TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION: “HOPE AND ACT WITH CREATION”
Greetings beloved family. Happy Sunday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time and Happy New Month of September!
We thank God for the gift of life and for the gift of a new month. May God’s grace, blessings and favors be with us all now and always🙏
On this feast day and the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, we are called to hope and care for all of God’s creation and 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 | September 1, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | September 1, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |September 1, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| September 1, 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: Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) | September 1, 2024
Reading 1, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5
Reading 2, James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27
Gospel, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION: Statement on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, September 1, 2024: https://www.usccb.org/resources/statement-world-day-prayer-care-creation-september-1-2024
The theme for 2024: “Hope and Act with Creation”
“To hope and act with creation, then, means to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled “flesh” of others, by sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord.” ~ Pope Francis
On this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis invites us to meditate on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:19-25). This year, the message of hope and care for creation resonates deeply particularly with the Catholic community in the United States that continues to experience the joy of the National Eucharistic Congress. Drawing from the thought of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI, we offer these reflections on hope in the Lord in a scientific age, which impel us to renew once more the call to care for all of God’s creation.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23
“You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition”
“When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.— So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus and the Pharisees are in conflict as to what it is that constitutes the true Jewish religion. Jesus accuses the religious leaders of giving more importance to various human religious traditions than to the word of God. As Jesus says, ‘You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human tradition’. Jesus was saying to them that what was important to them was not so important to God, whereas what was important to God was not so important to them. In understanding the essence of the Jewish religious tradition, Jesus locates it’s essence in what goes on in the human heart and what comes out of the human heart. The Pharisees were more preoccupied with what they called ‘the traditions of the elders’. These were concrete observances of various kinds that had been handed down through the generations. Some of them, for example, related to how people should wash their hands before eating, and how vessels that are to be used for eating and drinking should be prepared beforehand. It is evident that Jesus and His disciples did not follow these traditions of the elders very faithfully. The Pharisees accused Jesus and His disciples of not acting in accordance with the Jewish religious tradition. They were not being ‘religious’ in the sense that the Pharisees understood it. Jesus did not reject the Jewish religious tradition. He Himself stood very much within it. His concern was to get to the essence of His own religious tradition. The prophets were a very important part of the Jewish tradition and in today’s Gospel reading Jesus goes back to one of the prophets, Isaiah, uncover the essence of the Jewish religious tradition. Jesus quotes God speaking through Isaiah, ‘this people honours me only with lip service while their hearts are far from me’. Jesus is saying that the God of Israel wants people’s hearts. Their hearts are to be given over to God and to what God wants. This is the purity of heart is demamded of us. As far as Jesus was concerned the Pharisees were giving too much importance to what was peripheral in the Jewish tradition and not enough importance to what was central in that tradition. As He says, they were clinging to human traditions while putting aside the commandment of God. They had all the externals of their tradition right but they were missing what was central. In our Gospel reading, this preoccupation and obsession with the rites and details of the Law is what the Lord criticised and rebuked the Pharisees for, as this led them to be empty in their hearts and minds, failing to truly appreciate and understand what the Lord had intended for us all through His Law and commandments. The Law of God has been given to us not to burden and make our lives difficult, and definitely not for a certain group of people to make themselves famous and glorious over others by gloating and thinking that they were superior and more worthy simply because they were obeying the Law and commandments in a more pious way. Instead, the Law of God was meant to help the people of God, all of us to love God and to follow His path, so that we may truly be able to embrace the righteousness of God.
In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy Moses, the leader of the people of Israel during the time of the Exodus and journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, reminded the Israelites that the Lord has given them all His Law and commandments, and they ought to abide by the precepts and details of that Law. They should heed whatever they had been told to do, to do what God has commanded them and shown them, and neither to take away or add anything to the Law, as changing those laws and commandments would mean that they would no longer truly obey the Lord in the right manner, and they would no longer be truly faithful to Him in their ways, actions, words and deeds. The Lord wants each and every one of His people to follow Him wholeheartedly and not be divided and swayed by false paths in life. Moses also mentioned that the Israelites were truly blessed that God had chosen and called them to be His people, to be graced by His Law and Commandments, through which He showed them how to be truly be faithful to God at all times, and how they can be the shining beacons and examples of their faith and obedience to Him, so that everyone who witnessed their lives, works and actions, and interact with them would truly know that they all belong to the Lord, as God’s holy and beloved people, the shining beacons of God’s light, truth and love, bearing His salvation and righteousness into the world. On the other hand, if they did not do as the Lord had taught them to do, living their lives in a wicked and evil manner, then they would scandalise the good and Holy Name of God, and therefore, they would be judged and condemned by their lack of faith and virtue.
