TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: AUGUST 22, 2024

Greetings beloved family and Happy Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

On this special feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we pray for our children and children all over the world. With special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for their safety and well-being, especially those beginning the new school year. May God grant them the courage to face new challenges and wisdom to make good choices. We pray for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding and for God’s guidance and protection upon them during this school year and always. We pray for safe travels, to and from school. We also pray for all teachers, staff and parents, and guardians. May the good Lord provide for those in need. And we continue to pray for peace, love, and unity in our families and our world. May God keep us all safe andh well. Amen 🙏

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” ~ James 1:5

We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and 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🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | August 22, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | August 22, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |August 22, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | August 22, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | August 22, 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: Thursday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2024
Reading 1, Ezekiel 36:23-28
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14

Today’s Bible Readings for the Feast of the Queenship of Mary:
Reading 1: Isaiah 9: 1-6
Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Gospel: St. Luke 1: 26-38

NOVENA TO SAINT MONICA: Traditionally prayed every day from August 18–26 (Or any time of the year). Novena to Saint Monica is eqspecially prayed for wayward children. [Novena link – https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/novena-to-saint-monica/]

Memorial of Saint Monica is August 27
Memorial of Saint Augustine is August 28

Saint Monica was the mother of Saint Augustine. She is credited for being a holy and faith-filled mother whose prayers brought about the conversion of her son, Augustine. This novena can be prayed for any intention, especially for wayward children.

Dear Saint Monica, you were once the mournful mother of a prodigal son. Your faithfulness to prayer brought you and your son so close to God that you are now with him in eternity. By your intercession and God’s grace, your son St. Augustine became a great and venerable Saint of the Church. Please take my request to God with the same fervor and persistence with which you prayed for your own son. (Mention your intentions here)

With your needs, worries and anxieties, you threw yourself on the mercy and providence of God. Through sorrow and pain, you constantly devoted yourself to God. Pray for me that I might join you in such a deep faith in God’s goodness and mercy. Above all, dear Saint Monica, pray for me that I may, like your son, turn from my sin and become a great Saint for the glory of God.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be… Amen 🙏

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF THE QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AND SAINTS TIMOTHY, HIPPOLYTUS AND SYMPHORIAN, MARTYRS AND SAINT JOHN KEMBLE, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 22ND:

THE QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: Today, we celebrate Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. August 22nd is the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This title of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven (Regina Caeli), is rooted in biblical history where the mother of Israel’s king had the royal title of Queen Mother. Church Tr0adition holds that once Mary, the Mother of God, was assumed body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthy life, she was crowned as Queen of Heaven and Earth to reign alongside her Son, Jesus the King of Kings. During the Middle Ages Mary was venerated as Queen of the angels and saints. On October 11, 1954, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical letter, “Ad Ceali Reginam”, decreed and instituted the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be celebrated throughout the world every year, giving sanction thus to a devotion that was already paid by the faithful throughout the world to the sovereign Mother of heaven and earth. Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Queenship of Mary as a memorial of the universal church at the close of the Marian Year of 1954. The memorial is placed on this date, August 22, to stress its connection with the feast of the Assumption, a week earlier. He declared that the Church has believed in Mary’s Queenship from the earliest centuries and that this belief rests on Holy Scripture and Tradition.

Mary is Queen of all “since she brought forth a Son, Who at the very moment that He was conceived, was, by reason of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, even as Man, King and Lord of all things”. Further, “as Christ is our Lord and King by a special title because He redeemed us, so the Blessed Virgin [is our Lady and Queen] because of the unique way in which she has cooperated toward our redemption by giving of her own substance, by offering Him willingly for us, and by desiring, praying for, and bringing about our salvation in a singular manner”.

PRAYER IN HONOR OF THE QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Feast: August 22)

O Mary Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering world. You know our misery and our weakness. O thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial.  Jesus has confided to you the treasure of His grace, and through you He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, your children come to you as their hope.

We recognize your Queenship and ardently desire your triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother’s Heart. You are for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In your clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, You Who did crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Savior, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognize her rights as Mother and as Queen  From Heaven, God does not take this from her.  Rather, she is made our Mother and our Queen.  And a worthy Mother and Queen she is!

