[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: July 27, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Show favor, O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. 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.

ACTIVITIES

• Fourteen Holy Helpers

PRAYERS

• Litany of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
• Novena In Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney

Ordinary Time: July 27th

Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Old Calendar: St. Pantaleon, martyr

St. Pantaleon, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was a physician, who practiced without payment, and who was martyred under Diocletian. His cultus is primarily connected with Bithynia, where Emperor Justinian rebuilt his church at Nicomedia. Churches are dedicated to him in Constantinople and Rome. In the East he is known as the Great Martyr and Wonder Worker. A reputed relic of Pantaleon's blood kept at Ravello in southern Italy displays the phenomenon of liquefaction on his feast day, similar to that of Saint Januarius. Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar his feast was celebrated today.

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St. Pantaleon
He was a celebrated "fee-less physician" from Nicomedia who placed his skill in the service of God's kingdom! According to legend he was the emperor's ordinary physician. He is said to have strayed from the faith because of the voluptuous life at the court, but the zealous priest Hermolaus, by pointing out the example of his virtuous mother, effected such a change that Pantaleon distributed his goods among the poor and devoted his talents for healing to the most wretched and poor among the sick.

Because of his Christian faith he was seized by order of Emperor Maximian, tied to the rack and scorched with torches. But in these tortures Christ appeared, granting him further strength. Finally a stroke of the sword ended his sufferings (Martyrology). He is the patron of physicians and belongs to the "Fourteen Holy Helpers."

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: bachelors; consumption; doctors; midwives; physicians; torture victims; tuberculosis; protection of domestic animals.

Symbols: Budding olive branch or olive tree; vials of medicine; lion; club; sword and vase.

Things to Do:

• The health and well-being of the body is a legitimate concern of the Christian, though, of course, secondary to that of the soul. Numerous indeed are the blessings and prayers in the liturgy directed to the well-being of the body. Spend some time considering whether or not you take proper care of your body. Do you pamper yourself in areas of vanity and comfort and indulge yourself in areas that are harmful?

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 13:18-23

“Hear then the parable of the sower.” (Matthew 13:18)

There is a lot of energy stored up in the natural world. For example, the most powerful atomic bomb ever detonated yielded the equivalent of 500 kilotons of TNT—this from a marble-sized quantity of plutonium. Nuclear fusion reactors, if they ever become a reality, could produce the equivalent of 300 gallons of gasoline from one gallon of seawater. And if someone could finally build the per­fect car, a gallon of gasoline would power it for 400 miles.

There is a different kind of energy, however, that’s much more pow­erful. It’s the energy found within God’s word. Jesus compares it here to a single seed that is capable of bearing as much as 100 times the fruit you might normally expect. Of course, there is always the possibility that God’s word will be choked off by our anxieties, or die because we don’t give it room to grow. But Jesus remains optimistic. He knows that the potential in this seed is beyond our imagining!

When Jesus says that we can yield 100, 60, or 30-fold, he’s not talk­ing about a mathematical formula. Working harder for God won’t nec­essarily make us “100-fold” people.

The return comes less from our hard work and more from the dedi­cation of our hearts. Think of how much Jesus accomplished by offer­ing his life to the Father. It went far beyond the hill of Calvary! So it is with us when we stay connected to Jesus. We find ourselves able to do “far more than all we ask or imag­ine” by his power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).

Now as you read Jesus’ words about the good soil, you may be counting yourself out of that cate­gory. But Jesus is talking to you too! If you are trying to seek the Lord, then you are that good soil. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see much progress. Just keep trying to follow the Holy Spirit. Ponder his voice in Scripture and trust that he is leading you. Over time, and with the bless­ing of 20-20 hindsight, you’ll find that your life really is changing and bearing amazing fruit!

“Lord, may your word accomplish its purpose in my life and produce fruit that will last. Remove any obstacles to your will, so that I may remain your obedient servant!”

Jeremiah 3:14-17; (Psalm) Jeremiah 31:10-13