TWENTY-SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ OCTOBER 3RD
Greetings and blessings, beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time!
Today, on this feast day, we continue to pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally, physically and critically ill and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for our children and children all over the world, for students, for those seeking for the fruit of the womb, for the poor and needy, we pray for difficult marriages, for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. Amen 🙏
We continue to pray for the gentle repose of the soul of our loved ones who recently passed away, we pray for the repose of the souls of all those who will die today, asking God to have mercy on their souls and to lead them into Eternal Life. And we continue to pray for the repose of 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 and souls of all the faithful departed 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 and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | October 3, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube” | October 3, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes France” | October 3, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| October 3, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” oùn YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |
Today’s Bible Readings: Thursday, October 3, 2024
Reading 1, Job 19:21-27
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 27:7-8, 8-9, 13-14
Gospel, Luke 10:1-12
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT GERARD OF BROGNE, ABBOT AND SAINT THEODORE (THEODORA) GUERIN, RELIGIOUS: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Gerard of Brogne, Abbot and Saint Theodore (Theodora) Guerin, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all marriages, for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally and physically ill and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. We pray for all widows and widowers. We pray for the poor, needy and the most vulnerable. 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 GERARD OF BROGNE, ABBOT: Saint Gérard (c. 895 – October 3, 959) was an abbot of Brogne Abbey. A native of Staves (Namur) and nobleman by his birth, which occurred about 895, the son of Stance and and Plectrude. He was a member of the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia. St. Gerard was brought up in a military atmosphere, became a solider and assigned to the household of Berengarius, the ruling Count of Namur, Belgium. However, amid the countless privileges, pleasures, and pursuits of his noble way of life, St. Gerard felt called to the religious life—but not in the lay monasteries of his milieu. While on an important mission on behalf of his sovereign to the court of France in 918 he caught a glimpse of the life led by monks of St. Denis and was greatly attracted to it. After settling all his temporal affairs, he returned to the monastery and became a member with wholehearted joy. In time, St. Gerard was ordained, though only after wrestling with his sense of total inadequacy, and he helped reform the monastery. After eleven years he was sent by his Abbot to found a monastery on his estate at Brogne, so that his countrymen who desired to be monks might have a place to go to. As its Abbot, St. Gerard formed a well-nigh model monastery, and its fame spread far and wide. Duke Gislebert of Lorraine saw his work and commissioned him to reform the Abbey of St. Ghislain near Mons, where the holy monk established the Rule of St. Benedict. He replaced the canons with monks. And herein he discovered his true vocation. He eventually became head of 18 other abbeys in the region of present-day Belgium. When he reformed the Abbey of Saint Bertin in 944, dissident monks fled to King Edmund I of England.
Over the course of the nest twenty years, St. Gerard labored zealously in this work, restoring Benedictine rule and discipline in some eighteen monasteries, as far as Flanders, Lorraine, and Champagne. Finally, advanced in age and slowed down by his extensive labors for God, he returned to Brogne where he fought the laxity of clerics there and replaced them with monks. He retired to a cell near the monastery for mortification. He still had courage to take a journey to Rome in order to obtain a Bull confirming the privileges of Brogne Abbey. On his return he paid a final visit to all the communities which he had reorganized, and then awaited death at Brogne. He passed his last few years in solitude and prayer and died on October 3, 959 and his body is still preserved at Brogne, now commonly called St-Gérard. He’s the Patron Saint of Saint-Gérard, Namur.
PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection that You have given us in St. Gerard the Abbot. Amen 🙏
SAINT THEODORE (THEODORA) GUERIN, RELIGIOUS: Saint Mother Théodore Guérin (1798–1856), also known as St. Theodora, is the foundress of The Sisters of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods in Indiana. By doing the ordinary well, she excelled in the harsh frontier conditions, withstood misunderstandings, and prejudices against Catholic women religious. Even with chronic health issues, Mother Théodore opened schools, orphanages, and cared for the sick. She trusted in God’s will and became a model of virtue. Saint Théodore Guérin was born Anne-Therese Guerin at Etables, Brittany in France on October 2, 1798, towards the end of the French Revolution. As she was growing up, the French government was virulently anti-clerical, closing down seminaries and churches and arresting priests and religious. Her cousin was a seminarian who lived in hiding in her devout parents’ Catholic home. He instructed her thoroughly in the faith and she displayed an advanced knowledge of theology, even at a young age. She was a pious child who loved prayer and who knew her vocation was to be a nun. However, she was delayed in following this path after the murder of her father when she was 15, which, in addition to the previous death of two of her siblings, sent her mother into a deep depression. St. Theodore took on the household tasks and the care of her mother and her remaining sister. Finally, when she was 25, her mother gave her consent, and Anne-Thérèse (St. Theodore) left home to enter the religious life. She joined the Sisters of Providence who served God by educating children and caring for the poor, the sick, and the dying. She devoted herself to religious education. Her intellectual capacities were formidable, and she was even recognized by the French Academy for her acheivements.
