Year: 2024

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 25, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 25, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 25, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 25, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 25, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 25, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Thursday, July 25, 2024
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 4:7-15
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Gospel, Matthew 20:20-28

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST OF SAINT JAMES, APOSTLE, AND SAINT CHRISTOPHER, MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY – JULY 25TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint James, Apostle, and Saint Christopher, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the safety and well-being of all children, for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases, arthritis, epilepsy and dental diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties, especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love, and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT JAMES, APOSTLE: St. James, known as St. James the Greater, in order to distinguish him from the other Apostle St. James, our Lord’s cousin, was St. John’s brother. In Spain, St. James is called El Senor Santiago. He is one of those that Jesus called Boanerges, “son of thunder,” the brother of John the Evangelist and the son of Zebedee, the fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee, and his Mother, Salome. The two youths James and John were fishing with their father when Jesus came by and invited them to follow Him. They became such dedicated and zealous followers that our Lord styled them Boanerges, or sons of thunder. They were present at the cure of St. Peter’s mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus’s daughter, and the Transfiguration, and were near Christ in His Agony in the garden. Among the twelve Apostles, three were chosen to be the close companions of our Blessed Lord, and of this, James was one. They were present at the cure of St. Peter’s mother-in-law, He, with Peter and John, were admitted to the house of Jairus when his dead child was raised to life (Luke 8:40 ff.); only these three were taken up to the high mountain of Thabor and beheld the face of Jesus shining as the sun, and His garments white as snow (Mark 9:2-7), Transfiguration. These three alone witnessed the fearful agony in Gethsemane. (Luke 22:39-45), were near Christ in His Agony in the garden.

One day, their mother asked Jesus to assure a place of honor for her sons in His future Kingdom. When He asked if they were able to bear the cup of His sufferings, their answer was typical of them: indeed they could! And indeed they did! After the dispersion of the Apostles, St. James preached the Gospel in Spain and then returned to Jerusalem, where he was the first of the Apostles to drink the cup of Christ’s sufferings. By order of Herod Agrippa, he was beheaded at Jerusalem around the feast of Easter in the year 44 AD. St. James’s death is the only biblical record we have of the death of one of the Apostles, and he was the first of that chosen band to give his life for his Master. St. Christopher is the Patron Saint of rheumatoid sufferers; against arthritis; riders; soldiers; Spain; Spanish conquistadors; tanners; pharmacists; veterinarians: pilgrims; Antigua, Guatemala; apothecaries; blacksmiths; Chile; Compostela, Spain; druggists; equestrians; furriers; Galicia, Spain; Guatemala; horsemen; knights; laborers; Medjugorje, Bos⁵4; pilgrims; Pistoia, Italy. St. James is venerated at Santiago de Compostela, a medieval pilgrimage site that is still very popular today.

PRAYER: Almighty, ever-living God, through the blood of St. James, you consecrated the first fruits of the ministry of Your Apostles. Grant that Your Church may be strengthened by his confession and always enjoy his patronage. Amen 🙏
 
SAINT CHRISTOPHER, MARTYR: St. Christopher suffered martyrdom in Asia Minor about the year 250. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The name “Christopher” means Christ-bearer. As the legend goes, he carries travelers across a turbulent, unpassable river. After he performed this service for some time, a child appeared and asked to be carried across the raging waters, in which Christopher obliged. As he began to cross the river with the child, the child quickly became a heavy burden and revealed himself as Christ. “When Christopher safely reached the other side, he asked the child “Child, thou hast put me in dire peril, and hast weighed so heavily on me that if I had borne the whole weight of the world upon my shoulders it could not have burdened me more heavily.” In which the child replied, “Wonder not, Christopher, for not only hast thou borne the whole world on thy shoulders, but Him who created the world.”—for the Christ Child, bearing in His own arms, the great world had been Christopher’s burden.”

St. Christopher died a Martyr during the reign of Decius in the 3rd century and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers invoked for emergencies or afflictions. He is considered the patron saint of travelers, motorists, children, bachelors, transportation, traveling, storms, epilepsy, gardeners, athletics, invoked against storms, plagues, holy death, and toothache (although he is not in the official canon of the saints).

PRAYER: Almighty and ever-living God, graciously our out Your Spirit upon us. Let our hearts be filled with that true love, which enabled Your holy Martyr Christopher to overcome all bodily torments. Amen 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Feast of Saint James, Apostle | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 20:20-28

“You will drink my chalice”

“The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus called two sets of brothers who were fishermen, Peter and Andrew and James and John. Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint James, the brother of John and the son of Zebedee. Their father, Zebedee, seems to have had a flourishing fishing business by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The two brothers St. James and St. John came together with their mother, and at that time, their mother asked the Lord to grant the two of them the places of honour by the left and the right-hand side of the Lord. This action brought about a lot of insecurities and jealousy from the other disciples of the Lord, and it highlighted to us the dangers of temptations of worldly power and glory, and one which we should resist or else we may end up falling into the wrong paths in life, and not the path that the Lord has shown us. Jesus and His disciples are clearly on different wavelengths. The difference between them finds expression in the very different questions they ask of each other. The question the two disciples, James and John, ask Jesus through their mother focuses on glory, honour, status. The question that Jesus asks James and John focuses on the experience of rejection and suffering that He is about to face into, ‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I must be baptized?’ Jesus was referring to the cup of suffering and the baptism of fire. The question of James and John showed their interest in self-promotion. The question of Jesus showed that His priority was self-giving. At the heart of being His disciple is self-giving love, becoming the servant of others, and this will often mean taking the way of the cross, as Jesus knew from His own experience. James and John, and all of us, are being called to follow the one who did not come to be served but to serve, whose purpose in life was not to promote Himself but to empty Himself for others. It is only in following this way that we will receive that share in Jesus’ glory that was the focus of James and John’s request. In the end, James drank the cup of suffering that Jesus had to drink. According to the Acts of the Apostles, King Herod Agrippa had James killed with a sword. He was the first member of the twelve to die for his faith in the Lord. According to an ancient tradition his bones were brought from Jerusalem to Compostella in North West Spain, as a result of which Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage for the past thousand years or more. We are called to strive to follow in the Lord’s way and to live by His truth, committing ourselves to this path of self-emptying love of the Lord and of others, a path Saint James eventually traveled to the full.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth, the Apostle spoke of the challenges and hardships that the faithful and holy people of God would be facing amidst their lives and journeys of faith, their works and missions. Essentially St. Paul was also speaking of his own experiences, and what the other Apostles like that of St. James had also faced amidst their own ministries, works and missions, and what we ourselves as Christians may have also experienced throughout our own lives, and what we may yet encounter in our own paths. But at the same time, St. Paul also reminded us all that we have this most precious treasure in us, that is the gift of salvation through Christ, as God Himself has come to dwell in our midst. This is an important reminder that amidst all the challenges that we may be facing in our respective lives, we must not lose faith in God, and we ought to continue to persevere in faith, in all the things that we say and do, in our every efforts to commit ourselves to the Lord. All of us must always keep our focus firmly aimed at the Lord, and not to allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations present around us, or by the persuasions to give in to despair and thus abandon the Lord, our God, because we seek to save ourselves and to avoid the sufferings and persecutions. That is why as Christians we should always strive to be inspired by the examples of the Saints, the holy men and women of God, especially that of St. James the Apostle, whose memory and inspiration we remember and venerate today. According to our first reading today, in the words of St. Paul, the Lord know that we are like earthenware jars holding the precious treasure of the Gospel. Like such jars, we are prone to breaking. Yet, as St. Paul reminds us in that reading that the overwhelming power to live our baptism to the full comes from God and not from us. The Lord’s power is always at work in our weakness, in the words of St. Paul, ‘He who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn’.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us have been called and God has bestowed each one of us with variety of gifts and blessings, opportunities and chances for us all to reach out and to do His will. What matters is for us to respond to God’s call and our commitment to walk faithfully in His path. Are we willing to drink the cup that Christ and His servants had drunk, the cup of suffering? And if we suffer with Christ, we too shall be glorified with Him in triumph. Let the examples of St. James the Apostles, who we celebrate today and all the other great holy men and women of God inspire us to do more for the greater glory of God, in fulfilling our Christian calling and our obligation to live our lives most worthily for the Lord. May the Lord continue to strengthen and guide each one of us, and may the intercession of St. James, His Apostle continue to help us in our journey and empower us all should we face many challenges and trials throughout our journey of faith and life. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and be with us always and may He strengthen us always in faith and may He bless our every works and good deeds, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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, 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. 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 glorious King, You invite all people to share in Your glorious Kingdom to come. May I enter that Kingdom with all the saints and fully share in its glory. I choose that path that leads to that Kingdom and willingly offer my life in sacrifice to You and for others. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint James and Saint Christopher ~ 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 Love always, Philomena💖

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 24, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 24, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 24, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 24, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 24, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 24, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday July 24, 2024
Reading 1, Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17
Gospel, Matthew 13:1-9

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT CHARBEL (SHARBEL) MAKHLOŪF, PRIEST AND HERMIT; SAINT CHRISTINA OF BOLSENA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR AND SAINT CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 24TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Charbel (Sharbel) Makhloūf, Priest, Hermit; Saint Christina of Bolsena, Virgin and Martyr and Saint Christina the Astonishing. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for those with mental illness and disorders, mental health workers, psychiatrists, and therapists. We also pray for widows, the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT CHARBEL (SHARBEL) MAKHLOŪF, PRIEST AND HERMIT: St. Charbel was a Lebanese monk, born Youssef (Joseph) Antoun Makhlouf in a small mountain  in 1828 at Beqa-Kafra, Lebanon. His peasant family lived a strong faith, were attentive to the Divine Liturgy, and had a great devotion to the Mother of God. At the age of 23, Charbel (the name he chose when entering Novitiate) left his closely knit family to enter the Lebanese-Maronite Monastery called Notre-Dame de Mayfouk. Following studies and profession at St. Cyprian de Kfifane Monastery, he was ordained in 1859. For the next seven years, Sharbel lived in the mountainous community of d’Anaya. After that he spent the next twenty-three years in complete solitude at Sts. Peter and Paul Hermitage near d’Anaya. Devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Charbel died there on Christmas Eve, 1898.

Despite temptations to wealth and comfort, Saint Charbel taught the value of poverty, self-sacrifice and prayer by the way he lived his life. He is known among Lebanese Christians as the “Miracle Monk of Lebanon.” His followers say they call him this because of the miraculous healings they receive in answer to prayers to him, especially those said at his tomb, and for his ability to unite Christians and Muslims. His tomb is located at the Monastery of Saint Maron. St. Charbel had a reputation for his austerity, penances, obedience, and chastity. At times, Charbel was gifted with levitations during prayer, and he had great devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament. In all things, Charbel maintained perfect serenity. He was beatified in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 9, 1977 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1977. St. Charbel is the Patron Saint of Lebanon.

PRAYER: God, You called St. Sharbel, the Priest, to join the singular combat of the eremitical life and endowed him with every kind of piety. Enable us, we beg You, to imitate the Lord’s Passion and so merit to share in His Kingdom. Amen🙏

SAINT CHRISTINA OF BOLSENA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christina of Tyre, or Christina the Great Martyr is a Christian martyr of the third century. She was born in the 300s in Tyre, modern-day Lebanon on Lake Bolsena in Tuscany. She was the daughter of a rich and powerful magistrate named Urbain. Her father, was deep in the practices of heathenism. This virgin broke up her father’s idols of silver and gold and gave them to the poor because she believed in Christ. On her father’s orders her flesh was torn with lashes, she suffered other cruel tortures, and she was thrown into the sea weighted down with a great stone. She was saved by an angel, however. A second judge succeeded her father in ordering even more severe torments. Finally, under the prefect Julian, after five days in a burning furnace and after overcoming an attack of snakes with the aid of Christ, she achieved martyrdom when her tongue was cut out and she was pierced by darts. She died a martyr in the 3rd Century at Bolsena, Lazio, Italy and her relics are now at Palermo in Sicily. Her tomb was discovered in the 19th century at Bolsena, marked with an inscription dating from the 10th century. St. Christina of Bolsena’s feast day is July 24th.

PRAYER: O Venerable Christina, who calmly went through all sorts of torture, you made yourself visible as a shining dove, with a pair of golden wings alighting in the Highest Heavens. O Virgin and Martyr, we celebrate your righteousness and holiness at your feast and bow before the place that holds your relics. Intercede for us, that we may receive grace and healing for body and soul. Amen.  St. Christina of Bolsena, Virgin and Martyr  ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING: St. Christina (1150-1224) also known as Christina Mirabilis, was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem, Belgium to a peasant family. She was orphaned as a child and raised by her two older sisters. When she was 21 she had what was believed to be a severe seizure, and was pronounced dead. At her funeral she suddenly revived and levitated before the bewildered congregation. She said that during her coma she had been to heaven, hell, and purgatory and had been given the option to either die and enter heaven, or return to earth to suffer and pray for the holy souls in purgatory. Christina chose the greater act of charity.

