

Father Donald Haggerty

Father Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, serves at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. [From Conversion: Spiritual Insights into an Essential Encounter with God.

1 John 1:2, 1

This life was made visible;
we have seen it and we proclaim to you
– the Eternal Life which was with the Father
and has appeared to us.

We have seen it with our own eyes
and with our own hands we have touched the Word of Life;
what we have seen and heard we declare to you.
– The Eternal Life which was with the Father
and has appeared to us.

“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

1 Chronicles 10:13, 14

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD’s command.
– God transferred his kingdom to David.

Saul had not trusted in the LORD,
but had turned to a medium for guidance.
– God transferred his kingdom to David.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional)

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Traditional)

“Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward.” This happens literally to the “woman of rank” who furnishes “a small room on the roof” for the Prophet Elisha to stay in. Elisha promises, “This time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” We beg for the grace to be able to face the sacrifices and sufferings of daily life with a sincere desire to endure everything for Jesus. Then, as Saint Paul promises, “We too might live a new life.”

THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 

Mary’s first action after God had come to dwell in her, was one of self-denying Charity. She undertook a troublesome journey in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Thus she proclaimed Charity to be the virtue, which above all Christ brought with Him from Heaven. God made Mary’s visit the occasion of a wonderful miracle. On her entrance into Saint Elizabeth’s dwelling, Saint John Baptist was cleansed from sin in his mother’s womb. Mary was the channel of this exceptional privilege of the cleansing away of sin in the case of the unborn child. As then, so now: Mary is the channel of all graces, and above all, of the restoration of the sinner to friendship with God. Mary’s Charity is not less present now than at the time of the Visitation. Nay, she is far more eager now, than then to promote the happiness and console the sorrows of those who fly to her for succour.

From a homily by Saint Paul VI, Pope
(Hom. Maniliae habita die 29 novembris 1970)

We proclaim Christ to the whole world

Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ Himself sent me as His apostle and witness. The more remote, the more difficult the assignment, the more my love of God spurs me on. I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the Living God. Because of Him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in Him all things find their being. Man’s Teacher and Redeemer, He was born for us, died for us, and for us He rose from the dead.

All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, He knows us and loves us. As our friend He stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time He will come to be our Judge; but we also know that He will be the complete fulfillment of our lives and our great happiness for all Eternity.

I can never cease to speak of Christ for He is our Truth and our Light; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is our Bread, our Source of Living Water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our Shepherd, our Leader, our Ideal, our Comforter and our Brother.

He is like us but more perfectly human, simple, poor, humble, and yet, while burdened with work, He is more patient. He spoke on our behalf; He worked miracles; and he founded a new Kingdom: in it the poor are happy; peace is the foundation of a life in common; where the pure of heart and those who mourn are uplifted and comforted; the hungry find justice; sinners are forgiven; and all discover that they are brothers.

The image I present to you is the image of Jesus Christ. As Christians you share His name; He has already made most of you His own. So once again I repeat His name to you Christians and I proclaim to all men: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, LORD of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it. He is the Mediator—the Bridge, if you will—between Heaven and earth. Above all He is the Son of man, more perfect than any man, being also the Son of God, Eternal and Infinite. He is the Son of Mary His mother on earth, more blessed than any woman. She is also our mother in the Spiritual communion of the Mystical Body.

Remember: it is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.

Giving and Receiving Christ

The only real oneness possible [is] Christ in us…. In Holy Communion, millions of small hosts are given to millions of people; this does not mean that Christ is divided into millions, but that the millions are made One in Christ.

A flesh-and-blood example tells more than many words. I was at a Mass in a side chapel where I knew the priest would have no Communion hosts. But at the LORD, I am not worthy a woman came out of the shadows and whispered, “Come, he has one Host for me; he will divide It.” I turned and saw poverty, suffering that shamed me, a woman in rags, her face burnt and hardly human, only the eyes that looked out of it shone with unbelievable serenity. The priest divided the Host reserved for her between us. She gave Christ to me, Christ’s Passion to the world.

At first sight, suffering seems broken up, unfairly divided. In reality it is the human race that is divided, suffering is a communion that makes us one, as Sacramental Communion does. We can give Christ’s Passion to one another, as the poor woman gave Christ to me, and we can comfort Christ in one another in doing so. A child, mortifying his thirst on a hot day, can moisten the lips of Christ in an army camped in the desert. A martyr dying from exposure in frozen Siberia can give Christ’s death to a student shivering in London because he has no money for his gas. May the breaking of the bread of our sorrow make us one in the Passion of Christ…. He gave us his Passion in His body, gave us Himself, His suffering and His sacrifice, His heart full of compassion and His hands so soon to be nailed for all time to the hard wood of our suffering. In His hands we can offer our fragment for the world, just as the priest offers the Host at Mass…. It is estimated that there are four elevations every second in every twenty-four hours. We see the Host lifted in the priest’s hands at our local altar. Who can estimate how many elevations God sees from the altars of man’s heart, in factories, kitchens, schools, workhouses, hospitals, ships, and camps all over the world?

Caryll Houselander

Caryll Houselander († 1954) was an English mystic, author, poet, and an esteemed spiritual teacher. [From Lift up Your Hearts. © 1978, H.J. Taylor

2 Timothy 1:10; John 1:16; Colossians 1:16-17

Our Saviour Jesus Christ has destroyed Death,
and through the Gospel He has proclaimed Life and Immortality.
– and of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

All things were created through Him and for Him;
He was before all that is,
and all things are held in being in Him.
– And of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

“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

First Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

The Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our LORD Jesus Christ 

First Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

St. Oliver Plunket, (England, Ireland)

Junípero Serra, Priest (USA)

Three disguised angels recline with Abraham at table. When the elderly Sarah hears the angelic messenger announce that in a year she will give birth to a son she is incredulous (Book of  Genesis 18:1-15). The centurion is the opposite. He is waiting on the word of Jesus, fully believing that He can restore life to the dying (Mt 8:5-17). It is by this “word” that Jesus drove out evil spirits and cured “all who were sick”.

