Ordinary Time: September 6th

Tuesday of the Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

September 06, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

show

Recipes (1)

Nameday Sugar Cookies

show

Activities (2)

show

Prayers (1)

September Devotion: Our Lady of Sorrows

Library (0)

Old Calendar: St. Eleutherius, priest (Hist)

Mary suffered because of her intimate union with Christ, on account of our sins, and on behalf of her spiritual children. Devotion to the Mother of Sorrows and the Seven Sorrows of Mary encourages us to flee from sin and inflames our desire to do penance and make reparation so as to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

— The Catholic Faith, John O'Connell

Historically today is the feast of St. Eleutherius, abbot of St. Mark's monastery near Spoleto in the Italian province of Perugia, he was the friend of St. Gregory who mentions him several times in his Dialogues.

St. Eleutherius
A wonderful simplicity and spirit of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy sixth century abbot. He was elected to preside Saint Mark’s monastery near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles.

A child who was confided to the monastery, to be educated there after having been delivered by the Abbot from a diabolical possession, appeared to everyone to be entirely exempt from further molestations. And Saint Eleutherius chanced to say one day: “Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him.” These words seemed to savor of vanity, and thereupon the devil again entered into and tormented the child. The Abbot humbly confessed his fault and undertook a fast, in which the entire community joined, until the child was again freed from the tyranny of the fiend.

Saint Gregory the Great, finding himself unable to fast on Holy Saturday on account of extreme weakness, called for this Saint, who was in Rome at the time, to offer up prayers to God for him that he might join the faithful in the solemn practice of that day’s penances. Saint Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the Pope, when they came out of the church, felt suddenly strengthened and able to accomplish the fast as he desired. The same Pope, remarking that the Abbot was said to have raised a dead man to life, added: “He was so simple a man, one of such great penance, that we must not doubt that Almighty God granted much to his tears and his humility!” After resigning his abbacy, Saint Eleutherius died in Rome in Saint Andrew’s monastery, about the year 585.

—Excerpted from Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950); Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

The Word Among Us

Meditation: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Brother goes to court against brother? (1 Corinthians 6:6)

In his book Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful, South African novelist Alan Paton tells a story about reconciliation that hits very close to home for his readers. In the story, a black pastor named Isaiah Buti comes to a white man, Chief Justice Olivier, to ask for help.

Because of recent acts of discrimination and exclusion, Buti’s church members have grown furious at white people. Would the well-respected judge come to their Holy Thursday service and wash the feet of Martha Fortuin, a woman who had spent thirty years working as his servant? A kind man, Judge Olivier agrees.

On the appointed night, Olivier came forward and knelt at Martha’s feet with a towel and washbasin. Then he “took both her feet in his hands with gentleness, for they were no doubt tired from much serving, and he kissed them both. Then Martha Fortuin, and many others . . . fell a-weeping in that holy place.” Everyone was touched by his gesture, so much so that the tense, angry atmosphere in the church dissipated, and the people were moved to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Olivier knew that a judge’s gavel, while capable of bringing justice, rarely brings healing. His court could do only so much to resolve the divisions and conflicts that had been building. Only personal acts of humility and encounter could do that. In a similar way, St. Paul told the Corinthian believers that before resorting to the city’s court system, they should first try to work out their conflicts as brothers and sisters.

God wants all of us to try to settle our disputes personally and with the same humility that Judge Olivier showed. It’s not always easy. We can be quick to condemn someone who has hurt us; we can nurse our wounds and become mired in bitterness; we can retaliate and continue the cycle of pain and division. Or we can upend everything by a simple act of humility.

Like Judge Olivier, try starting on your knees. Whether literally, in prayer, or figuratively, by offering an apology, take the position of humility and love. Even if it’s just one small step, make it. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.

“Jesus, teach me to choose peace rather than conflict.”

Psalm 149:1-6, 9
Luke 6:12-19