From then on she lived in extreme poverty: wearing rags, sleeping on rocks, and begging for her food. She is called “Astonishing” because she did the most bizarre things and suffered the pains of inhuman feats without being physically harmed by them. She would roll in fire and hide in hot ovens; she would stand in freezing water for hours in the dead of winter; she allowed herself to be dragged under water by a mill wheel; she spent much time in graveyards. She would also climb trees to escape the strong odor of sin in those she met. Many thought her to be possessed by demons or insane, but many devout people recognized and vouched for her sincerity, obedience, and sanctity. They believed that she was a living witness to the pains that souls experience in purgatory, willingly suffering with them and for them. St. Christina died on July 24, 1224, Sint-Truiden, Belgium. St. Christina the Astonishing is the Patron Saint of those with mental illness and disorders, mental health workers, psychiatrists, and therapists. St. Christina the Astonishing’s feast day is July 24th.

PRAYER: Saint Christina, your indefatigable courage and your piety and excruciating penance for the suffering souls in Purgatory, set you apart and forced recognition of your sainthood by those witnessing it. Pray for me that I, too, may one day glorify the Blessed Trinity in heaven. May I possess your lively faith, that I may consider all persons, things, and events in the light of Almighty God. Help me to generously make sacrifices of temporal things to gain an eternal heritage in heaven. Through your intercession and exceeding devotion to Mother Mary, keep me from mortal sin and obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Amen. Saint Christina the Astonishing ~ Pray for us🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

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

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 13:1-9

“The seed produced grain a hundredfold”

“On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus taught and preached to the people with the famous parable of the sower. In today’s parable, the Lord speaks to the people using the comparison with a sower that was spreading seeds on different places. The Lord liked to use these parables because many of the people back then were illiterate and uneducated, and they did not know much about the ways of the world outside that of their professions or related ones. Many of the people back then were farmers, shepherds and fishermen, and hence, the Lord used these parables to help them understand what He wanted to tell them. According to the parable, the sower placed the seeds in various places and the seeds faced different fates depending on where those seeds had landed. The seeds that landed on the roadside were snatched and eaten away by the birds of the air, representing those people who have received the seeds of faith from the Word of God, and yet, allowed Satan and the other evil ones to snatch these truth and virtues away from them, by not taking up these into their hearts and minds, ignoring what the Lord had generously presented and given to them. Then, those seeds that fell upon the rocky grounds and dried up before they could grow roots represent those who have received the Word of God and His truth, and yet failed to allow these to grow roots in their hearts and minds, as they did not provide good and suitable environment for their faith to grow and blossom in. And those seeds that landed among the brambles and thistles were choked to death as they grew, because those brambles and thistles competed with the plants for nutrients and other resources. These represent all those who allowed the distractions in life to pull them away from the path of righteousness and virtue, instead following the path of greed, desire, ego and ambition, which would lead them to their downfall. It was only those seeds that fell upon the rich soil that managed to germinate and grow well, healthy and strong, bearing lots of rich fruits and produces, in multiples of what had been planted before. This represents all those who have received the Word of God and truly acted on them, internalising and receiving them with genuine faith, doing their best to embody what they have believed in, so that their faith is not merely just a formality only, but a truly real and living faith. This has also been shown by the example of the prophet Jeremiah from the Old Testament, as well as the many other prophets and servants of God, who have allowed the Lord to guide and strengthen them in their lives so that in everything that they had said and done, they would indeed bear rich and plentiful fruits of their faithful actions and commitments to God.

There are many obstacles to the growth of the seed that the sower sows with such abandon in today’s parable. Yet, in spite of those obstacles, some of the seed falls on soil that is receptive and the harvest from that soil is beyond all reasonable expectations, even a hundred fold. The Lord continues to scatter the seed of his word today. He does so with abandon, so that it reaches as many people as possible. There will be great obstacles in the lives of many that will prevent the word from taking root in their hearts and bearing fruit in their lives. Yet, if the Lord finds some hearts that are receptive to his word, as the heart of Jeremiah was, he will be able to work through them for the good of others in ways that go beyond all expectations. In the words of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, his ‘power at work within us’ will be able ‘to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). We need never get discouraged by the failure of so many to hear the word, including our own failure to hear and receive it fully, because of all the good that the Lord can do through those who do hear his word and take it to their hearts. Jesus once spoke of God as making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. This was the God that Jesus revealed in His own ministry. As with the farmer in the parable, much of what Jesus scattered was lost; it met with little or no response. Indeed, His gracious word often met with hostility. Yet, Jesus knew that some people were receiving the seed of His word, and that would be enough to bring about the harvest of God’s kingdom. Jesus may have been speaking a word of encouragement to His disciples, saying to them, ‘Despite all the setbacks, the opposition and hostility, God is at work and that work will lead to something wonderful’. In other words, ‘the seed is good and powerful. Whatever the odds against us, we must keep sowing’. In life, every human life has its own hardships. So much of our good effort can seem wasted. The forces working against us can threaten to grind us down and undermine our resolve. Yet, Jesus is assuring us, that there is more to life than our hardships and obstacles. The Lord of life is always at work even in the midst of the most unpromising of situations. If we wait in joyful hope, we will not ultimately be disappointed.

In our first reading today, the Lord called on Jeremiah to be His servant, in becoming the prophet to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, which was then in its last years of existence. The people of Israel, God’s first chosen people back then had been divided into two groups, and they had mostly disobeyed the Lord and His commandments, disregarded and refusing to follow His Law despite the many reminders and help provided to them by the Lord through His prophets and messengers. The northern kingdom of Israel then had been crushed and destroyed by the Assyrians, sent into exile in distant lands. The people of God in the southern kingdom of Judah had similarly lived in the same way, and they would soon share a similar fate to their brethren in the north. It therefore fell upon Jeremiah to be the one whom God sent to His people to tell them of their impending doom and all that they would have to face as a consequence for their rebelliousness and refusals to follow the path of God. Jeremiah Himself was unsure of the responsibilities and the charge placed upon him, but the Lord reassured and encouraged him, saying that He would be with him throughout the way, and He would guide and inspire him in whatever he was to say to those whom he had been sent to. He empowered Jeremiah and strengthened him, so that through His guidance, this simple man would become one of the great prophets, through whom many would be called to return to God and His path.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded to answer the call which the Lord had made to us, in everything which He had done for us, in leading us all to the right path in life. Each and every one of us have been entrusted with the various and unique gifts, talents, opportunities and capabilities which God had sown in us, so that hopefully we may make good use of them for the benefit of everyone around us, for those whom we are interacting with. Through us and our efforts, and our interactions with others, we may inspire many more people to come and follow the Lord as well. As we reflect on the inspirational stories of the life of the Saints, especially St. Charbel Makhlouf, who we celebrate today, as well as the words we have heard today from the Sacred Scriptures on the calling and commissioning of the prophet Jeremiah, and also the parable of the sower, we are therefore reminded that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s disciples and followers, have the important responsibility and part to play in ensuring that our lives are truly faithful to the Lord, and that we are always open to the Lord guiding and strengthening each one of us in our respective lives. All of us must be like those seeds that grow in the rich and fertile soil, and hence, we should ensure that our lives and environment, that is our hearts and minds, our whole beings are truly conducive to allow our faith in God and our love for Him to continue to grow and develop. May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to help and strengthen us all, so that in all that we do, we will continue to be inspired and encouraged to do our best, to be ever more faithful and to strive to follow Him in all of our lives. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may He empower each one of us and be our source of Hope and encouragement, be our Light and inspiration, and bless us always, in all of our deeds and efforts, in all of our good endeavours, for His greater glory. Amen 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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, 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. 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 teaching Lord, You desire to speak to me and to reveal to me all that You are. Help me to hear Your Voice so that I will come to know You more. Make my heart truly fertile soil in which the seed of Your Word is sown, so that You can produce within me an abundance of good fruit. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Charbel (Sharbel) Makhloūf and Saint Christina of Bolsena and Saint Christina the Astonishing ~ 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 Love always, Philomena💖

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 23, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 23, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 23, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 23, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 23, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 23, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Tuesday July 23, 2024
Reading 1, Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 85:2-4, 5-6, 7-8
Gospel, Matthew 12:46-50

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, RELIGIOUS AND SAINT LIBORIUS, BISHOP ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 23RD: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Religious and Saint Liborius, Bishop. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for widows, the sick and dying, especially those with gallstones and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, RELIGIOUS: St.  Bridget (1303-1373) was born in Sweden in 1303 of noble and pious parents, was the daughter of Birger Persson, the governor and provincial judge of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, a descendant of the Gothic Kings and led a most holy life. From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus. While she was yet unborn, her mother was saved from shipwreck for her sake. At ten years of age, Bridget heard a sermon on the Passion of our Lord; and the next night she saw Jesus on the cross, covered with fresh blood, and speaking to her about his Passion. In her vision of Jesus on the cross, she  heard Him say, “Look at me, my daughter.” “Who has treated you like this?” cried little Bridget. Jesus answered, “Those who despise me and refuse my love for them.”  From that moment on, Bridget tried to stop people from offending Jesus. Thenceforward meditation on that subject affected her to such a degree, that she could never think of our Lord’s sufferings without tears. At the age of sixteen, St. Bridget was given in marriage to Ulfo prince of Nericia and lived happily with him for 28 years, bearing him eight children. St. Catherine of Sweden was their daughter. She won her husband, by example and persuasion, to a life of piety. She devoted herself with maternal love to the education of her children. She was most zealous in serving the poor, especially the sick; and set apart a house for their reception, where she would often wash and kiss their feet.

Later the holy couple bound themselves by a vow of chastity and made a pilgrimage to Compostela in Galicia, to visit the tomb of the apostle St. James. On their return journey, Ulfo fell dangerously ill at Arras; but St. Dionysius, appearing to St. Bridget at night, foretold the restoration of her husband’s health, and other future events. Ulfo became a Cistercian monk, but died soon afterwards. After his death St. Bridget renounced her rank of princess and changed her habit. Whereupon St. Bridget, having heard the voice of Christ calling her in a dream, embraced a more austere manner of life. Many secrets were then revealed to her by God. St. Bridget founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior (Bridgettines) at Vadstena in 1346 under the rule of our Savior, which was given her by our Lord Himself. It received confirmation by Pope Urban V in 1370, and survives today. The new branch of the order was refounded by Blessed Elisabeth Hesselblad and has grown substantially, around the world. At the Lord’s command, she went to Rome, where she kindled the love of God in very many hearts. She made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but on her return to Rome she was attacked by fever, and suffered severely from sickness during a whole year. On the day she had foretold, she passed to heaven, laden with merits. St. Bridget died of natural causes in Rome on July 23, 1373 at the age of seventy-one. She was canonized by Pope Boniface IX in 1391, less than twenty years after her death. In 1999, Pope John Paul II made her a co-patroness of Europe, alongside Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She’s Patron Saint of Europe; Sweden; widows.

“True wisdom, then, consists in works, not in great talents, which the world admires; for the wise in the world’s estimation . . . are the foolish who set at naught the will of God, and know not how to control their passions.” –Saint Bridget of Sweden.

PRAYER: Lord God, You revealed heavenly secrets to St. Bridget as she meditated on the Passion of Your Son. Grant that we Your servants may attain the joyful contemplation of Your glory. Amen 🙏
 
SAINT LIBORIUS, BISHOP: St.Liborius was born of an illustrious family of Gaul (a region in the Roman Empire which extended to the area on the west bank of the Rhine river of the present day Germany), and became Bishop of Le Mans, France. He played a leading part in spreading Christianity in Gaul at the end of the fourth century. He was a trusty companion to St. Marinus (Martin of Tours). They were both bishops, neighbors in office. St. Liborius was bishop for about 49 years and ordained 217 priests, 186 deacons and 93 sub deacons and other churchmen.

Bishop Liborius built many churches and celebrated the Eucharist with piety and dignity. He is said to have healed sufferers from “gravel and allied complaints” and for this reason his feast was introduced by Pope Clement XI, himself a victim who was cured by the saint’s intercession. He is said to have died on July 23, 397 A.D. with Bishop Martin at his side. Miracles are said to have to occurred at his tomb. The popularity of the saint in Paderborn is shown in the week-long yearly festival that begins on the Saturday after his 23 July feast day. This festival is known as Libori. He’s the Patron Saint of peace and understanding among peoples. He is invoked against colic, calculi, fever, and gallstones. Paderborn Cathedral, Germany; Le Mans, France.

Saint Liborius, Bishop ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

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

Gospel Reasing ~ Matthew 12:46-50

“Stretching out his hands toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.”

