Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 26-May-2024

Moses said to the people: ‘Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt?

‘Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

For the word of the Lord is faithful

and all his works to be trusted.

The Lord loves justice and right

and fills the earth with his love.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

By his word the heavens were made,

by the breath of his mouth all the stars.

He spoke; and it came to be.

He commanded; it sprang into being.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

The Lord looks on those who revere him,

on those who hope in his love,

to rescue their souls from death,

to keep them alive in famine.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

The Lord is our help and our shield.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

as we place all our hope in you.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;

the God who is, who was, and who is to come.

The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

1 posted on 05/26/2024 10:51:45 AM PDT by annalex

KEYWORDS: catholic; mt28; ordinarytime; prayer

2 posted on 05/26/2024 10:52:38 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

To: nickcarraway; NYer; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; ArrogantBustard; Catholicguy; RobbyS; marshmallow; ...

Alleluia Ping

Please FReepmail me to get on/off the Alleluia Ping List.

3 posted on 05/26/2024 10:53:30 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

4 posted on 05/26/2024 10:53:51 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 28
16.	And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.	Undecim autem discipuli abierunt in Galilæam in montem ubi consituerat illis Jesus.	οι δε ενδεκα μαθηται επορευθησαν εις την γαλιλαιαν εις το ορος ου εταξατο αυτοις ο ιησους
17.	And seeing them they adored: but some doubted.	Et videntes eum adoraverunt : quidam autem dubitaverunt.	και ιδοντες αυτον προσεκυνησαν αυτω οι δε εδιστασαν
18.	And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.	Et accedens Jesus locutus est eis, dicens : Data est mihi omnis potestas in cælo et in terra :	και προσελθων ο ιησους ελαλησεν αυτοις λεγων εδοθη μοι πασα εξουσια εν ουρανω και επι γης
19.	Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.	euntes ergo docete omnes gentes : baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti :	πορευθεντες μαθητευσατε παντα τα εθνη βαπτιζοντες αυτους εις το ονομα του πατρος και του υιου και του αγιου πνευματος
20.	Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.	docentes eos servare omnia quæcumque mandavi vobis : et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem sæculi.	διδασκοντες αυτους τηρειν παντα οσα ενετειλαμην υμιν και ιδου εγω μεθ υμων ειμι πασας τας ημερας εως της συντελειας του αιωνος αμην

(*) The final "Amen" (αμην) is missing in the translations.

5 posted on 05/26/2024 10:58:16 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

28:16–20

16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

BEDE. ‘Beda, in Hom.’ non occ.) When Saint Matthew has vindicated the Lord’s Resurrection as declared by the Angel, he relates the vision of the Lord which the disciples had, Then the eleven disciples went into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. For when coming to His Passion the Lord had said to His disciples, After I am risen I will go before you into Galilee; (Matt. 26:32.) and the Angel said the same to the women. Therefore the disciples obey the command of their Master. Eleven only go, for one had already perished.

JEROME. After His Resurrection, Jesus is seen and worshipped in the mountain in Galilee; though some doubt, their doubting confirms our faith.

REMIGIUS. This is more fully told by Luke; how when the Lord after the Resurrection appeared to the disciples, in their terror they thought they saw a spirit.

BEDE. (Hom. Æst. in Fer. vi. Pasch.)b. The Lord appeared to them in the mountain to signify, that His Body which at His Birth He had taken of the common dust of the human race, He had by His Resurrection exalted above all earthly things; and to teach the faithful that if they desire there to see the height of His Resurrection, they must endeavour here to pass from low pleasures to high desires. And He goes before His disciples into Galilee, because Christ is risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that slept. (1 Cor. 15:20.) And they that are Christ’s follow Him, and pass in their order from death to life, contemplating Him as He appears with His proper Divinity. And it agrees with this that Galilee is interpreted ‘revelation.’

