SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Saturday - July 31, 2021

 Saturday - July 31, 2021

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.

~~Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

July 31, 2021

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Lectionary: 406

 

Reading 1                                                     Lv 25:1, 8-17

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

“Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–

so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.

Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound;

on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo

throughout your land.

This fiftieth year you shall make sacred

by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.

It shall be a jubilee for you,

when every one of you shall return to his own property,

every one to his own family estate.

In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee,

you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth

or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines.

Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you,

you may not eat of its produce,

except as taken directly from the field.

 

“In this year of jubilee, then,

every one of you shall return to his own property.

Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor

or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly.

On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee

shall you purchase the land from your neighbor;

and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops,

shall he sell it to you.

When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more;

when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less.

For it is really the number of crops that he sells you.

Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God.

I, the LORD, am your God.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11ab

 

R.     (4)  O God, let all the nations praise you!

 

May God have pity on us and bless us;

    may he let his face shine upon us.

So may your way be known upon earth;

    among all nations, your salvation.

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

May the nations be glad and exult

    because you rule the peoples in equity;

    the nations on the earth you guide.

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

The earth has yielded its fruits;

    God, our God, has blessed us.

May God bless us,

    and may all the ends of the earth fear him!

R.    O God, let all the nations praise you!

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 5:1014:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 14:1-12

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus

and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.

He has been raised from the dead;

that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

 

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison

on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,

for John had said to him,

“It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,

for they regarded him as a prophet.

But at a birthday celebration for Herod,

the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests

and delighted Herod so much

that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.

Prompted by her mother, she said,

“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

The king was distressed,

but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,

he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.

His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,

who took it to her mother.

His disciples came and took away the corpse

and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

*******************************

Reflection for Saturday:
Confession, one-to-one evangelization

By Fr. Thomas Calleja OFMConv
from Qawra, Malta

Recently I asked the Lord to grant me a break and change the air after an extended period of pandemic lock downs. The Lord understood my need; out of the blue just a couple of days later, I received an invitation to hear confessions for 5 weeks at the Vatican.

My Conventual Franciscan community in Malta agreed that I should accept the invitation. I soon flew to Rome.

The following day I started my ministry of hearing confessions in St. Peter's Basilica!

This was not the first time. I used to go to Rome every summer to hear confessions. I love this ministry. It gives me opportunity to do one-to-one evangelization. I try to make the penitent aware that confession is a personal encounter with Jesus who said: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17). In the Sacrament of Confession we meet the same Jesus who forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11) and the repentant thief who was crucified with him (Luke 23:43).

In the confessional box as a priest, I am aware that I'm just an instrument in God's hands, a channel of his love, mercy and forgiveness.

First I welcome and try to make the person feel comfortable as I give them time for expressing his/her wrongdoing. Then I try, with simple words, to convince the person that God, who is Love, wants to forgive all the sins that he or she has listed, together with all the sins that they have forgotten and even all the sins that they have committed from the time they where a little child till this very day.

I tell them that the Lord is not so much interested in their lists of sins, and the priest is even less interested. What the Lord desires most: He never refuses a contrite spirit, and a humble and contrite heart he will not spurn (Psalm 50). I normally explain that the Lord wants to grab all the sins they committed and throw them into the river of his love, mercy and forgiveness. I explain that the current of the waters carries away their sins and they will never have them again. I add that in that same river the Lord wants to give them a wash-up and also a clean heart and a pure spirit.

I often tell them that the Lord wants also to give them "new walking shoes". When I say this, I always see a smile on their face. They wonder why I mentioned the walking shoes. I explain that Jesus wants us not only to follow him, but also to walk closer with him. I remind them that Jesus' last words were: "I will be with you always, till the end of time (Matthew 28:20). I further explain that he is The Truth and so he keeps his words and is truly with us. But very often we are not with him. Jesus wants us to walk closer to him, like the sheep we read about in Psalm 23. This sheep in the Psalm shares that she has everything she needs (vs 1).

I try to explain how this sheep needs to be a model for us all. The Lord provided her with green pastures and living water. His rod and staff guided her. He prepared a table for her. At one point she says, "Even if walk through a valley of darkness, I will not be afraid". And the sheep explains why: "Because YOU LORD ARE WITH ME" (vs 4). That's the secret of her relationship with the Shepherd. The shepherd was with her and she was with him. This is the key to understanding the relationship between them.

During confession the Lord wants to have the same relationship with you and me -- with all of us. He wants to be with us and he wants us to be with him. 

As a follow-up to the confession, I invite the person to do some homework. I ask the person to go home, find a good and quiet time, open the Bible, look for Psalm 23, read it slowly and meditate upon it. Then I invite the person to see her/himself in the shoes of that sheep and see Jesus in that Shepherd -- in other words, make the sheep's experience their own experience.

At the end of the confession I notice that their face now is shining with joy. Jesus has touched their heart. I strongly believe that this is the beauty of confession: to help the person to meet and experience the presence of Jesus and his love for them. This is what I believe evangelization is all about. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta put it: "To have Jesus present in your heart and make him present in the hearts of others". Indeed, confession is a good opportunity to give Jesus and his forgiveness to others in a way that changes their lives forever.

+++++

Prayer against Depression - by Saint Ignatius of Loyola

O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things. Amen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”