The Month of March Devoted to Saint Joseph
Saints: Saint John Ogilvie, Jesuit and Martyr (1579-1615)
Readings of the Day
Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 32 The Tools and Goods of the Monastery
Mass: Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a; Resp Ps 105; Mt 21:33-43, 45-46
Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,
OUR LADY OF SNOWS,
SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,
PRAY FOR US.
SAINT JOSEPH, PRAY FOR US.
When their brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
(Gn 37:4)
Yikes. That is one response to what jealousy and envy can do as evidenced in our reading from the Book of Genesis. Meanwhile, the chief priests and Pharisees were attempting to arrest Jesus. At the same time, they feared the crowds (see Mt 21:46). Sadly, these situations may sound familiar to most of us, wherever we find ourselves. We must encourage each other with prayer and our witness to the faith.
Whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.
(1 Peter 4:16)
In response to the words from Saint Peter above, in addition to the lengthy * below ☺, there is something about our saint of the day, Saint John Ogilvie*. Before he was martyred, he was asked whether he was afraid to die. His reply? "I fear death as much as you do your dinner." Keep going, faithful readers.
SAINT JOHN OGILVIE,
PRAY FOR US.
* Pope Saint Paul VI canonized the martyr Saint John Ogilvie in 1976. Saint John Ogilvie was the first Scottish saint in 700 years; he is the only post-Reformation Scottish saint. A convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, John entered the Society of Jesus in 1599 and was ordained priest in 1610. Eventually betrayed and captured in Glasgow, John endured much suffering (huge understatement) and was hanged March 10, 1615, primarily for insisting on the primacy of the Pope. It is said that his last gesture before his hanging was to toss his Rosary beads into the crowd where they were caught by a Calvinist nobleman who later became a Catholic, tracing his conversion to the incident and the martyr's beads. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the Scottish bishops to promote devotion to Saint John Ogilvie among priests since the Jesuit martyr had been "truly outstanding in his dedication to a difficult and dangerous pastoral ministry, to the point of laying down his life." Later the same year during a visit to Scotland, the pontiff encouraged priests to look to the saint's "dedicated, selfless and brave" example. For all the faithful, may we too look to Saint John Ogilvie for encouragement and intercession. See Catholic News Agency, "St. John Ogilvie," and Universalis, "About Today," March 10, 2023; T. Hoopes, "St. John Ogilvie and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Heroic Witnesses to Christ's Church," in Seton Reflections, setonshrine.org.
Today's photo: Welcome back to Torres de Paine National Park, Chile. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps 118:23).
© Gertrude Feick 2023