AUGUSTINE. (de Cons. Ev. iii. 25.) But it is to be considered, how the Lord could be seen bodily in Galilee. For that it was not the day of the Resurrection is manifest; for He was seen that day in Jerusalem in the beginning of the night, as Luke and John evidently agree. Nor was it in the eight following days, after which John says that the Lord appeared to His disciples, and when Thomas first saw Him, who had not seen Him on the day of the Resurrection. For if within these eight days the eleven had seen Him on a mountain in Galilee, Thomas, who was one of the eleven, could not have seen Him first after the eight days. Unless it be said, that the eleven there spoken of were eleven out of the general body of the disciples, and not the eleven Apostles. But there is another difficulty. John having related that the Lord was seen not in the mountain, but at the sea of Tiberias, by seven who were fishing, adds, This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the (John 21:14.) dead. (Mark 16:14.) So that if we understand the Lord to have been seen within those eight days by eleven of the disciples, this manifestation at the sea of Tiberias will be the fourth, and not the third, appearance. Indeed, to understand John’s account at all it must be observed, that he computes not each appearance, but each day on which Jesus appeared, though He may have appeared more than once on the same day; as He did three times on the day of His Resurrection. We are then obliged to understand that this appearance to the eleven disciples on the mountain in Galilee took place last of all. In the four Evangelists we find in all ten distinct appearances of Our Lord after His Resurrection. 1. At the sepulchre to the women. 2. To the same women on their way back from the sepulchre. 3. To Peter. 4. To two disciples as they went into the country. 5. To many together in Jerusalem; 6. when Thomas was not with them. 7. At the sea of Tiberias. 8. At the mountain in Galilee, according to Matthew. 9. To the eleven as they sat at meat, because they should not again eat with Him upon earth, related by Mark. 10. On the day of His Ascension, no longer on the earth, but raised aloft in a cloud, as related by both Mark and Luke. But all is not written, as John confesses, for He had much conversation with them during forty days before His ascension, being seen of them, and speaking unto them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3.)

REMIGIUS. The disciples then, when they saw Him, knew the Lord; and worshipped Him, bowing their faces to the ground. And He their affectionate and merciful Master, that He might take away all doubtfulness from their hearts, coming to them, strengthened them in their belief; as it follows, And Jesus came and spake to them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

JEROME. Power is given to Him, Who but a little before was crucified, Who was buried, but Who afterwards rose again.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) This He speaks not from the Deity coeternal with the Father, but from the Humanity which He took upon Him, according to which He was made a little lower than the Angels. (Heb. 2:9.)

CHRYSOLOGUS. (Serm. 80.) The Son of God conveyed to the Son of the Virgin, the God to the Man, the Deity to the Flesh, that which He had ever together with the Father.

JEROME. Power is given in heaven and in earth, that He who before reigned in heaven, should now reign on earth by the faith of the believers.

REMIGIUS. What the Psalmist says of the Lord at His rising again, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands (Ps. 8:6.), this the Lord now says of Himself, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And here it is to be noted, that even before His resurrection the Angels knew that they were subjected to the man Christ. Christ then desiring that it should be also known to men that all power was committed to Him in heaven and in earth, sent preachers to make known the word of life to all nations; whence it follows, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.

BEDE. (‘Beda; in Hom.’ non occ.) He who before His Passion had said, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, (Matt. 10:5.) now, when rising from the dead, says, Go and teach all nations. Hereby let the Jews be put to silence, who say that Christ’s coming is to be for their salvation only. Let the Donatists also blush, who, desiring to confine Christ to one place, have said that He is in Africa only, and not in other countries.

JEROME. They first then teach all nations, and when taught dip them in water. For it may not be that the body receive the sacrament of Baptism, unless the soul first receive the truth of the Faith. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that they whose Godhead is one should be conferred at once, to name this Trinity, being to name One God.

CHRYSOLOGUS. (Serm. 80.) Thus all nations are created a second time to salvation by that one and the same Power, which created them to being.

JEROME. (Didymi Lib. ii. de Spir. Sanct.) And though some one there may be of so averse a spirit as to undertake to baptize in such sort as to omit one of these names, therein contradicting Christ Who ordained this for a law, his baptism will effect nothing; those who are baptized by him will not be at all delivered from their sins. From these words we gather how undivided is the substance of the Trinity, that the Father is verily the Father of the Son, and the Son verily the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit the Spirit of both the Father and the Son, and also the Spirit of wisdom and of truth, that is, of the Son of God. This then is the salvation of them that believe, and in this Trinity is wrought the perfect communication of ecclesiastical discipline.