In 1840 Mother Théodore Guérin was asked to lead a band of missionary sisters and establish her order in the United States of America, specifically to serve the pioneers in Indiana. Founded a convent of the Sisters of Providence in the diocese of Vincennes. There she pioneered Catholic education, opened the first girls’ boarding school in Indiana, and fought against the anti-Catholicism prevalent in the day. Even though her health was fragile, she crossed the Atlantic and then traveled by steamboat and stagecoach until she reached the wilderness mission of St. Mary of the Woods, which consisted only of a tiny log chapel. She and her five sisters endured the extreme hardships common to life on the frontier. Less than a year after arriving she opened an academy which became the first Catholic women’s Liberal Arts college in the United States, still active today, called St. Mary of the Woods College. St. Theodore also established numerous schools, pharmacies, and orphanages throughout the state of Indiana. She was well known for her heroic witness to faith, her hope, and her love of God. The fledgling years of the convent of Our Lady of the Woods were difficult, with the ever present danger of it being burned down by anti- Catholics. The persecution also came from within the Church, from her own bishop, who, on not being allowed to tamper with the order’s rule, excommunicated her. The excommunication was eventually lifted by his successor. James Cardinal Gibbons said of her in 1904, that she was “a woman of uncommon valour, one of those religious athletes whose life and teachings effect a spiritual fecundity that secures vast conquests to Christ and His holy Church.” St. Theodore died on May 14, 1856 after a period of sickness. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1998, and canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic church on October 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI. Saint Theodore (Theodora) Guerin’s is the Patron Saint of the Diocese of Lafayette, IN. Her feast day is October 3rd.
Saint Theodore (Theodora) Guerin, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Thursday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Luke 10:1-12
“Your peace will rest on him”
“Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs to go forth to the various places that He Himself would be visiting and ministering in. He told them all that He wanted them to do in those places, preparing His path and ministry, to reach out to all those whom God had wanted to encounter, and to prepare everyone to receive the fullness of His truth, His love and Good News. He instructed them all only to bring what is essential and not to bring too much with them, to bring only what is necessary for them to sustain the barest minimum, while depending on the good graces and love from others, especially from those whom they visited, and ultimately, to trust in God’s Providence. This is because if they prepared a lot for their missions and did a lot of preparations and brought a lot of resources with them, they would often end up thinking that it was by their own readiness, preparations and efforts that they had attained successes and glory for their endeavours and works. And this would eventually lead to them becoming proud and conceited, thinking that they did not need God at all to succeed in whatever they were doing, and their missions and works would end up turning from one that is God-centric to one that is man-centric and self-centred, and this is what the Lord does not want us all, His disciples and followers, to end up doing in our respective lives and missions, in whatever we do throughout our every day moments and works, our efforts and endeavours.
According to the Gospel, Jesus gives to the seventy-two instructions and He tells them that regardless of the reception they receive from a particular town, they are to announce, ‘the kingdom of God is very near to you’. The Lord is very near whether He is welcomed or not. The Lord is present whether He is received or not. The Lord continues to work in and through those who are ready to be His labourers, whether or not that work is appreciated. We are constantly confronted by the presence of God’s kingdom, God’s rule in and through His Son; there is no getting away from that reality. The only question is how we are responding to that ultimate reality. It is always good to remind ourselves that God was as much present on Good Friday as He was on Easter Sunday. God is powerfully at work when the Gospel is being rejected as much as when it is being received. What matters is that the Gospel is proclaimed.
