Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

June is the month of the Sacred Heart 

Father's Day

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 14 The Celebration of Vigils on the Anniversary of Saints - Ch 18 The Order of the Psalmody

Mass: Ex 19:2-6a; Resp Ps 100; Rm 5:6-11; Mt 9:36-10:8

Serve the Lord with gladness.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.  

HEART OF JESUS, DESIRE OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Without cost you have received; 

without cost you are to give.

(Mt 10:8)

Welcome to the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. And Happy Father's Day to all fathers and grandfathers, and all Father fathers too. Saint Joseph, pillar of families, pray for us.

Today, and throughout the week, why not reflect on all the gifts God has given you, without measure. Write down five gifts, and then, pay something forward. Remember too some words from Jesus: Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you (Lk 6:38). In doing this, then, your spirits may be lifted, and your mood may lighten; you may be rejuvenated. Yes, the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mt 10:7). So, we boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rm 5:11) and remember that "In everything we do God considers our disposition rather than our actions. And so, whether we retire mentally to God in earnest contemplation and remain at rest or whether we are intent of being of service to those around us with good works and worthy undertakings, let our object be that we are motivated only by the love of Christ" (Saint Laurence Justinian, 1381-1456). 

Our voices for the week come from tea bag tags ☺, all fitting intros to a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889). United in faith and prayer, Jesus summons each one of us, just like He summoned His twelve disciples (Mt 10:1), and we go forth. Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.

Plant kindness and gather love.

(Proverb)

Beauty is not caused. It is.

(Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886)

Are not flowers stars of the earth?

(Clara Lucas Balfour, 1808-1878)

In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.

(Aristotle, 384-322 BC)

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

(Shakespeare, 1564-1616)

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882)

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

(Lao Tzu, 6th-5th century BC)

Pied Beauty

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things-

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced-fold, fallow, and plough;

All all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows him?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past changed:

Praise him.

SAINT ROMUALD

SAINTS ALBAN, JULIUS AND AARON,

THE IRISH MARTYRS,

SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA,

SAINT JOHN RIGBY,

SAINT JOHN FISHER,

SAINT THOMAS MORE,

SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA,

SAINT ETHELREDA,

SAINT THOMAS GARNET,

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: In Ordinary Time there is always something extraordinary. The world is charged with the grandeur of God ...

© Gertrude Feick 2023