THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 4, 2024

THE SAINTS: WHO ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY CANONISED? [Please see link to the article below]

KIND REMINDER: Please remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory from November 1st – 8th

Prayer for USA National Elections: Please let us pray for a safe and successful election.

Greetings and blessings, beloved family. Happy Monday of theThirty-First Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special Feast day, as we continue to remember the faithful departed, please let us remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory this month of November. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints, we humbly pray for the souls of our faithful departed loved ones, for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of all the faithful departed. May God grant our departed loved ones eternal rest, may they reach their full stature. We pray for all those who mourn, for widows and widowers. May our Blessed Mother Mary Intercede for all those in pain and sorrow. We particularly pray for those mourning the loss of a loved one who recently passed away and the souls in Purgatory. 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 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯

“Blessed are those who have died in the Lord; let them rest from their labors for their good deeds go with them.” ~ Rev 14:13

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🙏

We continue to pray for the safety and well-being of our children and for peace in our family and the whole world. 🙏

A PRAYER FOR PEACE: Lord Jesus Christ, You are the true King of peace. In You alone is found freedom. Please free our world from conflict. Bring unity to troubled nations. Let Your glorious peace reign in every heart. Dispel all darkness and evil. Protect the dignity of every human life. Replace hatred with Your love. Give wisdom to world leaders. Free them from selfish ambition. Eliminate all violence and war. Glorious Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Every Angel and Saint: Please pray for peace. Pray for unity amongst nations. Pray for unity amongst all people. Pray for the most vulnerable. Pray for those suffering. Pray for the fearful. Pray for those most in need. Pray for us all. Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear our prayers. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen 🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube” | November 4, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | November 4, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary for Peace with Pope Francis” | LIVE Basilica of St. Mary Major | October 6, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary Novena From Lourdes” | November 4, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| November 4, 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: Monday, November 4, 2024
Reading 1, Philippians 2:1-4
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 131:1, 2, 3
Gospel, Luke 14:12-14

THE SAINTS: WHO ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY CANONISED? | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/2024/11/01/the-saints-who-are-they-and-how-are-they-canonised/

PURGATORY: The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031). The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

What Happens in Purgatory?: When we die, we undergo what is called the particular, or individual, judgment. Scripture says that “it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). We are judged instantly and receive our reward, for good or ill. We know at once what our final destiny will be. At the end of time, when Jesus returns, there will come the general judgment to which the Bible refers, for example, in Matthew 25:31-32: “When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” In this general judgment all our sins will be publicly revealed (Luke 12:2–5).

Please let us remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory this month of November and always.

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP AND SAINTS VITALIS AND AGRICOLA, MARTYRS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 4TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop and Saints Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs.

SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP: Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) was the bishop of Milan, came from a wealthy, aristocratic Italian family. He was born in the family castle, and lived a rather lavish life, entertaining sumptuously as befit a Renaissance court. He personally enjoyed athletics, music, art, and the fine dining that went along with lifestyles of the rich and famous of the sixteenth century. He studied at Milan and afterward at the University of Pavia, where he received his Doctorate in Civil and Canon Law in 1559. His maternal uncle, from the powerful Medici family, was pope. He’s a nephew of Pope Pius IV. As was typical of the times, his uncle-pope made him a cardinal-deacon at age twenty-three and bestowed on him numerous offices. He was appointed papal legate to Bologna, the Low Countries, and the cantons of Switzerland, and the religious orders of St. Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others. When Count Frederick Borromeo passed away, many people thought Charles would give up the clerical life and marry now that he had become head of the Borromeo family. But he did not. He deferred to another uncle and became a priest. Shortly thereafter he was appointed bishop of Milan, a city that had not had a resident bishop for over eighty years.

