FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 10, 2024
Greetings, beloved family and Happy Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time!
On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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🙏
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | July 10, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 10, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 10, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 10, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 10, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |
NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)
Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Reading 1, Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Gospel, Matthew 10:1-7
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT CANUTE, KING OF DENMARK, MARTYR; SAINT FELICITY AND HER SEVEN SONS, MARTYRS; SAINTS RUFINA AND SECUNDA, MARTYRS AND SAINT AMALBERGA, RELIGIOUS AND SAINT AMELIA, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 10TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Canute, King of Denmark, Martyr; Saint Felicity and her Seven Sons, Martyrs; Saints Rufina and Secunda, Martyrs; Saint Amalberga, Religious and Saint Amelia, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor, the needy and most marginalized, for justice, peace and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the protection and safety of Christians all over the world and we pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians and for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT CANUTE, KING OF DENMARK, MARTYR: St Canute (Knute), King of Denmark (c. 1042 – 1086 ), also known as Canute IV or Canute the Holy, was King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. Saint Canute was an ambitious king who sought to strengthen the Danish monarchy, devotedly supported the Roman Catholic Church, and had designs on the English throne. Slain by rebels in 1086, he was the first Danish king to be canonized. St. Canute (Knute) of Denmark was born in 1042, the son of Swein Estrithson, whose uncle Canute had reigned in England from 1016 to 1035. In 1081, St. Canute became King of Denmark, succeeding his brother Harold. Denmark had been evangelized by the English and was now a Christian nation. Canute restrained the power of the earls, fostered Divine Worship, improved the condition of the clergy, decreed the payment of tithes for their livelihood, and built many churches.
In 1085, the King reasserted a claim on England that he had made previously and planned to invade that country. However, the plans went to naught when the earls rebelled against his policies and led by his brother Harold besieged him at the Church of St. Alban in Odensee. On July 10, 1086, after receiving the Sacraments of Penance and Communion, St. Canute was killed kneeling before the altar along with seventeen of his followers and his brother Benedict. Miraculous healing at his tomb led Pope Paschal II to approve his cult in 1101 and he was recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as patron saint of Denmark in 1101. He was the first Danish king to be canonized.
PRAYER: God, You enabled St. Canute, Your Martyr, to sacrifice his life in the cause of justice. Through his intercession, help us to give up our lives for Christ in this world so that we might find eternal life in heaven. Amen 🙏
SAINT FELICITY AND HER SEVEN SONS, MARTYRS: The Roman widow Felicity and her seven sons (Alexander, Felix, Januarius, Martialis, Philip, Silvanus, Vitalis) were martyred in about the year 162. St. Felicity was arrested for her faith and ordered to worship pagan gods; she refused. Her sons were arrested and given the same order; they refused. After a series of appeals, all of which were turned down, they were all ordered and executed by emperor Antoninus. Saint Felicity was a noble Roman matron, distinguished above all for her virtue. This mother of seven children raised her sons in the fear of the Lord, and after the death of her husband, served God in continence, concerning herself only with good works. Saint Felicity was devoted to charity and caring for the poor. Her good examples and those of her children brought a number of pagans to renounce their superstitions, and also encouraged the Christians to show themselves worthy of their vocation. The pagan priests, furious at seeing their gods abandoned, denounced her. She appeared with her pious sons before the prefect of Rome, who exhorted her to sacrifice to idols, but in reply heard a generous confession of faith. Wretched woman, he said to her, how can you be so barbarous as to expose your children to torments and death? Have pity on these tender creatures, who are in the flower of their age and can aspire to the highest positions in the Empire! Felicity replied, My children will live eternally with Jesus Christ, if they are faithful; they will have only eternal torments to await, if they sacrifice to idols. Your apparent pity is but a cruel impiety. Then, turning to her children, she said: Look towards heaven, where Jesus Christ is waiting for you with His Saints! Be faithful in His love, and fight courageously for your souls.