FEAST OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

In the Liturgical reform of Pope Pius X, this day was chosen for the feast of the Most Precious Blood, which had already been fixed under Pius IX for the first Sunday in July. Pius IX instituted this feast in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Apostolic See from the violent revolutionaries who had expelled the Pope to Greta. In 1849, with the assistance of the French army, they were vanquished and the Pope was able to return to Rome.

The meaning of this festival is closely akin to that of the Sacred Heart. The Precious Blood is the price of universal redemption, which love would not have to be anything less than itself. There is a very close connection between the Heart and the Blood not only because, according to Saint John, after the Death of Jesus, blood and water flowed from His wounded Heart, but because the first chalice in which that Divine Blood was consecrated, and vivified, was precisely the Heart of the Incarnate Word. 

The apostle of this special devotion was the Blessed Gaspare, Del Bufalo, founder of the congregation of the Most Precious Blood. The Holy Mass is quite recent composition. In the ancient Roman Rite the Mass of Passion Sunday was especially intended to recall to the remembrance of the faithful the infinite value of the Blood of Jesus Christ.

FIRST SATURDAY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Making Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
In the Five First Saturdays Devotion

“Look, My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me.”

(Revelation of Our Lady of Fatima to Sr. Lucia)

We cannot imagine the power of the First Saturdays Devotion to console Our Lady for the terrible blasphemies and ingratitude which She endures at every moment, piercing Her Immaculate Heart like cruel thorns. Your fervent Communion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the First Saturday of each month will bring tremendous graces and mercies to our desperate world, not only for the conversion of sinners, but even to bring an end to the punishments that are falling so heavily upon us for the unprecedented crimes of the world today!

First Saturday Devotion

SAINT OLIVER PLUNKET, BISHOP

Saint Oliver Plunket (1625–1681) was born in Loughcrew, County Meath, and was related to several aristocratic families. After studying at the Irish College in Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1654 and stayed in Rome as a professor and a representative of the Irish Bishops. In 1669 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. He did much to reorganise and strengthen the Irish Church, despite being forced into hiding for much of his episcopate. Arrested in 1679 at the time of the “Popish Plot”, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in London on 1 July 1681: the last Catholic martyr to suffer in England. His body is enshrined in Downside Abbey in Somerset, while his head is at St Peter’s, Drogheda.

SAINT JUNÍPERO SERRA, PRIEST 

Junípero Serra was born on 24 November 1713 on the island of Majorca and was given the name Peter. He entered the Order of the Friars Minor at Palma in 1730 and, after completing his studies, was ordained to the priesthood in 1736. In April of 1749, he began his missionary work and went to México, where he preached the Gospel to the native peoples and founded missions. He entered California on 1 July 1767 where he proceeded to found nine missions along the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco. He died in Monterey on 28 August 1784 and is buried in the mission church of Saint Charles Borromeo, which he founded. He was canonized in Washington D.C. by Pope Francis on 23 September 2015.

From a homily by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop
(Orat. 6 De beatitudinibus: PG 44, 1270-1271)

God can be found in man’s heart

In our human life bodily health is a good thing, but this blessing consists not merely in knowing the causes of good health but in actually enjoying it. If a man eulogizes good health and then eats food that has unhealthy effects, what good is his praise of health when he finds himself on a sickbed? Similarly, from the LORD’s saying: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God, we are to learn that blessedness does not lie in knowing something about God, but rather in possessing God within oneself.

I do not think these words mean that God will be seen face to face by the man who purifies the eye of his soul. Their sublime import is brought out more clearly perhaps in that other saying of the LORD’s: The Kingdom of God is within you. This teaches us that the man who cleanses his heart of every created thing and every evil desire will see the image of the Divine nature in the beauty of his own soul. I believe the lesson summed up by the Word in that short sentence was this: You men have within you a desire to behold the supreme good. Now when you are told that the majesty of God is exalted above the Heavens, that His Glory is Inexpressible, His Beauty Indescribable, and His Nature Transcendent, do not despair because you cannot behold the object of your desire. If by a diligent life of virtue you wash away the film of dirt that covers your heart, then the Divine beauty will shine forth in you.

Take a piece of iron as an illustration. Although it might have been black before, once the rust has been scraped off with a whetstone, it will begin to shine brilliantly and to reflect the rays of the sun. So it is with the interior man, which is what the LORD means by the heart. Once a man removes from his soul the coating of filth that has formed on it through his sinful neglect, he will regain his likeness to his Archetype, and be good. For what resembles the Supreme Good is itself good. If he then looks into himself, he will see the vision he has longed for. This is the blessedness of the pure in heart: in seeing their own purity they see the Divine Archetype mirrored in themselves.

Those who look at the sun in a mirror, even if they do not look directly at the sky, see its radiance in the reflection just as truly as do those who look directly at the sun’s orb. It is the same, says the LORD, with you. Even though you are unable to contemplate and see the Inaccessible Light, you will find what you seek within yourself, provided you return to the beauty and grace of that image which was originally placed in you. For God is Purity; He is free from sin and a stranger to all evil. If this can be said of you, then God will surely be within you. If your mind is untainted by any evil, free from sin, and purified from all stain, then indeed are you blessed, because your sight is keen and clear. Once purified, you see things that others cannot see. When the mists of sin no longer cloud the eye of your soul, you see that blessed vision clearly in the peace and purity of your own heart. That vision is nothing else than the holiness, the purity, the simplicity and all the other glorious reflections of God’s nature, through which God Himself is seen.

John 14:6, 9; 6:47

The LORD said:
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
– Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.

Whoever believes in Me has Eternal Life.
– Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.

“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 Shee

“Heart of Jesus, grant to all those who shall communicate on the first Friday, nine months consecutively, the grace of final perseverance and the Sacraments at death.” – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

1 Samuel 25:32, 33; Matthew 5:7

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who has sent you to me today.
– You have held me back today from shedding blood
and from taking revenge into my own hands.

Blessed are the merciful;
they shall obtain mercy.
– You have held me back today from shedding blood
and from taking revenge into my own hands.