“While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

In today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Lord Jesus told His disciples and all those who were assembled there to listen to Him, that all those who have listened to God’s words and obeyed His will are all like His own mother, brothers and sisters, like that of His own family. This happened at the time when the Lord’s mother, Mary, and His relatives all were waiting for Him just as He was busy ministering to the people and teaching them. This might indeed seem to be such a rude remark for the Lord to make, His response seems a little uncaring, especially one against His own family members, and especially for His mother. They were anxious to see Him, presumably out of concern for His well-being. However, when this message was passed through to Jesus, His focus was not on His blood family but on the disciples around Him whom He immediately identified as His new family, mother, brothers, and sisters. Today’s Gospel gives us a little insight into the struggle of Jesus’ family, and of Jesus’ mother in particular, to let Him go to a much larger family, a family not defined by blood but by a willingness to follow in the way of Jesus. St. Luke’s Gospel suggests that this struggle to let Jesus go was experienced by Mary (and Joseph) when Jesus was only twelve years of age. On that occasion, Jesus identified His Father as God rather than Joseph and declared to His anxious and perplexed parents that His primary concern was God His Father’s business rather than His parents’ business. Jesus had to move on from His blood family to do the work God sent Him to do, which involved the forming of a new family of disciples who would become known as the church, a family of which we are all members in virtue of our baptism. In this family we can look to Jesus as a brother, to God as our Father, and to Mary as a mother. It is often the way that we too have to move on from something or someone very significant for us so as to do the work God is asking us to do. Such moving on will often be painful both for ourselves and for the people from whom we are moving on. However, if we can make this move, this exodus, in the imagery of the first reading, it will often be the necessary step to some important work that the Lord wants to do through us.

In Jesus’ response to His Mother and family, He wanted to teach and show everyone that in fact, His mother is truly the greatest of examples of this piety and faith, as Mary’s obedience to God’s will and her commitment to love her Son, her virtues and righteousness are all that we exactly need to follow and emulate in our own lives as God’s holy and beloved people. God is reminding us all that every one of us are equal before Him, and through His Son, He has opened for us the surest path and indeed the only way to salvation. If only that we will follow the examples shown by His loving Mother, Mary, who is also our own mother, then we shall be able to follow the path that Christ our Lord and Saviour has shown us. And in addition, there are also many other holy men and women whose lives can be great inspiration for us to follow as well. Genuine love for another, the love inspired by the Holy Spirit, is always a love that surrenders to God’s purpose for the life of the loved one. Mary’s love for Jesus was no less when He moved on from His blood family to form a new family of disciples. As members of Jesus’ new family, we are called to love others in the same selfless way that Mary loved Jesus.

In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Micah, the prophet mentioned of the Lord’s great faithfulness and love for His people, all the things that He had done for the sake of His beloved people, those whom He had called and chosen from among the nations. He is their Lord and Shepherd, the One Who would guide them all to the right path, gathering and bringing them from the nations, reaching out to those who have been lost to Him, patiently guiding them all back towards His loving Presence despite all the rebelliousness and the wickedness that they had committed and shown Him. He wanted to love them all once again and gave them the opportunity to repent from all those wicked ways. According to the Old Testament, the Lord had been very patient with His people, as He sent to His people many prophets, messengers and guides, and He as their loving Shepherd and Father, has always desired to gather all of His lost children and sheep to Himself. In the meantime, He chastised and punished them all because He wanted all of them to realise the errors of their ways, as well as to discipline them and to keep them all aware of the consequences of their sins. That is why He wanted to show and teach them all the right and worthy path to follow in our lives.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures, today, all of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people are called and reminded to seek the Lord once again for His ever generous and enduring love and mercy, for everything that He had done for us, in reaching out to us and in being generous in caring for every one of us without exception. He has been willing to extend His mercy to forgive us from all the wickedness and sins we have committed, and He is now calling on each and every one of us to turn away from those wickedness and sins, embracing once again the fullness of His love, and to be filled once again with His grace. We are all called to emulate the lives of the Saints and Holy men and women, particularly the inspiring examples and the life story of St. Bridget of Sweden, who we celebrate today. Let us all therefore strive to be good and worthy disciples of the Lord in all that we say and do, and that in every parts of our lives, we will always continue to glorify God and be the good role models and inspirations for one another, helping everyone around us to come ever closer to God. Our lives should be truly holy and faithful, filled with virtues and good deeds at all times. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may we all continue to dedicate and commit ourselves to God and His path, as how St. Bridget of Sweden and many other holy men and women had done. Amen 🙏🏾

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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, 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. 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 loving Lord, You have established the human family for unity and love. You invite all people to share in Your family in love. I accept Your holy invitation, dear Lord, and pledge my wholehearted obedience to the will of the Father in Heaven. As I do, I rejoice in the reward of a deepening relationship with You and with all who are united to You. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Bridget of Sweden and Saint Liborius ~ 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 Love always, Philomena💖

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 22, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 22, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 22, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 22, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 22, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 22, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Monday, July 22, 2024
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 5:14-17
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Gospel, John 20:1-2, 11-18

SAINT OF THE DAY: FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE, APOSTLE OF THE APOSTLES ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 22ND: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Mary Magdalene on this feast day, we humbly pray for all women, the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT MARY MAGDALENE, APOSTLE OF THE APOSTLES: St. Mary Magdalene (1st c.) is sometimes called Mary of Magdala; Magdalene or  Madeleine. Her name comes from the town of Magdala in Galilee, where she was born. She was a close friend and devoted follower of Jesus Christ who lived during the 1st century in Galilee (then part of the ancient Roman Empire and now part of Israel). St. Mary Magdelene is one of the most prominent women mentioned in the New Testament. According to the four canonical gospels, she traveled with Jesus as one of the closest woman collaborators of the Lord, travelled together with the other disciples and was present during the important moments especially surrounding the Lord’s Passion, His suffering, death and resurrection. St. Mary Magdalene was also known as the first witness to His resurrection among the disciples after He was risen from the dead. In that way therefore, she was the one to deliver the truth of this Good News to the disciples. Hence, that is why the Church has always treated St. Mary Magdalene as an equal to the Apostles or Isapostolos, counted among the great saints whose prominence and honour in the Church are considered equivalent to those given to the Twelve Apostles and the other Apostles.

Formerly she had been a woman of ill repute out of whom Jesus exorcised seven demons. She was dramatically transformed during her life from a person who was possessed by demons to someone who became a close friend of the person whom Christians believe was God Himself. St.  Mary Magdalene has a special place among the Lord’s disciples and is mentioned several times in the Gospels. She stood at the foot of the Cross with St. John and the Blessed Mother, and went the next morning to Christ’s tomb to anoint his body. As a reward for her great love and faithfulness, she is the first recorded witness of Jesus’ Resurrection. It was Mary Magdalene who informed the twelve Apostles that Jesus rose from the dead—for this she is called “Apostle to the Apostles.” Pope Francis, our current Pope raised the celebration of St. Mary Magdalene from a Memorial rank to that of a Feast a few years ago, in order to reflect this nature, and he also referred to her by her well-known title of Apostola Apostolorum, or the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’. St. Mary Magdalene was the one to bring the Good News of the Resurrection to the Apostles.

Scripture introduces St. Mary Magdalene as a woman “who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out” (Lk. 8:2). Some scholars identify Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed the feet of Christ with oil in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk. 7:36-50). Others associate her with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus (Lk. 10:38-42, Jn. 11). Some believe the three figures to be one person, while others believe them to be three distinct individuals. What the Scriptures make certain about Mary Magdalene is that she was a follower of Christ, who accompanied and ministered to him (Lk. 8:2-3). The Gospels record her as being one of the women present at Christ’s crucifixion. In addition, she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. The Gospels all describe Mary Magdalene going to the tomb on Easter morning. When she saw that the tomb was empty, she stood outside, weeping. Jesus appeared to her and asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” (Jn. 20:15). She did not recognize him, however, and thought he was the gardener, until he said her name, “Mary!” (Jn. 20:16) Upon hearing this, Mary recognized him. She returned to the grieving disciples to announce to them the message of the Resurrection. After Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, St. Mary Magdalene continued her mission as an evangelist, contemplative, and mystic in the heart of the Church. According to the Eastern tradition, she went to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary and died there.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about Mary Magdalene in his address before the Angelus on July 23, 2006. He referred to her as “a disciple of the Lord who plays a lead role in the Gospels.” The Pope recalled Mary Magdalene’s presence “beneath the Cross” on Good Friday, as well as how “she was to be the one to discover the empty tomb” on Easter morning.  “The story of Mary of Magdala reminds us all of a fundamental truth,” Pope Benedict said. “A disciple of Christ is one who, in the experience of human weakness, has had the humility to ask for his help, has been healed by him and has set out following closely after him, becoming a witness of the power of his merciful love that is stronger than sin and death.”

The feast of St. Mary Magdalene is celebrated by the Greeks as well as the Latins on this date. However, in the instructions given with the latest edition of the Roman Calendar, the Latin Church has stipulated that the feast is solely that of the woman to whom Christ appeared and not that of the sister of Lazarus or the penitent woman. On June 10, 2016, the liturgical celebration honoring St. Mary Magdalene was raised from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles. St. Mary Magdalene is the Patron Saint of women, converts to Christianity, people who enjoy contemplating God’s mysteries, people who are persecuted for their piety, people who are penitent about their sins, people who struggle with sexual temptation, apothecaries, glove makers, hairdressers, perfume makers, pharmacists, reformed prostitutes, tanners, and various places and churches worldwide. Her feast day is July 22nd.

PRAYER: O God, whose Only Begotten Son entrusted Mary Magdalene before all others with announcing the great joy of the Resurrection, grant, we pray, that through her intercession and example we may proclaim the living Christ and come to see him reigning in your glory. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ John 20:1-2, 11-18

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”

“On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.”

Today’s Gospel reading highlights the role of Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday. The portrayal of Mary Magdalene standing outside the tomb of Jesus weeping is true to the experience of all who have suffered a painful loss. On that first Easter Sunday, Mary seems to have been alone weeping outside the tomb. Yet, she was not really alone. The one for whom she wept was present to her, even though she did not recognize Him, ‘she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognize Him’. She thought she was seeing the gardener. The risen Lord is always present to us in our moments of sadness and grief, in our times of struggle and distress. Like Mary Magdalene, we don’t always recognize the Lord’s presence. We can be so absorbed by our grief or by our plight that we struggle to see beyond it. At such times, we often need to find a quiet moment to become aware of the risen Lord’s presence, and to hear him speak our name, as he spoke Mary’s name to her. It was when the stranger spoke her name that she recognized Him as the risen Lord. As Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, the risen Lord has ascended to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God, but He is also present among us and present to each one of us personally, especially in times of loss and struggle. The feast day of Mary Magdalene invites us to allow ourselves to become more aware of the risen Lord’s presence and to become more attuned to His addressing us by name.

Regardless of the circumstances and tradition, it is clear that no matter what kind of life that St. Mary Magdalene had carried out in the past, all those things did not change the fact that in the end, this woman became one of the greatest among the Lord’s followers, and by the importance placed on her Feast today, which had been raised to equal that of the other Apostles of the Lord, we can see just how significant St. Mary Magdalene is to all of us as Christians, as the role model and the example for many of us, God’s faithful servants, the people of God. St. Mary Magdalene was truly the Apostle of the Apostles, or Apostolorum Apostola, the one who had brought the message of the Good News and the Lord’s Resurrection to the other Apostles.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, let the examples of St. Mary Magdalene, her faith and dedication to God, all that she had done and the commitment she had made to the Lord be good inspiration for all of us to follow. Her conversion and then commitment as a faithful servant of God is an inspiration and hope for each one of us, that God has called all to be His disciples, and not even the greatest sinners are excluded from the path to salvation and eternal life. What matters is for each one of us to recognise our sinful ways and to return to the Lord with contrite hearts and with the openness to embrace His way and truth. Like St. Mary Magdalene, even many of the other greatest saints of the Church were once sinners, and some of them committed great sins previously in their respective lives. Yet, what made them to be respected and venerated greatly later on were their commitment to change their lives and in embracing the path that the Lord had shown them. They responded to God’s call and were converted to the true path of God. The Lord was with them and He brought them to the right path, and through them He did many wonderful and great deeds, because those saints allowed Him to lead them on in their lives that they became His greatest disciples and servants. All of us have also received the same calling, and all that remains is for us to respond to God’s call. It is completely up to us how we shall respond to Him and how we are to follow the path that God has shown us. Each one of us have been given various opportunities and chances to do God’s will, and even the smallest and seemingly less significant things that we do actually have a great impact way beyond our imagination.