Although raised to the grand life, St. Charles Borromeo spent much of his time dealing with hardship and suffering. In the great plague at Milan, in 1570, he showed himself the true shepherd by his self-sacrificing charity and heroism. The famine required him to bring in food to feed three thousand people a day for three months. Six years later in 1576, a two-year plague swept through the region. St. Charles Borromeo mobilized priests, religious, and lay volunteers to feed and care for the sixty to seventy thousand people living in the Alpine villages of his district. He personally cared for many who were sick and dying. In the process, St. Charles Borromeo ran up huge debts, depleting his resources in order to feed, clothe, administer medical care, and build shelters for thousands of plague-stricken people. Great was St. Charles’ love of neighbor and liberality toward the poor. When the plague raged in Milan, he sold his household furniture, even his bed, to aid the sick and needy, and thereafter slept upon bare boards. He visited those stricken by the disease, consoled them as a tender father, conferred upon them the sacraments with his own hands. A true mediator, he implored forgiveness day and night from the throne of grace. He once ordered an atonement procession and appeared in it with a rope about his neck, with bare and bloody feet, a cross upon his shoulder—thus presenting himself as an expiatory sacrifice for his people to ward off divine punishment.

As if the natural disasters facing him were not enough, a disgruntled priest from a religious order falling out of favor with Church authorities attempted to assassinate St. Charles Borromeo. As St. Charles knelt in prayer before the altar, the would-be assassin pulled a gun and shot him. At first, St. Charles thought he was dying, but the bullet never passed through the thick vestments he was wearing. It only bruised him. St. Charles combined the love of the good life with the self-sacrificing zeal one would expect of a Renaissance churchman. Once when he was playing billiards, someone asked what he would do if he knew he only had fifteen more minutes to live. “Keep playing billiards,” he replied. Exhausted from his reforming labors, he died not at the billiard table but quietly in bed. He died, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, holding a picture of Jesus Crucified in his hands, on November 3,1584 at the age of forty-six. His last words were, “See, Lord, I am coming, I am coming soon.” His tomb in the cathedral of Milan is of white marble. He was canonized 26 years later, in 1610 by Pope Paul V. Saint Charles Borromeo gave Saint Aloysius his first Holy Communion. In 1572, Charles concurred in the election of Gregory XIII. St. Charles Borromeo is the Patron Saint of bishops; seminarians; catechists; catechumens; spiritual directors; spiritual leaders; colic; intestinal disorders;  starch makers; stomach diseases; Against ulcers; apple orchards; diocese of Monterey, California

St. Charles used the following strong language to the assembly of bishops during the convocation of the Synod: “Let us fear lest the angered judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savor. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?”

Saint Charles Borromeo wrote the following prayer to his Guardian Angel: “O beloved angel, who has been given me as a protector by the Divine Majesty, I desire to die in the Faith which the Holy, Roman and Apostolic Church adheres to and defends, in which all the saints of the New Testament have died, and outside of which there is no salvation.” 🙏

PRAYER: God, maintain in Your people that spirit with which You inspired Your Bishop, St. Charles, so that Your Church may be constantly renewed, conforming herself to Christ and manifesting Christ to the world. Amen 🙏

QUOTES OF SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO
☆”Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved.”
☆”We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.”
☆”If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.”
☆”If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out… Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter… Do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself.”

SAINTS VITALIS AND AGRICOLA, MARTYRS: Saints Vitalis and Agricola were venerated as martyrs of Bologna, who are considered to have died at Bologna about 304, during the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor  Diocletian. St. Agricola was a Christian citizen of Bologna who converted his slave, Vitalis to Christianity; they became deeply attached to each other. Vitalis was first to suffer martyrdom, being executed in the amphitheatre. The authorities then tortured Agricola, but failed to make him give up his religion. He was finally crucified. According to legendary account, in vain was Vitalis tempted by promises to renounce his faith; he merely showed himself more constant as a confessor of Christ. He was tortured most dreadfully, but bore all with incomparable patience till in prayer he gave up the spirit. Agricola’s sentence was delayed in the hope that the torments of his slave would frighten him into a denial of Christ, but the constancy of Vitalis confirmed him in the faith. He was nailed to a cross and thereby became a comrade and sharer with his servant in the crown of martyrdom (c. 304). Their bodies were discovered in 393 during the episcopate of St. Ambrose who was present at the translation of their relics.

