NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 3, 2024

NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART: Novena dates: May 29 – June 6, 2024. June 7, 2024: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart (Novena link below)

Greetings beloved family. Happy Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time!

We pray for the safety and well-being of our children, youths, students and children all over the world. With special intention for all students graduating this school. year. May God continue to grant them all wisdom, knowledge and understanding and may He empower them as they walk into the future with faith, hope, and love guided by the Holy Spirit through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary. Amen🙏

Watch ” Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | June 3, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 3, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |June 3, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 3, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 3, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

Today’s Bible Readings: Monday, June 3, 2024
Reading 1, Second Peter 1:2-7
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 91:1-2, 14-15, 15-16
Gospel, Mark 12:1-12

NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART: Novena dates: May 29 – June 6, 2024 June 7, 2024: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-prayer-to-the-sacred-heart-311

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINTS CHARLES LWANGA AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS; SAINT KEVIN OF GLENDALOUGH, ABBOT AND SAINT CLOTILDA, QUEEN OF FRANCE ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 3RD Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs; Saint Kevin of Glendalough, Abbot and Saint Clotilda, Queen of France. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all Youths all over the world, praying for God’s guidance and protection upon them. We pray for parents, for wisdom, patience and understanding. For the sick, we pray for God’s divine healing and intervention. We also pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINTS CHARLES LWANGA AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS: Today, we honor twenty-two Ugandan martyrs. They are the first martyrs of Sub-Saharan Africa and true witnesses of the Christian faith. In an effort to resist a Christian worldview that undermined the authority of his office, King Mwanga II insisted that Christian converts abandon their new faith and executed many Anglicans and Catholics between 1885 and 1887, including Lwanga and other officials in the royal court or otherwise very close to him. St. Charles Lwanga is revered as a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. In 1879 Catholicism began spreading in Uganda when the White Fathers, a congregation of priests founded by Cardinal Lavigerie were peacefully received by King Mutesa of Uganda. The priests soon began preparing catechumens for baptism and before long a number of the young pages in the king’s court had become Catholics. However, on the death of King Mutesa, his son Mwanga, a corrupt man who ritually engaged in pedophilic practices with the younger pages, took the throne. When King Mwanga had a visiting Anglican Bishop murdered, his chief page, Joseph Mukasa, a Catholic who went to great length to protect the younger boys from the king’s lust, denounced the king’s actions and was beheaded on November 15, 1885.

St. Charles Lwanga (1 January 1860 – 3 June 1886) was a 25 year old Ugandan convert to the Catholic Church, who was martyred for his faith. He was a member of the Baganda tribe, Lwanga was born in the Kingdom of Buganda, the central and southern part of modern Uganda, and served as chief of the royal pages and later major-domo in the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda. He  became a moral leader. He was a man wholly dedicated to the Christian instruction of the younger boys, became the chief page, and just as forcibly protected them from the kings advances. On the night of the martyrdom of Joseph Mukasa, realizing that their own lives were in danger, Lwanga and some of the other pages went to the White Fathers to receive baptism. Another 100 catechumens were baptized in the week following Joseph Mukasa’s death. St. Charles was baptised by Pere Giraud on 15 November 1885, a year before his death in 1886. The following May, King Mwanga learned that one of the boys was learning catechism. He was furious and ordered all the pages to be questioned to separate the Christians from the others. The Christians, 15 in all, between the ages of 13 and 25, stepped forward. The King asked them if they were willing to keep their faith. They answered in unison, “Until death!” They were bound together and taken on a two day walk to Namugongo where they were to be burned at the stake. On the way, Matthias Kalemba, one of the eldest boys, exclaimed, “God will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my soul and leave you only my body.”  They executioners cut him to pieces and left him to die alone on the road, which took at least three days. When they reached the site where they were to be burned, they were kept tied together for seven days while the executioners prepared the wood for the fire. On June 3, 1886, the Feast of the Ascension, St. Charles Lwanga was separated from the others and burned at the stake. The executioners slowly burnt his feet until only the charred remained. Still alive, they promised him that they would let him go if he renounced his faith. He refused saying, “You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water over my body.”  He then continued to pray silently as they set him on fire. Just before the flames reached his heart, he looked up and said in a loud voice, “Katonda! – My God!,” and died. His companions were all burned together the same day all the while praying and singing hymns until they died. There were 24 protomartyrs in all. The last of the protomartyrs, a young man named John Mary, was beheaded by King Mwanga on January 27, 1887. The persecutions spread during the reign of Mwanga, with 100 Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, being tortured and killed. St. Charles and many other martyrs for the faith died between November 15, 1885 – January 27, 1887 in Namugongo, Uganda. St. Charles and his companions were beatified in 1920 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. St. Charles Lwanga is the patron saint of African Catholic Youth Action. Patron Saint of African Catholic Youth Action; converts; torture victims; Courage Apostolate.