The Lord keeps calling us by name, inviting us to turn towards Him more fully, and calling on us not to cling to whatever may be coming between us and Him. This inner journey is the journey of a lifetime. We cannot wait for it to be complete before going out to witness to the Lord, because it isn’t complete this side of eternity. All the Lord asks is that we remain faithful to this inner journey of growing in our relationship with Him. St. Mary Magdalene can be our inspiration as we thrive to remain faithful. We are all called to do our part as Christians, to be the examples and inspirations to all our brothers and sisters, that by our good examples, as St. Mary Magdalene herself had done with hers, we may bring the truth and Good News of God to more and more people out there. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He inspire all of us to persevere and to be always ever strong in our every deeds and way of life, to be more like His holy servant, St. Mary Magdalene, our great role model and guide, as well as like the innumerable other saints, holy men and women who had given their lives to serve God. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to keep searching for Him, like Mary Magdalene, we will come to experience Him as the good shepherd who calls His own by name. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, and may He bless us in our every good works and endeavours. St. Mary Magdalene, holy disciple and follower of the Lord, the Apostle to the Apostles, pray for us all! Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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, 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. 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 resurrected Lord, You appeared first to Mary of Magdala after Your Resurrection. You now invite her to share in Your glorious life in Heaven. Help me to learn from her by turning away from all sin and becoming deeply devoted to You. May my fidelity to You, dear Lord, be absolute and unwavering, so that I, too, will one day share in the glory of Your Resurrection. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles ~ 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 Love always, Philomena💖

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 21, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Sunday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 “Closing Mass of National Eucharistic Congress | Sunday, July 21, 2024 | EWTN |

Watch “Holy Mass from Knock on EWTN on YouTube | July 21, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 21, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 21, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 21, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 21, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Reading 1, Jeremiah 23:1-16
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
Gospel, Mark 6:30-34
Reading 2, Ephesians 2:13-18

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Sunday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Year B) | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Mark 6:30–34

“They were like sheep without a shepherd”

“The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going. in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus affirms that value of finding a restful time with those who are significant for us. The apostles had been out on mission; it was the first time they had been sent out on their own, without Jesus being with them. They came back full of enthusiasm, wanting to share all they had done and taught. Yet, Jesus knew they needed to rest – as Mark says in that gospel reading, ‘there were so many coming and going that they had no time even to eat’. Jesus intended to take them off to a lonely place where they could be by themselves, with just Jesus for company. This would have been an opportunity to reflect on what had been going on and to recharge the batteries. The words of Jesus, ‘you must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest awhile’ affirms the value of rest, the value of finding space amid the business of life, the value of slowing down and finding a different, less hectic, rhythm. The pressures of modern living can work against these values, as we know. There are times when we need to be more than to do. It can be good to find a space and a time when we have no targets, no goals, to reach. Jesus and His disciples worked hard, but Jesus understood that work, not even the work of the Lord, was an absolute value. There comes a time when it must give way to other values, the value of rest, relaxation, quietness, reflection. Yet, according to the Gospel reading, the values of rest, relaxation, quietness and reflection that Jesus was trying to promote for His disciples did not materialize on this particular occasion. The lonely place where Jesus had intended taking His disciples turned out to be a very crowded place. The work that Jesus was trying to take His disciples away from arrived in the lonely place ahead of them, in the form of a needy crowd of people. The plans Jesus had for Himself and His disciples did not materialize. The situation St. Mark describes in the Gospel reading is not an unusual human experience. We have all had similar experiences. Something pleasant we had planned is suddenly blown out of the water for one reason or another. The urgent need of others can cut across our own need for rest and quietness. The temptation in such situations is to react with irritation and annoyance and to respond to the need of the other that has suddenly come before us with a degree of bad grace. That was not the reaction of Jesus. The Gospel of St. Mark says of Him, ‘As He stepped ashore He saw a large crowd; and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He set Himself to teach them at some length’. Jesus’ response was shaped by compassion rather than by irritation. The value of rest gave way before the higher value of serving the needy, feeding the hungry. That second part of the Gospel reading tells us something about Jesus, about the kind of person He was. A little later in St. Mark’s Gospel Jesus would go on to speak of Himself as the Son of Man who ‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’. Jesus came to serve others, and He turned down no opportunity to do so, even at times when the demands of others would probably be considered unreasonable by most people, as in the case of today’s Gospel reading.

Jesus gave everything in the service of others, including His life. Saint Paul says of Jesus that He emptied Himself taking the form of a servant, a slave. St. Paul goes on to say that, having taken the form of a servant, Jesus was given the title Lord by God the Father. Therein lies the paradox, one of the many paradoxes, of Jesus. He is Lord but He exercises His Lordship by becoming a servant. The risen Lord continues to exercise His Lordship today by becoming our servant. He lives forever to serve us. He is the Shepherd who continues to serve the flock; He serves us by giving us His teaching, just as He taught the crowds in the Gospel reading; He serves us by giving us His body and blood. He feeds us with His word and with the Eucharist. The Lord does not have times when He is at our service and times when He is not. The Gospel reading indicates that He is there to serve us whenever we go looking for Him. The Lord is not less available to us at some times than at others. That realization gives us the confidence to seek the Lord, regardless of the hour or of the circumstances of our lives.

In our first reading this Sunday, from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord first began by chiding His faithless and wicked people, especially all those who have misled them all into the wrong and wicked paths, namely the ‘shepherds’ and guides of the people, referring to the wicked and unfaithful kings of Judah who have disobeyed the Lord and established the worship of pagan gods and idols on the holy sites and places of worship of the Lord, as well as those false prophets who were aplenty, claiming to represent God’s will and speak His words, when they in fact advanced their own ideas, preferences and agenda, desiring to gain things and benefits for themselves rather than to do what is right to the people of God and to truly do God’s will. The prophet Jeremiah had often spoken against those false prophets and all the wicked practices of the people of Judah and their kings, prophesying about the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, which would indeed happen very soon at that time, when the Babylonians came to conquer the kingdom of Judah, destroying Jerusalem and its Temple. And everything that the prophet Jeremiah had said would indeed come to pass with the Babylonians bringing many of the people of Judah into exile in distant lands away from the lands that they and their ancestors had lived in, a consequence of the rebelliousness and wickedness of their lives and actions before God and men alike. But at the same time, the Lord also reassured His people of His continued love and generous mercy and forgiveness, as He told them that He would gather them all back and then appoint over them shepherds and guides who would take good care of them all, referring first of all to how they would eventually return to their homeland after many years and decades in exile, and how the Lord would allow and help them to rebuild their lives once again, as they would reestablish their homes and cities, rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem which would once again be the centre of the proper and worthy worship of the Lord. All these things would indeed come to be just as the Lord had decreed and willed them all to be.

In our second reading this Sunday, from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Ephesus, the Apostle spoke of this great love and salvation which God had made available to all of us, His beloved ones, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has come into our midst, to all of us, the beloved children of God, so that by His coming into this world, and by everything that He has willingly done for us, all of us may receive from Him the assurance of eternal life and true happiness with Him. And He did all these by the willing and most selfless sacrifice, all the sufferings that He endured from His Cross, which He brought and carried with Him all the way to Calvary. Yes, indeed, God had saved us all and shown us all the most perfect and worthy example of His ever enduring love for us by His Son’s Passion, the suffering and all that He experienced, as He offered for us, on our behalf, the most worthy offering and sacrifice of His own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, persecuted and slain at the Altar of the Cross at Calvary, on the day of our salvation, that is Good Friday, so that through His offering and sacrifice, all of us may receive the full assurance and guarantee of eternal life and salvation through Him. This is truly the perfect example of God’s ever enduring and generous love for us, which we ought to remember at each and every moments of our lives.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded that as His holy and beloved people, that is as those who profess our Christian faith and truth, our obedience and commitment to Him, each and every one of us must always live our lives worthily and commit ourselves to follow the Lord in all things, to do what He has taught us to do, to follow His own examples in everything we do. Each and every one of us as Christians are called to fulfil our respective missions in life, to do what the Lord has entrusted to us to do, He, Who is the Chief and Good Shepherd, so that in all the things that we say and do, we will help to ensure that we inspire and are good role models for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, thus helping and inspiring each other to come ever closer to God. We are all reminded that as God’s most beloved ones, we must always realise just how beloved and precious each and every one of us by God, Who has done everything for us so that we may have the path towards eternal life. Let us all therefore reject all sorts of wickedness and evils in our lives and strive from now on to be ever more committed to God, in all the things that we say and do, in our every interactions with one another. May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to empower and strengthen us all so that we will continue to follow Him and be faithful to Him, ever reminded of the great and ever enduring, most wonderful love that He has for each one of us, now and always. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may the Lord continue to guide us in our journey, and may He continue to strengthen each one of us so that we may always walk faithfully in His presence, inspired by the examples of His Saints and Martyrs that of innumerable other holy men and women, Saints of God. Amen 🙏

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH; SAINT VICTOR OF MARSEILLES, SOLDIER AND MARTYR AND SAINT PRAXEDES, VIRGIN ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 21ST: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church; Saint Victor of Marseilles, Soldier and Martyr and Saint Praxedes, Virgin. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world🙏 

SAINT LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: St. Lawrence’s name was Julius Caesar, and he was born Caesar de Rossi at Brindisi, in the kingdom of Naples, Italy, on July 22, 1559. As a boy, he studied with the Conventual Franciscans and later went to study in Venice. There he discerned a call to enter the Capuchin Franciscans at Verona at the age of 16 and took the name Lawrence. Educated in Venice at the College of St. Mark and finishing his studies at the University of Padua, he showed a flair for languages, mastering Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish, and French, and showed an extraordinary knowledge of the text of the Bible. Fluent in Hebrew and expertly versed in the Bible, he worked as a diplomat for the secular powers in Europe and as a missionary. While a deacon, St. Lawrence became well-known for his powerful preaching of the Word of God, and after his ordination to the priesthood startled the whole of northern Italy with his sermons. 

In 1598, St. Lawrence was sent with eleven other Capuchins to establish Capuchin community throughout Germany and Austria which were threatened by Lutheranism at that time. While in the imperial realm, the fame of his holiness, wisdom, and administrative ability led the Emperor Rudolf II, to appoint him to organize the Catholic princes against the invading Turks. At the Battle of Stuhlweissenburg, though the Christians were outnumbered four to one, St. Lawrence roused the low spirits of the soldiers with a powerful oration, mounted a horse and rode before the army with a crucifix held high. The Turks repulsed and Europe was saved. In 1596, he became a Superior in his order, he was commissioned by Pope Clement VIII to work for the conversion of the Jewish people and to combat the spread of Protestantism. He was a great preacher and refused a second term as minister general of his order in favor of preaching. Five years later went to Germany with Benedict of Urbino. They founded several priories throughout Europe. At the successful conclusion of his other German projects, the Saint returned to seek seclusion in Italy, only to find that he had been elected the Minister General of the Order in 1602. He worked, preached and wrote to spread the Gospel. He also went on important peace missions to Munich and Madrid. The rulers of those places listened to him and his missions were successful. Eventually St. Lawrence was worn out by constant travel in difficult conditions and by strain of his ministry. He became ill and died in 1619 at Lisbon, Portugal, while on mission to present the grievances of the people of Naples to their sovereign, King Philip III of Spain. Though he was a very active person, St. Lawrence was also a man of prayer as well as of deep learning. He lived and died for the Lord, and through his faithfulness many embraced the saving Gospel. Saint Lawrence was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881 and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII in 1959. He was canonized in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII, and in 1960 he was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII.

PRAYER: God, for the glory of Your Name and the salvation of souls, You favored St. Lawrence, Your Priest, with the spirit of wisdom and fortitude. Grant that the same spirit we may recognize our obligations and with his help carry them our. Amen 🙏

SAINT VICTOR OF MARSEILLES, SOLDIER AND MARTYR: St. Victor of Marseilles (d. 290 A.D.) was a Christian soldier serving in the Roman imperial army in Marseilles, France. Christianity was thriving there, until Emperor Maximian arrived with the intention of putting the Christians to death. This caused the Christians to fear, and St. Victor would go from house to house under the cover of night to admonish them to stand strong in their faith. This behavior drew attention, and during one of his nightly rounds he was arrested. The Roman prefects tried to dissuade him from following a “dead man” (Jesus), but St. Victor testified boldly for the truth of the Christian faith. Enraged, the prefects had him bound and dragged through the streets. Victor was undeterred and continued to denounce the Roman gods.

His tortures were renewed until his torturers grew tired, after which he was thrown into a dungeon. That night he was visited by angels, and his three guards were converted and baptized that same night. The next morning the Emperor had the guards beheaded, while St. Victor was kept alive for fresh torments. After three days of abuse, the Emperor commanded Victor to burn incense to the gods. Instead, St. Victor walked up to the altar and kicked it over with his foot. In retaliation, his foot was cut off. Seeing that his efforts to cause Victor to apostatize were useless, the Emperor finally had him crushed to death on a grindstone. His body was thrown into the sea before being recovered and buried by Christians. His tomb became a place where many miracles occurred and became one of the most popular pilgrimage centers in Gaul. He is the Patron Saint of cabinetmakers, millers, torture victims, sick children; invoked against lightning. St. Victor of Marseilles’ feast day is July 21st.

