ELEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 18, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, we continue to pray for all families and for the safety and well-being of our children and children all over the world. We pray for the Church, the Clergy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Cardinals, Bishops, all Priests, that they be sanctified in their ministry to God’s people. We pray for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world suffering from political and religious unrest. May God protect us all and keep united in peace, love and faith… Amen 🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | June 18, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 18, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |June 18, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 18, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 18, 2024 |

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

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

Today’s Bible Readings, Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Reading 1, First Kings 21:17-29
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 51:3-4, 5-6, 11, 16
Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT GREGORY BARBARIGO, BISHOP OF PADUA AND CARDINAL AND SAINTS MARK AND MARCELLIANUS, MARTYRS ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 18TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Gregory Barbarigo, Bishop of Padua and Cardinal and Saints Mark and Marcellianus, Martyrs. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the poor and the needy. We also pray for the sick and dying, particularly those who are sick with cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, with special intention for all Priests, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINT GREGORY BARBARIGO, BISHOP OF PADUA AND CARDINAL: St. Gregory Barbarigo  (1625-1697) was the Bishop of Bergamo and of Padua. St. Gregory had all the skills for a successful life in politics, but instead dedicated himself to serving the Church. St. Gregory was noted as a distinguished churchman and leading citizen whose charities were on a princely scale. He worked for unity of the Latin and Orthodox Churches. St. Gregory was born on September 16, 1625, the son of a senator from Venice, Italy and of a very old and distinguished Venetian family and were held in high repute by the people there. He was the fourth son. He was a brilliant student and excelled in his studies at an early age. He became interested in diplomacy and statesmanship and embraced a diplomatic career with well-connected family. He knew Contarini, the Venetian ambassador, and accompanied him on ambassadorial mission and to several important negotiations and traveled extensively. He accompanied Contarini, to the Congress of Munster in 1648. After five years with the ambassador, he returned to Italy to continue his studies and to enter the world of politics. He soon became disillusioned by the political world, however, and sought advice from a cardinal he had met in his travels. St. Gregory was thinking of becoming a hermit, but the cardinal advised him to pursue his doctorate in law, then become a priest. Ten years later, St. Gregory had earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law and was ordained a priest.

After he was ordained a priest in 1655, he organized care for the plague-stricken people of Rome. His skills were valuable to the Church and he soon was named a bishop in 1657. Pope Alexander VII made him the first Bishop of Bergamo. He was a leader in promoting the reforms set forth by the Council of Trent, St. Gregory Barbarigo worked unceasingly in carrying out the reforms. St. Gregory was extremely interested in higher education and worked for the development of seminaries and libraries. He visited parishes, organizing the teaching of Christian doctrine and also worked with seminarians and clergy to raise their standards. Through his efforts the seminaries of both Bergamo and Padua were substantially enlarged. At Padua, he established a library and a printing press that printed pamphlets for Christians under Moslem rule. He was active in laboring to bring about a reunion with the Greek Church and worked hard to carry out the reforms that the Church was encouraging at the time. St. Gregory took part in five papal Conclaves (for the election of the Pope) and was a candidate in three of them. It is recorded that his congregation thought him to be a man filled with wisdom. His work was so respected that in 1660, he was elevated to the rank of Cardinal and also given authority over the diocese of Padua, Italy, and he guided his flock with pastoral wisdom and deep understanding. He died in 1697 and was canonized in 1960 by Pope St. John XXIII.

PRAYER: God, You willed that St. Gregory, Your Bishop, should shine forth with pastoral solicitude and compassion for the poor. Help us who celebrate his merits to imitate the example of his charity. Amen🙏

SAINTS MARK AND MARCELLIANUS, MARTYRS: Sts. Mark (Marcus) and Marcellianus (d. 286 A.D.) were twin brothers who were martyred for their faith in Rome under Emperor Diocletian. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were twin brothers from a noble Roman family born to Tranquillinus and Martia. They had converted to Christianity when they were young and were now deacons in the Roman Church. Although the boys had converted in their youth, their parents remained unconverted. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were honorably married, each brother had a wife and children. When Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in 284, the pagans raised persecutions; the brothers were arrested and thrown into prison for being Christians. They were threatened with the loss of their lives, unless they offered sacrifices to the Roman gods and condemned to be beheaded. Their friends intervened and obtained a thirty-day reprieve, the delay of the execution was in the hope of being able to persuade the two brothers to renounce their faith and make the required sacrifices. Their wives and little children, along with their unconverted parents, begged them with tears and pleading, to make the sacrifices to the Roman gods so they could be saved. Although they had been released from the prison on a thirty-day reprieve, they were still kept under guard and basically prisoners in the home of the public registrar Nicostratus. At that same time, St. Sebastian was a Roman officer in the emperor’s household. St. Sebastian visited Mark and Marcellianus every day and gave them encouragement to persevere and stand strong in their faith. St. Sebastian’s exhortation was so persuasive that the parents of Sts. Marcellianus and Mark were converted, along with several friends who were present, as well as the other prisoners.

The issue of the conferences was the happy conversion of the father, mother, and wives, also of Nicostratus, the public stenographer, and soon afterwards of Chromatius, the judge, who set the Saints at liberty and abdicating the magistracy, retired into the country. All of these new Christian converts were eventually martyred alongside Sts. Mark and Marcellianus. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were concealed by a Christian officer of the imperial household, in his apartments in the palace, but they were betrayed by an apostate and reimprisoned. Fabian, a judge who had succeeded Chromatius, condemned them to be bound to two pillars, their feet nailed to the wood  post. In this posture they remained a day and a night, and on the following day were stabbed with lances. Their martyrdom occurred in the year 286. Their tomb and that of their father, Saint Tranquillinus, was found in Rome, in 1782, in the church of Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, adjoining that of the martyred pope, Saint Felix II. They are honored particularly in Spain, where the city of Badajoz escaped destruction by their intercession. Their feast day is June 18th.