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Commemoration of St. Paul, Apostle (Traditional)

The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church 

The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

Within twenty years after Christ died, the Gospel had reached the centre of the Empire. A small community of converts gathered in Rome. In July of the year 64, a fire broke out in the city and spread rapidly in the summer heat. Within ten days, two-thirds of the city was destroyed. Suspicions of arson centred on the Emperor Nero himself, who was composing an epic poem while the city burned. Notoriously brutal and unbalanced, Nero fixed the blame on the Christians. He had them arrested, interrogated, and then murdered for his personal entertainment. Tertullian’s famous saying aptly describes the impact of their witness: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians.”

This memorial is in honour of the nameless followers of Christ brutally killed by the mad Emperor Nero as scapegoats for the fire in Rome. The pagan historian Tacitus and Saint Clement of Rome tell of a night of horror (15 August, 64 A.D.) when in the imperial parks Christians were put into animal skins and hunted, were brutally attacked, and were made into living torches to light the road for Nero’s chariot. From 64 to 314 “Christian” was synonymous with “execution victim.”

COMMEMORATION OF ST. PAUL, APOSTLE 

Saul of Tarsus was first a great persecutor and made havoc of the infant church. Miraculously converted, he began his three great Apostolic Voyages, and wrote his Epistles. After a captivity of two years in Cæsarea, he came to Rome, and travelled to that part of the church situated beyond Italy. He was beheaded in 65 A.D.

As June 29 is mainly devoted to the honouring of Saint Peter, this day is assigned as the special feast of Saint Paul. The Mass of today, according to ancient Roman traditions, was that of the second station of yesterday. As Saint Peter still lives and governs through his successors, so does Paul continue to preach the Gospel every day throughout the world, by means of his writings, which the Church reads almost invariably at Holy Mass. The Acts and the Epistles tell us enough about the life of Paul, to give us a rule and model of what a truly pastoral, and Apostolic life should be. On this model, under the rule of Saint Benedict for more than 1400 years, the disciples of the patriarch of Monte Cassino have lived in a monastery in the shadow of the Basilica, and carried on the Divine Office.

From a letter written to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, Pope and Martyr
(Cap 5, 1-7, 4; Fink 1, 67-71)

Though victims of jealousy, they gave the finest example

Let us leave behind the examples from times of old, and come to those who struggled closest to us; let us consider the noble models of our own generation. It was through jealousy and envy that the greatest and most upright pillars of the Church were persecuted and struggled unto death. Let us set before our eyes the good apostles. First of all, Peter, who because of unreasonable jealousy, suffered not merely once or twice but many times, and, having thus given his witness, went to the place of glory that he deserved. It was through jealousy and conflict that Paul showed the way to the prize for perseverance. He was put in chains seven times, sent into exile, and stoned; a herald both in the East and the West, he achieved a noble fame by his Faith. He taught justice to all the world and, when he had reached the limits of the western world, he gave his witness before those in authority; then he left this world and was taken up into the holy place, a superb example of endurance.

Around these men with their holy lives gathered a great throng of the elect, who, though victims of jealousy, gave us the finest example of endurance in the midst of many indignities and tortures. Through jealousy women were tormented like Dirce or the daughters of Danaus, suffering terrible and unholy acts of violence. But they courageously finished the course of Faith and despite their bodily weakness won a noble prize. It was jealousy that separated wives from husbands, and violated the words of our father Adam: This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Jealousy and strife have overthrown great cities and uprooted mighty nations.

We are writing this, beloved, not only for your admonition but also as a reminder to ourselves; for we are placed in the same arena, and the same contest lies before us. Hence we ought to put aside vain and useless concerns and go straight to the glorious and venerable norm which is our Tradition, and we should consider what is good, pleasing and acceptable in the sight of Him who made us. Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ, realizing how precious it is to His Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.

“Of course I want to!”

Here is a good thought that is not often mentioned: receive Communion not only for yourself, in order to have this immense Grace, but for Jesus, in order to respond to His desire to come down into you, to give Him the joy of descending into your heart, which is a heaven for Him. Perhaps you will say, “What? My poor heart, so miserable, so unworthy, a heaven for Jesus?” Yes, if you call upon Him to make your heart a heaven for Him.

Here we must remember that sensible love is nothing in itself. It could be that before and after Communion you will be cold and distracted. But listen to little Thérèse: “I cannot say that I have often received consolations during my thanksgivings [after Communion]; that is perhaps the moment when I have had the fewest. I find that completely natural, since I have offered myself to Jesus, not as a person who desires to receive His visit for my own consolation, but on the contrary, for the pleasure of Him who gives Himself to me. It is not in order to remain in the golden ciborium that He comes down each day from Heaven, but in order to find another heaven, the heaven of our souls, made in His image, the Living Temple of the adorable Trinity.”

A Lamb—a Being even more gentle than a lamb—invites you to receive Him and takes away all your sins. LORD, I am not worthy to receive you, but speak only a word, a single word, and I shall be purified—my soul, my heart—by this word which You have spoken, and I will become truly a heaven for You. These words, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away sins”, and “I am not worthy, but speak only a Word”, are the most beautiful, the most complete preparation for Communion. Here we see the incomparable richness and depth of the liturgical prayers. They say everything, as long as we recognise their full sense with Faith and Love.

If you only knew how Jesus hungers for you, how He burns with desire to come into your heart, how impatient He is to come down to you, bridging all distance between you and Him! So go to Him; respond to His desire. Desiderio desideravi: “I have desired with a great desire to eat this Pasch with you. I thirst, I thirst for you to come to me; I thirst to come down into you” (cf. Lk 22:15). Never deprive Him of this happiness through your own fault. The most beautiful morning prayer, on days when you have not been able to receive Communion because of work or health, is a Spiritual Communion. Renew in the course of your day this act of real and intimate union with him who is the Bread of Life: our daily bread in Holy Communion. Live in a state of Spiritual Communion.

Father Jean du Cœur de Jésus d’Elbée

Father d’Elbée († 1982) was a French priest and spiritual author. He was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. [From O Jesus: Prayers from the Diaries of Catherine de Hueck Doherty. 

