Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Month of February Dedicated to the Holy Family

In other years: Blessed Reginald of Orleans, OP (c.1180-1220)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 10 The Arrangement of the Night Office in Summer

Mass: Sirach 15:15-20; Resp Ps 119; 1 Cor 2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37 

The wonders of your law.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

HOLY FAMILY, WHOSE DIVINE CHILD IS A MODEL OF FILIAL OBEDIENCE,

PRAY FOR US.

Before man are life and death, good and evil,

whichever he chooses will be given him.

(Sirach 15:17)

Who is the man that fears the Lord?

The Lord will instruct him in the way that he should choose.

(Psalm 25:12)

There seems to be no cause to waver then on what is the path to choose. However, we must listen to what the Lord is telling us. Listen, that is, with the ear of our heart. So doing, we can be firm and let our 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and our 'No' mean 'No.' For anything else is from the evil one (see Mk 17:37).

Jesus is the Finger of God who writes in the interior of our being, who etches living truth on the flesh of our heart with His tender yet powerful touch. If He can do this it is because He Himself, eternal Word possesses a human heart and knows how to reach other hearts. And the simple, absolute, and unsurpassable law He inscribes in our hearts is the law of the love of God.

(E. Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel According to St. Matthew)

BLESSED REGINALD OF ORLEANS,

SAINT DOMINIC,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This is a guanaco at spectacular Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Just one of the new animals the Ottos met during their recent Chilean adventure. That I may be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes!

© Gertrude Feick 2023

Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

The Month of January Dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus

Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saints: Our Lady of Arabia; Saint Felix of Nola, Priest (early 3rd century); Saint Sava (1174-1235)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 2:30-32 Qualities of the Abbot

Mass: Have 4:12-16; Resp Ps 19; Mk 2:13-17

Refreshing the soul.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

MARY, FULL OF GRACE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

JESUS, EXAMPLE OF VIRTUES,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

(Heb 4:12)

The rain keeps on; steady she goes. 

It is true that the above quotation from the Letter to the Hebrews is a favorite; the Word and the Spirit with Him blow where they will. Pay attention; be alert, "no creature is concealed from Him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account" (Heb 4:13). And through it all we give thanks, for Jesus who reminds us why He came: Those who are well do not need a physician, says the Lord, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners (Mk 2:17). Thanks be to God. United in faith and prayer, we join Levi who got up from the customs post and followed Jesus (see Mk 2:14).

In honor of Our Lady, and today especially Our Lady of Arabia, the principal patroness of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, the following is from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153).

Fear not, Mary,

you have found grace with the Lord.

How much grace?

Full grace

unique grace.

Unique or general?

Both surely,

Because full,

both unique and general.

You have received the general grace uniquely.

Both unique and general, I say,

for you alone found grace above everyone.

Unique

for you alone found it in its fullness.

General

for from that fullness all may receive it.

Blessed are you among women

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Uniquely of your womb is the fruit,

but it comes to the being of all

through you.

OUR LADY OF ARABIA,

SAINT FELIX OF NOLA,

SAINT SAVA,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: During a brief break in the rain yesterday, I managed this. The Mattole River, full and busy. Rejoicing the hearts.

© Gertrude Feick 2023

Saturday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Blessed Virgin Mary 

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 5:1-13 Obedience
Mass: 1 Co 15:35-37, 42-49; Resp Ps 56; Lk 8:4-15

Some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.

Tending the soil

Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 47 Signaling the Times for the Work of God
Mass: Jr 3:14-17; Resp Ps (Jr 31); Mt 13:18-23

The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. 

Saint Maria Goretti (1890-1902)

First Friday of the Month

Readings of the day: RB 29 The Readmission of Any Who Leave the Monastery

Mass: Am 8:4-6, 9-12; Resp Ps 119; Mt 9:9-13

Go and learn the meaning of the words,

I desire mercy not sacrifice.

Saint Maria Goretti, intercede for us as we learn the meaning 

of every word that comes from the mouth of God.


Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.
(Resp Ps 119)

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Readings of the day: RB 56 The Table for the Abbess and Community Guests

Mass: Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Resp Ps 40; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38

MAY IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.

What shall be opened to the Lord but the ear and the heart.

With your ear hearken to the angel’s word, with your heart receive the Word, and with your body conceive the Son of God.

(Guerric of Igny, Sermon 27, 3)

HEAR I AM, LORD; I COME TO DO YOUR WILL.

(Resp Ps 40)

Mary, House of Gold,

pray for us.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time

Saint Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church (1557-1622)

Readings of the day: RB 61, Cherishing Silence in the Monastery

Mass: 2 Samuel 7:4-17; Resp. Psalm 89; Mark 4:1-20

 

Vincent Van Gogh, The Sower

Whoever has ears ought to hear.

As Jesus explains today’s parable to the Twelve, I recall Pope Francis’ invitation in Apostolic Exhoration Evangelii Gaudium, 3:

I invite all Christians everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them;

I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.

With that invitation, let us consider the WORD and our response to it:

CHRIST SOWS THE WORD.

Person A: Hears the Word, then has a better idea and listens to a more attractive voice in her head, suggesting other ways of going about things. In one ear and out the other.

Person B: Hears the Word and is overwhelmed with the Good News; full of joy and fervor. The day brings a difficult encounter with another, he wavers with going the way of Jesus, and falls back into unhealthy patterns of behavior. This person prefers going from one thing to another; sitting on the fence.

Person C: Hears the Word and becomes anxious. What about the things I like to do, places I like to travel, my friends, and craving for fame and glory? The Good News is choked by personal whims and appetites.

Person D: Hears the Word. With open heart and mind, embraces the Good News, welcoming a renewed personal encounter with Jesus, the Word made Flesh who dwells among us. Pope Francis also writes: ‘Those who accept [Jesus’] offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew’ (EG, 1).

HOW WILL WE RESPOND TO THE WORD TODAY?

The spirit, which relies on faith, grows in courage when it is hemmed in by difficulties, for it knows well that God loves, supports, and helps those who are weak and needy,

provided they fix their hope in him.

                                  (St Francis de Sales)

First Friday of the Month

Readings of the day: RB 50

Mass: Daniel 7:2-14; Resp. Psalm (Dn 3); Luke 21:29-33

MY WORDS WILL NOT PASS AWAY.

 

Sr Ann Marie at Lectio Divina

Not long ago I had an excellent, semester long course on lectio divina. It was taught by an Irish diocesan priest; a caring man, a Scripture scholar. He warned us of what he called the Prodigal Son syndrome, that is, we hear or read a familiar biblical passage and immediately tune out—we already know what the story is all about. Doing so, we miss out on what the Word is saying to us on that day, at that moment, in whatever space we find ourselves. The words of our Lord do not pass away—they are the sure foundation. That said, it is we who pass from one mood to another, from one place to another, to one stage of the spiritual journey to another. The WORD will always have a different message depending on how open we are to receiving it. In my experience, when I read a familiar passage, one which I have already heard 1,000 times, I hear or read a word or phrase that I have never heard before! The WORD is speaking to me in a particular way at that moment, and will in another tomorrow. This is the beauty of the discipline of lectio divina—how our lives can be transformed by the WORD speaking to each one of us individually, calling us to a more intimate relationship with the WORD made FLESH who dwells among us. Put another way, we fall deeper and deeper in love with the living and true God, LOVE poured into our hearts. Why not spend some time with the parable of the Prodigal Son, or any other parable—you really might not know what the story is all about.

THUS SAY THE LORD:

LET WHOEVER IS THIRSTY COME TO ME AND DRINK.

STREAMS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW

FROM WITHIN THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)