HILARY. (de Trin. ii. 1 &c.) For what part of the salvation of men is there that is not contained in this Sacrament? All things are full and perfect, as proceeding from Him who is full and perfect. The nature of His relation is expressed in the title Father; but He is nothing but Father; for not after the manner of men does He derive from somewhat else that He is Father, being Himself Unbegotten, Eternal, and having the source of His being in Himself, known to none, save the Son. The Son is the Offspring of the Unbegotten, One of the One, True of the True, Living of the Living, Perfect of the Perfect, Strength of Strength, Wisdom of Wisdom, Glory of Glory; the Image of the Unseen God, the Form of the Unbegotten Father. Neither can the Holy Spirit be separated from the confession of the Father and the Son. And this consolation of our longing desires is absent from no place. He is the pledge of our hope in the effects of His gifts, He is the light of our minds, He shines in our souls. These things as the heretics cannot change, they introduce into them their human explanations. As Sabellius who identifies the Father with the Son, thinking the distinction to be made rather in name than in person, and setting forth one and the same Person as both Father and Son. As Ebion, who deriving the beginning of His existence from Mary, makes Him not Man of God, but God of man. As the Arians, who derive the form, the power, and the wisdom of God out of nothing, and in time. What wonder then that men should have diverse opinions about the Holy Spirit, who thus rashly after their own pleasure create and change the Son, by whom that Spirit is bestowed?

JEROME. Observe the order of these injunctions. He bids the Apostles first to teach all nations, then to wash them with the sacrament of faith, and after faith and baptism then to teach them what things they ought to observe; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

RABANUS. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26.)

CHRYSOSTOM. And because what He had laid upon them was great, therefore to exalt their spirits He adds, And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. As much as to say, Tell Me not of the difficulty of these things, seeing I am with you, Who can make all things easy. A like promise He often made to the Prophets in the Old Testament, to Jeremiah who pleaded his youth, to Moses, and to Ezekiel, when they would have shunned the office imposed upon them. And not with them only does He say that He will be, but with all who shall believe after them. For the Apostles were not to continue till the end of the world, but He says this to the faithful as to one body.

RABANUS. Hence we understand that to the end of the world shall not be wanting those who shall be worthy of the Divine indwelling.

CHRYSOSTOM. He brings before them the end of the world, that He may the more draw them on, and that they may not look merely to present inconveniences, but to the infinite goods to come. As much as to say, The grievous things which you shall undergo, terminate with this present life, seeing that even this world shall come to an end, but the good things which ye shall enjoy endure for ever.

BEDE. (‘Beda in Hom.’ non occ.) It is made a question how He says here, I am with you, John 16:5. when we read elsewhere that He said, I go unto him that sent me. What is said of His human nature is distinct from what is said of His divine nature. He is going to His Father in His human nature, He abides with His disciples in that form in which He is equal with the Father. When He says, to the end of the world, He expresses the infinite by the finite; for He who remains in this present world with His elect, protecting them, the same will continue with them after the end, rewarding them.

JEROME. He then who promises that He will be with His disciples to the end of the world, shews both that they shall live for ever, and that He will never depart from those that believe.

LEO. (Serm. 72. 3.) For by ascending into heaven He does not desert His adopted; but from above strengthens to endurance, those whom He invites upwards to glory.

Of which glory may Christ make us partakers,

Who is the King of glory,

God blessed for ever,

AMEN.

Catena Aurea Matthew 28

6 posted on 05/26/2024 10:59:44 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

Christ Appearing to the Apostles after the Resurrection

Szymon Czechowicz

1758
National Museum in Kraków

7 posted on 05/26/2024 11:01:07 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

St Philip Neri, Priest

St Philip Neri, Priest (Memorial)

Philip Romolo Neri was born on 22 July, 1515 in Florence, the youngest child of Francesco, a lawyer, and his wife Lucrezia da Mosciano. Philip received his early education from the Dominican friars at the famous San Marco friary in Florence (of which Fra Angelico was once a member). When he was about sixteen, following a fire which destroyed much of his father’s property, Philip was sent to his father’s childless brother, a wealthy merchant, to assist him in his business and with the hope he might inherit his uncle’s fortune. However, the plan was thwarted by Philip’s call to the priesthood.