In our second reading this Sunday from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle, St. James, exhorting and reminding the faithful people of God that they all have received from the Lord Himself the gift of life, truth and also all the wonderful things that He has given and granted us, and which He had sowed and planted in us, entrusting to us many things which can help us to direct our attention towards the right path. But in that same passage taken as today’s second reading, we have also heard that St. James mentioned that we as the faithful people of God must be the ‘doers of the word’ and ‘not just hearers’, which complements nicely what he also mentioned in another part of his Epistle, that ‘faith without good works is dead’. Essentially, this is a reminder to all of us that we have to be genuine followers and disciples of the Lord, not just as a formality and merely doing things for appearances. We have to be fundamentally faithful in all things, at all occasions and opportunities, doing our best to be the good and worthy in everything that we do throughout our whole lives. Otherwise then we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers who do not have true and genuine faith in the Lord. There are many people who profess to be Christians and yet, they did not truly behave as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. We cannot be like those who only outwardly showed obedience to God and observance of His Law and commandments, and yet inside, they were without true love and desire to serve the Lord.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures this Sunday, we are all reminded first of all that as God’s holy and beloved people, we are all bound by His Law and commandments, and we have to not only know and understand them, but we also have to apply them consistently and thoroughly in each and every moments of our lives. Otherwise we cannot truly call ourselves as Christians if we do not truly embody and practice what we believe in, or if we do not walk in the path that the Lord has shown and taught us. Each and every one of us must always strive to do our part in embracing God and His path, so that we can be good examples and role models for each other in how we live our lives with faith. Today, as the Church also celebrates the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the day when we are all reminded that the Lord has entrusted to us this world to be under our care and stewardship. Therefore, each and every one of us should always remember that we must be active in truly living our lives in the manner that God has told and shown us, and not to glorify ourselves or seek personal glory and ambition through this life. We certainly should not be like the Pharisees that twisted the Law of God for their own personal desires and ambitions. Instead, we must strive to do the things which the Lord has called us to do, to be true and genuine in our obedience and commitment to God, focusing our attention as always towards the Lord, our Master and Creator. We should take good care of this world, and responsibly play our roles as its steward that we do not end up ruining more of this world through our selfish actions and behaviours. May the Lord continue to help us all to be ever more genuinely faithful and committed to Him. May He empower each and every one of us so that we will continue to do what is right and just which He has taught and shown us to do, and resist the temptations to disobey Him and to sin against Him. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to keep trusting in the Lord and He will work powerfully through us, sometimes against all expectations. May the Lord continue to show us His wisdom, His truth and strengthen us with great faith, dedication and energy that we may always strive to do our best to glorify God in all things by our lives. May God bless each and every one of us, bless our every good efforts, works and action, now and always. Amen 🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT GILES, ABBOT; SAINT ANNA THE PROPHETESS AND THE TWELVE HOLY BROTHERS, MARTYRS ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 1ST: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Giles, Abbot; Saint Anna The Prophetess and The Holy Brothers, Martyrs. Today is also the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. 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 those who are physically disabled, we pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those seeking for the fruit of the womb. 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.🙏
SAINT GILES, ABBOT: St. Giles (7th c.) whose name has been held in great veneration for many centuries in France and England, was an abbot of the seventh century. He was born in the year 640 in Athens, Greece and was of noble extraction, born to a wealthy and noble Greek family. He devoted his life to the things of God and grew in sanctity. His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such admiration in his own country and he found that his material and spiritual riches drew unwanted praise and attention. Dreading praise and long for a hidden life. After his parents died, he fled from his fatherland to avoid followers and fame and to escape prestige, he sold all of his possessions, gave his wealth to the poor, and moved away to Gaul (present day France) to live in solitude in the wilderness as a cave-dwelling hermit. At first he took up his abode in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone, afterward near the river Gard, and, finally, in the diocese of Nimes. He was able to lead the life of a hermit. The Saint spent many years in solitude, conversing only with God. He lived in this way without companionship for many years while practicing severe penances. He became so impoverished that God sent a deer to be his companion and to nourish him with its milk. One day a royal hunting party in pursuit of the hind deer chased it into the saint’s cave. The hunter shot an arrow into the cave, and instead of hitting the hind deer, he injured St. Giles’ leg with an arrow, which kept him crippled the rest of his life.
