Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Our Lady of the Rosary

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:56-58

Mass: Gal 2:1-2, 7-14; Resp Ps 117; Lk 11:1-4

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.

 

In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. In today's General Audience, the Holy Father commented on Elijah's experience of God in prayer, when the Lord appeared to Elijah in "a tiny whispering sound" (1 Kgs 19:14). The Pontiff said Elijah's story is one for all of us: "In some evenings we can feel useless and lonely. It is then that prayer will come and knock on the door of our hearts. Even if we have done something wrong, or if we feel threatened or frightened, when we return before God in prayer, serenity and peace will return as if by miracle."

We can pray today with what Saint Thomas Aquinas called the "most perfect prayer", that is, the Lord's Prayer, the prayer Jesus taught to His disciples. And as we dedicate the day to Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, we can pray the rosary, what Pope Francis called in his General Audience, a "contemplative prayer". "In meditating on the mysteries of salvation," said the Pope, "the loving face of God Himself, whom we are called to contemplate in eternity, is increasingly revealed to us." For, "even today, in this time of the pandemic, it is necessary to hold the rosary in our hands and pray for us, our loved ones and all people." 

The rosary I have in pocket is a treasure. It was given to me by Sister Alberta Dieker, OSB (1920-2020), who died just shy of her 100th birthday. The same rosary was given to her by Sister Benedicta Betz, OSB (1867-1954). May those two faithful and courageous Benedictines intercede for us. And may serenity and peace be ours.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name ...

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ...

OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Tuesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Bruno (1033-1101); Blessed Marie Rose Durocher (1811-1849)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:55

Mass: Gal 1:13-24; Resp Ps 139; Lk 10:38-42

My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar.

I remember 2006 and my first visit to Italy, more specifically Rome and Saint Peter's Basilica. It is in the Basilica where I saw a statue of Saint Bruno. It is enormous. I recall being impressed by a simplicity in the saint that emanated from the statue. And there was Saint Bruno's bald head. I liked it. Saint Bruno, intercede for us.

There are many things we could be busy about. Some people are burdened with many things, others not so many. I suppose it can vary from day to day and even throughout the course of a day. So burdens should be expected really. Still, we can be anxious and worried about our many burdens as portrayed by Martha in today's Gospel, or we can choose a better part as did Mary in today's Gospel. Truth is, sometimes we are more like Martha, other times more like Mary. No matter, and as Dom Augustin Guillerand wrote, "there is only one thing we must all do, and that is employ well the time and powers at our disposal. Only thus shall we realize our destiny, and that is the whole purpose of life." As far as I know, there are 24 hours in each and every day. May we use the time given to us well and ask the Lord to guide us along the everlasting way (Ps 139).

Live just for today, for the present moment, while it is yours to live.

(Augustin Guillerand)

SAINT BRUNO,

BLESSED MARIE ROSE DUROCHER,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938); Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (1819-1867)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:51-54

Mass: Gal 1:6-12; Resp Ps 111; Lk 10:25-37

Holy and awesome is His name. His praise endures forever.

HOLY TRINITY, ONE GOD,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

The scholar of the law in today's Gospel answers his own question to Jesus. He asks the Divine Teacher, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And the correct answer is, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." This is no small task. However, Jesus tells us, Do this and you will live. We pray to Our Lord, the God of mercy and compassion, to "give us strength to go on when we grow weary of the journey" (Magnificat, Intercessions, Oct. 5, 2020). 

It just so happens that the Holy Father comments more than once on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, also included in today's Gospel, in his recent Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti. You will find this in paragraph 66: "By his actions, the Good Samaritan showed that 'the existence of each and every individual is deeply tied to that of others: life is not simply time that passes; life is a time for interactions'."

SAINT FAUSTINA KOWALSKA, 

BLESSED FRANCIS XAVIER SEELOS,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Sunday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary

 In other years: Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:49-50

Mass: Is 5:1-7; Resp Ps 80; Ph 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43

O Lord, God of hosts, restore us; if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.

There is much to be said about today's readings. I was looking for something as a lead in to a couple of quotations I have wanted to include for some time. And I found it in the Holy Father's Angelus Address. 

Pope Francis told those gathered in Saint Peter's Square earlier today: "God awaits the fruit of His vineyard from those He has sent to work in it." We have a responsibility to bear fruit, to grow in our love for God, love for our neighbor, and love for ourselves through a life of prayer and work or service. We are meant to give our all even with our daily sufferings, aches, pains, irritations, weaknesses and shortcomings. We can look to the widow in Saint Mark's Gospel (12:41-44), and Saint Luke's (21:1-4). She gave her all. A nun and friend of Stanbrook Abbey shared something Soren Kierkegaard had to say about this widow's contribution: "Kind men observing the widow would probably have said, 'There, there, little mother. You keep those coins ...' But the Lord God says Yes! Give me the lot! The Lord God takes us seriously enough to ask us to give absolutely everything." And so with a favorite line from a favorite film, something Andy said to Red: "Get busy living or get busy dying." Or with words from Saint Paul from our second reading: "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus ... Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you" (Ph 4:6-7, 9). 

