TWENTY- FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: AUGUST 31, 2024

Greetings and blessings beloved family and Happy Saturday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time!

We thank God for the  gift of life and for bringing us safely and successfully to the end of the month of August. May God’s grace and mercy be with us all now and always🙏

On this feast day, we humbly pray for the poor and those in need, for persecuted Christians, for those who fight for truth, peace and justice, for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We continue to 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

On this day, 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 31, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | August 31, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |August 31, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| August 31, 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: Saturday, August 31, 2024
Reading 1, First Corinthians 1:26-31
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:12-13, 18-19, 20-21
Gospel, Matthew 25:14-30

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINTS JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND NICODEMUS AND SAINT RAYMOND NONNATUS, CARDINAL ~ FEAST DAY: AUGUST 31ST: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Joseph Of Arimathea and Nicodemus and Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We pray for all expectant mothers, newborn babies and obstetricians, we pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for gardeners and cabdrivers. We also pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINTS JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND NICODEMUS: In the latest edition of the Roman Martyrology, the Church has coupled the feast of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the two holy men who took the Body of Jesus down from the Cross, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in the tomb. The actions of these two influential Jewish leaders give insight into the charismatic power of Jesus and His teachings—and the risks that could be involved in following him. Little is known of St. Joseph except for the information that is recorded when he is mentioned in all four Gospels. St. Joseph was a respected, wealthy civic leader who had become a disciple of Jesus Christ from Arimathea, a place probably to the northwest of Jerusalem. He was a well-to-do, devout member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel, who was awaiting the Kingdom of God that had been foretold by the Prophets. However, out of fear, he remained a secret disciple. St. Joseph did not take part in the resolution of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death. Then after the crucifixion of our Lord (at which he was present), Joseph summoned up the courage to go to Pilate and ask for the Body of the Savior. St. Joseph obtained Jesus’ body from Pilate, wrapped it in fine linen and buried it. For these reasons, St. Joseph is considered the patron saint of funeral directors and pallbearers. More important is the courage St. Joseph showed in asking Pilate for Jesus’ body. Jesus was a condemned criminal who had been publicly executed. According to some legends, St. Joseph was punished and imprisoned for such a bold act.

St. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and, like St. Joseph, an important first-century Jew and very little is known about St. Nicodemus. We know from St. John’s Gospel that St. Nicodemus went to Jesus at night—secretly—to better understand his teachings about the kingdom. Later, he spoke up for Jesus at the time of his arrest and assisted in Jesus’ burial.
With the aid of St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph took down the Body of Jesus, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in his newly hewn grave (in which no one had been placed) in a garden near Calvary. This fulfilled the words of Isaiah (53:9) that the tomb of the Messiah would be among the rich. Legends that cannot be authenticated have made St. Joseph of Arimathea a heroic figure in the spread of the faith to France and England. St. Nicodemus is known to us through the Gospel of John. He was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who was convinced by the miracles of Christ that He was sent from God. In a nighttime interview, Christ told this wealthy and learned inquirer that faith and baptism were necessary for eternal life. Nicodemus did not then understand but was deeply touched, although he did not yet have the courage to stand up for the Lord. Later, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jewish authorities were planning to kill Jesus, Nicodemus spoke up—though timidly—in the Sanhedrin, reminding them that the Law did not condemn a man until he had been heard in his own defense. After Christ’s death, St. Nicodemus came boldly with about 100 pounds weight of merrh and aloes and assisted at Christ’s burial. Nothing else is known with certainty about St. Nicodemus, but legends about in the Apocryphal works, The Acts of Pilate and The Gospel of Nicodemus. Sts. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are Patron Saints of Funeral Directors and Pallbearers. 