The Judge, taking the children one by one, tried to overcome their constancy. He began with Januarius, but received for his answer: What you advise me to do is contrary to reason; Jesus, the Saviour, will preserve me, I hope, from such impiety. Felix, the second, was then brought in. When they urged him to sacrifice, he answered: There is only one God, and it is to Him that we must offer the sacrifice of our hearts. Use all artifices, every refinement of cruelty, you will not make us betray our faith! The other brothers, when questioned, answered with the same firmness. Martial, the youngest, who spoke last, said: All those who do not confess that Jesus Christ is the true God, will be cast into a fire which will never be extinguished. When the interrogation was finished, the Saints underwent the penalty of the lash and then were taken to prison. Soon they completed their sacrifice in various ways: Januarius was beaten until he died by leather straps capped with lead; Felix and Philip were killed with bludgeons; Sylvanus was thrown headfirst from a cliff; Alexander, Vitalis and Martial were beheaded. Felicity, the mother of these new Maccabees, was the last to suffer martyrdom. St. Felicity was forced to watch as her children were murdered one by one; after each one she was given the chance to denouce her faith, eventually she was beheaded. Patron Saint against the death of children; against sterility; martyrs; to have male children; widows; Badia di Cava, Italy, Abbey.
Saint Felicity and her Seven Sons, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINTS RUFINA AND SECUNDA, VIRGINS MARTYRS: St. Rufina and Secunda were sisters and Roman virgins. Daughters of a wealthy Roman senator named Asterius, who suffered in 287 during the persecution of Emperor Valerian. Their parents had betrothed them to two suitors, Armentarius and Verinus, who had apostatized from the Christian religion but they refused to marry, saying that they had consecrated their virginity to Jesus Christ. Escaping to Etruria, Sts. Rufina and Secunda were captured, apprehended and brought before a prefect during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. When Junius, the prefect, saw he could not shake their resolution either by promises or by threats, they were tortured, he first ordered Rufina to be beaten with rods. While she was being scourged, Secunda thus addressed the Judge: “Why do you treat my sister thus honorably, but me dishonorably? Order us both to be scourged, since we both “confess Christ to be God.”
Enraged by these words, the Judge ordered them both to be cast into a dark and foetid dungeon – immediately a bright light and a most sweet odour filled the prison. They were then shut up in a bath, the floor of which was made red-hot but ,from this also, they emerged unhurt. Next they were thrown into the Tiber with stones tied to their necks but an Angel saved them from the water and they were finally beheaded ten miles out of the City on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla, on her estate and were afterwards translated into Rome. Their place of burial was at the ninth milestone of the Via Cornelia, as is stated in the Berne manuscript of the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum” (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 89). These martyrs are also recorded in the Itineraries of the seventh century, as on the road just mentioned (De Rossi, “Roma sotterranea,” I, 18283). Pope Damasus erected a Church of Sante Rufina e Secunda over the grave of the Saints in their honor in Rome. The Town on this spot named after St. Rufina, became the See of one of the Suburbicarian Diocese that was later united with Porto.
Saint Rufina and Secunda, Virgins and Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT AMALBERGA, RELIGIOUS: Saint Amalberga of Maubeuge (d. 690), also known as Amalia, or Amelia of Lobbes or Binche was a Merovingian nun and saint who lived in the 7th century. St. Amalberga was born at Brabant Belgium and was in some way related to Pepin of Landen. Whether she was a sister or niece, the Bollandists are not sure. She was married young to Count Witger and became the mother of three saints: Saint Gudula of Brussels, Saint Emebert, and Saint Reineldis, all of whom she taught herself, including religion. When the youngest was grown, both St. Amalberga and her husband ultimately withdrew from the world; he becoming a monk, and she a nun. They retired to Benedictine houses, the Count to Lobbes, Belgium, and St. Amalberga to Maubeuge Abbey where she embraced a life of asceticism and prayer. She received the veil from Saint Willibrord of Echternach. St. Amalberga died in 690 and is buried beside her husband at the Lobbes monastery. Her relics have been in Saint Peter’s abbey church in Ghent, Belgium since 1073. She is a Patron Saint of and known to protect people against arm pain, bruises, and fever.