In 1523, Philip left San Germano and went to Rome, where he became a tutor. Here he was able to continue his studies while beginning the work among the sick and poor which gained him in later life the title of “Apostle of Rome”. In 1538, he began the home mission work for which he would become famous.

In 1551, he passed through all the minor orders, was ordained deacon and finally priest. He settled down, with some companions, at the hospital of San Girolamo della Carità and while there tentatively began, in 1556, the institute with which his name is more especially connected, that of the Oratory.

It was immediately after taking possession of new quarters in Rome that Neri formally organized, under permission of a papal bull dated July 15, 1575, a community of secular priests, called the Congregation of the Oratory. He was at first elected superior for a term of three years, but in 1587, was nominated superior for life. He wished that all congregations formed on his model outside Rome should be autonomous, governing themselves – a regulation afterwards formally confirmed by a brief of Gregory XV in 1622. Neri continued in the government of the Oratory until his death.

Philip had a playful sense of humour, combined with a shrewd wit. He used to say:

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.

This was undoubtedly the secret of his popularity and of his place in the folklore of the Roman poor.

Night was his special time of prayer. After dark he would go out in the streets, sometimes to churches, but most often into the catacombs of St. Sebastiano to pray. During one of these times of prayer he felt a globe of light enter his mouth and sink into his heart. This experience gave him so much energy to serve God that he went out to work at the hospital of the incurables and starting speaking to others about God, everyone from beggars to bankers. Many miracles were attributed to him, and it is said that when his body was dissected it was found that two of his ribs had been broken, an event attributed to the expansion of his heart while fervently praying in the catacombs about the year 1545.

Philip Neri was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1600, and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. Neri was not a reformer. His great merit was the instinctive tact which showed him that the older system of monasticism could never be the leaven of secular life, but that something more simple and everyday in character was needed for the times in which he lived.

The Oratory chiefly spread in Italy and in France, where in 1760 there were 58 houses all under the government of a superior-general. An English house, founded in 1847 at Birmingham, is celebrated as the place at which Cardinal Newman fixed his abode after his joining the Catholic Church. In 1849, a second congregation was founded in King William Street, Strand, London, with Fr Frederick William Faber as superior. In 1854, it was transferred to Brompton, where it is still based. Its church, the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was consecrated April 16, 1884, and is the second largest Roman Catholic church in London.

sacredspace.ie

8 posted on 05/26/2024 11:05:42 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

Philip Neri

Sebastiano Conca

9 posted on 05/26/2024 11:07:53 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

First Reading:

From: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40

The Lord's Special Providence Towards His People
------------------------------------------------
(Moses said to the people,) [32] "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. [33] Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? [34] Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? [39] know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. [40] Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God gives you forever."

*************************************************************
Commentary:

4:32-40. The end of this first discourse carries an important theological message: the profound notion of one God (monotheism); the election of Israel as God's specific people; his special and kindly providence towards this people; the might of God, as manifested in the prodigious works he does in favor of the chosen people; and the consequence of all this--Israel's duty to be faithful to the one and only God, keeping his commandments and offering due cult only to him; by so doing, Israel will continue to enjoy his protection.

Reading this and other passages in the sacred books shows the efforts the inspired writers made to update the teaching of religious traditions and apply it to the situation and needs of Israelites in later periods; this is perhaps the reason for the frequent calls to fidelity to the Covenant. "In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them, a single motive for choosing them from among alt peoples as his special possession: his sheer gratuitous love (cf. Deut 4:37; 7:8; 10:15). And thanks to the prophets Israel understood that it was again out of love that God never stopped saving them (cf. Is 43:1-7) and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins (cf. Hos 2)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 218).

