TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS: Traditionally prayed September 7–15. The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is September 15 | Novena link below
Greetings and blessings, beloved family and Happy Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time!
On this feast day, 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 the Clergy, persecuted Christians, for peace, love, justice and unity in our families and our world. May God keep us all safe and 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 pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We particularly 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 6, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | September 6, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |September 6, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| September 6, 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: Friday, September 6, 2024
Reading 1, First Corinthians 4:1-5
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40
Gospel, Luke 5:33-39
NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS: Traditionally prayed September 7–15. The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is September 15 | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/nine-day-prayer-for-life-novena-to-our-lady-of-sorrows-283
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT ELEUTHERIUS, ABBOT AND BLESSED BERTRAND OF GARRIGUES, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 6TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Eleutherius, Abbot and Blessed Bertrand of Garrigues, Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We 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…. Amen🙏
SAINT ELEUTHERIUS, ABBOT: St. Eleutherius (d. 585 A.D.) was a monk living in Spoleto, Italy. Little is known of his early life. A wonderful simplicity and spirit of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy sixth century abbot. He was elected to preside Saint Mark’s monastery near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles. St. Eleutherius was a simple man of great faith who was the head of a monastery, the Abbot of St. Mark’s Abbey and was well-known as a man of simplicity and penance. He also demonstrated the gift of miracles and exorcism, and raised a dead man to life. St. Eleutherius helped a child who was possessed by the devil. But then St. Eleutherius became full of pride after he healed the boy from demonic possession and saw that the child was afterwards left unharmed, and said that the child would be safe in the monastery school because of all the good men who lived there. St. Eleutherius’ remark to this effect was : “Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him.” Then the boy, who came to live at St. Mark’s Abbey to be educated by the monks, became possessed again. St. Eleutherius repented of his vain and presumptuous remark, and the whole monastery underwent a penitential fast before the devil would leave the boy for the final time.
After that, when St. Eleutherius prayed for a miracle, it usually happened. St. Eleutherius was a friend of Pope St. Gregory the Great, the latter having called upon the saint to pray for him in his illness. St. Gregory the Great not being able to fast on Easter-eve on account of extreme weakness, engaged this Saint to go with him to the church of St. Andrew’s and put up his prayers to God for his health, that he might join the faithful in that solemn practice of penance. St. Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the Pope, coming out of the church, found his breast suddenly strengthened, so that he was enabled to perform the fast as he desired. St. Eleutherius raised a dead man to life. After resigning his abbacy, Saint Eleutherius died in Rome in Saint Andrew’s monastery, about the year 585 A.D. His feast day is September 6th.
Saint Eleutherius, Abbot ~ Pray for us 🙏
BLESSED BERTRAND OF GARRIGUES, PRIEST: Bl. Bertrand was a young priest, one of the first men to join St. Dominic’s Order of Preachers. He was born at Garrigues in the Comtat Venaissin, France, in the latter part of the 12th century, around 1195 in the diocese of Nimes in southern France. Bl. Bertrand lived a holy life, praying and practicing virtue constantly even as a young person. Blessed Bertrand was educated by the Cistercian nuns and learned by first-hand experience of the dangers posed by the Albigensian heresy flourishing at the time. Accordingly, he became a priest and joined a Cistercian group that was laboring zealously in the Midi to counteract the evil effect by the heretics. However, in 1208, the Cistercian legate was assassinated and the crusade of Simon de Montfort was let loose, leaving Bl. Bertrand without a peaceful means by which to keep combating the heresy.
Shortly afterward, he met St. Dominic who was doing this very thing—combating the heresy by prayer, fasting, and preaching. In 1215, Bertrand was one of six preachers who formed the nucleus for the Order of Preachers begun by St. Dominic, and became one of his close companions. Bl. Bertrand shared St. Dominic’s vision and ideals and often accompanied him on his missionary journeys. In 1216 St. Dominic sent Bl. Bertrand to found a house in Paris three years later, when the saint traveled there, to his surprise he was greeted by 30 young disciples that Bl. Bertrand had recruited into the Order. Around this time St. Dominic commissioned Bertrand to establish a house in Bologna. And in 1221 he was appointed the Prior Provincial of the order in Provence, one of the eight provinces of the Dominican Order in the Church of St. Romanus, when St. Dominic traveled to the Vatican to receive final approbation of the order. Bl. Bertrand spent the last nine years of his active life preaching the faith throughout southern France, and founded the great Priory of Marseille. Blessed Bertrand died at Le Bouchet (Drômes), the Monastery of the Cistercian Nuns of Notre Dame of the Woods near Orange, during the Month of April, 1230 while giving a series of sermons at the Convent. Bl. Bertrand practiced an austere life, and many miracles were attributed to his intercession, during his life and after he died. After his death, it was written that by his watching, fasting, and other penances, he succeded in imitating his beloved Father so closely as to invite the words: ”The disciple is like the master; there goes the image of St. Dominic!” September 6th is his feast day.
PRAYER: Almighty, eternal God, You dedicated the joy of this day to the glorification of Blessed Bertrand. Mercifully grant that we may always strive to retain and complete by our works that faith which he continually proclaimed. Amen 🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Luke 5:33-39
“When the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast”
“The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
In today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks of Himself as the bridegroom and of His disciples as the wedding guests. In answering the question why His disciples do not fast, Jesus says that the bridegroom’s attendants cannot be made to fast while the bridegroom is still with them. Jesus’ ministry is like the joy of a wedding feast; fasting is not appropriate but it will become appropriate when Jesus is taken away, after His death and resurrection. In John’s Gospel Jesus is also referred to as a bridegroom. In that Gospel John the Baptist refers to himself as the friend of the bridegroom who rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Like John we are all called to be friends of the bridegroom who rejoice at the bridegroom’s voice, who rejoice in the presence of the bridegroom. Later on in John’s Gospel Jesus says to His disciples, ‘I no longer call you servants, I call you friends’. The bridegroom was taken away, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, but He was raised from the dead and is present among us until the end of time. Like John the Baptist, we are friends of the bridegroom who live in His presence and who rejoice greatly at His voice, at the many ways He speaks to us and is present to us.