There is very great confusion in the records of this saint, and of a virgin who came a century after. To add to the difficulty a third St. Amalberga, also a virgin, appears in the twelfth century. The first two are celebrated simultaneously on July 10.
Saint Amalberga, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT AMELIA, RELIGIOUS: St. Amelia (741-772 A.D.) was born into a noble and pious Christian family in the land of the Ardennes, bordering what is today Belgium and Luxembourg. She was a devout child of strong character who committed her virginity to Christ from a young age. However, because she was such a beautiful and virtuous woman, she was pursued for several years by the young Charlemagne who was obsessed with her beauty and virtue. She denied this young man who became known as King Charlemagne. In one account, Charlemagne accidentally broke her arm in a physical struggle to hold her hand, and afterwards her arm was miraculously healed. His romantic interest was rebuffed, and Amelia was eventually able to realize her desire to enter the convent. She spent the rest of her life in the Benedictine abbey of Münster-Bilzen in Belgium, and helped to build a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Belgian town of Temsche. St. Amelia is said to have performed many miracles, the most famous being the one in which she crossed the Schelde River miraculously while standing on the back of a giant sturgeon fish. St. Amelia is the Patron Saint of farmers, fishermen, and those suffering from arm and shoulder pain. Her feast day is celebrated on July 10th.
PRAYER: Heavenly Patron, in whose name I glory, Pray ever to God for me; strength me in my faith; establish me in virtue; guard me in the conflict; that I may vanquish the foe malign and attain to glory evaluating. Amen. Saint Amelia, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings today, Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 10:1-7
“Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”
“Jesus summoned His Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
In today’s Gospel reading, from the growing number of disciples Jesus has been gathering since the beginning of His public ministry, He called twelve to whom He gave authority and power to share in His healing ministry. The number twelve was significant; it is a reminder of the twelve tribes of Israel. This group of twelve were to symbolize the renewed Israel that Jesus was working to form. Jesus chose these twelve very deliberately. They were to receive intensive training and instruction so as to share in His ministry in a special way. Yet, by the end of the Gospel, everyone of this group had deserted Him, the first mentioned of the group, Peter, had denied Him publicly, and the last mentioned, Judas Iscariot, had betrayed Him to His enemies. These Twelve Apostles were entrusted with the power and authority to do many great signs and wonders, casting out demons and performing many other miracles. They were sent out with the missions and the tasks to prepare the way for the Lord, to proclaim His Good News and truth among the people and to call upon everyone to repent from their sins and wickedness. The Lord entrusted to them the mission and the outreach to His people, revealing His love and salvation to them through these disciples. In spite of the fact that these twelve had been given special authority and power and had spent more time in his company than others, listening to Him and seeing what He did, they failed Him when the cross came into view. They were not faithful to their calling. In the words of today’s first reading, their hearts were divided. Although Jesus calls people, calls each one of us, He cannot force us to respond to His call. Although He has a purpose for our lives, He is somewhat helpless before our refusal to co-operate with His purpose for us. Yet, in the Gospel story, the failure of the twelve was not the end of their relationship with Jesus. After He rose from the dead, He appeared to them in Galilee and renewed His relationship with them, sending them out to preach the Gospel to all nations. The Lord may be helpless before our failure but He remains faithful to us in spite of our unfaithfulness to Him and He is always at work to bring some good out of our failures. All he asks is that, in the words of today’s first reading, we continue to ‘go seeking the Lord’. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says more broadly, ‘the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost’. Jesus is like the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, the woman who seeks her lost coin, the father who seeks out his lost sons. Jesus is always seeking us, especially when we turn from Him. When we ‘constantly seek His face’ we discover that the Lord is constantly seeking us. Our seeking of Him is always a response to His seeking us, even when we are not aware of it.