Saint Victor of Marseilles, Soldier and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT PRAXEDES, VIRGIN: St. Praxedes was daughter of Pudens, a Roman senator, and sister to Saint Pudentiana, and in the days of Pope Pius I and the emperor Antoninus Pius, edified the church of Rome by the bright lustre of her virtues. All her great riches she employed in relieving the poor and the necessities of the church. By the comfort and succours which she afforded the martyrs she endeavoured to make herself partaker of their crowns, and she lived in the assiduous exercise of prayer, watching, and fasting. She died in peace and was buried near her sister on the Salarian road. Bede and other martyrologists style her a virgin. An old title or parish church in Rome bearing her name is mentioned in the life of Pope Symmachus. It was repaired by Adrian I and Paschal I and lastly by Saint Charles Borromeo, who took from it his title of cardinal.

The primitive Christians lived only for heaven, and in every step looked up to God, regardless of all lower pursuits or meaner advantages that could interfere with their great design of knowing and loving him. This constant attention to God awed them in their retirements; this gave life and wings to their devotions, and animated them to fervour in all their actions; this carried them through the greatest difficulties and temptations, and supported them under all troubles and afflictions.

Saint Praxedes, Virgin ~ Pray for us 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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, 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. 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 compassionate Lord, the vast crowds sought You out to listen to You and to be fed by Your holy Word. They burned with a desire to be with You, and You responded to them with great mercy. Please fill my heart with the same zeal and desire for You. Teach me, Lord, feed me and draw me close to You. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi; Saint Victor of Marseilles and Saint Praxedes ~ 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 grace-filled Sunday and week 🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 20, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 20, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 20, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 20, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 20, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 20, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Saturday, July 20, 2024
Reading 1, Micah 2:1-5
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14
Gospel, Matthew 12:14-21

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT APOLLINARIS, BISHOP AND MARTYR; SAINT MARGARET OF ANTIOCH, VIRGIN AND MARTYR AND SAINT ELIAS THE PROPHET ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 20TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr; Saint Margaret of Antioch, Virgin and Martyr and Elias the Prophet. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all expectant mothers and those seeking for the fruit of the womb; for the the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world.  And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT APOLLINARIS, BISHOP AND MARTYR: St. Apollinaris is a Syrian saint, born in Antioch and became a disciple of St. Peter. He was ordained by the St. Peter,  Prince of the Apostles himself and sent as a missionary bishop to Ravena during the reign of the emperor Claudius (who ruled from 41 to 54). Renowned for his powers to heal in the name of Christ, he was frequently exiled, tortured and imprisoned for the faith, and finally martyred. He’s described as “a bishop who, according to tradition, while spreading among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, led his flock as a good shepherd and honoured the Church of Classis near Ravenna by a glorious martyrdom.”

According to a legend, stemming from the 7th century, Apollinaris cured an official’s wife, resulting in the couple’s conversion, cured a man who could not speak, and gained a good many adherents to the faith. As a result, he was scourged and sent away from Ravena. Going to Bologna, he converted the family of Rufinius, a patrician, leading to his ouster from that city. The holy man went to preach in Dalmatia and ended up being sent away from there also. St. Apollinaris returned to his See on three separate occasions, and each time he was subjected to torture and cast out again. On his fourth return, he was forced to go into hiding from the Emperor Vespasian (69-79), who issued a decree banishing all Christians. Ultimately, the Saint was recognized by a mob at Classis, a suburb of Ravena, beaten, and left for dead. He was carried away by the Christians, and seven days after, while exhorting them to constancy in the faith, he passed away from this life, to be crowned with the glory of martyrdom. His body was buried near the city walls. St. Peter Chrysologus (d. 450), one of the Saint’s successors at Ravena, called him a Martyr and said that God did not permit the persecutors to take his life. So St. Apollinaris may have been a Martyr solely by the torments he endured for the Lord. St. Apollinaris is the Patron Saint of epilepsy; gout; Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) Aachen, Burtscheid, Düsseldorf, Ravenna, Italy,  Remagen.

PRAYER: Lord, direct Your faithful in the way of eternal salvation, which St. Apollinaris Your Bishop pointed out by both his teaching and his martyrdom. By his intercession enable us to persevere in Your commandments so that we may merit to be crowned with him. Amen 🙏
 
SAINT MARGARET OF ANTIOCH, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Margaret (289-304 A.D.) is also called “Marina”. St. Margaret is one of the “Fourteen Holy Helpers” and one of the saints that appeared and spoke to St. Joan of Arc. She was born in Antioch, the daughter of a pagan priest in Pisidian Antioch, Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Her mother died when she was an infant, and she was raised by a Christian nurse who baptized her and gave her a Christian education. St. Margaret grew into a pious and virtuous young woman under her nurse’s care, to the delight of her father. When she came of age, Margaret returned to live with her father. She quickly angered him, however, when she refused to take part in offering sacrifices to idols. Furious at her steadfast refusals, he drove her out of his home. Margaret then returned to live with her nurse as a household servant.

One day, while she was engaged in watching the flocks of her mistress, a lustful Roman prefect named Olybrius caught sight of her, and attracted by her great beauty sought to make her his concubine or wife. St. Margaret declined, citing that she had consecrated her virginity to Jesus Christ, a reply for which she was severely persecuted. When neither cajolery nor threats of punishment could succeed in moving her to yield to his desires, he had her brought before him in public trial at Antioch to be tried for her Christian faith, scourged, tortured, and thrown into prison by her suitor. In her moment of weakness, the devil appeared to her in the form of a dragon to intimidate her and break her faith. An attempt was made to burn her, she was left unharmed. She was then bound hand and foot and thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, but at her prayer her bonds were broken and she stood up uninjured. St. Margaret trusted in God and made the Sign of the Cross, and the dragon fled defeated. At this triumph over her enemy, St. Margaret’s cell was filled with light and her wounds were miraculously healed. Enraged to find her healed, her suitor had new tortures applied to her body, which did her no harm and caused many witnesses to convert to the Christian faith. Finally the prefect ordered her to be beheaded.

The Greek Church honors her under the name Marine on July13, and the Latin, as Margaret on July 20. Her Acts place her death in the persecution of Diocletian (A.D. 303-5), but in fact even the century to which she belonged is uncertain. St. Margaret is represented in art sometimes as a shepherdess, or as leading a chained dragon, again carrying a little cross or a girdle in her hand, or standing by a large vessel which recalls the cauldron into which she was plunged. Relics said to belong to the saint are venerated in very many parts of Europe; at Rome, Montefiascone, Brusels, Bruges, Paris, Froidmont, Troyes, and various other places. Curiously enough this virgin has been widely venerated for many centuries as a special patron of women who are pregnant. She’s Patron Saint against sterility; childbirth; dying; escape from devils; exiles; expectant mothers; falsely accused people; kidney disease; loss of milk by nursing mothers; Lowestoft, Suffolk, England; martyrs; nurses; peasants; people in exile; Queens College Cambridge; women; pregnancy; women in labour; and childbirth. Her feast day is July 20th. 

Saint Margaret of Antioch, Virgin and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT ELIAS THE PROPHET: St. Elias [also known as Elijah in English] of great fame was from Thisbe or Thesbe, a town of Galaad (Gilead), in what is now the country of Jordan. He was of priestly lineage, a man of a solitary and ascetical character, clothed in a mantle of sheep skin, and girded about his loins with a leather belt. His name is interpreted as “Yah is my God.” His zeal for the glory of God was compared to fire, and his speech for teaching and rebuke was like a burning lamp. From this too he received the name Zealot. Aflame with such zeal, he spoke against the impiety and lawlessness of Israel’s King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. By his prayers he shut up heaven and it did not rain for three years and six months. Ravens brought him food for his need when, at God’s command, he was hiding by the river of Horrath. He multiplied the little flour and oil of the poor widow of Sarephtha of Sidon (Lebanon) who had given him hospitality in her home, and when her son died, he raised him up. He is revered as the spiritual Father and traditional founder of the Catholic religious Order of Carmelites. In addition to taking their name from Mt. Carmel where the first hermits of the order established themselves, the Calced Carmelite and Discalced Carmelite traditions pertaining to Elijah focus upon the prophet’s withdrawal from public life. St. Elias brought down fire from Heaven upon Mount Carmel, and it burned up the sacrifice offered to God before all the people of Israel so they might know the truth.

At the river of Kisson, St. Elias, the Prophet killed 450 false prophets and priests who worshipped idols and led the people astray. He received food miraculously at the hand of an Angel, and being strengthened by this food he walked for forty days and forty nights. He saw God on Mount Horeb, as far as this is possible for a human. He predicted the destruction of the dynasty of Ahab, and the death of his son Ohozias. He divided the waters of the river Jordan, and he and his disciple Elisha passed through as if on dry land; and finally, while speaking with him, St. Elias was suddenly snatched away by a fiery chariot in the year 895 B.C., and ascended as into heaven, where God most certainly translated him alive, as He did Enoch (Gen. 5:24; IV Kings 2: 11). But from there also, after seven years, by means of a message he reproached Joram, the son of Josaphat, as it is written: “And there came a message in writing to him from Elias the Prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, “Because thou hast not walked in the way,” and so forth (II Chron. 21:12). Interpreters believe this happened either through his disciple Elisha, or through another Prophet when Elias appeared to them, even as he appeared on Mount Tabor to the disciples of Christ. It was widely believed that St. Elias would appear before the arrival of the Messiah and Jesus himself was identified by some as being Elias returned. However, Jesus identified St. John the Forerunner (Baptist) as the Elias that was to come and proceed Him. St. Elias the Prophet is the Patron Saint of the Carmelite Order and vehicle blessings.

PRAYER: O great Prophet Elijah,/ seer of God’s mighty works,/ who didst halt the torrential rain by thy word,/ pray for us to the Lover of Mankind. Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072024.cfm

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 12:14-21

“He warned them not to make him known to fulfill what had been spoken”

“The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees plot evil against Jesus, ‘discussing how to destroy Him’. While the Pharisees plot evil against Jesus, Jesus Himself is the beloved servant of God who will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick, until He has led the truth to victory’. Jesus confronted evil and was very attentive to and careful of the crushed reeds and smouldering wicks of His time and place. His heart was moved by the most vulnerable. He sought to protect those most at risk from the plotting of others. What the psalmist says to God in today’s responsorial psalm can be said of Jesus, ‘The helpless trusts himself to you; for you are the helper of the orphan’. At those moments in our own lives when we feel ourselves to be like crushed reeds and smouldering wicks, we can entrust ourselves to the risen Lord, drawing His strength into our weakness. The Lord also wishes to work through each one of us to strengthen the weary and bring hope to the discouraged. The Lord’s life-giving love expressed in our lives will ensure that the plotters of evil do not have the last word.

In our first reading today, from the Book of the prophet Micah, the Lord told His people through Micah of His anger and the coming punishments and consequences awaiting His wicked and disobedient people, all of whom had chosen to disobey Him, walking down the path of rebellion and wickedness, choosing to obey the lies of the devil rather than to trust in the Lord, their God and Master. The prophet Micah was sent to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, during the time of the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Assyrian invasion and domination of the kingdom of Judah by King Sennacherib. He was one of the prophets who were active at the time, and he brought God’s words to His people in Judah. Detailed in our reading are all the things that would soon happen to the people and kingdom of Judah, the downfall of those who have long disobeyed His commandments and preferring to follow the wicked paths of the false idols and pagan gods rather than to trust and have faith in their Lord and Master Who had taken care of them all, all throughout the years of their prosperous existence in Judah and Israel. The consequences for those sins have to be faced by the people themselves, and that was why the Lord gave them all this warning and premonition through Micah. Of course, He did so while also telling them of His love and mercy, and showing them the prophecy of the coming liberation and salvation that they would receive from God. Through this, the Lord wanted to show His people that He truly loved each and every one of them, and He did not truly want to punish them or make their lives difficult, but it was rather their hardened hearts and minds, their stubbornness and their continued rebellion against God which had condemned them and led them to their predicaments. They did not trust in the Lord and refused to obey by His Law and commandments, and as a result, they suffered, they became lost and they were muddled in their paths and thoughts. But the Lord never gave up on them, and He continued to send His help and guidance through His prophets, and promised them the ultimate salvation that He ultimately fulfilled and accomplished through the sending of His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded to be ever more faithful to the Lord in all things, to do His will and not to give in to the temptations of worldly glory and power, all of which can lead us astray down the path of disobedience, evil and sin. We must always strive to be upright and good in all things, doing whatever we can so that by our good examples and actions grounded and anchored upon our firm foundation of faith in God, we will always be the worthy and faithful bearers of our Christian faith and truth in our world today. All of us should always be the guardians of the truth and of all that our Christian faith teaches us and shows us. From the examples shown by the Saints and Holy men and women, particularly one of the great Saints who we celebrate today, St. Apollinaris, his life and courageous martyrdom, all of us are reminded that as Christians we have been entrusted with the mission to proclaim the salvation of the Lord and His Good News which we have received and believed in, so that in all the things that we say and do, in our every moments in our respective lives, we will continue to be great role models and inspirations in faith for one another just like how St. Apollinaris and the many other saints, holy men and women of God have inspired us all as well. May all of us continue to be inspired and strengthened to do what God had taught, commanded and entrusted to us to do, now and always. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to overcome our challenges, struggles and failures, trusting that our failure need never be the end of the road for us, but that God can work powerfully in and through us, in spite of failures. May the good Lord bless us in all of our every good works and deeds, in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:*