DAILY MEDITATION

Saint Paul preached the Gospel everywhere with great ardour, journeyed through many cities, lands, and kingdoms, brought many thousands to Christianity, and sent many apostolic men into different countries to convert the inhabitants. Who can give an account of his cares and the labours, the disgrace and derision, the misery and persecution, which he suffered for the true Faith? … “I am ready,“ said he, “ not only to be bound in Jerusalem, but also to die for the name of Jesus” [Acts of the Apostles, 21:13].

He proved his words by deeds. When he arrived at Jerusalem, he immediately went into the temple to pray, but hardly had the Jews seen him, when they fell upon him, dragged him out of the temple, and would certainly have killed him with their blows had not the tribune, Claudius Lysias, hastily appeared with his soldiers and released him from their fury. He, however, took him prisoner and sent him to Caesarea to the governor Felix, who, although he found him innocent, kept him in prison. Festus, his successor, would have sent him back to Jerusalem, that he might be judged there, but Paul appealed to the emperor, and was sent to Rome, where, after two years of imprisonment, he was set at liberty. The Saint then began again his apostolic labours, travelled through Italy, and France, ventured even to Spain, preaching the Gospel everywhere and converting a great number of people. But why did God show such mercy to Paul? The apostle himself replies: “But for this cause have I obtained mercy; that in me first, Christ Jesus might show forth all Patience for the information of them that shall believe in Him unto Life Everlasting“ [1, Timothy 1:16]. God would place an example of His mercy before the eyes of men, and make known that no one is so great a sinner that he may not be converted and receive pardon for his iniquities. And let this, my reader, be today in lesson for you.

Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger [died 1888] – Austrian priest, professor, and also; joined the Jesuits as missionary preacher to the United States.

“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

“Heart of Jesus, give to priests and those working for the salvation of souls, the power of touching the most hardened hearts.” – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Matthew 16:18-19

You are Peter,
and on this rock I will build My Church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
– I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth
will be held bound in heaven.
Whatever you loose on earth
will be held loosed in Heaven.
– I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Saints Peter and Paul,  Apostles (Solemnity)

The Apostles, Peter and Paul are the two Princes of the Apostles,  the foundations of the Church, on which She is firmly established as on a rock. This feast is almost entirely devoted to Saint Peter, the Bishop of Rome, the Great Apostle of the Gentiles, being more specifically honoured on June 30. The lessons and prayers of this Mass describe how his LORD and Master Jesus Christ prepares the fervent Apostle, Saint Peter, for the supreme office of the Papacy.

This feast marks the day of the translation of their relics.

SAINT PETER, APOSTLE 

Saint Mark ends the first half of his Gospel with a triumphant climax. He has recorded doubt, misunderstanding and the opposition of many to Jesus. Among the Twelve Apostles, Peter became the spokesman, he makes his great confession of Faith: “You are the Messiah” (Mark 8:29b). It was one of the many glorious moments in Peter’s life, beginning with the day he was called from his nets along the Sea of Galilee to become a fisher of men for Jesus.

In the lists of the Apostles he is always given precedence, and at Pentecost he delivers the first fiery sermon of the infant Church.

The New Testament clearly shows Peter as the leader of the Apostles, chosen by Jesus to have a special relationship with him. With James and John he was privileged to witness the Transfiguration, the raising of a dead child to life and the agony in Gethsemane. His mother-in-law was cured by Jesus. He was sent with John to prepare for the last Passover before Jesus’ death. His name is first on every list of Apostles.

And to Peter only did Jesus say, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:17b-19)

But the Gospels prove their own trustworthiness by the unflattering details they include about Peter. He clearly had no public relations person. It is a great comfort for ordinary mortals to know that Peter also has his human weakness, even in the presence of Jesus.

He generously gave up all things, yet he can ask in childish self-regard, “What are we going to get for all this?” (see Matthew 19:27). He receives the full force of Christ’s anger when he objects to the idea of a suffering Messiah: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Matthew 16:23b)

Peter is willing to accept Jesus’ doctrine of forgiveness, but suggests a limit of seven times. He walks on the water in faith, but sinks in doubt. He refuses to let Jesus wash his feet, then wants his whole body cleansed. He swears at the Last Supper that he will never deny Jesus, and then swears to a servant maid that he has never known the man. He loyally resists the first attempt to arrest Jesus by cutting off Malchus’ ear, but in the end he runs away with the others. In the depth of His sorrow, Jesus looks on him and forgives him, and he goes out and sheds bitter tears. The Risen Jesus told Peter to feed His lambs and His sheep. (John 21:15-17)

SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE 

Although not one of the Twelve, Paul is also called an Apostle. By his own admission he was the apostle “born when no one expected it” (1 Co 15:8), having encountered the Resurrected Jesus as he rode to persecute the Christians of Damascus. Paul’s mission field was the vast Gentile territory in the eastern Mediterranean. 

He started preaching that Christ alone can save us. He had been the most Pharisaic of Pharisees, the most legalistic of Mosaic lawyers. Now he suddenly appears to other Jews as a heretical welcomer of Gentiles, a traitor and apostate. Paul’s central conviction was simple and absolute: Only God can save humanity. No human effort—even the most scrupulous observance of law—can create a human good which we can bring to God as reparation for sin and payment for Grace. To be saved from itself, from sin, from the devil and from death, humanity must open itself completely to the saving Power of Jesus. Paul never lost his love for his Jewish family, though he carried on a lifelong debate with them about the uselessness of the Law without Christ. He reminded the Gentiles that they were grafted on the parent stock of the Jews, who were still God’s chosen people, the children of the Promise. In light of his preaching and teaching skills, Paul’s name has surfaced (among others) as a possible patron of the Internet.

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, Bishop
(Sermo 295, 1-2.4.7-8:PL 38, 1348-1352)

The Martyrs realized what they taught

This day has been made holy by the passion of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. We are, therefore, not talking about some obscure martyrs. For their voice has gone forth to all the world, and to the ends of the earth their message. These martyrs realized what they taught: they pursued justice, they confessed the Truth, they died for it.

