Saint: Saint John Plessington (c.1637-1679)
Readings of the Day
Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 40 The Proper Amount of Drink
Mass: Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Resp Ps 85; Mt 12:46-50
Show us, O Lord, your kindness.
MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,
PRAY FOR US.
Graciously be present to your people, we pray, O Lord, and lead those you have imbued with heavenly mysteries to pass from former ways to newness of life.
(Prayer after Communion, Mass)
In today's Gospel Jesus replies with questions, questions intended not only for the crowds gathered around Him then, but also for the crowd of us gathered around Him now. Who is my mother? questions Jesus; Who are my brothers? (Mt 12:48). Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother (Mt 12:50), Jesus tells us. So too for us. United in our family of faith, we pray to our heavenly Father, "your will be done". And all the affections of our loved ones can be transformed into sublime, divine love, no matter our vocation; none of us leave anything behind.
The following was written by 22-year-old Rafael Arnaiz in a 1933 letter to his grandmother, when he told her about his entrance into the Cistercian abbey of San Isidro de Duenas, Spain:
Don't think that I am going far away ... on the contrary I am going closer to God, and if through my prayers and sacrifices I can help others to grow closer to Him ... what more could I ask, what more could I desire? ... And so, I am not leaving behind the affection of my loved ones, which is very beautiful and very human ... but rather I want to transform it into sublime, divine love.
(Rafael Arnaiz in Saint Rafael Arnaiz: The Collected Works, p. 57)
SAINT JOHN PLESSINGTON,
PRAY FOR US.
Today's photo: Shall not your people rejoice in you?
© Gertrude Feick 2022
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