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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, 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. 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 Suffering Servant, I thank You for Your suffering and death and for the redemption that flows from Your sacrifice of love. Help me to shed all false expectations that I have of You, dear Lord, so that I will be guided by You and Your mission of salvation alone. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr; Saint Margaret of Antioch, Virgin and Martyr and Elias the Prophet ~ Pray for us🙏

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

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 19, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 19, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 19, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 19, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 19, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 19, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Friday, July 19, 2024
Reading 1, Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Responsorial Psalm, Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12, 16
Gospel, Matthew 12:1-8

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT AUREA OF CÓRDOBA, MARTYR; SAINT EPAPHRAS OF COLOSSAE, MARTYR; SAINT SYMMACHUS, POPE AND SAINT MACRINA THE YOUNGER, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 19TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Aurea of Córdoba, Martyr; Saint Epaphras of Colossae, Martyr; Saint Symmachus, Pope and St. Macrina the Younger, Religious. 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 those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT AUREA OF CÓRDOBA, MARTYR: St. Aurea is one of the Córdoba Martyrs of Spain. She was a widow who was born in Cordova, Spain, in the ninth century into an Arab noble family; her father was a Muslim from Seville, and three members of her family were qadis, or Arab judges. She was also the sister of Sts. Aldolphus and John, who were martyred at Cordova. St. Aurea became a Christian after her husband died, and took the veil at a monastery in Cuteclara, Spain, where she remained for more than twenty years. She was ultimately denounced as a Christian by her parents, and received a martyr’s crown by beheading in 856.

According to history, the city of Córdoba had been Christian from apostolic times until the Islamic conquest came to southern Spain in the year 711. Soon Córdoba became the capital of this part of the original “Islamic State”, and would remain so until the 15th century. During this whole period the Church continued to exist, but she was subject to sharia (Islamic law) which forbade public witness and imposed jizya (a special tax).  Things became more complicated as Córdoba grew into a prestigious economic and cultural center in the Islamic world.  Catholic churches and monasteries remained, but the population — attracted by the many opportunities in the Muslim city — began converting to Islam.  Even prominent churchmen cooperated with the political regime in ways that compromised their integrity. By 800, few remained professing Catholics.  A significant portion of the population, however, conformed externally to Islamic laws and customs but tried in various ways to remain Christian privately or even secretly.  Though sharia law permitted Christians to exist, it forbade Muslims to convert to Christianity.  This was regarded as the crime of apostasy, punishable by death. The problem of “secret Christians” in Islamic Spain was especially complicated by the inevitable mixed marriages between Muslim men and Christian women. The latter were generally permitted to retain their faith, but the children of such marriages were considered Muslim by sharia law.  It is impossible to gauge the influence of these Christian mothers on their children, but it was not negligible. Thus, by the 9th century Córdoba was institutionally and legally Muslim and what was left of the Church was largely compliant.  But this period also documents the witness of forty-eight Córdoba Martyrs.  Many were Christians executed for blasphemy because, in seeking to reinvigorate the Church, they openly proclaimed Christ and denounced Islam.

But there were also apostates among them. SAINT AUREA illustrates what may have been the hidden truth for many others born of mixed marriages. She was one of several children of a prominent Muslim father and a Christian mother.  Her mother must have been an outstanding woman of faith who raised her children as believing Christians. When St. Aurea was young, two of her brothers were martyred.  Sometime after this (and after her marriage and widowhood, about which nothing is known) St. Aurea joined her mother in seclusion in a convent outside the city. A significant portion of the population, however, conformed externally to Islamic laws and customs but tried in various ways to remain Christian privately or even secretly. Open Christian witness was met by further Muslim persecution in 850, and it became increasingly unsafe for Christians like Aurea, who were legally Muslim by birth in spite of growing up as Christians and personally embracing the Christian Faith.  Relatives from her Muslim father’s family found St. Aurea after twenty years of undisturbed peace in the convent and brought her before the sharia court.  To avoid being condemned for apostasy, St. Aurea did what many other secret Christians did to escape: she declared adherence to Islam and its prophet. She repented, however, almost immediately after being released, and returned to practicing her Christian faith. Her Muslim relatives including her parents denounced her again, and this time she was executed by beheading on July 19, 856.  We have presented Aurea as a convert even though its possible that she was baptized a Christian at an early age.  Nevertheless, she was martyred because Islamic law regarded her as a convert — an apostate — simply because of her free adherence to Jesus Christ

Saint Aurea of Córdoba, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
 
SAINT EPAPHRAS OF COLOSSAE, MARTYR: St. Epaphras, Coworker of St. Paul, a first century missionary to Colossae, Laodicea And Hierapolis. Bishop of Colossae and a martyr. St. Paul makes reference to him. St. Epaphras was called by St. Paul his “dear fellow servant” and a “trusty minister in Christ” (Col 1:7). He is regarded as the founder of the Christian Church at Colossae and apparently also at the neighboring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. He embraced Christianity and promoted it in Colossae as well as the neighboring towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis, in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). He also visited St. Paul in prison, giving the great missionary wonderful comfort, no doubt. When  St. Paul wrote his “Letter to the Colossians,” (written while Paul was in prison) he mentioned that Epaphras was with him. “Epaphras sends you greetings; he is one of you, a slave of Christ [Jesus], always striving for you in his prayers so that you may be perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.” ~ Colossians 4:12

The Saint brought St. Paul a glowing report of the state of the Colossian Christian (Col 1:4,8) and sent back greeting to them from Rome (Col 4:12). St. Epaphras is commended by St. Paul for his ministry of intercession, for he showed true pastoral concern that extended to other Churches in the Lycus River Vallex (Col 4:13). He also seems to have shared to some extent St. Paul’s imprisonment in Rome for the Apostle calls him “my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus” (Philem 23). Saint Epaphras can remind us to cling to truth … even if it means being associated with a prisoner or outcast. There is a tradition that Epaphras was martyred in Colossae.

PRAYER: Lord God, You taught the Gentiles through St. Paul’s coworker in Christ, St. Epaphras. As we celebrate his feast, grant that, following his example, we may be witnesses to Your truth in this world. Amen 🙏
 
SAINT SYMMACHUS, POPE: St. Symmachus was Pope from 498 to 514. He was born on Sardinia and was baptized in Rome, where he became archdeacon under Pope Anastasius II. At the latter’s death, St. Symmachus was elected Pope in 498. St. Symmachus was active during the Acacian schism, a period of intense friction between the churches of Constantinople and Rome over the issue of Monophysitism. He thus faced a serious rival claimant to the throne of Saint Peter. A splinter group at Rome, in league with Emperor Anastasius of Constantinople, elected a rival Pope, Laurentius (Lawrence). The archpriest Laurentius, led a faction less opposed to Constantinople at the same time. Both claimants to the Holy See appealed to the Gothic King Theodoric at Ravenna. King Theodoric the Great eventually decided against Laurentius and in favor of St. Symmachus. King Theodoric chose St. Symmachus as the rightful Pontiff because he had been elected first and by the great number of votes. Most important of all, the King characterized St. Symmachus as one who was good, prudent, kindly, gracious, and a lover of the clergy and the poor. Nevertheless, the Saint had many troubles because of the Schismatics during the first half of his pontificate. When he learned that the Arian King Thrasimund had exiled many African Bishops to Sardinia, he was quick to send them a letter to comfort them as well as clothes, money, and relics of Martyrs for them and their flocks. Among other good works, St. Symmachus built three hospices for the poor, came to the aid of those who underwent raids by the Barbarians in northern Italy, and redeemed a multitude of captives. The Pope also restored several churches in Rome and built three new basilicas—to St. Andrew, St. Pancras, and St. Agnes. He died on July 19, 514, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.

PRAYER: Almighty and eternal God, You willed to set St. Symmachus over Your entire people and to go before them in word and example. By his intercession keep the pastors of Your Church together with their flocks and guide them in the way of eternal salvation. Amen 🙏

SAINT MACRINA THE YOUNGER, RELIGIOUS: St. Macrina the Younger (d. 380 A.D.) was born in Cappadocia to a family of saints. Her mother was St. Emelia, and her father was St. Basil the Elder. Her grandmother was St. Macrina the Elder, after whom she was named. Her holy parents had ten children. St. Macrina was one of the oldest, and received an excellent religious education from her holy mother. Her parents betrothed her to a pious youth, but he died before the marriage took place. St. Macrina then consecrated her virginity to God and lived a life of great asceticism. She remained living with her parents, helping to raise her younger siblings, directing the household servants, and supporting the family with her domestic skills. Among her siblings were St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa (who both became Cappadocian Fathers and Doctors of the Church) St. Peter of Sebaste, and St. Theosevia. When their father died, St. Macrina became the main support for the family. It was St. Macrina who profoundly influenced the spiritual discipline of her younger brothers. When all her siblings were grown, St. Macrina convinced her mother to give up their family belongings, set their servants free, and convert their home into a monastery. Many of their servants joined them in this spiritual pursuit; they all lived together as a family, sharing all things in common. When her mother died, St. Macrina led the religious community. The biography of St. Macrina’s life was written by her brother, St. Gregory. Her feast day is July 19th.

Saint Macrina the Younger ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Reading for today, Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB |
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 12:1-8

“What I want is mercy, not sacrifice”

“Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees criticize Jesus’ disciples for satisfying their hunger in a way they considered inappropriate on the Sabbath, by eating some of the grain as they walk through a cornfield. However, Jesus defends what His disciples are doing. He gives priority to human need over a strict interpretation of a religious law, even a law as important as the Sabbath law. This exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees shows us something of Jesus’ priorities. He was concerned for human well-being. He wanted the hungry to be fed, the thirsty to have clean water, the homeless to be housed, the sick to be cared for, the rejected to be welcomed. These were the values that He lived by and religious law was at the service of those values. Jesus lived by these values because he knew that they were God’s values. This is why he goes on to quote from the prophet Hosea, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. God gives greater priority to people showing mercy to others than to people offering Him sacrifice in the Temple. Showing mercy to others entails providing for people’s basic needs, such as ensuring that the hungry are fed. Jesus could speak as God’s representative. As he says in the Gospel reading, ‘here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple’. The Temple was traditionally understood to be the privileged place of God’s presence in the world. Jesus, however, is now the privileged place of God’s presence in the world. He speaks and acts as God would speak and act. Jesus shows that God’s highest value is mercy, the loving care of others in their need. Jesus wants us, His followers, to make God’s highest value our own in the way we relate to others.