And we celebrate the Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti of the Holy Father Francis on the Fraternity and Social Friendship, given in Assisi, at the tomb of Saint Francis, on 3 October, Vigil of the Feast of the Saint, in the year 2020. Here, A Prayer to the Creator.

Lord, Father of our human family,

you created all human beings equal in dignity:

pour forth into our hearts a fraternal spirit

and inspire in us a dream of renewed encounter,

dialogue, justice and peace.

Move us to create healthier societies

and a more dignified world,

a world without hunger, poverty, violence and war.

May our hearts be open

to all the peoples and nations of the earth.

May we recognize the goodness and beauty

that you have sown in each of us,

and thus forge bonds of unity, common projects,

and shared dreams. Amen.

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Saturday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Blessed Virgin Mary

First Saturday of the Month

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:44-48

Mass: Jb 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17; Resp Ps 119; Lk 10:17-24

Lord, let your face shine on me.

HOLY MARY,

PRAY FOR US.

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month and a day dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord. We need Mary's intercession. On a day like this we turn to two beautiful prayers from Mass, first the Collect, then the Prayer over the Offerings. In the Collect, we ask the Lord that "we may rejoice in unfailing health of mind and body, and, through the glorious intercession of Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, may we be set free from present sorrow and come to enjoy eternal happiness." In the Prayer Over the Offerings, we pray to the Lord, and ask "that, through the intercession of Blessed Mary, the Mother of your Son, no petition may go unanswered, no request made in vain." 

MARY, HEALTH OF THE SICK,

PRAY FOR US.

In her is found nothing austere, nothing to terrify: Everything about her is full of sweetness ... you find everything that belongs to her full of goodness and grace, overflowing with mercy and meekness.

(Bernard of Clairvaux)

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Friday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary

The Holy Guardian Angels

First Friday of the Month

Grandparents Day

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:35-43

Mass: Ex 23:20-23; Resp Ps 91 or Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5; Resp Ps 139; Mt 18:1-5, 10

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

JESUS, JOY OF ANGELS,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

We begin this glorious day with something from Saint Benedict and the Holy Rule. In Ch 19 on the Discipline of the Psalmody, we heed this: "We must always remember, therefore, what the Prophet says: Serve the Lord with fear, and again, Sing praise wisely; and, In the presence of the angels I will sing to you. Let us consider, then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices" (RB 19:3-6). 

We go forth with words from Saint Benedict, and also from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, OSB.

And so the angels are here, they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf! They are here to protect you and to serve you. But even if it is God who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need. (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)

SUDDEN BREEZE

by Jeremy Driscoll

Across

water like glass

a fast 

and sudden 

wind

races.

In two directions almost the same:

a flash of ripples.

An angel slicing

    the waters

    of

    the pond,

delivering a message

to the bottom.

Fast again to heaven returned,

the waters all smooth,

the earth blessed.

HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS, 

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020

Thursday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Therese of Lisieux, aka Saint Therese of the Child Jesus or "The Little Flower", Virgin, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:34

Mass: Jb 19:21-27; Resp Ps 27; Lk 10:1-12

Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.

I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission to make God loved as I love Him, to teach souls my little way.

(Saint Therese of Lisieux, a few months before her death, 1897)

Some years ago I asked a friend, Carmelite, theologian and scholar what was the best book for Saint Therese of Lisiuex's autobiography, Story of a Soul. He recommended the study edition, translated by J. Clarke, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 2005). Looking through it last night, I turned to the Reflections and Questions after Chapter I-Alencon (1873-1877). There I found something Therese said that I misunderstood: "It is the spirit of gratitude which draws upon us the overflow of God's grace, for no sooner have we thanked Him for one blessing than he hastens to send us ten additional favors in return. Then, when we show our gratitude for these new gifts, He multiplies His benedictions to such a degree that there seems to be a constant stream of divine grace ever coming our way." As pointed out by the commentator, "the truth contained in Therese's words is not that God sends more blessings when we are grateful", as I first thought, "but rather that we become more aware of the abundant blessings that we have" (p. 37). Let us ask the Little Flower to help us embrace an attitude of gratitude and so sing with the psalmist: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 27). As another commentator wrote: We all "have daily opportunities of grace. Some of them may be too small to see, but the more we love God, the more we will see them. If we can't advance to Heaven in giant strides, we can do it in tiny little steps. Our weakness is no excuse for mediocrity" (Universalis, October 1, 2020). 

I remember when the relics of Saint Therese travelled through much the United States in late 1999 through early 2000. I lived in Mt Angel, Oregon, at the time when the reliquary was brought to Mount Angel Abbey. I remember being impressed and inspired by the vast number of people who gathered to view and pray before the reliquary of Saint Therese. So the Little Flower continues to teach souls her little way. May we then be further inspired by an etching in Therese's cell: Jesus est mon unique amour, that is, Jesus is my only love.

SAINT THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS, 

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020