St. Giles was discovered and soon became known throughout the countryside as a holy hermit, the king himself often coming to visit him. St. Giles consented to receive disciples who desired to imitate his way of life. He then consented to King Theodoric’s request of building a monastery (known later as “Saint Gilles du Gard”) and he became its first Abbot. These followers lived as monks under the Rule of St. Benedict with St. Giles as abbot. St. Giles was known as a miracle worker during his life, and his monastery and the town that grew around it became a shrine and place of pilgrimage, especially for crippled beggars. St. Giles became one of the most popular saints in the Middle Ages, and is the patron of many causes including lepers, hermits, cripples, epileptics, cancer patients, the mentally ill, the disabled, and the poor. He died some eight years later towards 712 of natural causes. The little monastery of St. Peter, where his body rested, became one of the most popular shrines in Christendom and gave rise to a town. The cult of St. Giles, which was general in France, where there are upwards of one hundred and fifty churches dedicated to him, soon spread throughout the west. St. Giles is included in the list of the fourteen “Auxiliary Saints” or “Holy Helpers.” but the only one who did not die a martyr. These group of saints are invoked because they have been efficacious in assisting in trials and sufferings. Each saint has a separate feast or memorial day. The group was collectively venerated on August 8, until the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, when the feast was dropped. St. Giles is the Patron Saint of the abandoned; Beggars; blacksmiths; breast cancer, breastfeeding; cancer patients; crippled people; disabled; epilepsy; fear of night/noctiphobia; forests; handicapped; hermits; horses; insanity; lepers; leprosy; mental illness; paupers; physically disabled; rams; spur makers; woods; against lameness; against leprosy; against sterility; against infertility.
PRAYER: Lord, admit the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Giles the Abbot. Amen 🙏
SAINT ANNA THE PROPHETESS: St. Anna was the daughter of Phanuel, tribe of Aser. She married at age fourteen and was widowed at twenty-one. She never departed from the temple and spent night and day fasting and praying. She is a woman mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. According to that Gospel, she was an elderly Jewish woman who prophesied about Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem. She appears in Luke 2:36–38 during the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. She was in attendance at the Temple along with Simeon when Jesus was presented. Having all her life believed in the prophecies of the Old Testament, she was the only woman in the Temple to greet Jesus.
The Prophetess Anna – Luke 2:36-40: “There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”
St. Anna The Prophetess ~ Pray for us 🙏
THE TWELVE HOLY BROTHERS, MARTYRS: The “Holy Twelve Brothers” refer to the fourth-century apostles who refused to offer sacrifice to pagan gods. Africans by birth, these saints were martyred in various places in the third century under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Four were beheaded in Potenza, Italy on August 27. Three were beheaded at Vanossa on August 28. The others were beheaded at Sentiana on September 1st. They were brought together and enshrined at Benevento in 760.
The Twelve Holy Brothers are Saint Arontius of Potenza; Saint Donatus of Sentianum; Saint Felix of Sentianum; Saint Felix of Venosa; Saint Fortunatus of Potenza; Saint Honoratus of Potenza; Saint Januarius of Venosa; Saint Repositus of Velleianum; Saint Sabinian of Potenza; Saint Sator of Velleianum; Saint Septiminus of Venosa; Saint Vitalis of Velleianum.
The Twelve Holy Brothers, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER:
MONTH OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS:
September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as our Mother of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa)!* Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The Church dedicates the month of September to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose memorial the Church celebrates on September 15. Devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary dates from the twelfth century, when it made its appearance in monastic circles under the influence of St. Anselm and St. Bernard.
This devotion recalls the Blessed Virgin Mary’s spiritual martyrdom in virtue of her perfect union with the Passion of Christ. This was her role in salvation history, and what merited her place as the spiritual Mother of all Christians. This is symbolized by a single sword, or seven swords, piercing Mary’s suffering heart, as foretold in Simeon’s prophecy. Traditionally the Church meditates on the “Seven Sorrows” of our Blessed Mother: the prophecy of Simeon; the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt; the loss of the Child Jesus for three days; the meeting of Mary and Jesus as He carried His cross; Jesus’ crucifixion and death; Jesus’ sacred body taken down from the cross; and Jesus’ burial. All the sorrows of Mary (the prophecy of Simeon, the three days’ loss, etc.) are merged in the supreme suffering at the Passion. In the Passion, Mary suffered a martyrdom of the heart because of Our Lord’s torments and the greatness of her love for Him. “She it was,” says Pope Pius XII, “who immune from all sin, personal or inherited, and ever more closely united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father together with the holocaust of her maternal rights and motherly love. As a new Eve, she made this offering for all the children of Adam contaminated through his unhappy fall. Thus she, who was the mother of our Head according to the flesh, became by a new title of sorrow and glory the spiritual mother of all His members.” The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) is September 15th.
INVOCATIONS: Mary most sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us. Virgin most sorrowful, pray for us 🙏🏾
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=762
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER – FOR THE CRY OF THE EARTH: We pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of victims of natural disasters and climactic change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world in which we live.
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:
My persecuted Lord, You endured much criticism in life, but You never allowed it to steal Your peace. You remained perfectly strong, rejecting the lies and turning from them. Please give me the grace I need to always turn away from the lies of the evil one and to listen only to Your clear and gentle voice. 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; Saint Giles, Abbot; Saint Anna The Prophetess and The Holy Brothers, Martyrs ~ 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 Sunday and a fruitful month of September 🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