PRAYER: O God, who have made the blood of Martyrs the seed of Christians, mercifully grant that the field which is your Church, watered by the blood shed by Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions, may be fertile and always yield you an abundant harvest. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen 🙏

SAINT KEVIN OF GLENDALOUGH, ABBOT: St. Kevin of Glendalough (498-618 A.D.) lived in Ireland during the age of the great early Irish saints, many of whom were his contemporaries. St. Kevin, also known as Coemgen in Ireland was born of noble birth, the son of Coemlog and Coemell of Leinster in 498 AD at the Fort of the White Fountain and baptized by Saint Cronan of Roscrea. His given name Coemgen (anglicized Kevin) means “fair-begotten”, or “of noble birth”. According to tradition, St. Kevin from the age seven was a pupil of Saint Petroc of Cornwall, who had come to Leinster about 492. From age twelve he lived with monks and studied under the Irish monks as a student of St. Eonagh and eventually became a monk himself. Among his friends were St. Comgall, St. Columba, St. Cannich, and St. Kieran. After his ordination he lived a penitential life as a cave-dwelling hermit for seven years in Glendalough Ireland (meaning glen of two lakes).

Word of his holiness spread, and he attracted a group of followers which led him to found the famous monastery at Glendalough to teach the people of Ireland about God. Because of his fame this remote spot became a town and then a city, with offshoots of several other monastic foundations rising up around it. He served as abbot at Glendalough, and once the monastery was well-established he withdrew to live as a hermit again for four years. He was then called back to Glendalough, and continued to serve as abbot there until his death at age 120. He died on June 3, 618 AD, Glendalough and was Canonized in 1903 (cultus confirmed). St. Kevin has many legends surrounding him involving wild animals obeying his commands, seeking him for refuge, and helping him feed others. Blackbird is even said to have made a nest in his prayerfully outstretched hands. His life is surrounded by many extravagant miracles. St. Kevin is the Patron Saint of blackbirds, Glendalough, the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, Glendalough, Kilnamanagh. His feast day is June 3rd

PRAYER: Saint Kevin, you were privileged to live in the Age of Saints, O Father Kevin being baptized by one saint, taught by another and buried by a third. We celebrate your saintly and holy life. You lived a life filled with a wonderful reverence and awe of all living things. Let us imitate the respect and appreciation you showed toward life in all its forms, and to see the presence of God in all his Creations. Pray to God that He will raise up saints in our day to help, support and guide us into the Way of salvation. Amen🙏

SAINT CLOTILDA, QUEEN OF FRANCE: Saint Clotilda (Clotilde) was Queen of the Franks, born in Lyons France, probably around the year 470 or 474. St. Clotilda was the daughter of Chilperic, the Catholic King of Burgundy, domain of the Germanic tribe which had entered the southeastern region of ancient France in the fifth century; Chilperic had succeeded his father in that royalty. His jealous older brother, infected with Arianism, declared war on him, surrounded him with an army, captured and slew his own brother and his brother’s wife and two sons, while sparing the two daughters, then took over their dominions. Clotilda’s older sister became a nun, but the younger daughter was brought up under her uncle’s protection, and, by a singular providence, instructed in the Catholic religion. Her beauty, modesty, and Catholic piety inspired the prayers of her fellow Christians that an alliance might be arranged between the young princess and Clovis, king of the Franks, victorious in the north. In 493, she married the Salian Frankish king Clovis I, who used their alliance as a means of strengthening his position with the Romanized Celts. Clovis had already defeated several minor Frankish kings in Gaul and the Rhineland and established himself as the sole Frankish king and founder of the Merovingian Dynasty. St. Clotilda was instrumental in the King’s conversion, converting him to Christianity on Christmas Day in 496. With her husband King Clovis (c. 466-511) she founded the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks for over 200 years. She is credited with bringing Christianity to Europe. Queen Clotilde was known for her charitable and penitential works of mercy.