The Deuteronomic formula of "the Lord is God ["ha-Elohim", that is, the only God] and there is no other besides him" (v. 35), which occurs often (cf. 4:39; 6:4; 32:39; etc.) is also the essence of the Prophets' message (cf. Jer 2:11-33; Is 41:2-29; 44:6; 46:9). The Prophets strove to draw Israel towards or maintain it in fidelity to the One and Only God who revealed himself to the patriarchs and to Moses, and helped to develop and deepen an appreciation of monotheism, of the universality of the power of Yahweh, of his moral demands, etc. But the core of all this teaching is to be found expounded, profoundly and very specifically, in the book of Deuteronomy. This teaching builds up the notion of the Lord as a jealous God" (cf. Ex 20:5) who requires his adherents to be totally obedient to him; it is a notion incompatible with worshipping the divinities adored by other peoples (cf. Ex 20:3).

Being good, obeying the commandments of the Law of God, brings life (v. 40), initially understood as longevity; whereas sin often brings with it misfortune or death, as a punishment from God (cf. Ezek 18:10-13,19-20; etc.). The fact that God is just in his treatment of man, rewarding him or punishing, sooner or later, for the good or the evil he does, is a message that runs right through the Old and New Testaments. In ancient texts, the accent is on reward or punishment in this present life. In the New Testament more emphasis is put on divine retribution in the future life. It is not surprising that there should be this line of development in the biblical ethic: God takes account of time and grace to lead men to the fullness of truth.

10 posted on 05/26/2024 12:49:14 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

Second Reading:

From: Romans 8:14-17

Christians Are Children of God
------------------------------
[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" [16] it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

***********************************************************************
Commentary:

14-30. The life of a Christian is sharing in the life of Christ, God's only Son. By becoming, through adoption, true children of God we have, so to speak, a right to share also in Christ's inheritance—eternal life in heaven (vv. 14-18). This divine life in us, begun in Baptism through rebirth in the Holy Spirit, will grow under the guidance of this Spirit, who makes us ever more like Christ (vv. 14, 26-27). So, our adoption as sons is already a fact--we already have the first-fruits of the Spirit (v. 23)—but only at the end of time, when our body rises in glory, will our redemption reach its climax (vv. 23-25). Meanwhile we are in a waiting situation--not free from suffering (v. 18), groans (v. 23) and weakness (v. 26)—a situation characterized by a certain tension between what we already possess and are, and what we yearn for. This yearning is something which all creation experiences; by God's will, its destiny is intimately linked to our own, and it too awaits its transformation at the end of the world (vv. 19-22). All this is happening in accordance with a plan which God has, a plan established from all eternity which is unfolding in the course of time under the firm guidance of divine Providence (vv. 28-30).

14-15. St. J. Escriva taught thousands of people about this awareness of divine filiation which is such an important part of the Christian vocation. Here is what he says, for example, in "The Way", 267: "We've got to be convinced that God is always near us. We live as though he were far away, in the heavens high above, and we forget that he is also continually by our side.

"He is there like a loving Father. He loves each of us more than all the mothers in the world can love their children--helping us, inspiring us, blessing...and forgiving.

"How often we have misbehaved and then cleared the frowns from our parents' brows, telling them: I won't do it anymore!--That same day, perhaps, we fall again...--And our father, with feigned harshness in his voice and serious face, reprimands us while in his heart he is moved, realizing our weakness and thinking: poor child, how hard he tries to behave well!

"We've got to be filled, to be imbued with the idea that our Father, and very much our Father, is God who is both near us and in heaven."

This awareness of God as Father was something which the first chancellor of the University of Navarre experienced with special intensity one day in 1931: "They were difficult times, from a human point of view, but even so I was quite sure of the impossible—this impossibility which you can now see as an accomplished fact. I felt God acting within me with overriding force, filling my heart and bringing to my lips this tender invocation--'Abba! Pater!' I was out in the street, in a tram: being out in the street is no hindrance for our contemplative dialogue; for us, the hustle and bustle of the world is a place for prayer" (S. Bernal, "Monsignor Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer", p. 214).

