Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Saints: Saint Bridget of Sweden, Religious (1303-1373); Saints Philip Evans (1645-1679) and John Lloyd,  (1630-1679); Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 43:13-19 

Mass: Ex 20:1-17; Resp Ps 19; Mt 13:18-23

Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

THE WOMAN WHO FEARS THE LORD WILL HERSELF BE PRAISED. HER CHILDREN HAVE CALLED HER MOST BLESSED, HER HUSBAND HAS SUNG HER PRAISES.

(Entrance Antiphon, Mass)

One of our saints of the day, and another favorite of mine, Saint Bridget of Sweden, is certainly someone who heard the Word of God, understood it, and bore fruit (Mt 13:23). Her life was full. Happily married to a nobleman, she and her husband Ulf had eight children. Among other notables, Bridget served as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Sweden; after she and Ulf went on pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela in Spain, they decided to spend the rest of their lives in monasteries; after Ulf's death in 1944, Bridget founded a double monastery starting a new monastic order, the Order of the Most Holy Savior, what we now call the Bridgettines; in 1350 Bridget went to Rome and spent the rest of her life there "caring for the poor and sick, denouncing the excesses of the aristocracy, and robustly telling the Pope to return to Rome from Avignon." Bridget was also a mystic. Her revelations have been published. May Saint Bridget of Sweden, and her husband Ulf, intercede for us so that we do too bear fruit in our little part of the world. The following prayers I have on a little piece of paper given to me by dear Father Paschal, OSB, of happy memory. He loved Saint Bridget of Sweden.

Prayers of Saint Bridget

Lord, show me your way and make me willing to follow it.

Amen.

Lord God, for whom nothing is impossible, who can do everything, give me the power to do good and to persevere,

Mary, Mother of Peace, Light, and Love who gave birth to the Savior on earth, ask Jesus to show me the way on my pilgrimage to eternal life.

SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN,

SAINTS PHILIP EVANS AND JOHN LLOYD,

OUR LADY, MOTHER OF DIVINE GRACE,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This is a view of the underside of a licorice fern frond with the little groups of spores all lined up! A favorite fern of today's contributor. These Catherine found in the forest near Neskowin, Oregon. 

© Gertrude Feick 2021