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears! Turn, then, O most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Mary Immaculate Queen, triumph and reign! Amen🙏

PRAYER: God, You have given us the Mother of Your Son to be Mother and Queen. Through her intercession, grant that we may attain the glory destined for Your adopted children in Your heavenly Kingdom… Amen🙏

SAINTS TIMOTHY, HIPPOLYTUS AND SYMPHORIAN, MARTYRS: Sts. Timothy, Hippolytus and Symphorian are three Christian martyrs who though were unrelated and were killed in different places and at different times, share a common feast day (Feast: August 22). During the pontificate of Melchiades (311-314), St. Timotheus (Timothy) of Antioch came from Antioch to Rome in 310, where he preached for fifteen months and lived with Sylvester, who later became pope. The prefect of the city, Tarquinus Perpenna, threw him into prison, tortured, he was cruelly beaten and quicklime was sprinkled over his torn flesh and finally beheaded him in 311. A Christian woman named Theon buried him in her garden, This is related in the legend of Sylvester. The name of Timotheus occurs in the earliest martyrologies. Martyred in 311.

On the same day at Ostia, St. Hippolytus, bishop of Porto, was thrown into a hole filled with water and received the crown of martyrdom about A.D. 225. 

Again on the same day, about A.D. 178, under the reign of Aurelian, St. Symphorian, was martyred. According to a legend of the early fifth century, St. Symphorian of Autun was beheaded, while still a young man, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His mother, the Blessed Augusta, encouraged him on his way to execution, August 22, 178. While he went to execution his mother said to him: “My son, my son, remember eternal life; look up to heaven and see the One who reigns there; life is not taken from thee, it is exchanged for a better one.” His body lies at St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls, near that of the great Apostle. Bishop Euphronius (d. 490) built a handsome church over his grave, connected with a monastery, which belonged to the Congregation of Sainte-Geneviève from 1656 until its suppression in 1791. Abbot Germanus later became Bishop of Paris, where he dedicated a chapel to the saint. St. Symphorian is the patron saint of Autun. His veneration spread at an early date through the empire of the Franks. His cult was especially popular at Tours; St. Gregory relates a miracle wrought by the saint. St. Symphorian is one of the great saints of Gaul and several churches were built in his honor.

PRAYER: Deny us not, O merciful Lord, Thy help: but listening to the prayers of Thy blessed martyrs Timothy, Hippolytus and Symphorian, stretch forth over us the right hand of Thy merciful forgiveness. Amen 🙏

SAINT JOHN KEMBLE, PRIEST: St. John Kemble (1599-1679) was an English Roman Catholic martyr born in England,  Saint Weonards, United Kingdom to a prominent Catholic family when Catholicism was outlawed in the country. He was ordained a priest in 1625 and ministered in England as an itinerant priest for fifty-three years. Although persecution of Catholics was rampant, in his particular region Catholics were generally not harassed. In the infamous “Popish Plot” of 1678, Protestant politicians began a violent crackdown on Catholics, particularly on priests. Although 80 years old at the time, Father John Kemble was arrested. He was warned in advance but declined to leave his flock, saying, “According to the course of nature, I have but a few years to live. It will be an advantage to suffer for my religion and, therefore, I will not abscond.”

Although he was found innocent of any involvement in the “Popish Plot,” he was condemned for being a Catholic priest and sentenced to death by being hanged, drawn, and quartered on August 22, 1679, Hereford, United Kingdom. His last words, addressed to the crowd were: “The failure of the authorities in London to connect me to the plot makes it evident that I die only for profession of the Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made this Kingdom Christian.” He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 25, 1970. St. John Kemble is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day:August 22; 25 October

Saint John Kemble, Priest ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Bible Readings for today, Memorial of The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/0822-memorial-queenship-mary.cfm

Gospel Reading ~ Reflections on Luke 1:26-38 for the Feast of the Queenship of Mary

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son”