Our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah presents the story of the illness of King Hezekiah of Judah. This ailing King sought for God’s mercy and compassion, and hoped that God could heal him and extend his life for all the faithful actions and obedience which he had shown to Him in his years ruling the people and kingdom of Judah as a virtuous and righteous King, as well as a faithful servant of God. King Hezekiah himself was one of the few kings of Judah who had been faithful to God unlike many of his predecessors, obeying the Law of God and following His Law and commandments faithfully. Thus, in today’s first reading, King Hezekiah begged the Lord to remember all of his good deeds and to have pity on him. God listened to Hezekiah’s prayers and extended his life by another fifteen years. The prophet Isaiah brought the good tidings upon the king, who was informed therefore that God had listened to his prayers and that he would live another fifteen years just as God had said. This shows us that God truly loves us all, His beloved ones, and He is also the Lord and Master of all things, including the matters of life and death, as the One Lord and Master of all things.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded once again that God truly loves each one of us as His beloved children and people, those to whom God has been willing to show all of His attention, love and care. God has never sought our destruction and damnation, and He has always loved us all since the very beginning, when He decided to create us all. Through His love, He has given us so many great and wonderful things, first and foremost is the love that He has manifested to us through His beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, through Whom He has assured us all of eternal life. This is why we all need to rediscover that love that we have for the Lord, our God and Master, each and every one of us should make good use of the opportunities that He has given to us to find our path to Him. All of us have been lost to Him because of our sins and disobedience, all the evil things and wickedness which we had committed. Yet, the love of God for us, His compassion and mercy are far greater than our sins and wickedness, and His light and love illuminate the path for us to follow in our lives, directing us towards Him and His salvation, that we may be fully reunited and reconciled with Him as He wants us to. Let us all therefore abandon our sinful and wicked ways, and put our trust and faith once again in God, in all and everything that we have done and committed in our whole lives. May the Lord, our ever loving and compassionate God be with us always, and may He continue to empower and strengthen us all in our every good works and efforts, to do His will and to bring forth God’s salvation to all the people of all the nations. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to trust and believe in Him as He comes to us in every moment of our lives, giving each moment eternal significance. May all of us and our lives be good inspiration for one another, and may we draw ever closer to God, now and always. Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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, 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. 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 divine Judge of All, You and You alone know the heart, and You and You alone are capable of acting as Judge. Please exercise Your authority in my life so that I can perceive my own sin. As You do, please also free me from the tendency to judge and condemn. Fill me, instead, with a heart full of mercy and truth toward all. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Aurea of Cordoba, Saint Epaphras of Colossae, Saint Symmachus and Saint Macrina the Younger ~ Pray for us🙏

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

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 18, 2024

[Note: Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest—USA Optional Memorial today, he was celebrated on the anniversary of his death on July 14 outside the United States]

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 18, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 18, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 18, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 18, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 18, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Thursday, July 18, 2024
Reading 1, Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 102:13-14, 15, 16-18, 19-21
Gospel, Matthew 11:28-30

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS, PRIEST; SAINT FREDRICK, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND SAINT SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS, MARTYRS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 18TH

(Note: Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest—USA Optional Memorial today, he was celebrated on the anniversary of his death on July 14 outside the United States)

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest; Saint Frederick, Bishop and Martyr and Saint Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons, Martyrs. 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 those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS, PRIEST: St. Camillus de Lellis (1550–1614) turned from his life as a soldier and gambler to become the founder of an order dedicated to caring for the sick. In some other countries, besides the United States, he is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, July 14. St. Camillus was born in 1550 and his mother was nearly sixty years old when he was born in Abruzzo, a small town of the Kingdom of Naples in present-day Italy. His mother died during his infancy, and he lost his father, a former army officer, six years later. The young man took after his late father professionally, serving in the armies of Venice and Naples until 1574. As a youth he gave himself to the sinful pleasures of this world. He was a wild, undisciplined youth who became a battle-hardened soldier with a violent temper and a gambling addiction. His bad behavior, combined with a persistent war wound in his leg, left him in poverty. During his military service Camillus developed a severe gambling problem. He repented of the habit and his conversion dates from the feast of the Purification, in 1575. He repented when he found himself impoverished and forced to do menial work for a group of Franciscans. In February of that year he resolved to change his life and soon sought to join the order. A wound in one of his legs, however, was seen as incurable and kept him from becoming a Franciscan. After this rejection, he traveled to Rome and worked for four years in a hospice, in a hospital for incurables. Committed to a life of prayer and penance, he wore a hair shirt and received spiritual direction from St. Philip Neri. Grieved by the quality of service given to the sick, St. Camillus decided to form an association of Catholics who would provide them with both physical and spiritual care.

He studied for the priesthood, and was ordained in 1584. Members of his order worked in hospitals, prisons, and in the homes of those afflicted by disease. The order’s original name, the “Fathers of a Good Death,” reflected the desire to aid in their spiritual salvation and prepare the dying to receive their last rites. Later known as the Order of the Ministers of the Sick, or simply as the “Camillians,” the group received papal approval in 1586 and was confirmed as a religious order in 1591. In addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they took a vow of unfailing service to the sick. St. Camillus himself suffered physical ailments throughout his life. His leg wound failed to heal over the course of almost five decades, in addition to which he suffered from sores and severe kidney trouble. But he is said to have spent time with the sick even while unable to walk, by crawling from bed to bed. The founder of the Ministers of the Sick lived to assist at a general chapter of his order in Rome during 1613, and to make a last visitation of many of their hospitals. Learning that he himself was incurably ill, St. Camillus responded: “I rejoice in what has been told me. We shall go into the house of the Lord.” Receiving the Eucharist for the last time, he declared: “O Lord, I confess I am the most wretched of sinners, most undeserving of your favor; but save me by your infinite goodness. My hope is placed in your divine mercy through your precious blood.” After giving his last instructions to his fellow Ministers of the Sick, St. Camillus de Lellis died on July 14, 1614. He was canonized by Benedict XIV in 1746, and later named – along with Saint John of God – as one of the two main co-patrons of nurses and nursing associations in 1930. Leo XIII proclaimed him patron of hospitals and the sick and Pius XI declared him the protector of all nuns who care for the sick. He’s the Patron Saint of bodily ills; hospitals; hospital workers; the sick, doctors and nurses.

PRAYER: God, You adorned St. Camillus, Your Priest, with the singular grace of charity toward the sick. By his merits, pour forth the Spirit of Your love into us, so that by serving You in our brothers here on earth we may safely come to You at the hour of death. Amen 🙏

SAINT FREDRICK, BISHOP AND MARTYR: Saint Frederick (c 780 – c 838) was Bishop from c 815 – c 838. He was born around 780 in Friesland and was a grandson of the Frisian King Radboud. At a young age he was taught at Utrecht by the clergy, including Bishop Ricfried. Filled with piety and learned in spiritual things, he was ordained by Bishop Rickfield and given the task of instructing catechumens. In 820, St. Frederick succeeded the same prelate as Bishop of Utrecht. The Saint was consecrated in the presence of the Emperor, Louis the Debonair, who advised him to stamp out the remaining vestiges of idolatry in Friesland. Frederick took the advise and sent zealous laborers into the north to extirpate the paganism still lurking there. He reserved for himself the most troublesome territory, Walcheren, an island belonging to The Netherlands that was rampant with incestuous marriages contracted within the forbidden degrees. St. Frederick worked unceasingly to eradicate this evil from the people, by means of assiduous exhortations, tears, watching, prayer and fasting. He called an assembly of the principal people of the land and sent forth the ways and means by which such and abomination could be eliminated for good. In this way, he put an end to many such marriages and brought back to God numberless persons who were truly contrite.

At the same time, hearing of some of the numerous immoralities attributed to the Emperor’s second wife, the saintly Bishop went to the court to which he had free access and boldly admonished her. Though he did so with apostolic freedom and true charity, thinking only of her welfare, St. Frederick incurred the wrath and resentment of her husband.

Thus it was not very surprising on July 18, 838, as St. Frederick stepped down from the altar after saying Mass and was on his way to the side chapel to make his thanksgiving, that he was set upon by two assassins and stabbed to death. He died with the words of Psalm 116 on his lips: “I shall praise the Lord in the land of the living.” And the reputation of his sanctity spread quickly far and wide. Saint Frederick was recorded by his contemporaries, who praised his wisdom, prudence, piety, and virtues. Poems and hymns were written in his honor. Saint Frederick composed a prayer to the Holy Trinity, which was used in the Netherlands for centuries.

PRAYER: God, You gave splendor to Your Church by granting St. Frederick the victory of martyrdom. Grant that, as he imitated the Lord’s Passion, so we may follow in his footsteps and attain everlasting joys. Amen 🙏

SAINT SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS, MARTYRS : St. Symphorosa, a native of Tivoli, lived in the second century, was the wife of the martyr Getulius. She bore him seven sons, Crescentius, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justinus, Stacteus, and Eugenius. According to early chronicles, St. Symphorosa and her seven sons, whom she instructed in the Christian Faith, were martyred at Trivoli, near Rome, circa 120 AD during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (Adrian). Their piety was tried by many different tortures, and, on their remaining constant, the mother, who had taught her sons, led the way to martyrdom. Their story comes just days after the feast of the Seven Holy Brothers, the sons of St. Felicitas (July 10th). St. Symphorosa’s husband, St. Getulius, was a native of Gabii in Sabina. He was an officer in the Roman army, but resigned upon being baptized a Christian, ultimately retiring to his estate near Tivoli. Caerealis, an imperial legate, was sent to arrest him, but was converted to Christianity by St. Getulius. Another officer, Primitivus, was sent to arrest St. Getulius, but he was also converted. Upon the orders of Emperor Hadrian, the men were tied to a stake and set alight. The fire did not harm them, so they were brutally clubbed and then beheaded. St. Symphorosa buried their remains in an arenarium on their estate. Shortly after her husband’s martyrdom, St. Symphorosa and her seven sons were brought before Emperor Hadrian who demanded that they worship the pagan gods. Refusing, St. Symphorosa received a martyr’s crown when, after various tortures, she was thrown into the Anio River with a heavy rock fastened to her neck. She died in the 138th year of the Christian Era. Her brother took her remains and buried them alongside her martyred husband.

On the following day, her seven sons were brought before the Emperor, who represented to them that, as they had neither father nor mother, he would adopt them as his own children and provide for them most bountifully, if they would obey him and sacrifice to the gods. Should they, however, prove as obstinate as their parents had been, they had nothing to expect but torments and death. “This is what we desire,” answered Crescentius,” that we, like our parents, may die for the sake of Christ. Neither promises, nor threats, nor torments can make us faithless to Christ.” The Emperor, being unwilling to put his menaces immediately into execution, still endeavored to win over the children, alternately by promises and threats; but finding all unavailing, he ordered seven stakes to be raised in the idolatrous temple, to which the seven valiant confessors of Christ were tied, and tormented in all possible ways. Their limbs were stretched until they were dislocated, and the witnesses of these awful scenes were filled with compassion. The pain must have been most dreadful; but there was not one of these young heroes who did not praise God, and rejoice in his suffering. The tyrant, ashamed of being conquered by children, ordered an end to be made of their torments, which was accordingly done in various ways. Each of her sons suffered a different kind of martyrdom: Crescens was pierced through the throat with a dagger, Julianus was stabbed through the breast with a sword, Nemesius pierced through the heart, Primitivus was wounded at the navel, Justinus was pierced through the back and cut in pieces, Stracteus was shot with arrows and wounded in the side, and Eugenius, the youngest was cleft in two from top to bottom. Their bodies were thrown into a deep ditch from which they were ultimately recovered by the Christian community. Thus gloriously died the seven sons of St. Symphorosa, reminding us of the illustrious martyrdom of the several Machabees, in the reign of the wicked King Antiochus. Getulius’ relics were ultimately moved to Rome, and are in the principal altar of the Church of St. Angelo. In 752, the relics of St. Symphorosa and her seven sons were also transferred to the Church of St. Angelo in Piscina, Rome under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV. In 1587, the relics were enclosed in a marble sarcophagus.

PRAYER: O God, who has granted us the grace to celebrate the birthday of Your blessed martyrs Symphorosa and her sons, grant that we may also share their eternal happiness in heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who reigns forever and ever ~ Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

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

Gospel ~ Matthew 11:28-30

“I am meek and humble of heart”

“Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus addresses Himself to those who were burdened. There is something about that invitation of Jesus, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened’, that makes us feel it is addressed to each one of us personally. In its original setting, Jesus was addressing Himself to those who had come to feel overburdened by the very strict interpretation of the Jewish Law that the religious authorities were attempting to impose on them. However, that invitation of Jesus speaks to us all whenever we feel burdened for whatever reason. We can all find ourselves burdened for many reasons. We may feel overworked; some relationship in our lives may have become a burden over time; we may struggle with ill health occasionally. We can be left feeling burdened for all kinds of reasons. As we hear Jesus’ invitation, ‘Come to me’, and respond to it, we also hear the promise that He makes to us, ‘I will give you rest’. According to the Gospel, as Jesus addresses His words to those who felt burdened by the demands of the Jewish Law, they struggled to meet those demands, and in failing to meet them they felt themselves to be religious outcasts. To such people, Jesus does not offer a new law. Rather, He offers them Himself; He calls them and all of us into a personal relationship with Himself. ‘Come to me’, He says, ‘learn from me’. We are to come to Him and learn from Him; He is a teacher whose teaching is visible in His person, in who He is and how He lives. To learn from someone, we need to be around them over time. In saying, ‘Come’, Jesus is really saying, ‘Come and remain’. We are called into an ongoing relationship with the Lord. It is in and through that relationship that we learn to live as He calls us to live, as He wants us to live. We live out of our relationship with Him, or more fundamentally, out of His relationship with us, because it is He who initiates that relationship, it is He who keeps on saying to us ‘Come’. He promises us that if we come to Him and remain with Him, we will discover that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Yes, His way of life is demanding, but His relationship with us and ours with Him makes it much less demanding than it would otherwise be. As Saint Paul says in one of his letters, ‘his power at work within us is able to accomplish immeasurably far more than all we can ask or imagine’. It is by remaining in Jesus, as branches in the vine that our lives will bear much fruit.

