Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

Saints: Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1241-1298); Saint Rogue Gonzalez and his companions (-1628)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 41 The Times for Meals

Mass: 1 Macc 4:36-37, 52-59; Resp Ps (1 Chr 29); Lk 19:45-48

For all in heaven and earth is yours.

First for this wet Friday, let us not forget that we are in the month of November, and remember all those who have died, those suffering in Purgatory who await full union with Our Lord in heaven. As put nicely in my prayer missal, "As we serve our brothers and sisters here on earth, let us never forget to pray for our brothers and sisters awaiting heaven" (Magnificat). 

As far as our saints for the day, one is Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn, friend and mentor to Saint Gertrude the Great. Together they are two of the giants of Helfta. There is a passage about Saint Mechtilde in Gertrude the Great's The Herald of God's Loving Kindness, found in Book V, 4, 1. There you will read:

When Lady Mechtilde of blessed memory, our most devoted chantress, was sick unto death, full of good works and of God, scarcely a month before her decease and already bedridden, with her customary devotion and virtuous will she eagerly studied the exercise in preparation for death that [Gertrude] composed.

You can find Gertrude the Great's exercise, "Life in Death", in her Spiritual Exercises, Book VII. Not a bad book to look at this month of November when we remember the dead. At the same time, we remember Saint Benedict's admonition to keep death daily before our eyes (RB 4:47). Jesus, Crown of Saints, have mercy on us.

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHO DIE IN THE LORD. LET THEM REST FROM THEIR LABORS, FOR THEIR WORKS ACCOMPANY THEM.

(Entrance Antiphon, Mass).

SAINT MECHTILDE OF HACKEBORN,

SAINT ROGUE GONZALEZ AND HIS COMPANIONS,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This is nice, from my walk a week ago today. Not as giant as the Maple leaves along the Avenue of the Giants, it is giant in its beauty.

© Gertrude Feick 2021