Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

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

Catholic Schools Week

Saints: Saint John Bosco (1815-1888); Saint Alban Roe (1583-1642); Saint Thomas Green (c 1560-1642)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 7:34 Humility

Mass: 2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13; Mk 5:1-20

My glory, you lift up my head!

UNLESS YOU TURN AND BECOME LIKE CHILDREN, YOU WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, SAYS THE LORD.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)

Welcome to the last day of January 2022. With that on this Monday of Catholic Schools Week, Pope Saint Paul VI speaks: "Modern man listens more readily to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Address to the Members of the Consilium de Laicis, October 2, 1974). I have included several quotations from the delightful and remarkable Saint John Bosco, who certainly taught by his witness to the faith, and is "the first canonized saint in whose honour a national holiday was declared in Italy, for the day following his canonization" (Butler's, January volume, p. 230). Most of the quotations can be found in R. Chervin's Quotable Saints, with some also part of a letter by John Bosco, included in today's Office of Readings.

[A saint] was once asked, while playing happily with his companions, what he would do if an angel told him that in a quarter of an hour he would die and have to appear before the judgement seat of God. The saint promptly replied that he would continue playing because I am certain these games are pleasing to God.

It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself and easier to threaten a boy than to persuade him. It is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys.

You should bear patiently the bad temper of other people, the slights, the rudeness that may be offered you. 

Never read books you are not sure about ... even supposing these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: would you drink something you knew poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?

Holy purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like angels of God in heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh.

Avoid those who in your presence are not ashamed to make use of scandalous works, and expressions of double meaning.

I want to die so poor that they may say that Don Bosco died without leaving a halfpenny.

Meekness was the method Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized, and still others to gain hope in God's mercy. Thus He bade us to be gentle and humble of heart.

The principal trap which the devil sets for the young people is idleness. This is a fatal source of all evil. Do not let there be any doubt in your mind that man is born to work, and when he does not do so he is out of his element and in great danger of offending God.

The chief thing is to take the burden on one's shoulders. As you press forward, it soon shakes down and the load is evenly distributed.

First tell the devil to rest, and then I'll rest too.

You can do nothing with children unless you win their confidence and love by bringing them into touch with oneself, by breaking through all hindrances that keep them at a distance.

It is a form of trade, you see. I ask God for souls and pay Him by giving up everything else.

Do not imitate those who deceive themselves by saying: "I will sin and then go to confession." How do you know that you will have time to make your confession? Is it not madness to wound oneself, in the hope that a doctor will be found to heal the wound?

When tempted, invoke your angel. Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: he trembles and flees at your guardian angel's sight. 

SAINT JOHN BOSCO,

SAINT ALBAN ROE,

SAINT THOMAS GREEN,

SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES,

SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON,

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS,

SAINT JOHN CANTIUS,

SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: A mid-afternoon sky yesterday. Wow.

© Gertrude Feick 2022