11 posted on 05/26/2024 12:49:29 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

Gospel Reading:

From: Matthew 28:16-20

Appearance in Galilee. The Mission to the World
-----------------------------------------------
[16] Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. [17] And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. [18] And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

***********************************************************************
Commentary:

16-20. This short passage, which brings to a close the Gospel of St Matthew, is of great importance. Seeing the risen Christ, the disciples adore him, worshipping him as God. This shows that at last they are fully conscious of what, from much earlier on, they felt in their heart and confessed by their words--that their Master is the Messiah, the Son of God (cf. Mt 16:18; Jn 1:49). They are overcome by amazement and joy at the wonder their eyes behold: it seems almost impossible, were he not before their very eyes. Yet he is completely real, so their fearful amazement gives way to adoration. The Master addresses them with the majesty proper to God: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Omnipotence, an attribute belonging exclusively to God, belongs to him: he is confirming the faith of his worshippers; and he is also telling them that the authority which he is going to give them to equip them to carry out their mission to the whole world, derives from his own divine authority.

On hearing him speak these words, we should bear in mind that the authority of the Church, which is given it for the salvation of mankind, comes directly from Jesus Christ, and that this authority, in the sphere of faith and morals, is above any other authority on earth.

The Apostles present on this occasion, and after them their lawful successors, receive the charge of teaching all nations what Jesus taught by word and work: he is the only path that leads to God. The Church, and in it all Christian faithful, have the duty to proclaim until the end of time, by word and example, the faith that they have received. This mission belongs especially to the successors of the Apostles, for on them devolves the power to teach with authority, "for, before Christ ascended to his Father after his resurrection, he [...] entrusted them with the mission and power to proclaim to mankind what they had heard, what they had seen with their eyes, what they had looked upon and touched with their hands, concerning the Word of Life (1 Jn 1: 1). He also entrusted them with the mission and power to explain with authority what he had taught them, his words and actions, his signs and commandments. And he gave them the Spirit to fulfill their mission" (St. John Paul II, "Catechesi Tradendae", 1). Therefore, the teachings of the Pope and of the bishops united to him should always be accepted by everyone with assent and obedience.

Here Christ also passes on to the Apostles and their successors the power to baptize, that is, to receive people into the Church, thereby opening up to them the way to personal salvation.

The mission which the Church is definitively given here at the end of St Matthew's Gospel is one of continuing the work of Christ—teaching men and women the truths concerning God and the duty incumbent on them to identify with these truths, to make them their own by having constant recourse to the grace of the sacraments. This mission will endure until the end of time and, to enable it to do this work, the risen Christ promises to stay with the Church and never leave it. When Sacred Scripture says that God is with someone, this means that that person will be successful in everything he undertakes. Therefore, the Church, helped in this way by the presence of its divine Founder, can be confident of never failing to fulfill its mission down the centuries until the end of time.

12 posted on 05/26/2024 12:50:04 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

13 posted on 05/26/2024 12:51:50 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

Please join Cardinal Burke’s novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’ (Started March 12—Never too late to join!)

Let us pray.

O Virgin Mother of God, we fly to your protection and beg your intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church. Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, gave you to us as our mother as He died on the Cross for our salvation. So too, in 1531, when darkness and sin beset us, He sent you, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Tepeyac to lead us to Him Who alone is our light and our salvation.

Through your apparitions on Tepeyac and your abiding presence with us on the miraculous mantle of your messenger, Saint Juan Diego, millions of souls converted to faith in your Divine Son. Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him. In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.

Unite our hearts to your Immaculate Heart so that they may find their true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever guide us along the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with Him. So may our hearts, one with yours, always trust in God's promise of salvation, in His never-failing mercy toward all who turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart. Through this novena and our consecration to you, O Virgin of Guadalupe, lead all souls in America and throughout the world to your Divine Son in Whose name we pray. Amen.

14 posted on 05/26/2024 12:52:16 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

“Eternal Father, who with the Word of Life and the Spirit of Truth are glorious in Trinity and majestic in unity, inspire us to drink ever more deeply of the wellspring of salvation that is the sacraments, we pray, that we may be drawn ever more fully into that divine life which awaits us in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen”

(From Magnificat magazine)

15 posted on 05/26/2024 12:53:13 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

16 posted on 05/26/2024 12:53:22 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

May is the month of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

17 posted on 05/26/2024 12:53:47 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794

Readings at Mass

The Lord is God indeed: he and no other

The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God

Go and make disciples of all nations

Universalis podcast: The week ahead – from 26 May to 1 June

Christian Art

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

St Philip Neri, Priest