Saints Marcus and Marcellianus, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB |

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061824.cfm

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 5:43-48

“Love your enemies”

“Jesus said to His disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We would be tempted to say, ‘Surely, it is not humanly possible to love your enemies and to intercede in prayer for those who persecute us’. Jesus rounds off that teaching by calling on us to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Again we would be tempted to ask, ‘how can we be as perfect as God? Surely it is unreasonable to expect that of us?’ We might be so taken aback by the challenging call that we could miss the fact that Jesus is saying something very important about God there. He is saying that God does not discriminate between friend and foe, that God loves those who dishonour Him as much as those who honour Him. The only human life which fully reflected such divine love was the life of Jesus. Yet, Jesus clearly believes that the lives of His disciples can and must reflect something of that same love of God which makes no distinctions between friend and foe. For that to happen, we need the help of the Holy Spirit, as the feast of Pentecost reminded us. We need to keep on praying, ‘Come, Holy Spirit…’

In yesterday’s Gospel reading, Jesus calls on His followers not to take vengeance on the enemy. While in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus goes further and calls on us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. The second part of today’s call makes the first part more concrete. We love our enemies by praying for them. Praying for others is always an act of love, whether we are praying for our friends, members of our family, those who are in need, or, in the case of the Gospel reading today, our enemies, those who wish us ill. Of the four evangelists, it is Luke who presents Jesus as doing just that. As He hung from the cross, He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing’. That prayer of Jesus – and all prayers in the spirit of Jesus’ prayer – displays an extraordinary generosity of spirit. Jesus calls on us to pray for those who persecute us because that is the kind of person that He is, and more fundamentally, that is who God is like. God’s love does not discriminate between the morally good and the morally bad; He makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on honest and dishonest alike. God’s love is the same for all; what differs is the response of people to that love. In so far as our love for others is not dependent on how people respond to it, we will be as perfect as God is perfect.

In our first reading today from the first Book of Kings, the Lord responded to the wicked actions of king Ahab as described in the readings of the Old Testament, in which he had acquired unlawfully the lands of Naboth, the owner of a vineyard by accusing him falsely of blasphemy and sin against God. The prophet Elijah conveyed God’s words and judgments against Ahab and also against his wife, the wicked Jezebel and Ahab’s whole family, because the wickedness which they had committed had been really too much, against God and His Law, blatantly acting in their pride and greed, in breaking the Law and Covenant of God, as well as in misleading the Israelites into sin. God wants each and every one of us to be free from the corruption and evils of sin, all the temptations of this world, of pleasures and wickedness that may mislead us into the path of evil and sin. He therefore showed that all the sins and wickedness of Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, in being directly involved in the death of Naboth and the unlawful seizure of his vineyard, as well as for the many other evil deeds, the worship of pagan idols and in misleading the people into the path of evil and damnation, hence, Ahab and his family’s reign would end in a tragic manner, as a just consequence for their behaviours and attitudes in this world, and also as a warning to all of us that we must not take sin and evil lightly. For although God does truly love us and shows compassion on us, but sin and evil still can lead us into destruction and eternal damnation.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us are reminded of what we all need to do as Christians, that is as God’s holy and beloved people. All of us are called and expected to be loving and compassionate as the Lord has been always full of love and compassion towards us. Unless we love one another as the Lord Himself has loved us and how we have loved ourselves, then we cannot truly call or consider ourselves as Christians. Love is the hallmark of what being a Christian is all about, as one cannot be a Christian and yet without love and compassion, first and foremost towards God, and then towards our fellow brothers and sisters. As we all continue to do our part in our respective areas in life to glorify the Lord and to proclaim His truth, let us always remember to be loving and filled with strong, genuine and ever-present love, for God first and foremost, and then towards our fellow brothers and sisters, and of course also towards ourselves. But this love must always be selfless and pure, free from the corruption of worldly desires and sins, all of which had perverted our love into all sorts of things that prevented us from truly loving God and one another, as love gave way to lust and desires, attachments and compulsion, obsessions, jealousy and other things that made us to forget about our calling and mission in life to be loving to God and to our fellow brothers and sisters around us. May the Lord continue to bless and guide us all in our path so that in everything that we say and do, we will continue to be filled with most generous love and kindness, compassion and grace, in all the things and at all times, that our lives may truly be nurturing and be inspirational to everyone who witness our efforts and works. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may the love of God continue to touch our hearts and minds, so that we ourselves may also continue to love Him and love one another in the same way as well. May all of us be truly loving and compassionate, holy and worthy people of God. 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 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯

PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son & the Holy Spirit forever & ever. Amen🙏

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

PRAYER INTENTIONS: During 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:

My Lord of abundant mercy, Your command to pray for those who persecute me was first lived by You to perfection. You prayed for those who crucified You as You hung upon the Cross. Give me the grace I need to not only forgive but to also pray for those who have and continue to try to inflict harm upon me. Give me a heart so filled with mercy that every sin committed against me is transformed into love and my own holiness of life. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Gregory Barbarigo and Saints Mark and Marcellianus ~ Pray for us🙏

Thanking God for the gift of the Holy Spirit  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. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled, and fruitful week 🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