PRAYER: God, You alone are holy and without You no one is good. Through the intercession of Sts. Joseph and Nicodemus, grant that we may so live as not to be deprived of Your glory. Amen 🙏

SAINT  RAYMOND NONNATUS, CARDINAL: St. Raymond Nonnatus (1204-1240) was born in Catalonia, Spain, to a noble family. His life was saved by caesarean section after his mother died in childbirth, earning him the nick name ‘Nonnatus’ meaning ‘one not born’ in Latin. St. Raymond was a pious child drawn to the religious life, but his father had plans for him to serve in the royal court of the King of Aragon. To distract St. Raymond from his vocation, his father sent him to tend the family fields. This had the opposite effect and gave Raymond greater opportunity to pray in the country chapel. He was a well-educated noble, called to the priesthood and his father eventually allowed him to join the Mercedarians, a religious order which ransomed Christian slaves from their Muslim captors. St. Raymund Nonnatus devoted his life to the ransoming of Christians held prisoner by the Mohammedans or Moors. He was one of the first members of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom (or Mercedarians) founded by St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Penafort.  St. Peter Nolasco was a native of Languedoc and he founded the Mercedarians in the early thirteenth century. Amongst those he received into the society was St. Raymond, a Catalonian. So determined was Saint Raymond Nonnatus that when St. Peter Nolasco retired as chief ransomer, the saint succeeded him in this office. St. Raymond became Master General of the order.

On a mission to Algeria, North Africa, he set off with a great sum of money, and there ransomed many slaves, he ran out of money and offered himself for others and was imprisoned. When his money ran out, Saint Raymond Nonnatus could have made his own escape. But this would have involved leaving several slaves behind. He gave himself up in exchange for their liberty. While in prison, St. Raymond was tortured throughout his imprisonment, yet he converted numerous people including Muslims to the Christian faith, angering his captors. To prevent him from preaching Christ, his captors pierced his lips with a red-hot iron and closed them with a padlock. His own life was now in great danger. The Moors of Algeria were enraged that he had managed to convert some of their number. The governor would have put him to death by impaling the saint on a stake. What saved him were others who realized that a rich ransom would be paid for this particular Christian. Even so, he was still whipped publicly in the streets — partly to discourage those who might be tempted to learn from him the Christian faith. Reports of his tortures probably exaggerated the cruelty of his Moorish captors but after eight months of torture, St. Peter Nolasco arrived with St. Raymond Nonnatus’s ransom. Even then he wanted to stay behind, hoping to convert still more men and women to Christianity; but St. Peter Nolasco forbade it. He was eventually ransomed by his order and returned to Spain. On his return, Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal. The pope wished to see Raymond Nonnatus in Rome, but on his way there in the year 1240 he reached only Cardona near Barcelona, where he died at the age of thirty-six. After his death there was a dispute over who had the right to bury his body. To settle the matter, his body was placed on a blind mule and set loose. The mule went to the country chapel where Raymond had prayed in his youth, and it was there that he was buried. Many miracles were attributed to St. Raymond Nonnatus both before and after his death. Patron Saint of childbirth; children; expectant mothers; falsely accused people; fever; infants; midwives; newborn babies; obstetricians; pregnant women; caesarian sections; fever suffers, and obstetricians. His feast day is August 31st.

Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

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

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 25:14-30

“Since you have been faithful in small matters, come, share your master’s joy”

“Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”

In today’s Gospel reading according to St. Matthew, Jesus told His disciples and to all those who were there listening to Him a parable of the silver talents. In that parable, a master was going away overseas and chose to entrust three of his servants with some silver talents for them to make good use of and responsibly while he was away on his business. The three servants acted differently with the silver talents which had been given to them. Each one of them were entrusted with different amounts of silver talents, with the one who were given five and two talents of silver investing and making good use of them and they gained the same amount in silver talents each, doubling what they had earlier from the master. Meanwhile, the other servant who was only given one silver talent chose to hide it and not to use it at all, and because of that, by the time the master returns to ask for the results and reckoning the performance of his servants, that servant still had with him the same one silver talent. Those servants that had invested and doubled their investment were well-rewarded and entrusted by the master with great things, while the lazy and irresponsible servant faced the wrath of his master for his lack of action and irresponsibility. Instead of being rewarded, the lazy and irresponsible servant faced punishment and rebuke from the master, which is also a reminder for each and every one of us of what all of us are expected to do by God, our Lord and Master.