Saint Peter, the first of the Apostles and a fervent lover of Christ, merited to hear these words: I say to you that you are Peter, for he had said: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Then Christ said: And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church. On this rock I will build the Faith that you now confess, and on your words: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, I will build my Church. For you are Peter, and the name Peter comes from petra, the word for “rock,” and not vice versa. “Peter” comes, therefore, from petra, just as “Christian” comes from Christ.

As you are aware, Jesus chose His disciples before His Passion and called them Apostles; and among these almost everywhere Peter alone deserved to represent the entire Church. And because of that role which he alone had, he merited to hear the words: To you I shall give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. For it was not one man who received the keys, but the entire Church considered as One. Now insofar as he represented the unity and universality of the Church, Peter’s preeminence is clear from the words: To you I give, for what was given was given to all. For the fact that it was the Church that received the Keys of the Kingdom of God is clear from what the LORD says elsewhere to all the Apostles: Receive the Holy Ghost, adding immediately,whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you retain, they are retained.

Rightly then did the LORD after His Resurrection entrust Peter with the feeding of His sheep. Yet he was not the only disciple to merit the feeding of the LORD’s sheep; but Christ in speaking only to one suggests the unity of all; and so he speaks to Peter, because Peter is first among the Apostles. Therefore do not be disheartened, Peter; reply once, reply twice, reply a third time. The triple confession of your love is to regain what was lost three times by your fear. You must loose three times what you bound three times; untie by love that which your fear bound. Once, and again, and a third time did the LORD entrust His sheep to Peter.

Both Apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the Apostles’ blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labours, their sufferings, their preaching and their confession of Faith.

Saints Peter and Paul

Holy and most kind Peter, faithful shepherd of the flock of God, chief of the Apostles, Prince among such mighty Princes. You are able to bind and loose as you will; you are able to heal and raise up as you will; you can give the Kingdom of Heaven to whom you will. Great Peter, rich with so many and such great gifts, high in so many and such great dignities, here am I, the poorest and weakest of men, surrounded by many difficulties and hardships. In my misery I need the help of your power and kindness…. Remember that Christ asked you three times if you loved Him, and when three times you confessed it He said to you, Feed My sheep. He is indeed a lover of the sheep who thus sifts the love of the shepherd before committing them to him. When you had confessed that you loved Him, then He confided His sheep to you. How then can this shepherd spurn his sheep? Peter, shepherd of Christ, gather up the lamb of Christ. Your LORD sought and found him and bore him on His shoulders, rejoicing; do not repel Him now that He comes back and prays….

Saint Paul, great Paul, one of the great Apostles of God, you followed after all the rest in time, but you surpassed them in labours and in effect in the husbandry of God. While you were still weighed down by the flesh you were rapt even to the third heaven, and heard things that cannot be said by men. Among Christians you were like a nurse who not only cared for her sons, but in some way brought them forth a second time, with careful and marvellous tenderness. You were made all things to all men so that you might gain all. Sir, you are known to the world by these and many other words and deeds to be of great power before God and of immense pity towards men: to you I come, certainly a very great sinner.

Saint Anselm

Saint Anselm († 1109) was an abbot, bishop, philosopher, and theologian. [From The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm with the Proslogion, translated by Benedicta Ward with a foreword by R. W. Southern

DAILY MEDITATION 

Sacred day, on which the obligation of the first of Pontiffs assures to the West, the rights of supreme Priesthood! Day of triumph, in which the effusion of a generous lifeblood wins for God, the conquest of the Roman soil; in which, upon the cross of His representative, the Divine Spouse concludes His Eternal alliance with the Queen of nations.

No crime of Rome’s is able to prevail against the great fact fixed forever at this hour: the cross of Peter has transferred to Her all the rights of the Cross of Jesus; leaving to the Jews the curse, she now becomes the true Jerusalem. Such being then the meaning of this day, it is not surprising, that Eternal Wisdom should have willed to enhance it still further, by joining the sacrifice of Paul to that of Peter. More than any other, Paul advanced by his preachings, the building up of the Body of Christ. If, on this day, Holy Church has attained such full development as to be able to offer Herself, in the person of Her visible Head, as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, who better than Paul may deservedly perfect the oblation, furnishing from his own veins, the sacred libation? The Bride having attained fullness of age, his own work is likewise ended. Inseparable from Peter in his labours of Faith and love, he will accompany him also in death; both quit this earth, leaving her to the gladness of the Divine nuptials sealed in their blood, whilst they ascend together, to that Eternal Abode wherein that union is consummated.

Dom Prosper Guéranger (d. 1875) – Brilliant Benedictine priest, scholar, abbot, and founder of what is now the Solesmes Congregation in France

RESPONSORY

Blessed Apostle Paul, preacher of the Truth and teacher of the Gentiles,
– you are truly worthy of praise.

Through you all peoples have come to know God’s Grace.
– You are truly worthy of praise.

“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

“Heart of Jesus, be our assured refuge in life and more especially at the hour of death” – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Proverbs 17:17; 1 John 4:7

A true friend loves you at all times,
– and a brother proves himself in adversity.

Everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
– And a brother proves himself in adversity.

Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Vigil of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul (Traditional)

Saint Irenaenus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church

VIGIL OF THE APOSTLES SS. PETER AND PAUL

On this vigil in the Divine Office, the last Lesson with the homily on the Gospel was sung by the Pope himself. At one time, this vigil was kept with equal solemnity in the Basilicas of St. Peter and of St. Paul. Later the celebration at St. Paul’s became monastic; the peole attended the Mass at St. Peter’s. The Vigil Mass records the powers given by Jesus Christ to SS. Peter and Paul, the two foundation pillars of the Church (Acts 3:1-10 and John 21:15-19).