Saints Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Monday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time | Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Luke 14:12-14

Do not invite your friends, but those who are poor and crippled”*

“On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus addresses Himself to a wealthy Pharisee who was His host at a meal. Jesus notices that, apart from Himself, the other guests were all Pharisees or people close to them. The Pharisees tended to eat only with their own kind. The host who was a Pharisee would have expected that his guests would invite him to a meal in return. There was a giving with a view to getting something back. However, Jesus wanted His host and His fellow guests to break out of this mind-set, He challenges His host to invite to his table those he would not normally invite, people beyond his circle, who were not in a position to return the complement, such as the poor, the cripple, the lame and the blind. Jesus, in contrast to His host, shared table with all sorts of people, with the rich and the poor, with the educated and uneducated, with the religious and those considered sinners, with men and with women. His very broad table was a symbol of His whole ministry. He did not exclude anyone from His outreach. He wanted to reveal the year of the Lord’s favour to everyone, especially to those who would have considered themselves outside of God’s favour. By his whole way of life, including his style of eating, Jesus was revealing the broad hospitality of God. In contrast, the God whom the Pharisees revealed was a God who wanted to exclude more than include. The Gospel reading calls on all of us to reveal something of the hospitality of God by our whole way of life. We can all be tempted to exclude others, even whole groups of people. It is very easy to move purely within a circle of people whose outlook, attitudes and social class are like our own. The Gospel reading today invites us to keep widening our circle so that it reveals more and more of the expansive heart of God revealed for us in the life of Jesus.

In our Gospel today, Jesus was trying to create a community of disciples where everyone was equally valued and, especially, where those who normally lived on the margins felt just as much at home as everyone else. How this community ate their meals would reflect how they lived. The diversity and unity of the community would be reflected at meal times, and would also be reflected at every Eucharist. We know from the letters of St. Paul that this didn’t always happen in the early church. Yet, this is what the Lord is always calling the church to be. The church is to be a family of faith, hope and love where all feel equally at home, where, as St. Paul says in the first reading, everyone regards the other person to be better than themselves and where everyone puts the interest of others before their own. As a church, we may not always be the kind of community Jesus calls us to be, but we need to keep His vision always before us. With His help, with the help of the Holy Spirit we have in common, we can move ever closer towards becoming the community the Lord calls us to be. In our world today, we invest in people only if we are sure of getting some tangible return on our investment. Jesus is calling on us to give without looking for something back in return. We are not to look for a tangible return on our investment in others. Jesus seems to be saying that giving is its own reward, or rather that God will reward us in God’s own time for the hospitality we extend to others. In the words of the Gospel reading, ‘repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again’. St. Paul is in harmony with that teaching of Jesus when he says in one of his letters, ‘God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance’.

In our first reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Philippi in Greece, we are all presented with the Apostle’s kind reminder to the faithful in the city of Philippi that they all should truly embody their Christian faith through their love for one another, and for them all to be truly united as one people, all believing in the same Lord and God, the same Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has saved them all through His most wonderful manifestation of the perfect and selfless love that He has poured down on all of us from His Cross, at the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death. St. Paul pointed out that they all share the same Spirit of Christ, and therefore, they all should love one another, putting the needs of others above one’s own selfish desires and interests. Contextually, at that time, during St. Paul’s missionary journeys which brought him all throughout many parts of the Mediterranean region including to the city and region of Philippi itself, there were a lot of divisions within the Christian communities especially between those followers and converts from the Gentiles, the non-Jewish populations like the local Greeks and the Romans, as well as many other people and then the Jewish diaspora population, many of whom were also divided in their allegiances and ideals like those in Judea and Jerusalem, and many of them subscribed to the idea of the Pharisees in particular, which championed the imposition of Jewish ways and customs on all the Christian faithful, and the idea that the Jews had the exclusive right of salvation in God, which likely led to divisions and friction in the community of the people of God. Thus, what St. Paul told the Ephesians made sense as he exhorted them to leave behind all those prejudices and attitudes which the people had held in them, and which they had acted to one another, leading to strife, conflicts and divisions in the Church. He reminded them and also all of us that we must always remain united in our common faith in Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and we should not lose our sight and focus on this faith which we ought to have in the Lord, our most loving God. Our faith must always be centred in the Lord and not in our own ideals and thoughts, our intellects and worldly wisdom, or else we will find that it is easy for us to be swayed by falsehoods and temptations of the world, by false ideals and ways that may distract us from the path of God’s righteousness and grace.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that as Christians, our first and foremost calling and mission in life is to show love to one another, and to be full of love in us, just as the Lord Himself is all full of love, for God is Love, and the love that He has shown to us, we too should also bear in our every actions, our every words and interactions with each other, our deeds and all the every parts of our lives. If we do not have love in us and if we do not love others around us generously as we all should have, then how can we truly call or consider ourselves as true and genuine Christians? That is because without love, then our faith as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, it is truly dead, because faith without action, which are founded on love, is indeed dead and meaningless. As Christians, we should be good examples in our faith and way of life for one another, and we should always keep in mind what God has prepared for us, in a life blessed by His grace and love, and what He has taught us to do, in His Law and commandments. God has not abandoned us all sinners, and He has always loved us all regardless, and He wants each and every one of us to be reconciled and reunited with Him. He has shown us all these and taught us these so that hopefully we may come to realise the depth of our folly and wickedness, because of our sins, and hence be reunited once again with Him in embracing the love and forgiveness that He has offered us. However, it is often that in order to do this, we must first humble ourselves before God. We are called to follow in the examples of the Saints and Holy men and women, especially the exemplary life of St. Charles Borromeo and all the Saints we celebrate today. Let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and entrust ourselves to God and His providence from now on. May the Lord continue to help us and empower us, so that we may always ever be worthy of Him, in all of our deeds, actions and way of life. We are called to put our love for God and what He has entrusted to us, our missions and calling first and foremost, and not our personal ambitions and worldly desires, just as St. Charles Borromeo himself had done. If we allow those things to tempt and affect us, then very soon we may find ourselves distracted and misled down the wrong path. Hence, let us all renew our effort and conviction to follow the Lord ever more faithfully and wholeheartedly in all things, now and always, and become good role models and inspirations for our brethren around us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to remain faithful in times of crisis and know that the Lord is always calling on us to draw more deeply, more decisively, on our personal qualities and resources that may have been lying dormant, so that our own good and the good of others will be better served. May the Lord bless us all and may He remain with us always, now and forevermore. Amen 🙏🏽