Our first reading today is the continuation from the Book of Job in which the interactions between Job and his friends were presented to us. For context, Job was a faithful servant of God who lived in the distant past, and he was a very rich man, but Satan came to tempt him and brought destruction to many of his possessions and riches, and any other people would have given in to despair, but Job did not lose faith in God, and he remained firm in his convictions to follow the Lord and to obey Him, not blaming the Lord for his predicaments and sufferings, blaming himself instead for his predicaments and sufferings. He did not curse God or abandoning his Lord and Master even when he had to encounter great challenges, including having his own body and health being attacked by the devil. He remained steadfast in faith even when his so-called friends attacked him and told him that it must have been because of his sins and evils that he had fallen to such a state. While at moments he did experience despair and occurrences of desolation, but ultimately he held on fast to his faith and trust in God, and God blessed Job greatly in the end, restoring all of His blessings and graces back to him, granting him double and more of what he used to have before he encountered all the misfortunes and attacks from the evil one. Job’s example is one of the reminders for us to continue to hold on fast to our faith in the Lord, and not to easily give up even when we face challenges and trials in life.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, all of us are reminded of the need for each and every one of us to put our trust in God and to follow Him faithfully and wholeheartedly. We should also realise that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people have been entrusted with various gifts, talents and opportunities, as well as the various missions and works that He has given to us that we may make good use of everything that He has blessed us with to carry out His will and to touch the lives and hearts of many people, and to lead more and more towards the Lord and His salvation. Let us all therefore continue to commit ourselves to the Lord and remain steadfast despite the many hardships, trials, obstacles and barriers that we may encounter each and every day in our path of life as Christians, and let us all continue to devote ourselves, our time, attention and efforts to follow the Lord most wholeheartedly at all times, doing whatever we can so that our lives may truly be holy and inspiring upon others all around us. Let us all be inspiration, strength and encouragement for everyone we encounter in life, our fellow brothers and sisters so that by our perseverance, commitment and dedication, our steadfastness in faith and refusal to abandon God and His path of righteousness, like Job and the many other holy men and women before us, we will continue to lead more and more people towards God. May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to bless each and every one of us, empower us and grant us the strength and perseverance to continue living our lives with great grace and obedience to Him in all things, and may we all continue to be strong in living our lives each day in accordance to how He has shown and taught us, to be truly loving and compassionate in all things, as He has done towards us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to give expression to God’s compassionate presence to everyone without discrimination. May God bless our efforts and works, and guide us all so that we may truly be worthy and good role models, and as shining beacons of His light and truth, now and always. Amen 🙏
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF OCTOBER:
MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY: The Catholic Church designates and dedicate October as the Month of the Holy Rosary. During this month the faithful venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary especially under her title of Our Lady of the Rosary, and make special effort to honor the Holy Rosary with group recitations and rosary processions. The Lady of the Rosary honors a large battle between the Catholic Church and the Muslim caliphate of the Ottoman Empire. This battle, in the Gulf of Patras, near Greece, took place in the 16th century, on October 7, 1571. St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers, is the Saint to whom Our Lady famously appeared and gave the prayers of the Holy Rosary to assist him as a spiritual weapon in combating heresy and leading souls back to the one, true Catholic faith. Our Blessed Mother Mary ~ Pray for us 🙏
THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY: Until about the 15th century hundreds of mysteries were part of the Rosary devotion then the 15 mysteries that we know today were definitively fixed as “the Mysteries of the Rosary.” Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, in 2002 added the five Luminous Mysteries.
Through the meditations of the complete Rosary one recalls and has impressed on his mind, the Popes tell us, “the chief mysteries of the Christian religion,” “the mysteries of our Redemption,” “the great mysteries of Jesus and His Mother united in joys, sorrows, and triumphs.” The twenty mysteries are divided into four equal groups, known as “The Joyful,” “The Sorrowful,” “The Glorious,” and “The Luminous Mysteries.”
PRAYER OF ST. LOUISE DE MONTFORT: O Jesus living in Mary, come and live in Your servants, in the spirit of Your holiness, in the fullness of Your might, in the perfection of Your ways, in the truth of Your virtues, in the communion of Your mysteries. Subdue every hostile power, the devil, the world and the flesh, in the strength of Your Spirit, for the glory of Your Father, Amen 🙏🏽
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/10_1.cfm
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER – FOR A SHARED MISSION: We pray that the Church continue to sustain in all ways a Synodal lifestyle, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, the communion and the mission shared among priests, religious and lay people.
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 ⁵⁵⁵ 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 courageous Lord, You came face-to-face with a harshness and cruelty in this world that ultimately enabled You to give witness to Your divine love by freely laying down Your life. Please send me forth on Your mission and strengthen me with every divine virtue so that I will not fear any form of persecution but always remain steadfast in my love of You, overcoming all fear through the gift of faith. My life is Yours, dear Lord. Do with me as You will. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏🏽
Save Us, Savior of the World. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Most Precious Blood of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Blessed Mother Mary; Saint Gerard of Brogne and Saint Theodore (Theodora) Guerin ~ 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, and fruitful week and month of October 🙏🏽
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