SAINT IRENAEUS, BISHOP, MARTYR AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH 

This Saint was born about the year 120 near Smyrna in Asia Minor (present day Izmir, Turkey). His parents, who were Christians, placed him under the care of the great Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. It was in so holy a school that he learned that Sacred science which rendered him afterward a great ornament of the Church and the terror of Her enemies. Saint Polycarp cultivated his rising genius, and formed his mind to piety by precepts and example; and the zealous scholar was careful to reap all the advantages which were offered him by the happiness of such a master. Such was his veneration for his tutor’s sanctity that he observed every action and whatever he saw in that holy man, the better to copy his example and learn his spirit. He listened to his instructions with an insatiable ardor, and so deeply did he engrave them on his heart that the impressions remained most lively even to his old age. In order to confute the heresies of his age, this father made himself acquainted with the most absurd conceits of their philosophers, by which means he was qualified to trace every error to its sources and set it in its full light. Saint Polycarp sent Saint Irenaeus into Gaul, in company with some priests; he was himself ordained priest of the Church of Lyons by Saint Pothinus. Saint Pothinus having glorified God by his happy death, in the year 177, Iranaeus was chosen the second Bishop to Lugdunum in the Roman province of Gaul (Lyons). In Irenaeus’ time, the Gnostic heresy was widespread in Gaul. Many Christians were led astray by Gnosticism’s adherents, who claimed that Christ Himself was a Gnostic teacher. But at its heart, Gnosticism denied the central Christian Doctrines: creation, the Incarnation, and the Trinity. Irenaeus’ great work was the Adversus Haereses, a refutation of Gnostic theology, which spread rapidly in Latin translation. Irenaeus’ writings were a significant force in Gnosticism’s demise. By his preaching, he in a short time converted almost that whole country to the Faith. He wrote several works against heresy, and at last, with many others, suffered martyrdom about the year 202, under the Emperor Severus, at Lyons.

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
(Lib 4, 20, 5-7: SC 100, 640-642, 644-648)

Life in man is the Glory of God; the life of man is the Vision of God

The Glory of God gives Life; those who see God receive Life. For this reason God, who cannot be grasped, comprehended or seen, allows Himself to be seen, comprehended and grasped by men, that He may give Life to those who see and receive Him. It is impossible to live without life, and the actualization of life comes from participation in God, while participation in God is to see God and enjoy His goodness.

Men will therefore see God if they are to live; through the vision of God they become immortal and attain to God Himself. As I have said, this was shown in symbols by the prophets: God will be seen by men who hear His Spirit and are always waiting for His coming. As Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy: On that day we shall see, for God will speak to man, and man will live.

God is the Source of all activity throughout creation. He cannot be seen or described in His own nature and in all His greatness by any of His creatures. Yet He is certainly not unknown. Through His Word the whole creation learns that there is One God and Father, Who holds all things together and gives them their being. As it is written in the Gospel: No man has ever seen God, except the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; He has revealed Him.

From the Beginning the Son is the one who teaches us about the Father; He is with the Father from the Beginning. He was to reveal to the human race visions of prophecy, the diversity of spiritual gifts, His own ways of ministry, the glorification of the Father, all due order and harmony, at the appointed time and for our instruction. Where there is order, there is also correct timing; where there is correct timing, there is also advantage.

The Word became the Steward of the Father’s Grace for the advantage of men, for whose benefit He made such wonderful arrangements. He revealed God to men and presented men to God. He safeguarded the Invisibility of the Father to prevent men from treating God with contempt and to set before Him a constant goal toward which to make progress. On the other hand, He revealed God to men and made Him visible in many ways to prevent man from being totally separated from God and so cease to be. Life in man is the glory of God; the life of man is the vision of God. If the revelation of God through creation gives life to all who live upon the earth, much more does the manifestation of the Father through the Word give Life to those who see God.

How to Be True Prophets

The sound and safe and religious and truth-loving mind will readily apply itself to the things of God placed within the power of men and granted to our knowledge. It will make progress in them because by daily exercise it will make easy for itself the acquisition of knowledge. These are the things that come under our eyes and are expressed in the Sacred Scriptures clearly and unambiguously…. Thus the body of Truth will continue entire, harmonious in its members and unshaken….

Therefore, the entire Scriptures, both the Prophets and the Gospels, clearly and unambiguously—so they can equally be heard by all, even though all do not believe that there is only One God to the exclusion of others—preach that through His own Word God made all things, whether visible or invisible, whether Heavenly or earthly, whether aquatic or subterranean creatures, as we have demonstrated from the very words of the Scriptures. Furthermore, since the very creation in which we are testifies to this same thing, namely, that there is One who made it and governs it, those persons will seem very dull who blind their eyes in the face of such clear manifestations and refuse to see the Light of the preaching. They put themselves in fetters, and each one of them thinks he has discovered his own god….

Since, then, we possess the rule of Truth itself and the manifest testimony about God, we ought not to cast out the solid and True knowledge about God by running from one solution to another. No, it is proper to direct the solution of difficulties towards that standard, and to discipline ourselves by investigating the mystery and economy of the existent God, and to grow in the love of Him who has done and does so much for our sakes. Never should we, however, give up the conviction that most clearly preaches that He alone is Truly God and Father who both made this world and fashioned humanity.

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

  Saint Irenaeus of Lyons († early 3rd century) was a pastor, missionary, martyr, and a heroic writer in defence of the Church. [From Saint Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies, Book 2. Dominic J. Unger, o.f.m. cap., Tr

DAILY MEDITATION

“You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth,” [Acts of the Apostles 1:8]. We know how faithfully the Apostles fulfilled this great and glorious mission. They made known their Master’s name in all the world, and caused Him to be adored, in spite of all the opposition of men and devils. They destroyed the idols, and overthrew the temple of the false gods of the heathen. They changed the whole world from pagan to Christian, and founded the Church of Jesus Christ, which eighteen centuries have neither changed, nor shaken.

Observe that they who worked all of these miracles were twelve poor fisherman, weak and ignorant persons. Why did the Son of God choose such instruments to lay the foundation of His Church? First, to prove by convincing evidence, that it is not a human, but a Divine Institution, claiming, therefore, our obedience and submission; secondly, that the thought of our own weakness and unworthiness, should not deter us from undertaking great things for the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.

Let us beg of God that He would fortify our courage by enabling us to see that we are capable of all things, when sustained by His Almighty power. When tempted to discouragement, I will reflect on the words of the apostle: Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.“I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me“ [Phil 4:13].Father Bruno Vercruysse(d. 1880) – Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary retreat master, and author of the celebrated Practical Meditations.