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER:

MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS: The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of November to praying in a special way for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The Holy Souls (also called the Faithful Departed) are members of the Church who await the purification of their souls before joining the Saints in heaven for all eternity. Specifically, they are referred to as the Church Suffering (the Saints in heaven are the Church Triumphant, and the faithful on earth are the Church Militant).The poor souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves or do anything to hasten their entrance into heaven, but we can and ought to pray for them as an act of charity. The feast of the Holy Souls is November 2nd. 

The entire month of November falls during the liturgical season known as Tempus per Annum or Ordinary Time (formerly Time After Pentecost), which is represented by the liturgical color green. Green is a symbol of hope, as it is the color of the sprouting seed and arouses in the faithful the hope of reaping the eternal harvest of heaven, especially the hope of a glorious resurrection. The liturgical color green is worn during the praying of Offices and celebration of Masses of Ordinary Time. The last portion of the liturgical year represents the time of our pilgrimage to heaven during which we hope for reward. As we come to the end of the Church year we are asked to consider the end times, our own as well as the world’s.

The month of November is very full of Memorials, feasts and solemnities. The main feast days are the Solemnity of All Saints (November 1), The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) (November 2), the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (November 9), The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (November 24), and St. Andrew (November 30).
The other saint days are: St. Charles Borromeo, (November 4), Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (November 9), St. Martin of Tours, (November 11), St. Josaphat (November 12), St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (November 13) St. Albert the Great (November 15), Sts. Margaret of Scotland and Gertrude (November 16), Presentation of Mary (November 21), St. Cecilia (November 22), Sts. Clement I and St. Columban (November 23), and
St. Catherine of Alexandria (November 25). The commemorations of St. Martin de Porres (November 3), St. Leo the Great (November 10), St. Elizabeth of Hungary (November 17), and St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions (November 24) fall on Sundays and are superseded by the Sunday Liturgy.

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/10_1.cfm

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER – FOR ANYONE WHO HAS LOST A CHILD: We pray that all parents who mourn the loss of a son or daughter find support in their community and receive peace and consolation from the Holy Spirit.

https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024

PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/

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 🙏🏾

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. 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. 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:

Most glorious God, You came to earth to suffer and die. In that act of perfect love You brought about the greatest good ever known. You offered this holy service of love in the most hidden and humble of ways. As a result, You are now glorified forever. Help me to share in Your acts of humble and hidden service so that I, too, may one day share in the glory of Heaven. 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 Charles Borromeo and Saints Vitalis and Agricola ~ Pray for us 🙏

Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and fruitful week🙏

Blessings and  always, Philomena💖

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