Monday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

Saints: All Saints of Wales; Blessed George Napier (-1610); Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 13:13-19 Qualifications of the Monastery Cellarer

Mass: Wis 1:1-7; Resp Ps 139; Lk 17:1-6

Where can I go from your spirit?

A KIND WORD IS BETTER THAN THE BEST GIFT.

(Sir 18:17/RB 31:14)

Something to keep in mind and heart this week is the verse above taken from Saint Benedict's chapter on the qualifications of the monastery cellarer, a person who takes care of everything (RB 31:3). This person is chosen from the community and whose qualities include being "wise, mature in conduct, temperate, not an excessive eater, not proud, excitable, offensive, dilatory or wasteful, but God-fearing" (RB 31:1-2). She regards "all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected" (RB 31:10). Do you know of someone in your home, at work, at school, or in your community who embodies the qualities of a cellarer? It might also be said that a person of this kind seeks God in integrity of heart (Wis 1:1), as we all should, and as we read in today's first reading taken from the Book of Wisdom. On the subject of integrity then, I include a poem taken from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master (Penguin, 1999).

INTEGRITY

Few

Have the strength

To be a real

Hero-

That rare

Man or woman

Who always keeps

Their

Word.

Even an angel needs rest.

Integrity creates a body so vast

A thousand winged ones will

Plead,

"May I lay my cheek

Against

You?"

ALL SAINTS OF WALES,

BLESSED GEORGE NAPIER,

SAINT ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: The second field, late afternoon, this past Saturday.

© Gertrude Feick 2021