Malachi 2:6; Psalm 89:22

True teaching was in his mouth;
no evil was never found on his lips.
– He walked with me in goodness and in peace and turned many away from iniquity.

My hand will be a steady help to him;
my arm will give him strength.
– He walked with me in goodness and in peace and turned many away from iniquity.

“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

“Here is this Heart that has loved men so much and instead receives nothing but ingratitude, irreverence and contempt, in this Sacrament of Love” Jesus, to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Psalm 56:2, 4, 14

Have pity on me, O God,
for men trample upon me;
all day long they persecute me with their constant attacks.
– I place my trust in You.

For You have rescued my soul from death
and You have kept my feet from stumbling.
– I place my trust in You.

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Feria after Pentecost (Traditional)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

SAINT CYRIL, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Mother of God, Theotokos, pray for us!

At the dawn of the fifth century St. Cyril was consecrated as Patriarch of Alexandria.

Being a man of intense personal devotion, St. Cyril was filled with a zeal and fire reminiscent of St. Paul.

So great was this intensity that he influenced what was at times a violent pressure which drove the Novatians, the Jews, and the governor Orestes out of Alexandria.

Such zeal can be dangerous if misdirected, but through continued prayer, penance, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit this passion came to be essential to St. Cyril’s holiness and vocation.

For beginning in 427-428 Nestorius became Patriarch of Constantinople and he began causing more confusion over the Incarnation.

Nestorius erroneously taught that Mary should not be called the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ.

In teaching this he simultaneously neglected the honor due to the Blessed Mother and to a proper understanding of the Incarnation.

For the Lord Jesus is truly God and truly Man yet One person.

Thus, while Mary of course is not the Creator, by being the Mother of Christ who is God, she is the Mother of God, the Theotokos.

This great revelation of Mary as the Theotokos is central to Her dignity and is at the heart of why She has been so greatly exalted by God and consequently why we do so well to devote ourselves to Her.

To Nestorius’ false teachings, St. Cyril charitably and patiently responded with two separate admonishments before he reported the matter to the pope.

Ultimately, St. Cyril’s efforts were invaluable to defending these doctrines and for this reason he has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

St. Cyril’s life and teachings remind us of the importance of keeping our eyes focused on the truth.

At times it can be difficult to articulate and wrap our minds around the mysteries of our faith, and as Our Lady of Fatima warned the errors of Russia have spread great confusion across the Church.

In such an hour, we must remain humble and faithful.

As Our Lady of Fatima prescribed, let us meditate upon Her own life and the life of Her Son through the mysteries of the Rosary.

By doing so we shall take refuge in the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God and draw ever closer to the Lord Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Reprinted from article by Christopher P. Wendt, International Director, Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima, February 09, 2023

From a treatise on Christian Perfection by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop
(PG 46, 283-286)

Christ should be manifest in our whole life

The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived. So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words and deeds are controlled by the Divine ideal, the Revelation of Christ. For then our thoughts, words and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications.

What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the name of Christ? Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from Him. This examination is carried out in various ways. Our deeds or our thoughts or our words are not in harmony with Christ if they issue from passion. They then bear the mark of the enemy who smears the pearl of the heart with the slime of passion, dimming and even destroying the lustre of the precious stone.

On the other hand, if they are free from and untainted by every passionate inclination, they are directed toward Christ, the Author and Source of Peace. He is like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from Him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your Source and Origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.

For the Purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ’s Purity, however, is the Fountainhead; ours has its source in Him and flows out of Him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of His thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behaviour. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.

Saving Wisdom

A ship is guided to the right port by means of the helm, but the Word of God pilots the soul of man and leads him without risk of error to everything that is necessary for salvation. For so spoke one of the holy prophets: “Provide yourself with words” (Ho 14:3), those which are inspired by the Holy Ghost, for no man of sense will say that it means the words of the wise of this world. For their words lead men unto the pit of destruction. But the words of God point out the pathway to a better life, and beget in us an earnestness that makes us cheerfully advance unto the duty of performing all those things by means of which we are made partakers of Eternal Life. Let us listen, therefore, to the Saviour’s words, which He addressed unto those who wanted to learn whether there be few who are saved (Lk 13:23-24), and to whom the Saviour answered, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall be able.” Now this replay may seem perhaps to wander from the scope of the question. For the man wanted to learn whether there be few who are saved, but Jesus described to him the way whereby he might be saved himself.

We answer that it was the custom of Our Saviour to meet His questioners as having regard to what was useful and necessary. And this He especially did when anyone wanted to learn what was superfluous and unedifying. For what good was there in wishing to learn whether there be many or few who will be saved? On the contrary, it was a necessary and valuable thing to know in what way a person may attain Salvation. Jesus is purposefully silent, therefore, with respect to the useless question that had been asked Him, but proceeds to speak of what was essential, namely the knowledge necessary for the performance of those duties by which men can enter in at the straight and narrow door. For this He has also taught us, saying: Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to perdition is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Now I consider it my duty to mention why the door is narrow through which a man goes unto life. Whoever, therefore, would enter must, before everything else, possess an upright and uncorrupted Faith, and secondly, a spotless morality in which there is no possibility of blame…. Those who wish to live holily cannot do so without labour. For labours spring up before us and we have need altogether of Fortitude and Patience and Nobleness of conduct.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Saint Cyril of Alexandria († 444) was an eminent figure of ancient Christian literature and a valiant defender of the faith. [From Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke. R. Payne Smith, Tr.

DAILY MEDITATION

Consider first that man naturally desires to find rest, but he does not attend it: “My inner parts have boiled without any rest“ (Job 30:27]. And the reason is that he takes a road directly contrary to it. What does a man do who seeks rest in a natural way? He tries to avoid whatever may disturb him, he is angry with everyone who causes such disturbance, he resents it, he takes revenge for it; and what is this but to desire the waves of the sea not to buffet him? What is required, therefore, is not so much to fly from disturbing influences [a thing which is impossible to a man obliged to live in the midst of those waves] as to know how to dwell amongst disturbing influences without being disturbed, so as to be like a rock in the midst of the waves: “I will not fear thousands of the people surrounding me“ [Ps 3:7].