Although not a Christian himself, Clovis allowed his Catholic Christian wife to baptize their children. His tolerance of Catholic Christianity angered other Germanic tribes, who were either pagans or Arians. In 496, while fighting the Alemanni tribes, Clovis prayed to “Clotilde’s God” and promised to convert if victorious in battle. On Christmas Day of 496, Bishop St. Remigius (St. Remy) of Reims baptized Clovis I, supposedly with about 3,000 of his followers. Clovis and Queen Clotilde chose Paris as their capital city, where the monarchs founded the Church of the Apostles, later known as St. Genevieve. The famous prince, Clovis died on the 27th of November in the year 511, at the age of forty-five, having reigned thirty years. His eldest son, Theodoric, reigned from Rheims over the eastern parts of France, Clodomir reigned at Orleans, Childebert II at Paris, and Clotaire I at Soissons. This division produced wars and mutual jealousies until in 560, after the death of Clotilda, the whole monarchy was reunited under Clotaire, the youngest of the four brothers. Upon Clovis’s death in 511, Clotilde was extremely wealthy but powerless to control her rebellious children. King Clovis I had divided his kingdom among his four sons Theodoric I, Clodomir, Childebert I and Clothaire I but each desired the others’ kingdoms. Clodomir was murdered, and Clotilde took his three sons under her care. Nevertheless, her son Clothaire murdered two of the boys, his own nephews. Clotilde secreted the youngest, five-year-old Clodoaldus, to a monastery at Versailles, where he grew to become St. Cloud. Her daughter, also named Clotilde, was forced to marry the Arian Visigoth king Amalaric, who treated her cruelly. Childebert murdered Amalaric to avenge his sister, but Clotilde II died on her way back to Paris. Mortified at her children’s sins and unable to change their ways, Queen Clotilde retired to the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, where she lived the rest of her life near the tomb of St. Martin of Tours. The dissension in her family detached Clotilda’s heart still more perfectly from the world. She spent the last thirty years of her life in exercises of prayer, almsgiving, night vigils, fasting, penance, service to the sick and the poor, seeming to forget that she had been queen. Her sons’ quarrels caused her great sorrow. Eternity filled her heart and occupied all her thoughts. She foretold her death one month before it happened. On the thirtieth day of her illness, she received the Sacraments, made a public confession of her faith, and departed to the Lord on June 3, 545. She died at the tomb of St. Martin of Tours and was buried in Sainte-Genevieve in Paris, a church that she and Clovis founded. Historians attribute the founding of churches at Laon, Andelys and Rouen to Clotilde. She’s Patron Saint of brides, adopted children, parents, exiles, widows and  skin disease.

PRAYER TO ST. CLOTILDA: Hail, gentle and loving St. Clotilde, sweet illustrious Queen of the Franks, who by thy faith and perseverance in the Lord didst convert thy husband and made France for many centuries a venerable stalwart of the Catholic faith, I implore thy powerful intercession in this my great need. Assist me, holy St. Clotilde, from thy height of glory in heaven. Thou, who during thy earthly sojourn, didst drink deeply from the Saviour’s chalice of sorrows, have pity on my dire distress, especially . . . (Here make your intention). Grant also that through my sorrows I may, like thee, purify my faith and never lose hope in the mercy of God. Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time | Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Mark 12:1-12

“They seized the beloved son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard”

“Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?” They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus taught His disciples through the parable of the evil tenants and the landowner of a field. In that parable, the Lord told His disciples about the story of how those evil tenants refused to pay their rental dues, and how they went to the great lengths even to resist the landowner and all the servants that he had sent to them to remind them of their obligations, going as far as to persecute the servants and to made their lives difficult, and finally, killing them, and lastly, even killing the son of the landowner, whom the latter had sent hoping that the evil tenants would listen to his son. This parable Jesus told was clearly referring to the way how the people of God treated His servants, the prophets and messengers of God and finally, His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, the Lord was in fact making a premonition and predicting everything that He Himself would have to endure and to suffer from because of the stubbornness of those who continued to doubt Him and refusing to listen to Him and His words. Those evil tenants represent the people of this world, while the landowner himself represents God, Who had entrusted this world to us, and we are indeed His stewards and the guardians of His Creation. To each and every one of us He has entrusted to us this world with all of its obligations and responsibilities.