According to the Gospel, the wealthy property owner who was evidently a generous and trusting person, before departing on that journey abroad, entrusting very large sums of money to those three of his servants, to each in accordance with their ability to make good use of this generous gift. The property owner was not expecting these large sums of money back. He just wanted his servants to make good use of them. Those first two servants, recognizing the generous and trusting nature of their master, felt free to use well what they had been given in the trading market of the day. As a result, they increased the value of the asset they had been given. The third servant did nothing with what he had been given. Rather than recognizing the generous and trusting nature of his master, he was paralyzed by his image of his master as demanding and hard hearted. Fear of his master enslaved him and he did nothing with what he had been given, not even the minimal initiative of placing the investment in a bank to gain interest. What Jesus is saying to us through this parable drawn from daily life of the time is that perhaps, Jesus wants us to recognize how generous God has been with each one of us, how much he has entrusted to us. God has given us the greatest treasure of all, his Son. God has also given us abilities that allow us to share this gift of his Son with others, in how we think, speak, act and live. God wants us to respond to His generous and trusting investment in us by living fearlessly out of all that he has given us. We are to be courageous in our witness to his Son. We are to take risks in our efforts to ensure that the riches of the Gospel are received by as many as possible. God can deal with failure, even bringing great good out of it. However, there is little God can do with fearful inactivity. Our recognition of the Lord’s love for us gives us the freedom to make use of what He has given us, without being held back by the fear of failure or the fear of our own inadequacies. As Saint Mother Teresa, once said, the Lord does not ask us to be successful but only to be faithful. We do our best with what the Lord has given us, knowing that the Lord looks lovingly on our efforts and will work powerfully through our efforts, even when they seem to us to be a failure.

Our first reading today is the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians in which the Apostle told the people of God there how they have been chosen by God to be His disciples and followers, and many among them were not important, powerful or influential in the eyes of the world. This does not mean that God was against the rich, powerful and influential ones in the world, but rather, He wanted to highlight to His beloved people, to all of us that He did not choose or judge us by our worldly qualities, possessions or by any other parameters which we often categorise ourselves into, as all those things are ultimately superficial and not what is truly important for all of us. Unfortunately, many of us often spent a lot of time and effort in trying to seek all those things instead of seeking what is truly important for us in our lives. The Lord chose based on other qualities that often do not correspond with worldly standards of judgment, as this world often focuses on our material wealth, influence and fame, our physical appearances and other attributes which may prevent us from truly being able to follow the Lord faithfully, sincerely and with true commitment. That is because when we are obsessed with accumulating for ourselves those worldly things and matters, we often end up neglecting our responsibilities as Christians, in making good use of our gifts, talents and the guidance of God’s Wisdom, for the benefit of others around us. Instead, we often spend a lot of time and effort to try to garner for ourselves more of these worldly riches and possessions, all of which distract us from the true destination that we have in the Lord, as mentioned earlier in the Scriptures.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, all the children of mankind all have received the various gifts, talents and blessings from God. All of us have been entrusted with those gifts with the intention of the Lord calling on us to share them and to make good use of them for the benefit of all those around us, for the good and benefit of everyone and not just for our own selfish needs and desires. We have been entrusted with all these so that we may be part of God’s Church and mission, to proclaim His truth and Good News to everyone around us. It is important that we know and understand this mission which we have been entrusted with by the Lord, to show love, care and concern towards one another, to our fellow brothers and sisters who may need our help and attention, particularly all those who have no one to care for them, those who have been neglected, abandoned and ignored by all others. As Christians, whatever we have been blessed with by God, and the many opportunities we have been given, they should be used for the greater good of those who are around us. We should not ignore the plight of those who are in need, and we must also realise that we have been given the opportunities to contribute our good works and actions to advance further the cause of the Lord and to fulfil the missions we have been entrusted with. Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord and do not allow ourselves to be led into inaction and ignorance of our responsibilities and missions as those whom God had called and chosen. Let us all be committed from now on to live lives that are truly worthy of the Lord, being good role models and inspiration for one another. May our lives as God’s holy and beloved people, as His faithful and committed disciples be inspiration and beacons of God’s light and truth to everyone. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to keep on responding generously to His call and may He empower each and every one of us to be ever faithful in our path towards Him, and may our lives truly be a reflection of our enduring and vibrant faith. May God bless us all in our every actions, good works and endeavours, now and always. 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:

Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, grant me the Spirit of Wisdom, that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal; the Spirit of Understanding, to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth; the Spirit of Counsel, that I may choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude, that I may bear my cross with Thee and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge, that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints; the Spirit of Piety, that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable; the Spirit of Fear of the Lord, that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. 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 Blessed Mother Virgin Mary; Saints Joseph Of Arimathea and Nicodemus and Saint Raymond Nonnatus ~  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 relaxing weekend🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