Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

National Back to School Month

Saints: Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest, “Martyr of Charity” (1894-1941)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 60 The Admission of Priests to the Monastery

Mass: Joshua 24:14-29; Resp Ps 16; Mt 19:13-15

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

JESUS, STRENGTH OF MARTYRS,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends, says the Lord.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)

With a little bit of research I found that it was now Pope Saint Paul VI who called our saint of the day, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a "martyr of love", when Pope Paul VI beatified Maximilian in 1971. Then, when canonizing Maximilian Kolbe in 1982, now Pope Saint John Paul II, echoed his predecessor and declared Maximilian Kolbe a "martyr of charity." I find these tidbits fascinating. Oh the gift and beauty of our faith tradition. All said, we have plenty of inspiration on this Saturday as we promise with "all the tribes of Israel at Shechem" (Joshua 24:1), We will serve the Lord for He is our God ... and obey His voice (Joshua 24:18, 24)!

Let us love [Mary] concretely, fulfilling all our duties as well as we can from morning to night, since all this is the will of Jesus, in order to prove our love for Jesus by loving His Mother, the Immaculate Mary. 

(Maximilian Kolbe, in Magnificat "Meditation of the Day", August 14, 2021).

We should make each day a resume of our whole life by filling it with prayer, work and charity.

(Elisabeth Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, p. 163)

SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE,

BLESSED ELISABETH LESEUR,

POPE SAINT PAUL VI,

POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II,

JOSEPH, MOST STRONG,

MARY, QUEEN OF MARTYRS,

PRAY FOR US.

NB. Another interesting to me tidbit is that Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) and Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur (1866-1914), two of my favorites, lives overlapped. Two different people, leading very different lives, both rooted in our faith, doing the will of God, in their parts of the world. God is praised. May they both intercede for us.

Today's photo: I found these delights taking a bit of refuge in a bush behind Lima's Professional Pharmacy in Eureka, CA.

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

National Vocations Week

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 28 The Treatment of Those Who Relapse
Mass: Dt 6:2-6; Resp Ps 18; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34

He is the One and there is no other than he.

All is gift!

Readings of the day
RB: Ch 34 Fair Provision for the Needs of All
Mass: Ho 11:1-4, 8c-9; Resp Ps 80; Mt 10:7-15

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. 

Jesus' words to the Apostles are a good reminder for us. All is gift. Our talents, gifts, or 'skill sets' if your prefer, were given freely by God to each one of us. We did not have to pay for them, or exhibit good behavior in order to receive them. God simply loves us and gives us each according to need. These gifts, though, are not to be hoarded or used for our own edification and glory. Rather, like Jesus told the Apostles, we are to go out and proclaim the Good News to all those we meet. We use our gifts and talents for the glory of God, remembering a favorite verse from St Benedict included in yesterday's post: 'When you see any good in yourself, then, don't take it to be your very own, but acknowledge it as a gift from God' (RB 4:42). What we have received from the Lord we return to the Lord by serving the needs of others. In this way, we love and serve God and our neighbor, simultaneously! Herewith a friendly reminder from St Paul via St Benedict: 'God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Cor 9:7/RB 5:16).

Please notice today's photo of our first Passion Flower of the season. All is gift!