Our first reading today is the continuation of the account from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord continued to detail the revelation of the downfall and destruction that would await the kingdom of Israel, referring to the northern half of the once united kingdom of Israel ruled by David and Solomon. The prophet Hosea had been sent to that place in order to reveal all the words of the Lord and the fate of the people, who had disobeyed the Lord and refused to obey Him so many times, that their sins were truly enormous and unimaginable in scale. They had indeed committed many mistakes, in building up idols and worshipping them, making altars to worship those false gods instead of the Lord, their one and only true God. They had scandalised His Holy Name, spurning the ever generous love, kindness and mercy which He has always shown them from the very beginning. God has sent to His people numerous prophets, messengers and guides with the intention to help them all to realise the errors of their ways and to remind them to return to the path of righteousness and virtue before it was too late for them. They revealed God’s words and told them of the many sins which they had committed time and again before God and mankind alike, and all these were exactly what the prophet Hosea has repeated once again among all of them. Yet, they still refused to listen to God and they continued to walk down the path of rebellion and sin, hardening their hearts against God. That was why the Lord told them all everything that they would have to suffer for their continued obstinate and wicked attitudes, in their refusal to turn away from their dark path. They persecuted the prophets and messengers of God sent to them, and therefore, in their pride, they would be humiliated and made to face the consequences of their actions just as the Lord had predicted and revealed to them. The Lord wanted them and also all of us to know that while He truly loves each and every one of us greatly and while He wants to forgive us from our many sins and wickedness, as is His nature to be full of love and compassion, mercy and kindness upon us, the most beloved among all of His creations. However, at the same time, sin is truly a grievous error and is something that can harm us all, by separating us from God and His love, and as long as we continue to live in the state of sin, then we may find ourselves locked out of God’s inheritance and grace.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded that each and every one of us must focus our lives and our whole attention on the Lord, and we must abandon all of our past sins, wickedness and all the things which had kept us away from the path of the Lord. If we allow all those things and the temptations of the world to distract and pull us away from the path of God’s righteousness and virtues, from His loving care and Presence, then in the end we shall regret our choice of siding not with the Lord but with the evil one and all the wickedness of this world. As Christians, each and every one of us are reminded to truly embody our faith and to be truly faithful to God in all things, and not just in formality only. As we have listened from the words of the Sacred Scriptures and pondered upon them, let us all continue to do our part so that in each and every actions of our lives so that we may be truly evangelising, missionary and active disciples of the Lord. All of us must continue to do our best to proclaim the Lord, His truth and Good News in the midst of our respective communities, that all of us may continue to touch the lives of more and more people around us. It is through all of us and our efforts and contributions to the Church’s missions and works in this world that will help so many lost souls, our fellow brothers and sisters, to find their path towards God, to His love and grace, to be saved by Him and assured the gift of eternal life. May the Lord our loving God and Father, our most generous and merciful Creator and Master continue to help, protect and guide us in all things. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to trust in the Lord, be courageous and remain faithful to Him. May He bless us in our every actions, our every efforts and works, and our interactions with one another, so that we may truly bear rich fruits of faith, and be good and worthy disciples in proclaiming His truth and salvation to the whole world. Amen 🙏🏾
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.
“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”
PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.
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 🙏
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 universal King, You came to establish Your Kingdom in the lives of all people. You call all Your creatures to faith in You. Help me to be among the first who turn to You with my whole heart. Please also use me to become an instrument of Your saving grace to those whom You’ve put into my life. My life is Yours, dear Lord. Use me as You will. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Most Precious Blood of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Canute, King of Denmark, Martyr; Saint Felicity and her Seven Sons; Saints Rufina and Secunda; Saint Amalberga and Saint Amelia ~ 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. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and fruitful week 🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