Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

September is the month dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary

In other years: Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540-604)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Prologue 14 - Ch 1 The Kinds of Monks  

Mass: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Resp Ps 63; Rm 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

All my being, bless His holy name.

MARY, STRENGTH OF THE WEAK,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

(Romans 12:2)

Welcome to the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time and the month of September dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. And as Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron wrote to his uncle, "Given Mary, how could you not love God!!" So, through Mary, give God the praise!

To act on Saint Paul's words to the Romans quoted above, we certainly need the help of Saint Michael the Archangel, guardian of souls. Here is one way to respond, given by the late Father Bonaventure Perquin, O.P. (d. 1970): "We need to discipline our imagination and learn to live each day as it comes, remembering that God's will is infinitely wise, merciful, and tender, and that He unfailingly gives us the grace we need to accept His will, but only at the exact moment we need it. Then we really live by faith, trust, and love." In another place, Father Bonaventure said: "We must bend down and take up [our cross], as our Lord did, and not accept it passively. And it has to be our own cross too, not someone else's; carrying our own cross is how we work out the task planned for us by the Father." And as it turns out, as it often does, these are all ways to heed Jesus' words in today's Gospel: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 16:24-25). Not my will, Lord, but yours be done. Thankfully, the Son of Man will come with His angels in His Father's glory, and then He will repay all according to his conduct (Mt 16:27). I believe, help my unbelief. Amen.

Since we have the privilege and honor of commemorating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8th, all voices will be in praise of Our Lady. United in faith and prayer, and as "we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love" (Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 49). Mary, treasure of the faithful, pray for us.

The spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God.

(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2502)

Surely we'd go mad if we truly loved Mary. By honoring the Virgin, we will love Jesus more. By placing ourselves under her mantle, we will understand divine mercy better. When we invoke Her name, it's as if everything becomes lighter. When we turn to Her as our intercessor, what will we not receive from Her Son, Jesus?

(Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron, 1911-1938)

Mary believed. It was demanded of her that she constantly renew this faith, that it might become ever firmer, more bare of supports-greater ... Every step the Lord took toward His divine destiny Mary took with Him-not in the way of understanding but in the way of faith.

(Romano Guardini, 1885-1968)

As sailors are guided by a star to the port, so are Christians guided to Heaven by Mary.

(Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274)

Love Our Lady. And she will obtain abundant grace for you to help you conquer in your daily struggle. And the enemy will gain nothing by those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within you, seeking to swallow up in their perfumed corruption the high ideals, the sublime determination that Christ Himself has set in your heart.

(Saint Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer Albas, 1902-1975)

My mother [Mary] is very strange; if I bring her flowers she says she does not want them; if I bring her cherries, she will not take them, and if I then ask what she desires, she replies: "I desire thy heart, for I live on hearts."

(Saint Joseph of Cupertino, 1603-1663)

In dangers

in hardships

in every doubt

think of Mary

call out to Mary.

Keep her in your mouth

keep her in your heart ...

With your hand in hers

you will never stumble.

With her protecting you

you will not be afraid.

With her leading you

you will never tire.

Her kindness 

will see you through to the end.

Then you will know 

by your own experience

how true it is that

the Virgin's name was Mary.

(Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153)

POPE SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT,

POPE SAINT BONIFACE I,

SAINT CUTHBERT,

SAINT MAC NISSI,

BLESSED DINA BELANGER,

SAINT HERBERT,

MOTHER SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA,

SAINT THOMAS ZUGI,

SAINT CLOUD,

BLESSED RALPH CORBY,

SAINT PETER CLAVER,

PRAY FOR US.

NB. Dear faithful readers, thank you for being there. Please have patience over the next couple of weeks as our website is undergoing process improvement. For now, laboratory tests are underway and the experts (that would not be me) are busy. No computer whiz, I just say, in God we trust. ☺ Keep going there and I will here. Ora pro invicem.

Today's photo: Taken some time ago, this one still reminds us to call upon the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. You are my help, in the shadow of your wings I rejoice. 

© Gertrude Feick 2023