“The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Today we celebrate the memorial of the Queenship of Mary. During the Middle Ages Mary was venerated as Queen of the angels and saints. Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Queenship of Mary as a memorial of the universal church at the close of the Marian Year of 1954. The memorial is placed on this date, August 22, to stress its connection with the feast of the Assumption, a week earlier. When people of faith gave Mary the title of Queen of heaven and earth, it was their way of saying that Mary is worthy of our veneration and that she deserves our honour. We honour and we venerate Mary. We don’t worship Mary. Only God can be worshipped, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We honour Mary as Queen because of who she was in her earthly life, because she was a woman of deep faith. Mary’s response to the Angel Gabriel conveys the core of her faith, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. The Gospel reading suggests that Mary had her reservations about what God appeared to be asking of her, ‘How can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ The Angel Gabriel went on to say to her, ‘Nothing is impossible to God’. Mary came to accept that what she herself could not bring about, God would bring about. She then gave herself over to God’s purpose for her life, trusting that God could bring his purpose to pass. It could be said that Mary allowed God to be God in her life. This is the essence of faith. The person of faith does not try to manage God or to shape God to his or her purposes. Like Mary, we surrender to God’s purpose for our lives and we allow God to be God of our lives. In honouring Mary as Queen, we ask her to intercede for us, to pray for us, so that we can be as open to God’s desire for our lives as she was. Our Mother Mary can help us to be as open and responsive to God’s will for our lives as she was, which is why we need to pray, ‘Mary, pray for us, sinners, now, and at the hour of our death’.🙏

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures on  this special feast of the Queenship of Mary,  Our Mother Mary has shown us not only her most loving Motherhood of her Son, but even more so, through her own virtues, her commitment to God and obedience to God’s will, she has shown us that she is truly worthy of all the veneration and the honour that we have given her. In fact, it honours a man or woman to see his or her mother being honoured and respected, and the same applies to the Lord and His mother Mary as well. If we honour Mary, and also emulate her examples, we honour and respect not only her but we also honour and glorify in even greater ways, her Son, our Lord and King. We must realise that Mary as the Queen Mother of Heaven, the Queen of Angels and All the Saints, sitting close to the Throne of her Son in Heaven is truly our greatest ally in our journey towards her Son and His mercy and love. We have her in our struggle against sin and evil, as our Mother and guide, our loving mother who has always shown her tender care and compassion, and who has ever thought of us, reaching out to us patiently and calling on each and every one of us to embrace the mercy and forgiveness offered freely and generously by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, her Son. Through her, many had been saved and found their way to God and His salvation and grace.  May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to renew our commitment to the Lord through our renewed love and dedication to Him and also our honour and respect for His mother, Mary, our mother and Queen. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Queen, the Queen of Heaven, Queen of All Saints, Queen of Angels and our role model and inspiration, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST:

MONTH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The Church dedicates the month of August to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is a dogma of the Catholic faith that Mary is the Immaculate Conception; that is, in preparation for the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity in her womb, she was conceived without the corruption of sin through the foreseen and infinite merits of her Son, Jesus Christ. Over the centuries, as saints and theologians reflected on how Mary pondered and treasured the sacred events from the life of Christ in her holy heart, as attested in Scripture, her pure heart was recognized as something to be imitated. Devotion to Our Lady’s purity of heart began to flower—so much so that in the 17th century, St. John Eudes promoted it alongside the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion rose to a new level after the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, when Mary revealed an image of her Immaculate Heart to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco.

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST – FOR POLITICAL LEADERS: We pray that political leaders be at the service of their own people, working for integral human development and for the common good, especially caring for the poor and those who have lost their jobs.

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 been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! 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, Nigeria, 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. We pray for all mothers, wives, those going through challenges in their marriages, Victims of verbal and spousal abuse, we pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. 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:

Mother and Queen of Heaven, this day I run to you as a child with confidence and trust. You are the glorious Queen Mother, reigning over all of your children with love and mercy. Please pray for me, and bestow upon me all that I need. I open my heart to the grace of your Son, which you are entrusted to dispense. Make me holy and free from sin, so you can present me spotless and pure to your beloved Son, the King of the Universe. Queen of Heaven, pray for me. 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. The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary;  Saints Timothy, Hippolytus & Symphorian and  Saint John Kemble, Priest ~ 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💖