Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart

Readings for the Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Ch 13 The Celebration of Lauds on Ordinary Days - Ch 18:6 The Order of the Psalmody

Vigorous and sturdy shall they be.

    HEART OF JESUS, OUR PEACE AND OUR RECONCILIATION,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

MARY, MOTHER OF HOPE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

We are always courageous, although we know that while we are home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

(2 Cor 5:6-7)

Welcome to the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, still in the month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Happy Father's Day to all fathers and soon to be fathers. We also remember our fathers who have died. May they, and Saint Joseph, pray for all of us. 

Thanks to today's "Meditation of the Day," in my monthly missal,* I was introduced to Blessed Stefan Wyszynski's (1901-1981, Polish archbishop, cardinal, and teacher of Pope Saint John Paull II) book, Sanctify Your Daily Life: How to Transform Work into a Source of Strength (EWTN, 2018). In the passage, the Cardinal speaks of the seventh day, the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, a day a rest from labor. We know from the Book of Genesis that God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And He blessed the seventh day, sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and made (see Genesis 2:1-3). God rested and blessed that day; Our Lord gifted that day of rest to us. Blessed Stefan comments: "From the moment this blessing was linked with rest from labor, the seventh day has had a double task in the history of God's world: the giving of worship to God and the granting of rest to the tired body and mind ... It is not enough for the human heart to devote the whole day or even six days of the week to binding sheaves: for it to be fully satisfied there must be a possibility, either in the evening or at the end of the toilsome week, for him to offer his sheaves to God." If we look to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we find what the Church teaches us: "'Just as God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done,' human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives" (CCC 2184). Saint Benedict, in his chapter the Daily Manual Labor, has something to say too: "On Sunday all are to be engaged in reading except those who have been assigned various duties. If anyone is so remiss and indolent that he is unwilling or unable to study or to read, he is to be given some work in order that he may not be idle" (RB 48:22-23). Today, and this week, then, may be a time to reflect on your work and your rest. Are there things that hinder your worship to God? Are you getting rest so that you can fully engage, with energy and joy, in your service to God and others? What is the state of your health and well-being? Certainly, everyone has obligations and responsibilities that include family life, employment, community involvement, and so on. However, our minds and bodies need a rest. Blessed Stefan continues with this: "The fulfillment of one's duties toward God and the fulfillment of the needs of the mind and the heart are the main aims of freedom from work, a freedom that should do good to both soul and body." We have been gifted with freedom. Might your soil need more cultivation? How might you yield a richer harvest? God, give us the grace and courage. I believe, help my unbelief.

And here come the voices for the week. The first two are from Saint Cyprian, here with his treatise on the Lord's Prayer, one of my favorites. And it is certainly fitting as Jesus teaches us how to pray in this Thursday's Gospel (Mt 6:7-15). After the Bishop and Martyr, we hear from Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Cardinal Robert Sarah, il poverello Saint Francis of Assisi, the Holy Father Pope Francis, and Saint Richard of Chichester who had a life that was anything but dull.

When we pray, our words should be calm, modest and disciplined. Let us reflect that we are standing before God. We should please Hime both by our bodily posture and the manner of our speech. It is characteristic of the vulgar to shout and make a noise, not those who are modest. On the contrary, they should employ a quiet tone in their prayer.

(From a treatise on the Lord's Prayer by Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr, in Office of Readings, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time)

My dear friends, the Lord's Prayer contains many great mysteries of our faith. In these few words there is great spiritual strength, for this summary of divine teaching contains all our prayers and petitions. And so, the Lord commands us: Pray then like this: Our Father, who art in heaven.

(From a treastise on the Lord's Prayer by Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr, in Office of Readings, Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

Jesus taught us how to pray, and He also told us to learn from Him to be meek and humble of heart. Neither of these can we do unless we know what silence is. Both humility and prayer grow from an ear, mind, and tongue that have lived in silence with God, for the silence of the heart God speaks. 

(Saint Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love, in Robert Cardinal Sarah with Nicolas Diat, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, p. 45)

In the presence of God, in silence, we become meek and humble of heart. God's meekness and humility penetrate us, and we enter into a real conversation with Him. Humility is a condition and a result of silence. Silence needs meekness and humility, and it also open for us the way to these two qualities. The humblest, meekest, and most silent of all beings is God. Silence is the only means by which to enter into this great mystery.

(Robert Cardinal Sarah with Nicolas Diat, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, p. 48)

Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by Him! Hold nothing back of yourselves for yourselves, that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally!

(Saint Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226)

If I turn something negative into positive, I win! But that can only happen with the grace of Jesus.

(Pope Francis to African Youth, 2015)

Thanks be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ

for all the benefits which Thou hast given us,

for all the pains and insults which Thou hast borne for us:

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may we know Thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,

and follow Thee more nearly.

Amen.

(Saint Richard's Prayer)

SAINT RICHARD OF CHICHESTER,

SAINT BOTOLPH,

SAINT ALBERT CHMIELOWSKI,

SAINT OSANNA ANDREASI,

SAINTS ALBAN, JULIAN AND AARON,

THE IRISH MARTYRS,

SAINT JOHN RIGBY,

SAINT OSANNA ANDREASI,

SAINTS JOHN FISHER, BISHOP, AND THOMAS MORE, MARTYRS,

SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA,

BLESSED M-JOSEPH CASSANT, MONK, PRIEST,

SAINT ROMAULD, ABBOT,

SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA,

PRAY FOR US.

*Magnificat, June 16, 2024, pp. 255-257.

Today's photo: This beauty comes as gift from Germany. Vielen herzlichen Dank, meine liebe Moni. It is good to give thanks to the Lord.

© Gertrude Feick 2024