Jesus speaks of His ministry in today’s Gospel reading as ‘new wine’ which the old wine skins cannot contain. Yet, He did not reject His religious tradition. Indeed, He was steeped in His Jewish religious tradition. He valued and appreciated what was best in it, but He wanted to bring that tradition to completion, to fulfilment. When it comes to matters of faith, we all need to be rooted in a tradition. As followers of Jesus, we are rooted in the Christian tradition, which itself is rooted in the Jewish tradition. Yet, we also need to be open to the new ways that the Lord is working among us, the new ground He is breaking, the new paths He is asking us to take. Saint Augustine once spoke of God as ‘Beauty, ever ancient, ever new’. Our Christian tradition which seeks to express the Beauty of God revealed in Jesus is likewise both ever ancient and ever new.
In today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees judge the behaviour of Jesus’ disciples and even getting that wrong. They judged that the behaviour of the disciples fell short of what God wanted because they didn’t pray in the way other religious people prayed, and they didn’t fast in what other religious people did, such as the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees. Jesus went on to say that He came to bring new wine that needed new wineskins, new ways of expressing faith in God, new forms of prayer, new ways of understanding fasting. Jesus acknowledges that the response He often got from people to the new wine He was offering was ‘the old is good’. Jesus would have acknowledged that there was much good in the past, but He also knew that we cannot remain there. The risen Lord is always doing something new, in our own lives, in our parishes, in the wider church. Our calling is to be ready with the new wineskins that can better contain, better express, the new initiative the Lord is always taking. We also need to be careful not to dismiss too easily those who may be more aligned to the new ways of the Lord than we are.
In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth in what is today part of Greece, the Apostle exhorted the people of God there to live their lives faithfully as the disciples and followers of the Lord in all things, because each and every one of them had been entrusted as stewards of this world and all that God had created. And as the stewards of the Lord’s creation and this world, all of us should do our best to be exemplary in how we carry out ourselves and our actions, words and deeds at every possible moments and opportunities so that in each and every things that we do, we will proclaim the Lord our God faithfully and worthily through even the smallest things that we say and do. According to St. Paul in today’s first reading, he spoke with wisdom, he says ‘There must be no passing of premature judgement’. He was making this statement in response to people who were judging his ministry as not powerful enough. He goes on to say that judgement should be left until the Lord comes. He alone can reveal the secret intentions of people’s hearts. Interestingly, St. Paul says, ‘I will not even pass judgement on myself’. We know ourselves better than we know others, and, yet, St. Paul is saying that we don’t know ourselves well enough to make a judgement about ourselves. It is only the Lord who can light up what is hidden in the dark, whether in ourselves or in others. We can obviously make a judgement that certain ways of behaving are better than others, but St. Paul is saying that we cannot really judge what is in another’s heart because we don’t have access to it. We are all reminded that as Christians, we should always be committed to have a good and worthy faith in the Lord, to be righteous and just in each and every actions and deeds, in our every words and interactions with one another. We cannot and should not be idle in how we live our lives with faith and with the conviction as well as desire to love and serve the Lord, and also His beloved people, our fellow brothers and sisters in our midst and in our community. As Christians we must be truly the beacons of God’s light and grace, be illuminated with His truth and filled with His generous and compassionate love. We should be inspiration, strength and examples for our fellow brethren so that we can help each other to remain true and firmly faithful to the path that the Lord has shown and led us through in life. We cannot conform to the ways of the world or live in manner or ways that contradict our beliefs in God.
As we reflect he words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us who have accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour, as Christian believers, and as those whom God had called and chosen, we have to commit ourselves to the teachings and to the path that the Lord has shown us, that each and every one of us adhere to the truth which the Lord our God has been showing us, that we are all truly His disciples and followers in all things and at all circumstances. We must not be merely obeying the Lord outwardly and as formalities, paying lip service to Him while our hearts and minds are not focused or aligned to Him and His ways. We are challenged and reminded that as the followers and disciples of the Lord, we cannot remain idle or forget our calling to be missionary and evangelising, to be truly active in walking down the path of righteousness, obeying Him and entrusting to Him all of our actions and efforts, in each and every moments of our lives. As Christians, we should continue to strive to embrace God’s ways and be ever more committed to live our lives worthily and inspire one another, fellow brothers and sisters in doing the same as well. We should keep up our efforts to glorify the Lord by each and every one of our lives’ moments and actions. May the Lord continue to guide each and every one of us, strengthening and empowering all of us so that in our every efforts and endeavours, in each and every moments of our lives, we will always strive to do what God has taught and shown us to do. May He continue to encourage us all to embrace His love and compassion, His patient guidance and help, so that we will be good and faithful stewards of His creation, to be exemplary in all things at all times. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, and may He bring us all into His embrace and loving Presence, and help us in our lives, to persevere through the many challenges and hardships of life. Amen🙏
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 15th. 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, and 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 most merciful Lord, I know You call me to continual change in my life. Please give me the courage I need to face all that I need to detach from in life and all that hinders me from becoming the glorious new creation You have called me to become. Pour forth Your abundant grace into my life, dear Lord, making me into Your new and glorious creation in grace. 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 Eleutherius, Abbot and Blessed Bertrand of Garrigues, 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 month of September and relaxing weekend 🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