Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saints: Saint Stephanie, Martyr (4th century); Our Lady of Walsingham; Blessed Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin (1800-1851); Blessed Anton Martin Slomshek (1800-1862)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 6 Restraint of Speech

Mass: Ecc 11:9-12:8; Resp Ps 90; Lk 9:43b-45

Return, O Lord! How long?

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

SORROWFUL MOTHER,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Light is sweet! And it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him, as he enjoys them all, remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that is to come is vanity.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth ...

[before] the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity!

(Ecc 11:7-8, 12:1, 7-8)

Young or not so young, no matter, with however many days we have, we sing with the psalmist, teach us, O Lord, to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart (Ps 90). We consider and take to heart too, Saint Benedict's wisdom offered in Ch 6 of the Holy Rule, on Restraint of Speech. Our holy father Benedict calls us to "follow the Prophet's counsel: I said, I have resolved to keep watch over my ways that I may never sin with my tongue. I have put a guard over my mouth, I was silent and was humbled, and I refrained from good words. Here the Prophet indicates that there are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence. For all the more reason, then, should evil speech be curbed so that punishment for sin may be avoided ... it is written: In a flood of words you will not avoid sin: and elsewhere, The tongue holds the key to life and death" (Rule of Saint Benedict, 6:1-2, 4-5). Our Lady will help us, for "Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19).

Even though what Saint Rafael Arnaiz (1911-1938) has to say is about silence in his Trappist monastery of San Isidro de Duenas, it is relevant for anyone who lives a life of prayer and contemplation in one way or another, whether inside or outside a monastery, no matter their vocation. And come to think of it, that is likely all of you faithful readers out there who take the time to read these reflections. We are united in faith and prayer; the world needs our courageous witness to the faith. Thank you for being there.

It is silence that makes us humble; that makes us resigned; when we have some difficulty, silence makes it so that we tell only Jesus about it, so that He might take care of it in silence too...

Silence is necessary for prayer. With silence, it is difficult to lack charity; with silence, we show greater gratitude for a brother's love and affection than we would with words ... In short, silence is everything in contemplative life ...

A Trappist only opens his mouth to sing to God ... and here in the world it's the opposite, when you want to talk about God, everyone shuts up.

(Rafael Arnaiz in The Collected Works: Saint Rafael Arnaiz, p. 176)

SAINT STEPHANIE,

OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM,

BLESSED EMILIE TAVERNIER-GAMELIN,

BLESSED ANTON MARTIN SLOMSHEK,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: For Our Lady. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb.

© Gertrude Feick

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

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

Month of May Dedicated to Our Lady and a “Marathon” of Prayer to End the Pandemic

Saints of the Day: Saint Bede the Venerable )673-735); Pope Saint Gregory VII (1020-1085); Saint Mary Magdalen of Pazzi (1566-1607)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 6 Restraint of Speech 

Mass: Sirach 35:1-12; Resp Ps 50; Mk 10:28-31

Hear, my people, and I will speak.

Here is some wisdom from the Book of Sirach: To refrain from evil pleases the Lord, and to avoid injustice is an atonement (Sir 35:3). We can look to Saint Benedict for ways to do this from yet another one of my favorite chapters, today on restraint of speech. Our holy father Benedict urges us to "follow the Prophet's counsel: I said, I have resolved to keep watch over my ways that I may never sin with my tongue. I have put a guard over my mouth. I was silent and was humbled, and I refrained even from good words (Ps 38[39]:2-3)." Saint Benedict goes on to say, "because it is written: In a flood of words you will not avoid sin (Prov 10:19); and elsewhere, The tongue holds the key to life and death (Prov 18:21)" (RB 6:1, 4-5). 

All the ways of this world are as fickle and unstable as a sudden storm at the sea.

(Saint Bede the Venerable)

Come, Holy Spirit ...

Come! As you descended upon Mary that the Word might become flesh, work in us through grace as you worked in her through nature and grace.

Come! Food of every chaste thought, fountain of all mercy, sum of all purity.

Come! Consume in us whatever prevents us from being consumed by you.

(From the writings On Revelations and On Trials by Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, virgin, in Office of Readings, May 25)

SAINT BEDE THE VENERABLE,

POPE SAINT GREGORY VII,

SAINT MARY MAGDALEN OF PAZZI,

SAINT JOSEPH,

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Since we are back in Ordinary Time, which as a beloved chaplain used to say, is anything but ordinary, here is an anything but ordinary dog. Meet Rainey, a Tibetan terrior who dear Tamara has been busy raising. Here's some of the anything but ordinary. Rainey is not a terrier at all. Tibetan terriers are hairy dogs that guarded the monasteries of Tibet and were imported here by a woman who thought they looked like terriers. Rainey is a lot of work, I'm told, but she's a lovely little dog. Indeed she is. Woof!

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947): Former Slave, Canossian Sister

Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947): Former Slave, Canossian Sister, Nurse during WWI and WWII

Saint Jerome Emiliani (1486-1537): Universal Patron of Abandoned Children and Orphans

Sr Bakhita, center

Readings of the day: RB 7:60-61

Mass: 1 Kings 11:4-13; Resp. Psalm 106; Mark 7:24-30

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.

ALLELUIA.

(Gospel Acclamation, Mass)

I recently attended a Memorial Mass for a woman who died not long ago. There, a young man spoke articulately about how his ‘granny’ taught him the difference between attachment and unconditional love. One could hear a pin drop in the assembly. His words were moving; his message sincere. Even so, after speaking for several minutes, the young man concluded with something else he learned from his granny: ‘Too many words fall on deaf ears.’ 

The eleventh step of humility is that we speak gently and without laughter, seriously and with becoming modesty, briefly and reasonably, but without raising our voices, as it is written: ‘The wise are known by few words.’

(RB 7:60-61)