There have been some among the philosophers, who professed to teach a similar doctrine, but they did so rather brilliantly than solidly. No one ever taught it on a true foundation till Christ brought it down from Heaven to earth. Therefore it is that He here says, “Learn of Me,“ and by so saying He shows  that the Doctrine is certainly worthy of the Teacher . He might have bade thee learn from Him to foretell future things, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to walk dryshod upon the waters. But what would it be to say such things as these? Christ was not so worthy of admiration for the Infinite miracles which He wrought upon the earth, as for the infinite examples which He gave of meekness and humility, such as were never seen or heard of in all the ages before Him. With good reason, then, does He say, “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of Heart“ [Matthew 11:29]. If thou knowest well, how to practice these two Virtues taught thee by Christ, thou hast found the rest which thou desirest. Prepare thyself, then, like a diligent scholar to hear His Doctrine, since it is upon it that the rest must be founded if it is to be lasting: upon “Everlasting  foundations,“ which can never be shaken, built “upon a solid rock“ [Ecclesiasticus, 26:24].

Fr. Paola Segneri (d. 1694) – Italian Jesuit missionary preacher, ascetical writer, and one of Italy’s greatest orators.

Colossians 3:17; Romans 14:7

Whatever you do in word and deed,
– do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

None of us lives just for himself,
and none of us dies for himself alone.
– Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Saints John and Paul, Martyrs (Traditional)

Jesus warns us, “and with what ­measure you mete, it will be measured to you again.” (Mt 7:1-5). The only adequate way of approaching reality, of approaching our life, is through a gift that comes to us through the mercy of God. The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you.”  (Book of Genesis 12:1-9) Because Abram obeyed and accepted this new measure for his life that came from God, the LORD made of him a great nation and made his name great.

SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL, MARTYRS

Saints John and Paul were both Christian officers in the army under Julian the Apostate. They suffered martyrdom in their own house, on the Crellon Hill. They spent the ten days allowed them to deliberate about renouncing their devotion to Christ, in distributing all the goods to the poor. The fact that, unlike other martyrs, who were burned outside the walls, they had their place of burial in the very heart of the Eternal City, was looked upon by the early Christians, as a special honour granted to them, and to Rome by Divine Providence. Archeological discoveries have fully confirmed the truth of the Acts of their martyrdom. Their dwelling-house, the place of their execution, the graves, and important paintings have been brought to light. The two brothers, when on earth possessed one home, and one Faith, and now in Heaven, possess the same immortal crown. John and Paul said unto Julian: We worship One God, who hath made heaven and earth.

From a treatise on Christian Perfection by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop
(PG 46, 254-255)

The Christian is another Christ

No one has known Christ better than Paul, nor surpassed him in the careful example he gave of what anyone should be who bears Christ’s name. So precisely did he mirror his Master that he became his very image. By a painstaking imitation, he was transformed into his model and it seemed to be no longer Paul who lived and spoke, but Christ Himself. He shows his keen awareness of this grace when he refers to the Corinthians’ desire for proof that Christ was speaking in him; as he says: It is no longer I who live: it is Christ who lives in me.

Paul teaches us the power of Christ’s name when he calls Him the Power and Wisdom of God, our peace, the unapproachable Light where God dwells, our expiation and redemption, our great High Priest, our Paschal Sacrifice, our propitiation; when he declares Him to be the radiance of God’s Glory, the very pattern of His nature, the Creator of all ages, our Spiritual Food and Drink, the Rock and the Water, the Bedrock of our Faith, the Cornerstone, the visible image of the Invisible God. He goes on to speak of Him as the Mighty God, the Head of His Body, the Church, the firstborn of the new creation, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the firstborn of the dead, the eldest of many brothers; he tells us that Christ is the Mediator between God and man, the Only-begotten Son crowned with Glory and Honour, the LORD of Glory, the beginning of all things, the King of Justice and of Peace, the King of the whole universe, ruling a realm that has no limits.

Paul calls Christ by many other titles too numerous to recall here. Their cumulative force will give some conception of the marvellous content of the name “Christ,” revealing to us His inexpressible majesty, insofar as our minds and thought can comprehend it. Since, by the goodness of God, we who are called “Christians” have been granted the honour of sharing this name, the greatest, the highest, the most sublime of all names, it follows that each of the titles that express its meaning should be clearly reflected in us. If we are not to lie when we call ourselves “Christians,” we must bear witness to it by our way of living.

DAILY MEDITATION

These two saints were both officers in the army under Julian, the Apostate, and received the crown of martyrdom, probably in 363. They glorified God by a double victory: they despised the honours of the world, and triumphed over its threats and torments. They saw many wicked man prosper in their impiety, but were not dazzled by their example. They considered that worldly prosperity which attends impunity in sin is the most dreadful of all judgments; and how false and short-lived was this glittering prosperity of Julian, who in a moment fell into the pit which he himself had dug! But the martyrs, by the momentary labour of their conflict, purchased an immense weight of never-fading glory; their torments  were, by their heroic patience, and invincible virtue and infidelity, a spectacle worthy of God, who looked down upon them from the Throne of His Glory, and held His arms stretched out to strengthen them, and to put on their heads immortal crowns in the happy moment of their victory. 

Reflection: the Saints always accounted that they had done nothing for Christ so long as they had not resisted to blood, and, by pouring forth the last drop, completed their sacrifice. Every action of our lives ought to spring from this fervent motive, and we should consecrate ourselves to the Divine service, with our whole strength; we must always bear in mind that we owe to God all that we are, and, after all we can do, are unprofitable servants, and do only what we are bound to do.

John Gilmary Shea (d.1892) – American author, and celebrated historian, regarded as the father of American Catholic history.

Psalm 5:12; Psalm 89:16-17

Let all who take refuge in You be glad and rejoice for ever.
Protect them,
– and those who love Your name
will exult in You.

They will walk in the Light of Your Presence
and rejoice in Your name all day long.
– And those who love Your name
will exult in You.