The parable that Jesus tells in today’s Gospel is a story about rejection. In this case, Jesus is really the story of the rejection of God’s messengers, the prophets, culminating in the rejection of God’s Son by the religious leaders. Yet, Jesus’ comment on the story shows that rejection, even violent rejection, does not have the last word. Quoting from one of the psalms, Jesus says that the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. God brought good out of the experience of rejection. Although his Son was rejected, God raised Him to new life and He became the keystone, the foundation, of a new community, the church. The parable suggests that God works in a life-giving way even in the darkest of situations. Our own painful experiences, including the experience of rejection, do not have the last word. If we open ourselves to the Lord He will bring some good out of our most painful experiences. The rejected stone can always become the keystone with the Lord’s help.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Peter, the Apostle spoke to the faithful regarding the need for all of them to follow the Lord and commit themselves to the path of Christian living, in doing what God has called them to do. This is because as St. Peter himself had explained and elaborated, all of us have shared in His divine nature and we are all indeed created in His image and likeness, and as His beloved children and chosen people, all of us truly should live our lives worthily and be holy just as our Lord Himself is holy. It is crucial that we must be Christians that are truly committed to God and truly genuine in our Christian living. Otherwise, we will end up being hypocrites and no better than unbelievers and pagans, if we do not truly live our lives in accordance to our faith. Especially if we call ourselves as Christians and have known the way and the truth of God, and yet, we have allowed ourselves to be deluded and swayed by the evils of this world, by the corruptions of worldly pleasures and desires, all of which could lead us to actions that are contrary to God’s path and teachings. Many of our own predecessors have shown us of what could happen if we choose to follow those temptations and if we succumb to the forces of evil and darkness, to the temptations of power, glory and worldly comforts and pleasures. We cannot truly call ourselves as Christians if we have chosen this path, and not only that, but we may even scandalise our faith and sully the Holy Name of God and His Church, as many of our predecessors had done.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that each and every one of us are called to a truly holy and worthy existence, one that is truly blessed by God, that in our every words, actions and deeds, in our every dealings and interactions with one another, we will always continue to do what is right according to what the Lord has taught and shown us. As Christians, that is as those who have professed our faith in the Lord and have embraced Him as our God and Saviour, each and every one of us must always be exemplary and inspirational in how we all carry out our actions throughout our respective lives. We must also be wary lest we may be tempted by those pleasures, coercions and temptations present all around us which may mislead us down the wrong path. Through the examples and the inspirations from the Saints and Holy men and women, especially the story of the Holy Ugandan Martyrs, St. Charles Lwanga and his many companions in martyrdom, who we celebrate today, let us all therefore live our lives from now on to the fullest, in the best way possible as those who are committed to the Lord, devoting ourselves in each and every moments to glorify the Lord by our lives, to live in a holy and worthy way so that by our every actions, deeds and interactions with one another, we may always truly proclaim the Lord at all times, and be the shining beacons of His light, truth, love and Good News in this world, as we have all been called to do. May the Lord continue to bless us all in all of our every good works, efforts and endeavours. May He empower each and every one of us so that by our good examples and actions, we will continue to shine forth with the light of faith, helping many around us to come to the fullness of God’s love and grace. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and be with us all, His beloved people, His Church and flock. Amen 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JUNE: The month of June is set apart for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our Savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion.” These words of Pope Pius XI refer to the Sacred Heart Devotion, which in its present form dates from the revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673-75.

*THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE – FOR MIGRANTS FLEEING THEIR HOMES: We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.

https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024

PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen🙏

During this Ordinary Time, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏

On this special feast day, as we continue to celebrate our risen Lord, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for the Clergy and religious as they serve in the Lord’s Vineyard. We also pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to remember our beloved, we pray for the repose of their gentle souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯

Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/

PRAYER INTENTIONS: As we begin this season of the Ordinary Time, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for our children and children all over the world, we pray for their health, safety and well-being, we particularly pray for those who have no one to care for them and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s Divine healing upon them. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle soul of our beloved family members who recently passed away and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for Vocation to the Priesthood and Religious life. We particularly pray for all Youths and all Seminarians, with special intention for those Seminarians who will be ordained into Priesthood. For the Church, for persecuted Christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen🙏

Let us pray:

Loving Father, You have chosen to send me, as a tenant of Your Kingdom, to bear good fruit for eternal life. Please help me to always exercise the authority and duty entrusted to me with humility so that I will seek to fulfill Your will and Your will alone. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary and Saints  Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs, Saint Kevin of Glendalough and Saint Clotilda, Queen of France ~ Pray for us🙏

Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all and for vocations to  priesthood and consecrated life. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and fruitful week🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