Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890); Saints Denis, Bishop, and his Companions, Marytrs (-258); Saint John Leonardi, Priest (1541-1609)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:60-61

Mass: Gal 3:7-14; Resp Ps 111; Lk 11:15-26

Great are the works of the Lord.

THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH ARE BLESSED ALONG WITH ABRAHAM WHO HAD FAITH.

(Gal 3:7)

In light of the Holy Father's Prayer Intention below, I remember reading Wtiness to Hope, George Weigel's biography of Pope, now Saint John Paul II. Dr. Weigel wrote about the Pope's 1979 visit to Poland, the year after he was elected Pope. One of his first stops was at the parish where he was baptized. John Paul II said that the most significant day in his life was when he was baptized. It wasn't when he was ordained a priest, or consecrated a bishop, or even when he became Pope. 

All the faithful are united in our baptism where we receive the gift of faith. We can go forth this day with the Entrance Antiphon in our hearts and on our lips: O chosen people, proclaim the mighty works of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. And also with something Pope, now Saint Paul VI, said in a 1974 Address to the Members of the Consilium de Laicis, now the Pontifical Council of the Laity: "Modern man listens more readily to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses." May we witness to our shared faith. I believe, help my unbelief. 

No one has been baptized a priest or a bishop. We have all been baptized as lay people.

Lay people are protagonists in the Church.

Today, it is especially necessary to create broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church.

And we must emphasize the feminine lay presence because women tend to be left aside.

We must promote the integration of women, especially where important decisions are made.

We pray that by virtue of baptism, the laity, especially women, may participate more in the areas of responsibility in the Church, without falling into forms of clericalism that diminish the lay charism.

(Pope Francis, Prayer Intention for October 2020)

SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

SAINT DENIS AND HIS COMPANIONS,

SAINT JOHN LEONARDI,

© Gertrude Feick 2020