In our Gospel reading, when Jesus declares, ‘my yoke is easy and my burden light’, He is saying that His teaching, His understanding of God’s will, is not something burdensome. Rather, His teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. If His teaching is received and lived, it lightens the burden of oppression; it brings joy. That is not to say that Jesus’ teaching is not demanding. We only have to listen to the Sermon on the Mount to realize that Jesus’ teaching is in many ways more demanding than the teaching of the Jewish Law. If the Law prohibits murder, Jesus prohibits the kind of anger that can lead to murder. If the Law says, ‘an eye for an eye’, Jesus says ‘love your enemy’. His teaching is demanding but not burdensome. That is because Jesus does not ask us to live His teaching out our own strength alone. He empowers us to live out His teaching. Jesus does not say, ‘Come to my teaching’, but ‘Come to me’. He does not say, ‘learn my teaching’, but ‘learn from me’. He calls us into a personal relationship with Himself. It is in coming to Him that we receive His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and so are empowered to live his teaching and, thereby, to become fully alive as human beings. Jesus promises that here and now we will experience something of that rest that awaits us in eternity if we come to Him and allow Him to empower us to live His teaching in our daily lives.

Our first reading today is the continuation of the passage from the prophet Isaiah in which the prophet brought forth the people’s lamentations and prayers before God, as the people sought God’s forgiveness and mercy for their transgressions and evils of the past, seeking Him to bless and guide them once again. Although they had indeed disobeyed against God and committed what was evil in His sight, persecuting His messengers and prophets, but they did show genuine remorse, seeking to be forgiven from their sins. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah interceded on behalf of the people, and at the same time, he was also reminding them all of God’s great love and compassion, reminding them all not to live in the manner that is repulsive and wicked in the sight of God any longer. The prophet Isaiah told the people of Judah how God would rescue them and strengthen them all once again as long as they remained faithful to Him and committed once again to the path which He has shown them. God truly loved His people and He wanted them all to come to Him and to be truly and fully reconciled to Him.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us are reminded of God’s mercy, love and kindness which He has given to us most generously all these while, but which we often took for granted. We often ignored God’s ever present and persistent love and compassion, which He has generously presented to us, all these while. This is why we are reminded that we should no longer take God’s love for granted and that we should renew our trust, hope and love for Him. We have been given the free will by God, and it is up to us then how we should decide the way we live our lives from now on. As Christians, each and every one of us must always be strong in our conviction and commitment to serve the Lord and to follow Him in all things. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted and swayed by all the false leads of pleasures and earthly joys, all the things which may seem to be good, happy and pleasurable at first, but in the end, they lead us all to nowhere else but ultimate disappointment and condemnation. The paths that the evil ones are leading us into may seem to be easier and more convenient for us, but we must look beyond those falsehoods and realise that they all lead to harm for us. Let us all hence commit ourselves anew to the Lord and do our best so that in our every moments in life, we will always continue to be ever more committed to God, to be ever more faithful in all things, and be more trusting to Him, allowing Him to lead us all in our paths in life. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace and may He continue to guide us along the right path. May God bless us all and our good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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, 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. 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 gentle Lord, You came to us to serve and to give Your life out of love. Give me the grace I need to accept Your act of service to me and to also imitate and participate in the service to which I am called. May I take Your yoke upon me, dear Lord, so that I can fulfill the mission that You have entrusted to me. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Camillus de Lellis; Saint Frederick and Saint Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons, 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 and fruitful week🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 16, 2024

Greetings, beloved family. Happy Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time and Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel!

On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we humbly pray for justice, peace and unity in our families and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to 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 | July 16, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 16, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |July 16, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 16, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | July 16, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

NOVENA TO THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS | https://novenaprayer.com/novena-to-the-precious-blood-of-jesus/ (When to begin: Any time – The whole month of July)

Today’s Bible Readings: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Reading 1, Isaiah 7:1-9
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 48:2-3, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Gospel, Matthew 11:20-24

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL AND MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARIE MAGDALEN POSTEL, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 16TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Also known as the feast of the “Scapular of Mount Carmel”. On this day, we also celebrate the Memorial Saint Marie Magdalen Postel, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary on this special feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from terminal diseases, we pray for God’s divine healing upon them. We pray for those going through difficulties during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love, and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏 

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL: The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1251 A.D.), also known as the feast of the “Scapular of Mount Carmel” is one of the Marian feasts and celebrations of the year, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Carmelite Order. Today is the principal feast day of the Carmelite Order. The Order of Carmelites takes its name from Mount Carmel, which was the first place dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and where a chapel was erected in her honor before her Assumption into heaven. The first Carmelites lived as hermits on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land beginning in the 12th century. In the middle of their hermitages, they built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who became the protectress of the Carmelites under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Through the efforts of the crusader Berthold, a group of hermits living on Mount Carmel were organized into an Order after the traditional Western type about the year 1150. Oppressed by the Saracens, the monks slowly emigrated to Europe. During the night preceding the sixteenth of July, 1225, the Blessed Virgin is said to have commanded Pope Honorius III to approve the foundation. Since the Carmelites were still under constant harassment, the sixth General of the Order, St. Simon Stock, pleaded with the Blessed Virgin for some special sign of her protection. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the Carmelite hermit, St. Simon Stock, under this title and gave him a piece of cloth—the brown scapular—as a sacramental to be worn by the faithful to whom she promised her special protection. On July 16, 1251, she designated the scapular as the special mark of her maternal love. That is why the present feast is also known as the feast of the Scapular. The scapular, as part of the habit, is common to many religious Orders, but it is a special feature of the Carmelites. A smaller form of the scapular is given to lay persons in order that they may share in the great graces associated with it. Such a grace is the “Sabbatine privilege.” In the so-called Bulla Sabbatina John XXII affirmed that wearers of the scapular are soon freed from the flames of purgatory, at least by the Saturday after death. The confirmation of the Bulla Sabbatina was promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 4, 1908.

Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is worldwide, and most Catholics are familiar with the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Brown Scapular. When our Mother Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251, she gave him the scapular with the following words, which are preserved in a fourteenth century narrative: “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.” To obtain the indulgences and other benefits promised to those who wear the Carmelite Scapular, a person must be invested by a priest who has the requisite faculties and must lead a consistent Christian life. The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was instituted for the Carmelites in 1332, and extended to the whole Church by Benedict XIII in 1726. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the Patron Saint of the Carmelites.

“Take this Scapular. Whosoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and pledge of peace.”

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.🙏

PRAYER: May the venerable intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary come to our aid, we pray, O Lord, so that, fortified by her protection, we may reach the mountain which is Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏

SAINT MARIE MAGDALEN POSTEL, RELIGIOUS: St. Marie Magdalen Postel (1756–1846) was born in a fishing village in Normandy, one of seven children of a middle class family. As a child she became famous for her generosity; she would often give her food and belongings to the needy, acts for which she was often rebuked. She was educated by Benedictine nuns and decided to devote her life to the service of God. She took a private vow of chastity, and at the age of 18 opened her own school for girls. This began her life mission dedicated to the education of children. The school ran for five years until the French Revolution shut it down. During that time of great turmoil she used the school to house fugitive priests. She also encouraged the faithful amidst the terrible persecution, and was granted special permission to keep in her possession the Blessed Sacrament to give to those who were in immediate danger of death.

She continued her work in education after the unrest subsided, founding a religious community called ‘The Poor Daughters of Mercy’ living under the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis. The community was later renamed ‘Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy’ taking the rule of St. John Baptist de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers, a religious order dedicated to the education of children. St. Marie Magdalen’s school for girls was so effective that it was declared the best-run organization of its kind. St. Marie Magdalen Postel died at the age of 90 after seeing her community grow and spread. Her feast day is July 16th.

Saint Marie Magdalen Postel, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

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

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 11:20-24

“It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you”

“Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the preaching of Jesus to the towns of Galilee called on them to rely on God, present and active in the ministry of Jesus. However, according to the Gospel reading, the cities of the region of Galilee such as Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum failed to do so. Our Lord Jesus spoke up in lamentations and the rebukes against these cities of the region of Galilee, inclufing all those places where the Lord had carried out many of His works, performed many miracles and taught in their synagogues. Yet, as the Lord showed, many of the people in those places still did not really believe in Him and what He had taught and shown them. Some among them, particularly those who belonged to the group of the Pharisees and those who supported them even publicly doubted Him and accused Him wrongly at more than one occasion. Jesus suggests that the pagan cities of Tyre and Sodom would have been much more responsive to His presence. In spite of the ways God was powerfully at work through the ministry of Jesus, they didn’t respond to Him in a trusting, faithful, way. Behind Jesus’ oracle of judgement addressed to these towns lies a heart that is broken at their failure to respond to His life-giving message. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because of their failure to recognize the time of God’s visitation through Jesus. We cannot control how people respond to us. We can offer someone the gift of friendship, for example, but we have no control over whether or not they receive that gift. Even Jesus had no control over how other people responded to Him. He brought people the gift of God’s presence but not everyone received that gift, not everyone recognized Jesus as God visiting his people. Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves, ‘To whom or what do we turn and on whom or on what do we rely?’ In the words of today’s responsorial psalm, ‘God… has shown Himself its stronghold’. Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, offers Himself to us as the stronghold of our lives, the rock on which we can build our lives, the one on whom we can rely when all else fails. Our calling is to keep turning towards him who is always turned towards us.

In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke to the king of Judah, King Ahaz, and the people of Judah that they all should not be afraid or be fearful of the mighty forces of the Aramaeans and those of the Kingdom of Israel arrayed against the Kingdom of Judah. They should not be afraid or side with their false and pagan gods, but instead, they should return wholeheartedly towards their one and only true God, the One and only One Who could protect them against their enemies, the One who had always loved and cared for them all those while. The Lord would never abandon His people and He would always stay by their side. It was often those people who had voluntarily abandoned the Lord for all sorts of worldly distractions and temptations. The Lord would prove His words true when all the plotting and efforts of the Israelites of the northern kingdom and the Aramaeans were foiled and both of their kingdoms were eventually defeated and crushed by the rising power of the Assyrians. The Lord showed His people that no matter what was being planned and plotted by man, it is ultimately God’s will that will triumph in the end. And if we allow Him to guide us in our path, then in the end, through our faith in Him, we shall share in the glory that God has bless us all with, the true joy and happiness that He has prepared for us, and all the things that He wants to share with us, His beloved people. If we can only have genuine faith in Him and trust in Him, then we shall have the full share of His glorious inheritance and blessings.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, the Lord told us all that we really must have faith and trust in Him, and we should not allow any sorts of obstacles and hardships, difficulties and challenges from discouraging us to follow His path and remain faithful to His ways. Each and every one of us as Christians must always be trusting in Him, realising that it is He alone Who is the source of all Hope and strength for us. Without Him, we have no firm and strong anchor in this life, and as such, we may easily be swayed and swept by the various obstacles and challenges in life, which may lead us into the wrong paths that are not in accordance to God’s ways. It is important that we should always focus ourselves on the Lord at all times. Today as we mark with rejoicing and joy this Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we are all reminded to follow the path shown to us by Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who as the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour has always been pointing the way towards her Son, Our Saviour and Hope. We should keep in mind God’s great love and ever enduring patience and compassion for each and every one of us, and how by extension, through His own loving Mother, He has been willing to reach out to us and to gather us all to Himself. We must not take His love, kindness, compassion and mercy for granted, as if we continue to ignore His kindness and mercy, and carrying on doing what is evil and wicked in God’s sight, we will eventually be condemned by those same sins and wickedness which have not been forgiven by God. Let us all therefore do our best that we may renew our trust in God and commitment to Him, by striving to do our best in each and every moments of our lives in becoming ever better followers of God and His cause, in obeying Him, His Law and commandments, inspired by the examples of the many holy men and women who had gone before us, but whose lives were truly pleasing to God in all things. And the best role model that we can have is truly Mary herself, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose obedience to the Lord and virtues should be great inspiration for all of us to follow. On this Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our mother, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we can find an easier and better path towards the Lord, our God and Saviour. Let us all renew our faith in God and devote ourselves to Him ever more through our own devotion to His blessed Mother, the most wonderful Lady of Mount Carmel. Let us always strive to be fruitful in our lives and faith, that by our every good works and actions, we may truly be faithful disciples and missionaries of our Christian faith, that through us, many more may come to be saved. May the Lord be with us always and may He help us and strengthen us in our path so that we may continue to bear richly the fruits of our faith. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel to live our lives faithfully and fruitfully according to the path that God has shown us all. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JULY:

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”

PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYER: Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen 🙏🏾

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JULY – FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK: We pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick confer to those who receive it and their loved ones the power of the Lord and become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for all.

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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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, 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. 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 passionate Jesus, You poured out Your heart and soul through Your preaching to the people of Israel. Although many accepted You, many others rejected You. I thank You for the privilege I have been given to hear Your holy Word preached to me. Help me to respond to You with all my heart so that I will be counted among those who listen and believe. 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 Most Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Marie Magdalen Postel ~ 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 Love always, Philomena💖